End of the day, almost time for the bell How many options, will you sell? Fire up your platform, get ready to enter But first, let's get the mindset centered Ay, ay, let's go We follow the plan, that's how we get paid Test and trade it, have success Find what works for you and forget the rest Stats and probabilities is what we're a dismiss, greed and doubt Focus on the process, not the money And the profits will flow like honey Power our lives, let's start the show Come on trade hackers, get ready to go Zero-day options, time to make bank Get locked and loaded, then be ready to play Ay! What's up everybody, welcome to Power Hour Live Today is Tuesday, December 19th Hope all is well So for Power Hour, again super low premiums Just barely above five bucks for the at the money straddle No thank you So I will not be trading for Power Hour I did take a couple trades today Two from the bot, one was a quiet lunch that hit 50% The other was a PM iron condor that's currently open And it's at about 27% So good on that front I also took another, my re-entry didn't set up So my bots weren't going to fire but I took a kind of a discretionary Similar to a re-entry type trade and Got out a half of that at 40% This is not a bot So I got out a half of that at 40% I've got the remaining one That I'm trying to get 80% on And that would be if it hits 440, currently trading at 830 So I'm sharing a strike with my PM iron condor So combined, I'm sitting pretty well centered So I will not be trading Power Hour I do need to, I did not get in my I completely forgot to set my little alarm And I totally forgot to enter my B&B Double calendars So I'm going to do that now I'm going to go with a I'm going to go with a 1-3 and a 2-3 I usually like to enter these a little bit earlier in the day But they still perform well Entering later as well So let's see I'm going to go to my other monitor here Had it on my calendar Had it all scheduled And then forgot to set my alarm And then totally forgot about it So let me get that done right quick And we can chat some more By the way, if you're new Or if you have questions or anything We're going to have a lot of Down time today So feel free to post any questions Or topics you want to cover I just posted my 1-3 I'm going to do my 2-3 See if I can get filled at 545 4-550 All right, I just posted that one as well All right, so Power Hour I'll be in Tronch 1 right now But 60 straddle, for example Is it just over 5 bucks Just too low Risk reward is just not there For my liking In fields, no It would be a normal day Premiums are just super low So the risk reward is just way off SPX is currently at 0.37% from the open So that would be normal day Not an up day I have not looked at Alpha Crunching Trading naked Kelvin I haven't looked at my actual results Side by side I definitely do more 1-2s So I'm not I'm not sure They both they both Been pretty nice this year though Fresh current This is the result of your Power Hour Tronch 1 3-2 trades for the year Is that those are back tested results How's my question about the quiet lunch There's a VIX overnight Move gap max 20.25 It was almost 0.58 So for my quiet lunch on Tuesday I don't believe I have a VIX filter Okay my The one on Tuesday does But my My other one doesn't So if you look on the If you look at my trade plan You'll see there's two of them on Tuesday And the one The one test the one test doesn't the one test does So it it's still I have both on and my bot And so it it's still triggered My PM iron condor is at 36% looking for 50 I did take a I posted I traded a discretionary rick this morning And so that was right here got in at 985 ended up closing it out for a scratch closed at 990 and 10 bucks And then I I got in another one got filled at 920 and got out and scratched it at 930 Basically what what I was doing is When we pushed up Close to the expected move line I wanted to see if we were going to kind of actually stay in here or bounce off and actually maybe go down So my my idea was if we started keeping continuing kind of grinding higher, I was just going to scratch it You know, but if we got a down move then I would hold it for profit And I did that twice scratch both of them because we obviously did not move down We just kind of chopped sideways So no ricks on board currently So my PM iron condor is the 60 straddle my other Trade which is the 60 put 65 calls that closed half. I've got the other half that'll close at 440 currently trading at 620 Be more trader. Are you talking to me? My PM iron condor came on at that's 145 central No, I'm sorry 145 eastern 12. That's that that was a little late. Yeah 1245 central 145 eastern That's on my trade plan ES hit a new all-time high today. Now, this is the continuous contract So Take that for what it's worth, but it Hit a new high of 48 17 today spx is still 48 18 is the high And we're currently at 47 61 So still 60 points away From all-time highs Ndx is in all-time high territory hit a high today of 16 800 The Dow hit a new all-time high today The rut all-time high was 24 58. It's still down at 2018 I did take one futures trade today And that was in gold Just one trade two contracts, but 2002 50 I uh, I got in just before pre-market closed half Right here at about 2051 and then I literally Literally painted the top The high tick was 20 61 and I got filled at 2061 So that was kind of crazy when I was looking at on gold this morning Uh, just looking at the daily chart Uh, it kind of pulled back and then it it Retraced yesterday's bar and started to push higher And so I got in As it was doing that and I took my first profit target at the top of high of yesterday And then I took my last one near the high of Uh The day before so Friday and it ended up being Perfect exit S&P currently up 19 Nasdaq up 54 Russell Strong again up 36 almost 2 percent higher Dow up a half percent plus 188 Gold up a little lower half percent silver up 1 percent notes and bonds a little bit green tenure yield Down about three quarters of a percent Oil up almost 2 natty gas up a little over 1 percent grains pretty flat Bureau and the pound both up about a half percent and bitcoin up almost 1 percent Vicks 12.39 My v-pop and v-slap to the tick dickay See I don't even I don't even need fibs Don't even need it. Yeah, even with this recent push up Vicks is kind of holding above 12 What are you doing here anyway dickay? You're supposed to be living life Not staring at the $5 straddle and trunch one A little pullback right down to the expected move line See my two three DTE comes off Thursday one three It's off Wednesday My six seven still hasn't hit 20 percent yet now it's back to Up about 10 percent It was close to 20 had an order in Was it yesterday? Maybe Yeah, yesterday didn't quite get there. We'll come off tomorrow Data lists not sure why the market felt system to knock my ph1 out of my trailing stop. Oh Yeah That's the problem.  One two is one three. So let's see You got me a little curious here. I haven't I haven't done as many what near as many one threes, but Okay, so here's Here's all my one twos and one threes combined for the year Let's see year to date Yeah, so I thought it was a little higher so a little over 28 000 in profits Almost 71 win rate and if I do just one twos So just the one twos was 24 of that 28 000 70 win rate if I look at just my one threes So I've taken 35 one threes 70 a little higher win rate a little over 3600 in profits SPX bouncing back up above the expected move Yeah, that's correct tomorrow A white tiger that's a calendar strategy.   That is fantastic It's really good. Oh, I wouldn't say it was just it's it's really funny more than anything But I'm about three quarters away through the Walter Isaacson Elon book So it was kind of funny he hit on some of the some of the stuff in the book too my uh little discretionary three two from earlier 80% at 440 is currently trading at 545. So that was not too far away. Yeah, you know he He said that Elon literally gave him 100% access full time anytime he wanted he said I've never experienced someone give me Access like that. So he I mean he could be in any meeting any conversation any anything and So, yeah, he didn't he didn't hold back He also had an agreement with Elon that he that Elon was not allowed to read the book But until it was until after it was published Yeah, Emfield it just came out a couple months ago. It's the Walter Isaacson as the author It's a autobiography. Oh the Tuesday Thursday afternoon. I see he's done But Tuesday Thursday, I've got a Tuesday and I've got a Wednesday and I've got an update and I've got a gap down and go day So these are my 4 p.m p.m. Iron condors So about 64 win rate lower 29k on those The up days have done really well only had two losses and one of those losses was a hundred dollar loss So that I just do them on Tuesday and Wednesday are my other ones So 57 win rate a little over 5300. So not great not great, but not red either Yeah, he was the author of a Too big to fail too QQQ back test. All right 50 delta 3d te Let me bring it down here 12 profit target Exit of price moves plus or minus eight See how she did in 2022 pretty flat in 2022, but Didn't lose So those are monday tuesday 10 amers Dig dig into that one a little deeper They're watching you data lists They are watching you straddle for tranche Three yeah, that's I don't like that either I'll just pass I will just pass I'm showing restraint. Are you guys proud of me? My p.m. Iron condor is at 44 percent still looking for 50. It's on the 60 straddle White tiger are your one two strategies based on back tests? Yeah, they're back test driven. I've got Some calendar trades that are not back test driven and I've got one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 11 12 13 14 14 14 that are back test driven with some variations Basically what dick K is saying with that work of art Is we're not going anywhere. We're just going to chop into the close.  Yeah, white tiger. It's a good compliment. I mean we have been in a 64 to nine point range Basically since 40 minutes after the market opened Nothing wrong with that after you get your positions on that's for sure I just need a little bit more a couple more bucks on this one and Just a little bit more on my p.m. Iron condor it's at 47 percent That 50 percent It's hitting it Close it out Right at 60 right at the 60 strike should be closing filled So 57 80 plus 57 80 on my two bot trades today And there goes the other one Nice So now I've got no zero DTE's on By the way, I'm going to give my reverse hedgehog and gold for those of you who trade that I'm going to give that another day. We're at seven DTE today See if I can't scratch out a profit on that one Close to break you in Natty gas That was a Was a couple hundred looks like it's up about a hundred First market on close five million sell side that is Really nothing Got a three four DTE that I put on yesterday. It's up a few hundred So tomorrow that uh four five double diagonal I mentioned, yeah, we I took a loss on it, but I think I I'm going to keep trading that I I like it It had pretty big range. I mean we had to move from Friday when we put it on say I don't remember SPX was say 47 15 all the way up to 47 60 So that's I mean That's about, you know, if you look at a couple days of expected move in there I mean it had to move that's a pretty big move compared to the expected move To take a loss So I'll keep trading it I don't have a handy PT, but it's on my calendar trade plan If you click on the sheet So I'm going to plan to not trade any Friday Calendars Going into Christmas and New Year's week And then I won't that week between Christmas and New Year's I won't be doing any B&Bs or any of the other ones either Market is open on the 26th Yeah, there's a 26th option chain so next week Monday is Christmas no markets closed Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday, they're all full trading days Not a lot going on as far as scheduled employment reports Thursday There's unemployment claims pre-market That's about it And then for New Year's the first falls on a Monday, so it's uh markets closed on Monday You missed it Krish. We load it up tranche one two and three And they're all about to pin PT yet the uh, yeah, you typically get volatility contraction um And the from last year and then I was looking at the previous year kind of in that time period They just tend to not perform well Yeah, I think the PT the first week of trading or can the first week of trading them with you all um Yeah, they didn't do so hot. This is right in Right around this Christmas time Uh depends trading naked on the like on the B&B trades, um on the on the Wednesday ones You can hold those longer If you do some testing you'll see what I mean But for the other ones They it performs best just to exit near the open SPX heading back up New high of day new high of year my friends That uh five million early indication sell side must have done something Just kidding No, what happened was dick K call and said do you know who you're talking to? This is the machine Give me my book map or I'm out of here And they were like, oh, oh, sorry. I didn't notice you dick Well ticked a new high coming back down I did nothing crish No thing at all for power hour Michael Todd all winners today nice rick p2h trunch 123 Still five million to the sell side for the market on close SPX back down to 47 62 Uh, yeah, naughty dog. I'm working on, um futures trading course I don't know if I even call it a course. I'm at least I'm putting together some videos and some Explain explanation of what I'm doing. Um, there's there's definitely some discretion involved Yeah, morrow if I'm if I'm trading directionally like this like I do with futures. I'm I'm definitely not I I really Have you know, I think I've gotten pretty good at it. I used to try to commingle my You know premium selling or different things with directional trades and Um, now, you know, I just treat them totally separate. So they're just completely separate trades so, you know, if I If I want s spx to go down in my zero dte trade um, I you know that has nothing to do with my Futures trade that I'm doing so and I've I certainly have had that situation where I'm longer short an index and I'm Kind of wishing wishing on the other side for my other trade, but you just got to kind of compartmentalize that Yeah, discount. I still use trade of eight. Yep Opt for dollar any consideration for delta neutral? I mean, that's that's what we do with That's what I do with all my zero dte stuff for the most part Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question Uh, not not with my day trades. I don't know. I don't I don't try to be delta neutral at all times with my day trades With my other positions. I I want to understand my delta, but I don't I also don't necessarily try to be delta neutral Uh, I see. Yeah, it's just it's it's just kind of a matter of Watching, you know trading over time and getting a feel for You know, what premiums are at different times different strategies I mean, it's you know, it's pretty Or you can really just look at vix too. I mean, that's Typically a pretty good indication Just the overall vix level.  We're at We're in we're in the low range of where vix goes. Usually Uh, I think the average vix over I've heard Over, you know, let's say like 10 or 20 year periods Or five year periods rolling five year periods average vix is like 19 or 20. Well, we're at 12. So You know that that'll tell you right there that premiums are Not great Market on clothes and balance two billion buy sides. That's pretty big jump From nothing to two bill Still two bill is not I mean, that's not a huge number, but Seeing a little had a little bounce Uh dark avenger that ntt trades still get posted every day Oh, those were ntt day trades chad Not your mighty 90 runners Oh, okay spx popping back up Seven minutes to go Reaping back up towards highs of day Yeah, that's correct discount not not zero dte. They don't They close right at four but other expirations do I'm just uh getting a little jump start on my trader sink While we're finishing up the day my friends Meanwhile spx hitting a new all-time high or excuse me New yearly high new daily high White tiger have a good one spx still pushing 47 66 Hope everybody got out at five till one minute 47 67 47 68 Five seconds to go 47 68 Yeah, my one three that I just put on at the beginning of power hour is already up 5% All right, my friends that is it for today Chad will be streaming live in the morning I'll be back for power hour Everybody have a good night talk to you soon


Jesus wants more than your best. You see many people live their whole lives trying to give Jesus their best. They go to church, they give to missions, they pray before a meal, they even went on a short-term mission trip to an impoverished village. They gave Jesus their best, but their best wasn't enough. The Bible says that by our own strength we can do nothing good that we are dead in our trespasses and sins, and we are by nature children of wrath. That's honestly a frightening picture to paint, but it's true. Thinking that our good works will earn us God's favor is like a criminal thinking that his good works would get him out of the punishment that he is due. God is good, he will punish sin, but Jesus stepped in with his perfect goodness to sacrifice himself on our behalf. Our best was not enough, but Christ is. Through him you can be saved. Repent for your sin and put your faith in him today.


Every other week at this time WKCR presents I and Rand on campus. Ms. Rand, founder of Objectivism, author of Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead, will answer questions by students of Columbia University and elsewhere about her philosophy. We're pleased once again to have Ms. Rand with us. Also our guest panelists for the evening, Arthur Gandalfi of Columbia College, Jack Unger and Howard Hood of the Columbia University School of Law. I'm your host Jack Cress. For our first question, Mr. Gandalfi. Ms. Rand, it often happens that people, when they hear the word capitalism, react in a very hostile way, but their reasons for disliking capitalism are not always the true ones, but a tone of their remarks is evident that they have a much deeper antagonism towards capitalism. Could you give your opinion about this phenomena? Yes, it is a very significant phenomenon. Whenever any issue is misrepresented for a long, long time, whenever you see people distorting facts, refusing to abide by facts, and not making any sense in their accusations, you may be sure that the reasons they state are not their true reasons and that there is something deeper behind it, which they do not care to admit. This is particularly true in the case of capitalism. Capitalism has been misrepresented practically from its inception, both by its enemies and its alleged defenders, but the amount of distortion and misrepresentation which goes on today, even though evidence to the contrary is available and is accumulating year by year is truly staggering. It is perhaps the single most misrepresented issue in cultural history. Therefore, it is important to ask ourselves what are people's real reasons, when people are blind to the truth, obviously blind, when the issue is not merely an error of knowledge, it is not a matter of ignorance, but of psychological vested interests, we have to ask what are the vested interests behind people's attitude. And in the case of capitalism, the very obvious psychological root is man's fear of independence. Fear of independence, first of all, and consequently fear of rationality and anti-rational mentality is necessary to be anti-capitalist. And on a more formal level, these psychological evils unite in support of the morality of altruism. People are led to hate capitalism to the extent to which they subscribe to the altruist morality. In many cases, they would feel dimly because they would be evading the issue and trying not to admit it. They would feel that there is a bad clash between the conventional morality which they have been taught to accept, which they're not independent nor brave enough to reject, and a clash between that and the nature of capitalism, in that sense, the nature of reality. They are caught between the fact of a false moral theory, which they're not challenged, namely altruism, and the facts of reality which demonstrate over and over again that capitalism is the best, the most practical and the most moral, in fact the only moral system in human history. People dare not face that dichotomy because capitalism is incompatible with the morality of altruism. And those who have accepted that morality have such a psychological vested interest in it that they take their inner conflict out on capitalism. They make capitalism the whipping boy of their own inner contradictions. They know, in a psychological sense, subconsciously, that they are wrong in regard to altruism, and they therefore acquire a vested interest to try to prove that capitalism is evil. If they can discredit capitalism, they can consider themselves free to pursue their own impractical, vicious morality. That is in terms of moral considerations. But deeper than that is of course the question, what attracts them to the morality of altruism? Why has morality been perpetuated for such a long time in spite of its obvious evils and blatant contradictions? And here we come to the issue I named first, that is people's fear of independence, fear of relying on their own judgment, on their own mind, and therefore feel fear of reason. It is their subconscious and sometimes conscious desire to permit a loophole to their irrationality. It is their reluctance to be at the mercy of an absolute reality. It is a desire to bypass reality in some way, to cut corners, to have an escape clause for their whims, their wishes, their fears, and the irrational element within them. What they fear when they fear capitalism is objectivity, rationality, and reality. Mr. Rand, we're discussing the anti-capitalistic mentality and we're doing that in this singular, although you've just pointed out that many of the causes are plural. Would you say that these plural causes do result in a singular anti-capitalistic mentality? Well, not a mentality in the sense of individual psychology.  I would say, of course, no. As in any evil, there are as many different psychological variants as there are people, but certain basic premises they would have in common. I would say the anti-capitalist mentality is the mentality which is afraid of independence, afraid of reason, afraid of reality. But that isn't very broad fundamental terms. Within those broad abstractions, there are all kinds of variations and combination of elements which would operate in any given individual. So you may ascribe certain generalized principles to a type of mentality which would be opposed to capitalism. And these principles would operate in various degrees in every man who opposes capitalism. But it is not to say that everyone who opposes it is alike in all psychological essentials. Mr. Hood. Ms. Rand, would you elaborate the relationship between subjectivism, the view that reality is not perceived by consciousness but is created by consciousness, and the idea of statism, which seems to be in large degree, based on the idea that if the government sets about to do something that it can automatically achieve its ends irrespective of the facts of reality. You have really named the essence of the question here. Those who want to escape from reason and reality can do so only by means of hoping that their hopes, wishes, or fears can somehow triumph over reality, that one does not have to be bound by facts, that one's wishes can somehow succeed regardless of whether they correspond to the facts of reality or contradict them. In such a case, the only excuse, not moral excuse, but psychological semblance of an excuse for such people is the fact that most of their desires and their irrationality takes place in the social context and that if they wish something which is contrary to the facts, society, meaning other people, will somehow provide it. If they act irrationally, other people will save them from the consequences of their irrationality. If they demand the irrational or the unearned, other people will provide it. As Mr. Brandon said once, anyone who introduces us somehow into his idea of the means of achieving his ends always means somebody. And this is the clue to the status psychology. They hope that by enslaving the producers of the goods in life, the economic producers, by creating an omnipotent state which will rule everybody's life, they, the irrationalists, will somehow ride on the shoulders of the rational members of society, the productive members, those able to deal with the facts of reality properly. Not only in the issue of producing material goods, material wealth, but in all issues. If these providers are enslaved by the state, then their energy and their productiveness will permit the irrationalist to gain the unearned. The unearned in matter, in the form of unearned wealth and the unearned in spirit, in the form of unearned honors or government positions. The sole means to achieve the unearned, not to achieve it, because one can't, but to attempt to achieve it is by means of physical force, which is why the enemies of capitalism are status. There is no alternative to a free society except the establishment of a totalitarian state, which is the rule of men by force. When force is the standard of social relationships, then the irrational men may hope that somehow by force, his masters will provide him with what he wants, will take care of him. He is willing to give total obedience to the state in exchange for the state saving him from the problem which he dreads most. That is the problem of facing life on his own, the problem of taking the responsibility for his own life, his own actions and his own judgment. That is what he dreads and his soul records, since there is in fact no escape from reality, is to hide behind those men whom he observes around him, who are able to deal with reality, who are not afraid to think, who act on their judgment and produce all values that men have ever achieved intellectually or materially. It is these men that the irrationalist wants to enslave and force somehow to provide for him. This theme, of course, is clearly illustrated in Atlas Shogged. Mr. Unger. Ms. Rand, in light of what you just said, I wonder whether you'd comment on the following thesis in that it's not intellectual cowardice or default that causes most people to reject capitalism, but it's rather a matter of social status. That is that the overwhelming majority of people, the same people whom, by the way, in a majoritarian that is or a democracy system, control the political power, since most people then are employees. That is, workers, to use that phrase in quotes, versus the owners of the system, that they would have a natural antipathy. That is, they have no stake, so they would think, in the difference between their status in a free enterprise system versus a status system that they would still be on the employees end of the social class structure, and therefore any control that they would want to impose upon those owners, their employers, would be negligible. Now that is a very fallacious argument on several counts. To begin with, there is no such thing as an employee mentality, or rather it exists, but more among non-employees than among employees. A man is not conditioned by his economic status. His ideas are not determined by it. Truths are more employees than employers, but it does not mean that they are all psychologically condemned and have resigned themselves to the status of an employee. In a free society, and this has been well illustrated in the freer period of American life, there is no class of employees. The employees of today are the employers of tomorrow. The self-made man, which is a typical American phenomenon, that is a phenomenon of a free society, is a man who rises from bottom, from the status of employee, to an owner of his own business or to a big tycoon, as they call him. All the big figures of the American industry were such men, self-made men, who either rose from the bottom through the ranks of employees or inheriting some small business, created from it a much larger enterprise through their own ability. Therefore, the fact that a man is an employee does not necessarily paralyze him. The issue there is psychological. Does he intend to remain merely an employee or does he want to rise? And the important thing here is that nature forbids men to stagnate, which is one of the reasons why status economies always fail and create nothing but disaster, collapse, and general poverty. There is no level of ability, no matter how modest, on which a man may properly stagnate, that is, may stagnate with impunity. Nature demands of men a constant movement forward, a constant improvement in his knowledge and in his method of functioning and working, a constant progress. Progress is in the nature of life as such and of human life in particular. Therefore, a man who wants to stagnate on any given level is acting immorally and irrationally. He is acting contrary to the facts of his own nature. And a man who decides that he is an employee and will remain so is already psychologically unhealthy. He is already on the wrong premise. And it is true that there are such men, great number, but you must remember that they are, to some extent, created by the system under which they live. And this is through particularly of men of average ability. In a pre-society, which is geared to the requirements of man's nature properly, which leaves men free to function to the full extent of their ability and to achieve the rewards which they are able to earn, every man would have to be in a constant position of progress and motion. If he cannot become an entrepreneur on his own, he was not expected to remain an unskilled laborer all his life either. He will have to improve, improve his skill and knowledge and rise to the extent that his ability permits. Therefore, the same principle of constant progress, the anti-stagnation principle would operate for all levels of economic success or ability in a free society. It does make a difference to an employee whether he is free to move to work harder, work better and therefore get appropriate rewards, or he is tied to a group in a kind of status society and is held down to the level of that group. If he is born a certain type of worker, he remains that type of worker as they did in the Middle Ages. There is no such thing as a class mentality. But when men live in a mixed economy, as they do today, the incentives for them to rise are getting less and less and the difficulties, the obstacles more and more so that if you take them in that period of flux, you might find that the great many men today would feel what's the difference whether the state or a boss employs me. I have no chance anyway. But that type of psychology is the product of a mixed economy, meaning a society on its way down towards a dictatorship. This is not the normal psychology of the majority of men. The majority of men, not being initiators or originators intellectually, react according to the society in which they live. If they have a chance to function at their best, they will. If not, they give up. But the fold there is in the system, not in human nature. Mr. Gandalfi. Mr. Ransons, in 1958, there were 40,000 millionaires in this country. In 1965, there are close to 100,000 millionaires. This has all happened despite a very heavy tax structure. Since the number of people who have become owners of their own business has increased so markedly, how is it that we still maintain in the popular press, and in most works, the idea that avenues open to people today no longer exist, that the idea that the time of the self-made man or the man who could rise by his own abilities is limited and has passed. This type of argument is very dangerous. Statistics never prove anything until and unless you define just exactly what you mean by a given set of statistics under what circumstance and what context was taken. For instance, the number of millionaires obviously wouldn't mean anything since to become a millionaire 20 years ago or 50 years ago took much more than it does today. Today we observe popular expressions and go into billion dollars, not million dollars, so the million dollar baby today would be kind of cheap. One would have to say you look like a billion dollars and if you notice that type of inflation is already taking place in popular expression. A million made today does not mean as much, does not require as much effort as it did years ago because the money is cheaper, will buy less, but that is not the point. The real point is this, that so long as there is an element, an element of freedom, man will rise and will succeed, but the real issue is to observe what amount of effort is required of men in proportion to what type or degree of achievement and it is unmistakably true that it is much harder today to achieve anything by individual effort as than it was, let us say, the turn of the century. A man who was then using his intelligence and ability might become a multimillionaire, let us say, today will be fortunate if he gets to open his own small business. It is true that it is much harder for men to rise today because their eyes must be measured not merely in terms of financial income, but in terms of the nature of the achievement, the nature of the independence and of the advantages that a man accomplishes, granting a certain ability and effort. Now the issue of the age of individual achievement being passed, if I understand your argument correctly, you are citing this statistic to indicate that the age of achievement is not passed, but it isn't by means of statistics that you can demonstrate it because it is true that it is harder today, but what you have to analyze is why is it harder and the difficulty does not lie in the technological development or in the spread of the complexity of scientific discovery. The difficulty lies in the growth of controls. It is hard today for an individual achievement, not because science or the development of industry makes it harder, but big government that is the growth of the powers of government, the growth of controls that makes an individual achievement today almost impossible or harder than it had been in a three-year or semi-free period of American history. The idea that science is a threat to individualism and economics has to be reputed on its own terms and it is a blatant contradiction observed in in what way. If a primitive non-industrial economy could not be run successfully by government controls and freedom was required to create an industry in the first place, to create the industrial revolution, by what reasoning would one say that a developed industry, a highly complex technological industry, must be run by slave labor. That slave labor is impractical in a pre-industrial economy, but becomes practical in a complex scientific technological economy and of course the best practical illustration of that is the failure, the abysmal failure I underscore of a country like Soviet Russia and of every type of dictatorship when they take over an industrial or semi-industrial society. After 50 years, which is half a century, Russia is still unable to feed her population. Compare that to the progress made in the same 50 years in America and in other semi-free economies. Compare the difference in the development of East Germany and West Germany since World War II and it's there that you have the evidence and the proof and the argument for the superiority of a pre-economy which is required by an industrial age more so than at any other time. Mr. Gandalfi. I wanted to illustrate by the those statistics was that many people today oppose capitalism not because of its material deficiencies but because they wanted somehow justify their own failure to live up to their own to achieve their own values and they believe that it is impossible for man to succeed today than an excuse for their own failure. Oh I see. Well this is true but what is more true is that they are afraid of the independence and the freedom that capitalism requires. What I mentioned in my opening remarks, people who do not want the responsibility of functioning independently blame capitalism and say that capitalism makes it impossible or capitalism is gone. The development of science requires that we go now to statism and therefore capitalism is obsolete. What they are really rationalizing is their own fear of independence so that is what is involved in arguments of this type. Mr. Hood. Mr. Rand we hear a shocking amount of talk these days about a guaranteed income so-called conservative economist has advocated this position a group of businessmen have advocated it and it seems to be coming from a group originating from a group called the Committee on the Triple Revolution and they claim that because of automation and computers the necessity for work and for capitalism which is a work-oriented society is becoming a thing of the past. What is the true root of these proposals? The true root of these proposals is plain vicious inexcusable ignorance. Either ignorance and or fraud and there is nothing more to be said about it because the idea that work will become unnecessary is only proof of the total ignorance of what constitutes a complex industrial economy. The idea that machines will run themselves proves that whoever has made such claims has never looked at the industry and has never done a day's work. Obviously the higher the industrial development the more complex the machine the more is required of the workers. The accusation that automation threatens incomes or will throw people out of work was made at every turning point in the history of the industrial revolution. I will just remind you of the workers who were smashing England's textile factories when they were first introduced and what has history proved that the introduction of new technology creates wider opportunities for jobs and requires a larger workforce. There will never be a time when machines will do the work of men. Those who claim it merely confess their own psychology. It may be true that machines could replace them but no one will ever invent a vicious machine of that kind. Thank you very much Ms. Rand. I'm afraid that it's all the time that we have for this evening's discussion. I'd like to thank our panelists for this evening, Arthur Gandalfi of Columbia College, Jack Unger and Howard Hood of the Columbia University School of Law. This is your host Jack Kress speaking. Good evening.


In California right now Michael Garza, so we're gonna get him on the phone real quick and then pick things up. So He's expecting Okay, well if you are a little black triangle right now, but I'm sure we can all picture you ahead So let's go ahead and get started then. All right. Thanks for joining us from afar Sure, sure. Um, so, uh, uh Maybe we'll start by um By talking a little bit about what the project is tomorrow tomorrow night. So, uh, the south Omaha stories The idea for it, uh began a couple years ago when um, one of the evening activities here was I think called the tapestries the south Omaha tapestries and um All the people at the conference were brought down to south Omaha and we watched as members of the communities shared their stories with us. So it was a mix of spoken word and um, some storytelling there was some dance there was um, uh, music Etc. And it was a it was a cool evening. Um, but the sharing was all sort of one way, right? Like we went and sort of received the stories and then um went and got a drink and and I um, and I emailed Scott and Kevin and said That was really cool. And I wonder if there's a way that we could think about um Or it also struck me that we were all going to see these tapestries there and the other the other evening events but um There wasn't much movement in the other direction right where or some where we were able to invite the community to join us in what we were doing And so I emailed them and I said, I wonder if there was a way for us to think about what it would mean to make something together Or to you know, also we've got these amazing dramatists who are converging Um and joining Omaha dramatists and could we make something together? Could we figure out a way to Bring our craft to meet their stories and Make something and so cut to This year where we decided to we the south Omaha stories this year is a collage of Of five different pieces Um written by these amazing writers Michael Garces is in California and Kia and Ruth and Scott and a guy named Virgil who's a local storyteller and We came out here in February and did some interviews with them We met them in their home and spent a few hours with them and also had an opportunity to do a follow-up meeting with them Mostly by phone And do some talking about what uh, what the piece what sort of the aesthetic Of the piece might be and uh, and then Michelle Michelle Phillips who is a local director worked with some local actors since for the last three-ish week something like that Putting the piece together, which you'll see tomorrow evening so the piece itself is this blend of Four different playwrights voices and the voices of Five Community members in Omaha So that's a little bit about the pieces and I wondered if we might start maybe by talking a little bit about what What your guys previous experience has been with Um making a community-based theater or not so much community theater right but theater that is actively trying to Partner with the community in which it's situated Um, Michael do you want to talk a little bit about Cornerstone the work that you do out there? Yeah, now we can Sorry about that I um, I run a theater company in Los Angeles. I've been here for almost 10 years now Called cornerstone theater company and we are an ensemble based company and Our focus is our mission is to create works in collaboration with uh, You know community So we will work with a given community to find sometimes by geography either a neighborhood in an urban Center or a small town, you know sort of a confined geography of some kind or determined geography Um or a community to find in other ways by faith job Sometimes issues that a particular group of people are grappling with that kind of thing And so we have a process by which we'll be in residence With the community over about a year and a half to year something like that and our playwright will Engage in various different activities one-on-one interviews Group activities that we call story circles. We have lots of exercises sort of illicit story and Conversation from people uh, and you know various other activities and uh, over time after sort of gathering Uh a critical mass hopefully of stories Uh, the player will write a play generally a fiction sometimes an adaptation of an existing text sometimes a new play Uh, that is based on those stories and the voices and the and the planks And uh, we uh Then go into the community and start uh, uh, you know Gathering people together who might be interested in auditioning in the play Being in the play and so we'll uh, then fully produce the play With a combination of a professional actor Often from our ensemble and non-professionals from the community in the full production Um, so that's that's essentially what we do. I've been doing that work for again about 10 years And prior to that I've done some community engaged work In some other contexts as well that I can talk about later. It's interesting. Great Um, and what about the uh, the rest of you guys? I mean, that's a very explicit way of engaging community in the creation of work What are the ways that you guys have created work with uh, with community in mind? Well I was thinking about the word community because I grew up in church and um I remember two things that I learned in church where um, a profit is without honor in his own country And that we should be in the world but not of it And so I grew up thinking that and and so that's a kind of circle that I was in that was sort of cloistered off into churches and And removed from the real world in a way. And so when I got out of that into the theater I think um, I discovered that there were a lot of other Circles of downtown theater new york uptown theater. Um, and then the um The world the larger world beyond america And I think I've spent the last 10 years of my work really trying to travel outside of my World because I wanted to know this world that was missing from my upbringing And I felt like I had to catch up with um This huge blind spot that I had from my childhood. So I think I was um and also just by geography I moved every three or four years up until the past Eight years. I've lived in Chicago So that's been the longest that I've ever lived anywhere. And so I'm now starting to think about my neighborhood and my apartment and my neighbors and my the two churches that are nearby that Maybe I could rehearse in in that space and and I'm putting down some roots in Chicago as I can and But I think that there are so many communities that I come in and out of that I think of as my community I think of my I think of them as sisters At da theater in in belgrade Serbia And there are people that of course I don't live with but that I have had a long standing kinship with And so um, I met them in 1996 and we are working on something new together, but we can't always Be together, you know, we're not always in the room together. So when we are We have to really have a depth of time and space that we spend And I think that's a really deep relationship that isn't contingent on geography and is often hampered by geography, but It has become a very important part of my community and I think also of my My artistic brother fred ho who has been a collaborator until he passed away last year Um, jose figaroa is another brother that now lives in minneapolis and is a martial artist Um, and I think of kia as my sister even though we're often not in the same city So I think that there is a community that That dwells in me and I am of that, but I'm not necessarily always in the room with it But I do think it's also important to do this kind of work that we're doing here, which is um, I think in my mind similar to what's called artistic exchange As you travel there are some grants that are like artistic exchange grants and I think of this project in that way Because we are sharing That our collaborators are sharing and we're trying to exchange ideas and methods and Styles and learn from each other. So you try to be as As open as possible, but you hope it's not that one way kind of street Have you guys made theater that Uh, where you have had to journey into a community that's not your own as the basis of some of the content of the work Does that make sense as a question? Written about a community that's not your own what you think of as your own community or Well, actually most of my work is not necessarily about my own community because I Every single play depending on what political issue I address could be a completely different community I've I've never done anything Exactly like this before with uh, that's sort of really interesting direct collaboration I did years ago. Uh, I did a play of mine that was already written about Women in prison and we did it a small theater in new york An off-off Broadway wanted to do it at this space the point which is a community center in the Bronx it's a very black and latino neighborhood and It was actually great. We did like three or four performances and it was completely Sold out meaning really reservation doubt because it was completely free tickets, but But it was cool because the audience all was there because They wanted to be it wasn't the subscription audience where they paid for the ticket And now they were gonna see what you know was was on the subscription, you know the the roster and so Everybody was really eager actually one of my favorite moments was There was a part where There were these these teenage boys who came a second time some of the actors were telling me about this and Because I sort of saw them in the corner But they they stood in the back because it was so packed that it was uh, I guess it was like some standing room and halfway through the halfway through the play Two of the women who were cellmates kissed And then the boys were completely satisfied. They saw that again, and then they left They didn't either see the rest of the play. They just came back to see that again but um, but uh, but that wasn't like this because it wasn't created that play was already written, but it, uh There was something about putting that there was much more of a community participation and half of the actors Uh were the I should say the principal actors were Professionals in New York and the others were of the community great and scott are what are What are the ways that you either investigate a community or invited community into Either the piece itself or the process either as an artist or in terms of your work at mcc or at the at the festival here Well, it was uh, it was really interesting for me Because you know, not only did I interview lucy and uh, you know worked on her piece But I was able to help virgil kind of dramaturg his his thing Virgil arondaris. He was a part of the uh, 2013 show that we did and he was just a really charming guy and Actually kevin suggested that we bring him on because we did want to have one actual voice from the community To represent, you know, we've got these great artists coming to visit And so we wanted an Omaha playwright, but then also someone from that community to speak in their own voice And it was great engaging with him. I basically just kind of gave him Like essay assignments and kind of asked him questions to help explore his imagination and Really see where he was coming from and things like that. I actually live in south Omaha now It's uh, I definitely call it home and it is, you know, one of the You know more diverse bustling kind of neighborhoods in town got a lot of history So I really feel a part of it that way And another thing great thing about metro is that, you know, as a community college There are a lot of non traditional students that come here with Incredible stories of their own backgrounds, you know, a lot of veterans a lot of people with second and third careers Um, and in playwriting class It's great to have them kind of Find their voice as well. And uh, that's one thing I enjoy is just like helping other people kind of facilitate Finding their voice saying what they have to say and and helping them share it in a sense So, yeah, I think that's kind of the the nature of the community work that I've Done mainly in the last last few years or so great And michael, um, I wonder if you might speak to what you think is important about this kind of work Um, what the goals are of this kind of work either for cornerstone or when you've approached this kind of work in your freelance career um, and and what you think But what's necessary about this kind of work as opposed to How we traditionally think of the way that theater approaches questions of audience Well, uh, you know, uh, you know, first of all, I'd emphasize that this work is Uh, I mean there's a long and strong tradition of this kind of work Uh Both in the united states and and also just in general making theater I mean theater is essentially people coming together to tell their stories and in various different ways and In the context of even professional American theater is a long tradition of professionals non-professionals working together So I think there are some conventions in how we think about professional professional theater That uh, uh, you know, uh, this isn't sort of in connection with something new although there's a there are new perspectives on it um, I think it's important because as Certainly as theater makers and sitting myself speaking individually I'm really I'm most excited when I make theater that feels really immediate and alive in the room and I look at, uh A strong response to the sort of aesthetic event in the audience and that there's like a high level participation in that in that in that In that interaction, so people aren't simply sitting back and looking at something Uh, but really, uh engaged with it in a strong way and I think doing work like this Uh gives you uh over maximizes some of the potential not the only way but a way to maximize that potential for immediacy um And I find that really exciting as an artist Um, I think it's also important because I mean, you know at the end of the day A lot of students are struggling with you know, diminishing audiences and trying to figure out how to remain relevant and You know, what's going to get people coming to people to come see the show and uh, the shows that they're making and I think When we talk about community engagement, we're simply talking about making work that you know, that deeply engages people That makes them want to see it that that that You know that that allows the artist to make work that is going to speak to an audience and so um I think this kind of work is one way to address This question and I think it's an exciting Uh way to do it and so that's that's Both that that's primarily what my interest is and certainly as a person and as a citizen human being it also Use your chance to sort of engage The big issues issues that are impacting a group of people in the present In the way that is deep and allows you to kind of spit outside yourself and really channel other people's perspectives as well and how for for any of you guys in terms of either this process that we engaged in or um other work that That is sort of community engaged How have you navigated or how do you navigate questions of hierarchy? And insider-ness versus outsider-ness With everything from uh, you know, theater literacy and how we're so trained to understand the work itself to The interpersonal interactions and etc I think there's a a kind of aesthetics that You can share in degrees And i'm thinking of a project seven that Was a little bit similar to how we worked on this In the sense that There were seven female playwrights and we interviewed women world leaders and wrote monologues and then Wove them into a play and it's called seven um, and I remember early on I was trying to Be really um close to the verbatim Way that ferrita azizi who was my uh interview we The way that she spoke the way that she told the stories And yet also bring my aesthetics Into this monologue I was writing and then we all seven had to you know work on it as a play and put our aesthetics together and And it was intensely challenging to Have seven aesthetics in the room and then the aesthetics of the storyteller and To remain true to the way that the story was told and an example was um that One of the very first readings we had at new dramatist one of the dramaturgs said To me, um, well, I don't really know if the taliban is good or bad. Sometimes it's good in this in this monologue And sometimes it's bad. I and I said, but i'm not changing that that's how ferrita told the story and The taliban was at times helping her bring medicine to women who couldn't have a Regular childbirth and at times threatening to kill her So I wasn't going to change that but for the sake of the dramaturgy of the Understanding of the audience. It was important to me that that stayed true to how ferrita told the story Because that was her experience and the same with the muja hadin and the story her brother Was converted to be a muja hadin and and yet later they were fighting, you know, so um, so I think it's very important politically even to be careful about your own aesthetic Dramaturgy and these kind of projects where you're working with somebody else somebody else's story and So there's a very fine line that you kind of just navigate instinctually and maybe with a lot of feedback from the person whose story it is and and uh, we We were hoping to have more feedback actually with the people that we worked with but we ran out of time and so Um, but that can still happen. You know, we can still in tomorrow night We can talk with I can talk with dorthy and see if she's got more suggestions and thoughts and that kind of thing So it's not as if it's ever over and I think of this project as the very first or not the first step but one of many steps between the hierarchies of Omaha Theater and this conference where all of us kind of parachute in and And then there are other people that are living and making work here and how can we sit down at a table together and talk together and work together and um, that's when you really start to see artistic exchange because if it's this sort of like If you can cut down on the parachuting somehow, you know and and really Talk together spend time and really listen very deeply What was your experience of of um creating trust with the interviewees Either in that face-to-face weekend or uh in the time between then and and now Well, it was uh, it was kind of interesting for me Lucy, uh, you know, she's had a really full life and uh over the course of our conversation It got very very personal um discussions with uh about her mother and father about their border crossing her hopes and dreams and things like that and She felt comfortable enough There was just like four of us there at the time and it was very conversational and Just to try to kind of maintain that there were definitely some some details that I didn't feel were necessary To share out of respect for her mother, uh, who I'm sure will be there tomorrow night But still get a sense of the struggle that she went through and the person that she became And uh, yeah, and then with uh with Virgil since he was kind of telling his own stories And these are stories that he's told a million times to a million different people And so with him it was a lot easier. Uh, he just kind of needed to open up a little bit He's kind of a shy guy not much of a public speaker unless you put him in a corner But when I talked to him about this project He said that, you know, he views things that he hasn't done as a challenge So he just really rose to it and and then when I said well, would you mind being in it too? And uh, he once again, he just stepped up to it. So Um, so that was that was just kind of my take on it There were the aspects that I was I was honored that she shared with me But I didn't necessarily feel like Omaha needed to know some of those details. I suppose I mean, I I guess, uh, I was about to say that I was very fortunate because the two love is a senior in high school She was about to graduate. Uh Admittedly, it was very talkative and so she's a great interview. But then again, I guess, uh For all of us who whoever volunteered to be a part of this project was ready to be open in some level So I guess in some ways Uh There were somebody that were there were open to be trust trusting so that so Yeah, that was helpful Um, you start you touched on this Ruth just now. I'm curious. Um, how you guys navigated The tension between wanting to be truthful to the lives that you were that you were to portray With a finding something that felt like it had dramatic conflict or You know that felt Dramaturgically like what you wanted the piece to do and also Navigating their voice, right? I wanted to be authentic to how to their voice and also creating a piece of art that feels like your voice And Michael, feel free to jump in there as well of your thoughts Well, I guess uh to start off. I mean it was really interesting when we all started seeing each other's other's pieces um, the the last few projects I've worked on have been with Uh found text basically, um a couple of years ago. I condensed some Edgar Allen Poe Uh into four 15 minute readers theater pieces. Um, and uh, then shortly after that With a a class here at school. We did kind of a bio collage theater piece about Jackson Pollock Uh, and in that I mean we even used um Bill a bill of sale became a monologue in that piece. So in that tradition I I I pretty much stuck really close to Lucy's words I just kind of created um an environment in which she could speak for herself Um and just kind of went that way and just because a lot of the the details of her life have like little moments and things So I was I I stayed pretty close to that. Luckily we had them all transcribed, which was really nice um recorded and transcribed so that was Um, just kind of my approach. I mean I was pretty faithful to that But I still feel like Since that's how I've been creating plays in the last few years It felt just like the right way for me to approach it, but it was it was fascinating to see all the different styles though, too I mean this was uh probably I would say it's my voice, but differently stylistically than I usually write. Um There plays a mind that maybe once in a while, uh Maybe once a character may come out and address the audience in rare instances. I've done that whereas this It's a lot of a direct address. She talks to the audience then she's in the scene that she talks to the audience She's in the scene and uh, so she's a storyteller and she's of the story Back and forth at the same time, which is very challenging for the actor actually, but uh, uh, so So, uh, so that stylistically was different um And I Thankfully for the uh Transcripts was I was using a lot Uh, so it could be reminded of her voice and also we had recordings so I could be reminded of that and so because uh, it was really important to me. I used her words when I could and Other times when I felt it was more efficient to uh fiddle with them. I would do that but it's It's definitely I prioritized Uh, Batula's voice over my own Yeah, I think um That prioritizing is is important in a project like this But it's also interesting as as you guys were talking. I was realizing that um When I worked with fred ho, uh, we would co-write often and um When I first started working with him, he let me write the first draft and then the second one He wrote the music first and so But in a way, um, we're always co-writing You know, we're co-writing with the audience. We're co-writing with our collaborators were even when we're just writing a play We're sort of co-writing in a way. So there are different levels of that. Um, but the um, I was thinking about how I've I've tried to kind of train myself to withhold myself and my aesthetics in teaching um, because I think it's important to enter My students work with their aesthetics and to try to read it from within their aesthetics And so there's a certain amount of denying of my aesthetics that I've worked on as an artist and it's not easy. Um, but I think that um The draft that I brought into a little writing group that I have in in chicago and uh The draft of this a draft of this piece Um, a colleague of mine at the school of the art institute is a filmmaker and he's in my writing group and And he really chastised me for my draft and I told him it's in a material stage, you know, I'm I'm still getting a sense of its own inter inner workings and everything And he said some kind of harsh criticism And it was interesting because I haven't really been getting a lot of feedback as a At this part of my career, there's not a lot of you know feedback coming at me sometimes at early on And so it was humbling and I was really mad. His name is chris sullivan.  I really respect his art So I thought about it and then I went back and rewrote it two more times and I think That it was better For me. He really was telling me to step up my aesthetics And so I did that in the second and third draft and and now I feel like I'm at a place When we go to rehearsal tonight Where I've also got to step back a little bit because we only have a certain amount of time and there are some aesthetic choices that I might change if I had time and and yet I've got to make it just I've got to step back again because it I could overstep Um my bounds of the process and the process has only like there's only so many notes You can take at a certain amount of time. And so so I stepped forward and now I'm stepping back So there's a little bit of to and fro Michael anything you want to add about navigating your voice and joe's voice or your aesthetic or artistic agenda with With the material that you had Yeah, I think the the the task the The situation because I was really complicated for a writer When I wrote the first piece that I wrote for cornerstone. I had I was lucky to Early on in that process spent some time with Austin Kerry who's one of the founders of cornerstone and writer at my own right And at one point she just looked at me and said look You have because you yourself with a sense of responsibility And to the person's story and the person's voice and honoring them and all that Which it can be a little bit paralyzing or to inhibit And she was like you got to let all that go. You just got to write your play You know, you have to trust yourself that they shared with you and And you sort of brought their expertise and their experience and their community to the table And now you have to bring your expertise to the writer to bear and your and your artistry I just write your play and So whenever I get stymied at this point, I try to come on that And and so You know that for me is challenge and I'm sorry. I'm getting an incoming call here. Am I going? And For me what I find always challenging is how to create how to how to how to find the You know how to find what makes it what makes it play essentially Because a lot of times the stories you hear are Beautiful and they're very detailed and specific, but they're unnecessarily dramatic And so for me always trying to find that advantage or where the conflict is essentially In a way that is respectful and that was that was the challenge of this piece as it often has been in the past for me Well, I'm curious if there are any questions from you guys or also to hear if any of you guys have your own experiences with creating work in collaboration with specific communities or Strategies that you guys have employed to invite community into your work either in terms of process or the product itself And once again come on down to the mic if you have it too so we can record it for howl around as well So my name is Howard Emmanuel My play Sun Dogs is going up on the main stage on Saturday morning and it's it's about a rack vets and returning to Kuwait and It based on the death of a friend in Afghanistan is what sort of sparked it and another Fellow from from my area Is is deeply in the play as well and I sort of dream of finding a Place of production for for the play where The veteran community can come in and Experience it and you know where it isn't just sort of read by a not-for-profit is great for not-for-profits are and saying You know whatever that I wrote the play as a ritual of healing Of this group of people and to then allow the theatrical experience to become that You know and and I'm sort of desperately searching for a way. So all of this is to say that I haven't created With the community. I've spoken to uh Glenn Stiverson's mom about about the play to whom it's dedicated and and you know So In that regard And that was a very fine line of what you know, she wanted What she would allow and I sort of had to step back and say okay. It's not About him. It is about the the event and and the attempt to move forward so um So so it's a difficult balance And I and I don't have an answer of how you know You sitting at home at home alone writing you can then get it to the people who you feel need to Consume That's Anyone else I would say I think communities can be initiated, you know, there there's a Guy named Navin Kishore in Calcutta who started a group called peaceworks right in 2002 right after The riots in Gujarat and he just said he felt that he couldn't go on As an artist as a hindu artist Without making this new Um community which is called peaceworks and it continues to this day So he he felt You know this burning urge to do something and to take an action and I think communities are started from those kind of Actions, you know, it's not like and sometimes they just they grow naturally out of things But I think sometimes somebody starts them and they they find their way, you know to find each other Great, right. Well, okay. Oh that one excellent. Yes Again another great topic every I feel like I'm coming with you every um every lunchtime. Um, but it all speaks to me And uh, so last year I had a play produced in la called the magnificent Dunbar hotel and it's about a a hotel that was a primary social and Place in me for music and everything in la during the 1930s and 40s and uh, it had the history of it without getting too long winded basically it had fell into uh decay and um was just renovated and Built to look like it did back in the 1930s. So part of my research in in writing this piece was I had I was looking to find people who were there During that time and I I wasn't that successful with that. Um You know so many people died, you know, it's a long time ago. I I did find a couple of people and it it was um and what was very informational but but What happened though was that When the play went up The turnout was tremendous because of what the hotel meant to the community At that time so even though a lot of the people who were there Were no longer there their descendants were still in la so the grand children and and the children came because their parents had been part of this Magnificent Dunbar hotel and and one of the most amazing things that happened for me Was during the course of the run. I think I told you about Scott. There was a woman that came She was 98 years old and She had worked at the Dunbar as a cigarette girl when she was 17 to 23 and um And and afterwards someone asked her well, what did you think did you like? It's no honey I didn't like it. I loved it and and um And she I I just wish you would have talked to me because I could have given you some more stuff You know so so, you know this whole thing about I this theater and the connection to the community I It's so important You know I was talking to someone else about this earlier today in terms of of how It resonates on levels that we we don't even get I personally think that like the lack of Having theater that is representative of what's going on political theater, whatever is is really kind of You can say it's partly responsible for the climate that we're in today You know this climate that we're in is you know if we if we had more theaters bringing people together And dealing with the issues that we're dealing with Then maybe some of these shootings and all this stuff wouldn't be happening. I that's just my belief Thank you Thanks you guys. Yeah. Um, thanks for for sharing your thoughts and you know Just one last thing closing it makes me think of the way that um You know so often. I think we've had the experience in theater Of um preaching to the choir, you know or or the theater is being made by the same people that it's being So performed for and in dialogue with and so I know for me in working on this it's been really Um, it's been really useful to think about other strategies of trying to speak to and with and make work with Other voices right different voices in my own. So thanks for that experience. Thanks you guys Thank you, Michael


Why the narcissist stopped hoovering you in most situations? The narcissist stopped hoovering you Because they found another source They found someone to take your place and this source was likely to have been around While they were devaluing you They admire this new source But they have to put you down so that they can pursue them This new source gives them admiration While you are a piece of trash That they're going to discard But before they discard you They have to ensure that this new source Is going to be susceptible to their manipulation, but they're doing this behind your back You may not be aware of it And then once they have secured the new source They will discard you But if they know that you're still interested in being with them They will mess with you This is the hoovering But you might not hear from them for the first few months They come back because they know you're still hopeful They haven't given you any closure So you're still looking for answers You're trying to fix the situation And that is when they will hoover you They will mess with your mind But if they know you've figured them out They know their scheme or deception has been revealed They know they're not going to be able to manipulate you In the same way as they did before So now they're just going to give you trouble They're just going to pull off their mask Because they know you know who they really are So there's no reason for them to hide or pretend Because they know you're just going to end up leaving them anyway Once you figure them out They will still hoover you But now it's just a test your state of mind And if they see that you have fully figured them out They will realize that they can't get anything out of you And then they will focus on someone else Because there's no reason for them to hoover you If you're not going to give them what they want When you leave the narcissist You have the power because they didn't expect you to do that They underestimated you But if you've really figured them out They know you're not going to come back Because you know they don't have any value You know they're no good for you But once you've discarded the narcissist You cannot return to them Because they're only going to break you down They want you to be weak and oppressed They want you to be so broken and confused That you can't move on or do anything with your life They want to overwhelm you with dissatisfaction So that it makes it difficult for you to recover While they move on feeling satisfied about leaving you But they will still spy on you Just to see the damage they've done Just to see if you're still suffering Because they get off in it But if you're not suffering And you're actually feeling quite positive That means they've failed in their attempts to destroy you You transmuted their negative energy Into something positive Which causes them overwhelming disappointment and embarrassment Because the best revenge is your success And when they see that despite everything they did to you You're still doing well Why would they Hoover you When you know who they are When you know everything they've done When they know you don't want anything to do with them They would be wasting their time and energy It doesn't make any sense for them To try to attract your attention or involvement again Once you've figured them out When you don't want anything to do with them When you've moved on with your life When you weren't affected by their attempts to destroy you They're not going to Hoover you now When you have the ability to direct and influence their behavior At the course of events They would be putting themselves in danger Because they need to have a position of power Your recovery and success Is like kryptonite to a narcissist They can't stand it When you're very healthy and successful And you don't allow their attempts to bring you down It causes a narcissistic injury It makes them want to avoid you When the narcissist stops Hoovering you It means you have won You have defeated the narcissist So now Their only option is to target an unsuspecting victim Someone who doesn't know what they're about Even though they may not be as great as what you were to them They know they can't be involved with you Because now you've made them ineffective The narcissist will only Hoover you If they see you as a fool If they think you're weak When they stop Hoovering you It's because they know they can't mess with you anymore So they're left with no choice but to find someone else Thank you for watching I hope this video resonate with you Like, comment, share and subscribe If you would like to donate My paypal link is in the video description Coaching queries You can email me at coaching.art5.uk Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you soon