Just let me ask, is cheating a deal breaker for you in my institution? Hells yeah, hells. Really? Nkwa mbini ya wacha tata, mbini ya tata mbini ya relationships. If I have a past, ask me. Hai. I can't talk about anything, that's just a relationship. I feel like, I feel like, honestly like, nimi fikatu le place pali, I'm just like, watch and engage Jesus Christ. Hai. Even don Nairobi ni kubaya. See Nairobi too. I feel like, I feel like right now relationships are as confused as possible.  Tangu uyesi kumili pa tata na kwa stage sikila, mumsisa wne isi kwa ke. Hai. Right? The next thing one ya later mkunam toi na boli apili. Hai. Baka tata na kuchat, aki pixi mwenye, eh mama na piga. Mama? Ntata juhi mama ya ko. Yes. When you think about relationships from that aspect that aata kubrekap daya sii kitu rai, sii kitu ngumu. He has no ties then. Oh, your dad anything then.  So, ame miti de mungini, ame move on. Akunja kwa mbe sii, mi sii dai ni. Hi ways. Mental health mazi. Mami pati anxiety. Yeah. You make me, you agree for me bad energy. Yeah. I'm not growing. I need to spread my wings. Hai. Hai. 2 kids later. You see this, you're throwing God, you use God's name in vain. And I think like that. I feel like the fabric of what is to hold society together haiko. So when that confused phase try and figure out what's next. The church and the government try and tell people let's go back. That the society, let's move forward. Yeah. So in that confusion, me say ma, I'm going to date myself. I'm going to date Jesus Christ, my lord. Hi. What's up guys? A very warm welcome to SPM Buzz. My good name is Miss Kufingi. And today I am hanging out with a star. But before guys I introduce my staff today. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Because we need you. Sindio, the content is amazing. You need to subscribe. Subscribed? Aha, subscribe. Alright. Thank you for subscribing. Now my staff for today is Super MC, Super radio presenter, Sheila Kwanbokha, popularly known as Kwanboks. Hai. Hey, on a vile u metulia, lakini stage bale. What are you always on by me? Energy, yeah. I mean, I have a lot of energy. When I'm excited about something, I will show it by being alive. When I'm not into it, you know. It shows. Yeah, it shows, yeah. Have you always been like that since growing up? Like the energy? Yes. Yes. Oh yeah. I guess I've always had like insane energy. But I think recently we discovered that my energy in the morning supersedes. Aha. Really? Yeah. Like just from waking up? Yeah. Like when I wake up in the morning, I'm just like, let's go. It doesn't, actually, you know, it's not when I'm in bed. When I'm in bed, I don't feel like that. I feel like I want to continue sleeping. Like everybody. Yes. But because I know I need to get things done. Once I hit the shower, I feel like I'm good to go.  Yes. Oh yeah. 100%. Okay. That's unlike most creatives. Yeah. All right in you. But congratulations on your new project with Meta. Thank you. So actually I don't have a project with Meta. Meta have a project and they nominated me as one of the content creators of tomorrow. Yes. And yeah, it came as a surprise but a really great surprise. What is that one thing that you put out there that you feel is what made them? You know, just consider you and with Kenna. I mean Kenya is just the two of you. Yeah. You know, the funny part is when I got the email. Yes. I mean by the time they announced, I didn't know anyone for like a month. Oh yeah, I heard. I think there was that level of me, me. Yeah. You know, out of all the people who create content, I guess I never really looked at myself as my content is this. Yes. So when they reached out to me, I think I was in like denial. Uh huh. Up until the day we did the event is when I was like, so I asked the question, I was like, guys, why did you choose me? Yes.  And they were like, you know what, this is unique. This is special and we want to highlight. And it wasn't about the numbers. It wasn't about who trends the most. Yes. It was just you as a person, as an individual of the brand. Yes. That's really nice. Yes. Now, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but you became like really popular after Big Brother. Yes. Really, yes. Big Brother, yes.  Big Brother, no. The story for Big Brother, I ended up in Big Brother because I was a reporter at K24 and then I covered post-selection violence. Oh, okay. And I felt like I didn't want to do reporting anymore. And so I quit my job. And at the time a colleague of mine had helped me register for Big Brother. I forgot about it. I did the interview and forgot about it.  And since I wasn't doing anything, I was like free rent, free food. Why not? I was like, let's do it. Yeah. So when I did it, I think in hindsight I hadn't really, I didn't know what I was going to expect. Like I didn't know that this was going to be like this huge thing and everybody in the continent is going to know you and you're not going to have any privacy. I didn't really think about that. And you know, you don't really think about stuff. When you're young you're supposed to just experience stuff. So I did that and wow. Yes. It was, the reaction after is what was shocking. And I was unprepared for it. Yeah. I read someone that you mentioned, you know you had anxiety now after. Yeah. And it was quite a hard time for you just getting into it. How were you able to now just get over it now and just decide you know what, I'm just going to live my life. So, yeah. So after the show, you know, privacy is something that I, when I hear people say, oh my God I just can't wait to be famous. I feel like you shouldn't pray for it that hard and just let it naturally come because again too much of something if you ask anybody who has fame, whatever level, you just miss being able to do the simple things like I would just want to be able to go to the shop and mind my own business, put on shorts and just whatever I want, which I do by the way.  The time it was newspapers, not even blogs, to the newspaper that has written a dirty article about you that is not even true. You never met this journalist. You don't know where they got the story from. So eventually I started to notice that I was getting social anxiety, which means I didn't like being around people and then worst still, I was now starting to get anxiety attacks and I did not, most of the time I thought I was dying. Oh wow. Yeah, so I used to end up in the hospital. Really? And then have to go to the hospital. I didn't know anything about anxiety until I started to see a psychologist who then explained to me that you're not dying, you don't have a heart condition. You just really get like in your mind. Yeah, so I've lived knowing that I do get anxiety attacks, especially when I'm like super stressed or I'm anxious or when the anxiety attacks come. But eventually I learned how to deal with it. I had to learn how to put people away. I had to learn how to, you know, separate these issues. I do what I want. I'm not going to let anybody dictate to me how to be or who to be. Yes. But it was a lot and I can bet you good money that at least 70% of your entertainers struggle with anxiety. And that's crazy because you see that's the point as the normal Kenya and rather just the normal person. We never get to know about that because they also don't show us that side. Yeah, nobody's going to come on the internet and it's going to be like, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. No, they're not going to do that. And the people out there, to be honest, even this, I'm not sharing because I want people to feel anything for me. I literally granted you this interview because you asked for it. And I don't really like doing interviews. But at the same time, you tell people what you're going through and they just use it as against you. I know how human beings behave. I've been here long enough to know just keep your private business, your private business. Yeah. But how do you actually get to that point whereby you decide, now I'm doing me, what the society rather, what the people are saying doesn't really matter. How do you get to that point as a person? Yeah. I mean, it's a difficult decision. Well, it's not really difficult.  I've never been, I know this guy sound great because I was in a reality show, but my personal life, like even on the reality show, I never used to share my personal life, like people don't know what my parents do or who my sister is. Yeah. It's just my current experience, right? So, I feel like fame, depending on how you consume, if you're a kind of person who's selling your personal life, I don't even know. You're in for it. I pray for you. Yeah. Every day because she had. That's a lot. Yeah. But I want to only put out my skill. Yeah. So, if I'm emceeing or I'm doing a podcast or I'm showcasing my skill. Yes. Then I need media. But if I'm not showcasing my skill, I must private as possible. Yeah. Yeah. Because this, I can't just betray you guys.  I bought a new car. That's none of your business. That's none of your business. Yeah. Okay. Now, of course, you know, Kwanbox, you've been in the media for a very long time. You've been on radio. Well. I mean, you know, for a very long time. And then now this box pod. Yeah.   Well, insightful conversations also, but I'm not afraid of money. Okay. So, by the way, thank you for asking about box pod as you can see, we're in our space. We set up a year ago and if you've watched on our YouTube show, you can subscribe to my channel. Yes. It's Kwanbox TV. So I've always had this vision to have a production house that just brings different talents together to just basically, especially young talent. I love working with young people. Young people, yeah. It keeps me energized and at the same time you want to share all the experiences that you've learned. I don't want you to have to go through what I went through for you to be able to shine. If there's a few things I can be able to show you or tell you, 100% I'm going to share. So that's been always my mantra with industry nights which has been running for the past eight years where we've been working with artists or to campus tours that I do, like Kapao. Nia Kapao, yes. Or when we're working with teens, like now we're working with teens and pre-teens and just showing them that as a bash sila zimeku na pombe. Because some of these people are graduating into campus and they are, you know, so that's what I love to do. Now with BoxPod I wanted a space where we can be able to bring all these young people to showcase their skills. And me, I know what kind of entertainment or what kind of content I want to put out but I'm not the only one who puts out content. And there's another guy who's sitting at a room who's just saying, I just need an opportunity. And we want to be able to sit down with this person and create the content and then be able to monetize it. So that's why we set up BoxPod Studios. So it's going on very well. I mean, we can see it online. Guys, make sure you subscribe. Very interesting conversations. You will have a lot to see. And that's just the first show, by the way. We've got more shows coming up with different types of content. You're going to be seeing new faces. So very, very exciting. Now that you've done this for that long time, you're getting into new ventures. What are those two lessons that you feel have come a long way for you? Consistency is key and patience. Okay. In fact, those are the two mantras. I believe when you're younger, there's something called youthful exuberance. And especially now, I see it a lot where someone is like, how can I open my own studio? Yes. And living in your parent's house, you've not even learnt how to move out. So even if I give you the step by step, you're not yet grown enough to get into those shoes. But most people don't want to start from scratch. You just want to I tried this thing for one month but it's not working. So that's youthful exuberance. Patience is something you grow into and I'm still growing into it. I'm still learning from experience that someone will tell you they'll pay you in a month's time and they might end up paying you six months later. And you just have to not be like, that guy niki patanana ya kwa still takini ya zampigat. Onu jo how many times I've said that. But then we have a whole show coming up of my personal experiences and how many times I've been played out here of people telling you they'll pay you stress letter at the centre but after a while of doing this you know how to mitigate yourself you know not to wait for this payment for like one month there's a possibility it could be paid even a year from now. Am I going to get stressed the whole time so no so patience and consistency. There's nothing you're ever going to build and it's just a even a cake. You know it needs patience. It does. There's a part where you're needing and you finish needing you can just take it and put it in the oven for a few minutes I love for a few minutes in the kabondia oxides do you talk or whatever guys are having baked and then after that put spices do you need any put it in the oven shape it sit there wait for it to cook so patience is important now if you're going to be patient to the cake surely even online I see guys struggling to build the numbers on the place follow me what am I following what are you giving me so eventually even when you have the audience like how Jeff Kiria content with Kiria 2 numbers you guys come you guys come listen then we're listening there's nothing to give babies for content right exactly so I think those for me are the two mantras and I actually feel like you know the generations especially they don't have that patience one month on mimi nimi shindwa mbona sjuya 99 but I mean there's a lot of that that has been put in there I mean generation Z take note of this you know from someone who has been doing it for a while to be honest I'm still in Gen Z thank you so much and also and also this is I'd love to say this I don't think there's one way and this is really messed up English saying which is there's many ways to skin a cut I think you can understand just how messed up that phrase is on a realistic level but let's use the phrase as it is there's many ways to skin a cut what that means is that there's many ways to do something so this has worked for me it doesn't mean it should work for you and I can't prescribe or say you guys Gen Z ABCDE for example I was having a conversation with someone the other day they were saying you know Gen Z are lazy and I said are they lazy or are they efficient with their time see in other generations for Gen Z the idea was hard work is I know every single hour of your day must be utility grinding and Gen Z is looking and saying I could spend one hour doing that then I could spend another hour doing so if this person can be able to do that whole task within one hour right are they lazy that they are spending the rest of the seven hours playing video games no or they'd rather utilize that time having human connections so that is important to say that everybody there's different ways to do something but with freedom comes great responsibility so because you are efficient right then be result oriented yeah right so just because you know you're supposed to be at an office somewhere and you say you can do that task in one hour it's not about the task it's the result so some people just want to show I showed them I was there for an hour don't be that guy just be the guy for results did I make it happen and if you can be able to do it in 10 seconds imagine but just be result oriented you must see it that you get it to the end yeah enough that you hear is that something you'd probably want to tell your 20-year-old and what's that be patient just be consistent well I've always been consistent I'll get it done I'll not quit on myself but patients I would have saved myself a whole lot of time if I was just patient I would have spent less time worrying is this thing and even till today is something that's why I said it's a practice patients I don't think I think you grow into it slowly slowly you know but it just becomes typical easy take it easy and I think what I tell my 20-year-old now is don't be stagnant don't be I think your 20s are for exploration yeah find out what's happening in Tanzania find out what's happening in Bujumbura it's a bus bus drive away to make a tour but to me it's like I'm going to die it's like I'm going to die it's like I'm going to die and I'm going to die yeah so explore like go to Bujumbura find a contact nowadays on social media you can connect to so many like minded people you're a photographer yeah but in the bus you end up taking pictures of Bujumbura and then meet that guy there I don't know where I'm using Bujumbura and that's hard to say let me say waga dugu that's even worse go there you know learn a language enjoy some food on the street open your mind and I think Kenya right now needs a lot of open minded people sitting in this crab bowl you find we have crab mentality we crab in a bowl mentality which is the crab that is trying to go out you're trying to pull it down because you have a scarcity mentality and there's enough for everybody the problem is you're just fishing in a place where everybody is fishing right or the person you're trying to sell to atahia ane ane akone yu tilapia you know atahia nifisha man so wuna se mimi wama zi mo kenya waa to support wuna wu na wu zia fisha man samaki you know so yeah if you're in your 20s right now I want you to pack a bag and say I'm going to this destination you know and make it happen and go and it shows that kuna yambiha kama kukus na yambiha kukus na ume ume ume ume ume ume ume umo moka ino tina ni scarcity mentality kumoka kutravelsi ki tu ina need do ina need wuki kuna vision kuna ki tu ini wa nta kufa ina you gonna make it happen but if all you're thinking about na maze nana do niki kuna ki sumbili maze nina yi bagia jaba yafi nina kisha ada Tenbo ni kufiti But the you will only travel inside your mind Nya I wish us growing up at the time We had like such platforms you could watch such things people you know, just advising us and telling us how to go about it It was so scarce No it was called books guys you read books You just read books The first traveling I ever did I was, I had traveled to Sydney Australia just really shantaram I traveled to India If you read Shantaram, the first couple of chapters when he describes landing in India I haven't been to India until today, one of my very good friends just travelled and I was telling her Tell me the sets and sounds and she's like it's exactly like Shantaram So if you want to open your mind that you don't have the money, just read books Read, not tweets, books Yes, for sure Now, let's talk about you Let me ask, is a cheat in a deal breaker for you? Hells Really? I feel like I'm in a relationship, I feel like I'm in a past relationship I can't talk about anything, I feel like that's a relationship I feel like, honestly, I'm in a place where I'm just like, what's your name, Jesus Christ? Even don't Nairobi have a problem, that is how I feel like right now relationships are as confused as possible Right, so when you're in a relationship, you have to have a good relationship When you promise to be a baby Exactly Now, you can create up your name but you don't know the baby You can have a wedding at your sister's You can have a wedding at your sister's You can have a Christmas night at your sister's You can have a nice marriage at your sister's You know there's so much ties That's the truth You can't be together at the stage, you can't be together We're friends 3 months later, you guys now are in a real relationship Tungu yosu kumilipata na kwa stage sikila, mumsasa wne ishiku ake The next thing, one year later, konam toi na boli apili Bakata na kutia, aki piksimu, mama na piga Mama, na tadri mama ya ko So when you think about the relationships from that aspect Ata ku break up, see kitu rai, see kitu ngumu He has no ties, he doesn't know your dad anything Your brother na monangai lesi kumodyam na watchbol Muli watchbol yuku esto, evil too So ame miti de mwingini, ame move on Akunja kwa mbea, see msi dai ni Mental health mazi, unami pati anxiety You make me, you bring it for me bad energy I'm not growing, I need to spread my wings Kai, 2 kids later You see this, you're throwing God's name in vain I have to live So ame kwa cha apu Sosa wne na kwa mbe mama ko nini Unamo bian tu shikili awa toto chande nitaftibwana So when I think like that I feel like the fabric of what is to hold society together haiko So when that confused space trying to figure out what's next The church and the government here try and tell people Let's go back, that the society is like let's move forward So in that confusion nimesema I'm going to date myself I'm going to date for Jesus Christ, my Lord, God bless me So sir, what do you think we should now do Because the society wants to move forward The church wants us to remain there But it's sort of impossible Nimi nimesema Relationship in St. Paul told the church He said marriage is not a mass But it is good So wneza changua na wneza decide So nimi nime decide wa chatu nifanyu watu zingine Iko tu sawapia na jua So that's why I don't like talking about relationships Because I'm like I don't have a positive peace to see It's okay because there are people who are in the same situation as you Maybe next week you might find Na jua ii dunia na kwa crazy Next week wneza patapia nimesema Oh my God Oh my God Now these are beautiful Never say never For sure Now Kwanboks because you deal with the youths and these young kids a lot Mental health issues like you just mentioned Is quite on the rise Especially for men I feel like we really do not talk about men a lot I mean talking about men Sorry? I mean talking about men Yes What is it Something that you'd like to tell a man That is just going through it all And they're not even able to speak up Because they've just been told Kwa ma na ume What should you do like to tell that man Kuna mege ni mudadyo mochachi Yes This is what I tell any human being Right You know The one thing you know for a fact is like The one thing a human being who came here Kwa ii dunia wna jwa ni tadini Nia You need fact Yata kifanya ni nima backflip Sapa suju me umoka wna sota The one thing all of you have in common ground ni tadini One Namba two wne wlinge ii wwal Datakamu li kwa triplets Muli nge one by one Nataka wuna penda na namtua ko keyaji Yata muzikwe pamoja kudedi ni Atakamu tashutiwa pamoja na bulet moja Ibtik utrata iita kwa moja moja Right What I'm trying to say is that Even if we love you as much as possible And we do an amazing thing Like you save the world and you create You figure out world hunger Mias And we create a statue for you And the sky just painted your name Trust me, after five days, ja kusaho We think of self-fast everything else. I like the Bible and it says love your neighbor the way you love yourself. So what would they say? I'd say you have to fast love yourself. I don't think you can love anybody if you don't love yourself. So even that man who's been told. I mean man, who's telling you, you're the one who says man.  How can someone create rules for you? The one who create rules that make your existence and the people that you're leading are beautiful existence. If you're letting the next person tell you, you're supposed to be like this, you're supposed to be like that, you're supposed to be like that, then there's going to be a problem. So if you're feeling that the shoe you are wearing is tight, listen to the foot, it's telling you you need another shoe. You need to fit, you need to. I was itemena kiatwenye na kufinya. So I can't tell you man or woman or child be like this, but I can tell you fight for yourself. Fight for yourself. Like I fight for myself every day, every day. Yes, I love so many people and I support them and I'm like, I think I try to be a good sibling, I try to be a good sister. I try to be a good colleague. But yo, I cannot love you more than I love myself. So I try as much as possible to fight for myself. So I'd urge everybody fight for yourself and see how better you would be to other people. For sure. Thank you Kwanbox. Sita and Iliut, sita se macho chote, that was really good. I don't know, I feel like we don't really get to see this side of you so many times. I feel like, hey, ma wizdo mume rusha rusha. Sasa nini nadiwa nani asiki zangisho yangu, kusabu mimi nakuwa nga tu wizdo. I don't know what a niliutwa wizdo miti. In wizdo mili kwenu jatia. Thank you so much Kwanbox. Thanks Miskitinji. And hey, before, relax. Now it's my time to take over. So Miskitinji. Yes. Tell us a bit about yourself. Oh come on. The table's time. What I'm trying to say. SPM buzz muna fana kazi fitisana by the way we see you. And I think come on and watch SPM buzz. You know what it is. Shout out to the team that does it. And it's no plaga ojani lipa. Namesi apabe ni promistisha to SPM buzz. So please, play along. But for real though, muna fana kazi fitisana. And you should be proud of yourselves. I like that the team is young. I like that you're vibrant.  And keep at it. Thank you Kwanbox. Asante sana. All right. Shokran. Hey, I'll judge you are COVID. Eh? Apana. Okay. All right guys. That was Sheila Kwanbox. Thank you so much for watching. Make sure you leave a comment down below. What is it that you've picked from this interview? I'm sure there's something. Tell us no down below on the comment section. Thank you so much for watching buzz with stars. My name is Miski Pinji. Until next time, it's goodbye.


What's better one take down here back with another video today? I am super excited because I'm going to be doing another taste test. As you guys might know, I really love spicy foods. It's my favorite thing. If I have anything spicy, I am beyond happy. So today I am happy because I'm going to be doing a taste test on McDonald's new spicy McChickens. They are limited time and today I got the ghost pepper McChicken. That is the spiciest of the three. There is jalapeno, habanero, and then the ghost pepper McChicken. I was going to do all three in this video, but the only one that I have yet to try is the ghost pepper. I have already tried the jalapeno. It was really good. It was really tasty. And I have tried the habanero, which was a step up in heat from the jalapeno, but it was still pretty tasty, a little bit spicier, but not overwhelming. It still had the McChicken flavor and it didn't overpower the McChicken at all. But this one here being ghost pepper. I have never had anything ghost pepper habanero, I believe is the spiciest pepper that I have had. So I'm happy that I finally get to try something that is ghost pepper. I may regret it later, but right now I'm super excited to try this. The spicy McChickens right now are over here in Canada. I'm not sure if you guys have them in the US, but but the jalapeno one came out January 29th. The habanero one came out February 11th and the ghost pepper just came out February 26th. And you can get them from now until March 11th. You can get all three right now. You can go and try them for yourself, but let me give you guys a close up really quick. So this is the spicy McChicken, the ghost pepper. I'm super excited. The sauce is red. I'm really scared of this. It looks like it's going to be hot and it smells super spicy, but let's give this a quick little try here. I, holy crap, I got iced tea with it.  That is way spicier than anything I've ever tried and I only had one bite. I only taste the heat. My mouth is still on fire. I thought this was going to be a piece of cake for me since I love spicy foods. Holy crap, I was not expecting this. I will say as somebody that loves spicy food, I still enjoy this and I definitely would order it again because I really love it. I just wasn't expecting of how quick of impact it was. The habanero, it took a couple bites for it to really kick in. This one right here, one bite in and my mouth's on fire. Since I had my iced tea, it is a little bit cooler now. Definitely not like it was, but the back of my throat is burning right now. It's, I can still just keep coughing. And usually whenever I have something spicy, I don't typically cough, but this made me start coughing instantly. This is insane. So I'm going to go in for a second bite to see maybe it's mellowed out now. Let's give it a try here. There it is. It doesn't seem like I'm going to start coughing again. That was, I guess my first reaction when I tried it. My tongue right now is on fire. Second bite, you do taste more of the chicken. There was a lot of sauce on that second bite, by the way, just as much as the first bite. But you do taste the McChicken, the chicken, the bread, you do get all of that flavor. And then the heat hits you. My tongue was scorching since I've been talking since I took the second bite. It's kind of mellowed out now. And it didn't take a sip of a drink or anything, but definitely the first bite is the worst one. But after that, it's really of an enjoyable experience. At least for me, somebody that likes spicy stuff. I would definitely order this again. I'll get you to look at the cross section there. All of that orange is not cheese. That is sauce all on the lettuce and then the chicken and the bread there. That's all ghost pepper sauce. So for this here, honestly, since I love spicy snacks, spicy foods, anything with spice, hot sauce, stuff like that. I freaking love. I'm going to rate this out of 10. I'm going to give it literally a 10 out of 10. If you love spicy foods and this is in your area, like I said, I know for sure it's in Canada. McDonald's Canada is the one that released it. I don't know if you can get it in the United States or anywhere else in the world that has McDonald's. I'm not 100% sure you'll have to check with them. But definitely if you love spicy foods, go ahead and give this a try. Honestly, I would start off with the jalapeno one because it's more of a tastier experience. Then if you want more heat, habanero does give a little bit more of a spicy kick, but it's still all pretty tasty and this one here is really powerful. My favorite one I would say would still be jalapeno just because it's a little bit of a spice, but nothing that overwhelms the burger. This one here almost overwhelms it because I love spicy foods. I think this is amazing. So comment down below what you guys think. Is this in your area?  If it was or have you already tried it? Let me know down below. I am going to leave this video here.  I'm super excited. Hopefully McDonald's does some more things like this limited time stuff in the future. So that way I might be able to go and try them as well. But something tells me they're not going to do everything spice because they just released three spicy chickens and I might do another taste test video in the future with McDonald's. If they have anything new that is really exciting and draws my attention like something spicy did. But I'll see you guys in the next video. Please take care. Peace.


A banshee is a mythical Irish spirit or fairy whose eerie scream is believed to be a warning of imminent death. The high-pitched wailing of a banshee is so piercing it sends a shiver down your spine. A sound like nothing you've ever heard before but once you do you'll never forget it. The banshee is one of Ireland's most famous myths and one of my favourites with fairy forts coming a close second. The banshee is depicted as a female spirit with long flowing hair and clothing. She floats through the rolling hills of Ireland watching, waiting. Some see the banshee as a villain using her wailing and screaming as a torture while others view her wailing as a grief mourning with the family before the death of a loved one. The banshee goes by many names such as the weeping woman, the lady in white, the lady of sorrow. Other cultures have similar spirits. For instance, La Llorona in Mexico who's depicted in a very similar way. However, the banshee serves a very different purpose in Ireland. Some say the banshee is an angel of death. It is said that if a person lived a life of cruelty their soul would remain close to earth suffering in penance. The banshee would be the one to hold them. This gives the idea that the banshee is something to be feared but one thing to note if you live a life of kindness then your soul will dwell in peace. The banshee would care for souls of the good and the bad dealing out a fair treatment to both. There are other stories of the banshee. If you comb your hair at midnight on Halloween the banshee will appear and reach for your comb. In other cultures looking into the mirror at midnight on Halloween will show you your future. There's also a superstition that finding a comb on the ground and picking it up would bring you bad luck or is a bad omen especially if the teeth of the comb are broken. It is believed that the banshee placed it there to lure people away or if you took it that she would come and find you to get it back. I recently shared my own banshee story in a comment section of Stephanie Harlow's video on the horrors of Leap Castle, a castle in Ireland that's soaked in history but I wanted to share it with you in a little bit more detail. Firstly it's important to know that the banshee is connected to certain old Irish families, one of which I am part of. This makes this story all the more real for me. When I was younger I went to visit my grandmother. I knocked on the door and she didn't answer but I could hear her talking on the phone to somebody. I was just going to wait for her to open the door after her phone call but I noticed that the dog was in the garden which meant that the back door was open. As I walked down the side of the house I was suddenly hit with the most awful sound and it stopped me in my tracks. It was like a siren. It sounded both far away like a gust of howling wind but also so close as if somebody was screaming in my ear. I remember covering my ears and turning around expecting to see someone. No one was there. I wondered if it was an animal, perhaps a fox or a cat but my grandmother's dog was just lying, sunbathing, unbothered by the sound as if there was no sound at all and I held my hands over my ears until the sound stopped. A little shaken I continued to the back door of the house entering the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table. I told her that I had knocked on the front door and I was about to tell her what I had heard when my grandmother entered the room. She apologized for not answering the door to me. She was on the phone because a relative was gravely ill. It was a relative that I didn't know but upon hearing their last name I started to make some connections. Maybe the sound that I had heard had meant more than I had thought. My mother asked if I was all right because I must have gone white. I decided not to tell her or my grandmother what I had heard. It felt inappropriate though this family member was very old it didn't feel right to share what I had heard. I think I lied and said I was just a bit tired. Then the phone rang again. The relative had passed away. I didn't tell anybody about this for many years but I still remember that awful sound. Many times after that I would walk to the side of my grandmother's house trying to find an explanation for that sound. Wondering if anybody else might have heard it I found no explanation. If I did hear the banshee I will never forget it and I hope I don't hear it ever again. Though I do believe if the banshee is real she's nothing to fear.  The origins of the banshee is said to be connected to the Irish tradition of Keening, a vocal lament done at funerals where women would sing a sad and lonely song that would carry through the air a way to carry the message of mourning while honoring the dead allowing their soul to be freed. We also have a snack called Banshee Bones here in Ireland which is a salt and vinegar flavored crisps and is actually one of my favorite snacks of all time. Great to hand out a Halloween and Halloween or All Hallows Eve comes from an ancient Celtic festival which predates Christianity. Legend says that the spiritual world becomes visible to humans at this time and that the spirits of the dead mingle with the living. If you have any traditions or stories to share I would love to read them but as always my friends be kind to yourself, be kind to others and may the banshee protect your soul and I will see you in the next one.


What's up everyone it's your girl Kenzie here from Layton Sports Cards and I'm ripping two personals here for Kyle and we've got a 2022 Bowen Inception baseball hobby as well as a 2022 Tops Allen and Ginter Chrome baseball hobby. Alrighty good luck Kyle we're gonna start with the Allen and Ginter. See an auto that'd be something that would be something. Alright here we go good luck. Springer we've got green Max Muncie Dodgers that is 44 of 99 mini of Nicoladolo bless you. Okay so we've got a Campanella mini Rivera and Ramirez Suensky mini of Around the Horn Moncada and Dawson, Stanton, Molina. We've got a Jimenez mini, Jacob de Grom, Larkin, a Duplis refractor, mini of Charlie Blackman, Tony Gwynne. See an auto that would be crazy. Vado we've got mini Hawaii Volcanoes National Park that's a cool one. Nice and Tatis. Ruhon we've got Hey Riggle on the Fuchsia. This dude is so funny. 91 of 199 Mike Piazza mini. Here I am. JT we've got a Seaver refractor mini rookie of Seya Suzuki. Nice and Gore Crawford refractor of Calriff in Jr. We've got mini Yellowstone National Park. Winder rookie. We've got a Wander rookie base. Nice. Nice Wander. We've got Gold rookie of Arias for the Guardians. Nice one there. That one is 41 of 50 Gabriel Arias. Mini of Clayton Kershaw. We've got Robin Yelp mini, Hamilton, Zardo Cindergarten refractor, mini of Golden Sombrero and mini of Adobe, Munson, Hanson India. Oh wow. We've got two green minis, a Reynolds and a Hannager. Nice. These are both out of 99. Brian Reynolds, 31 of 99. And we've got the Mitch Hannager green out of 99. 53 of 99 on that one. Kronoworth. Tien we've got a Canarko mini, Lewis and LaMagu. Has blue rookie of Nicoladolo for the Reds. That one is 95 of 150. And nice one here. A mini Wander franco rookie. Nice Wander. Poppy, Griffey Jr. Robinson refractor, mini of Nair of Veerling. Last pack. Then we'll get into your Inception. Stio, Bench refractor, mini of Voyeurs National Park and Matthews. All right, not bad. Some nice color coming out of that box for sure. You got a gold, green, blue, some mini greens. Nice Wander mini. Here we go. Bowman Inception time. Good luck. See a foil fractor. Here we go. Jordan Veiers, Philly's. A Yendri Rojas for the potteries. Yendri Mendez, Brewer's. And a Daniel Vasquez, Royals. And our hits. We've got 75 of 75 bookend of Martin Jimenez. Blue Jays. Blue Jays hit there. First Ottawa for the Royals. 215 of 399. Carter Jensen, Royals.  We've got Blue Foil 8 of 99. Hedbert Perez for the Brew Crew. Hedbert Perez. Alrighty, some nice baseball boxes there. Congrats again on those hits, Kyle. Thanks so much for your patience over hopping in and we will get these right out to you.


All right, I am going to go ahead and call us to order. Welcome, Dr. Shabazz. Thank you for joining. And I am calling to order the August 28th meeting of the African Heritage Reparation Assembly at 2.04 PM with the extension of chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. The meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. This meeting, as Jennifer said, is being recorded. I'm going to do a quick sound check, and then I'm also going to check in with Jennifer. What we have here on the agenda in terms of approving these minutes, which were also on the agenda last week and we did not approve, are they already still to go? Is that still the right dates? You're muted, Jennifer. It's only been like four years now. 731 through 821 are new, and you guys haven't received those, but you can approve the 64, 611, and 612, 710 meeting. Then it's that we're in the back end. Great, OK. So let me make sure everyone can hear and be heard. I'm going to start with you, Hala. There you can hear me. Excellent, yes, thank you. And Dr. Rhodes. I can hear you, and I hope you can hear me. Yes, very well. And Dr. Chavaz. Yes, I'm here, and I will establish my video connection when it's finished. No problem, no worries at all. OK, and we can hear you. So I'm going to put a motion on the floor before we go to our first period of public comment to approve minutes. The motion is to approve the June 4, 2023, June 11, 2023, June 12, 2023, and the July 10, 2023. Is there a second? Second. OK, Dr. Rhodes seconds. Any discussion? OK, so I'm going to do a roll call vote, and I'll start with you, Dr. Rhodes. All right. Hala. Aye. I'm an aye, and Dr. Chavaz. Yes. OK, thank you. So those minutes have been approved. Just so we have for the record here, Ms. Bridges and Yvonne and Alexis are unable to join us today. So I'm going to go ahead and call our first period of public comment. And if you would like to make public comment, please use the raise hand function, and I will read our statement. During the public comment period, the chair will recognize members of the public. When called on, please identify yourself by stating your name, pronouns, and address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of a chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. We will not engage in a dialogue, but we will be listening closely. So I'll just wait a second. OK. So I'm not seeing any hands right now, but we will come back for our second period of public comment later. OK. Woo. Breath. So today we have some very important matters to discuss. So I'm glad we were able to get to a quorum here. The first thing that I wanted to go over with you all is the timeline. Given where we're at in our process and when we're expected to publish and present on our report, I put together a timeline that I would like everyone to take a look at, and I'm going to share my screen in a second to do that. And then beyond that, we have the discussion of our recommendation on the fund. And Irvin and I had a very productive meeting this morning with Paul Backelman and with the chair of the finance committee as well as the town council president. And that was very helpful. And so we'll talk with you about that.  So that's something that we have a template for, but we haven't really filled in the blanks. We haven't really deliberated on that very heavily. And based on the timeline that I put out for you now, we can decide how we want to approach that. We also have one outstanding recommendation that I wanted to make sure we concluded today, which is in relation to health. We began that discussion last meeting. And I just wanted to make sure that we have a solid understanding on that. And so we'll move into some of these other. There's other kind of little pieces such as I'd like to get your permission to share the report with select folks for some feedback so that we can incorporate any sort of high level feedback that we might get from some folks. And I'll explain more about that. OK, so let's start with any questions on any of that. That was a mouthful. All right, so I'm going to just share my screen. I think I should have the ability to do that. Looks like I do. And let me make sure what I do with it. Oh, here it is. OK. All right. Oh, no, that's not it. Hang on. Oh, there we go. All right. OK, here we go. All right. So let's start here at the top. And already you'll see in this timeline that one of the pieces of the timeline didn't happen yet. And there's a good reason for that. So I was hoping to circulate the draft, the current draft to you all on Saturday. But given circumstances of having this meeting this morning, I decided that it would be best for Matia to incorporate whatever our recommendation is going to be there, as well as continue to incorporate some of the other pieces and then to circulate the draft. So our goal is to come out of this meeting to get the rest of the recommendations in order and then circulate the draft to you all this evening. So you can just assume that. So here we on today, I had the 10 a.m. meeting. We've already spoken about that. We have the word says MK edits. This means that it's sort of going into the process with Matia and we're editing based on what we've discussed and deliberated upon. So we have our 2 p.m. meeting. I'm just going to move through this pretty quickly. The most important thing that we need to think about is the next few days. Matia is going to be unplugging starting in the afternoon of August 31st for some personal matters. And so we'll be available again on the 5th. So let me just stop the share quickly to say that in the meeting this morning, Lynn expressed that given what we have going on in the community right now, particularly the resignations on the school committee and having to have special meetings and provide additional agenda items for that. She is asking for our flexibility in the case that we may need to present our findings on October 2nd as opposed to September 18th. And I just wanted to put that out there to the committee. I think that she would make it happen for us on September 18th if she could, but it will be sort of a full agenda as I understand it. It's also the night that we have the public forum on the master plan. So October 2nd would be the next meeting and that does not mean that we can't finish our work before then, but it just means that we have to decide on when we would like to have it published. And then if October 2nd is the date, that's the date. So any objections or concerns or considerations that we should be thinking about with respect to that? Michelle, what is your inclination? I hear what Council Member Grismar is saying. It sounds eminently wise to me and also the logistics of what else is on tap for that September meeting, but what is your own recommendation? My recommendation is that we stay the course in terms of our work because there are members that are already sort of like unable to continue to attend because we're beyond the timeline that we had discussed like Yvonne sort of struggling to fit things in. So I think this is great in the sense that it gives us a little extra cushion, but we should still stick to a timeline here and so that we can sort of finalize our piece of things. Does that make sense, Dr. Schwarz? So just understanding. So stick with the timeline we're pushing for, but at this point going ahead and accepting the October date that's been proffered. Yes, if Lynn responds to me and says, hey, you know what? Yeah, I think we need to do this October 7th. I'm not gonna, I don't think we should make an issue at all of that. I think we should go with that and certainly respect there's a lot going on right now. Does that work okay for you, Dr. Schwarz and others? Just speaking for myself, I think it works fine. One of the things we talked about was the opportunity to have more of the university and college community present when the meetings would happen, presenting the report to the community. And I think this actually works better because it gives us a little more time to begin to notify members of the campus community and get them tuned in than if we proceeded with that September date. Folks will have only been back about a week by that September date and we'd really have to ramp up to begin to even kind of, and we'd be letting people know in the midst of all the noise of the start of the new semester. So I think for those reasons that we previously discussed, I think going with the date certain there in October is perhaps even better for those purposes. Those are great points, absolutely. And I guess I would just be curious what the committee feels about how in advance of the presentation to the town council, do we want to publish the report itself? So we can think about that. I always intended to publish at least five days prior to that meeting because we want to give the council and the public an opportunity to look at it before we present, especially if we may or may not have a specific period of public comment. If Lynn is open to that and we want that, we may be able to incorporate that into the agenda as well so that folks who would like to speak. So in that case, getting it out there before that meeting might be is a good opportunity to allow for that to happen. Any other comments or questions about that piece of things? Just a quick comment on that last piece. One thing that might be good to go out even prior to the five days that you're talking about which would probably be like September 30th or 31st as if we had coherent around the executive summary part a little sooner, we could perhaps go ahead and release the executive summary and noting that our larger report will be coming out at the time of the scheduled meeting. That's an interesting thought and that's actually I'm really glad that you brought that up Dr. Shabazz. Matia and I have been discussing the executive summary quite a bit and it was on my notes to discuss that with you all. So let me just do that now while we're on that topic. So I have been thinking, I've looked at a lot of different reports and trying to understand really what the purpose of an executive summary is. And oftentimes an executive summary is just, it's for that. That's for like executives or sort of like in this case, the council to have a high level view of what's in the report. And I have sort of a gut feeling really that we may be better just to not have an executive summary at all and really create a circumstance in which people if they want to know what it is that we're recommending and what our findings are that they will have to read the report. So I'm curious what other, I think that it's been a very traditional method to use an executive summary in reports and I understand why it's done but I'm not necessarily tied to having one. And so I'm curious what other folks feel about that. Dr. Shabazz. So, you know, we could even by my standpoint just kind of throw out the language of executive summary. What I really have in mind is a message that digest what is the, you know, what to expect in the report. And so for example, that can be said, Dr. Rhodes once commented that I speak in paragraphs. So, you know, that can be digested into one paragraph that what is forthcoming is a 1000 page report that will, well, inclusive of the appendices but is a 1000 page report that addresses the charge of the AHRA in terms of recommendations of an ongoing or successor structure, the financing of a local reparation program relative to the $2 million fund previously created by the council as well as other comments on financing and a compendium of the recommendations and points raised about the harms that a reparations program should address that we heard and have discussed and analyzed after X number of community listing sessions, a robust community survey process involving so many respondents, you know, work done nationally with leading reparations organizations and even internationally to consult for best practices and ideas, boom, that's the paragraph. You know, so it's just basically, you know, digesting what's coming, why you want to read it and what are some of the ways in which it will be speaking to our charge. So that may not be the traditional executive summary idea but that's really what I have in mind that could perhaps be released in advance. Excellent, okay, that's really, really great. Would anybody like to add to that or comment on that? I think that's a really excellent suggestion, Dr. Schbaas. Okay, great, so let's go with that. And so now that we've moved from this agenda item of talking about the timeline, let's continue on. I'd like to share first, what has been added to this draft that you will receive or will be added to this draft that you will receive this evening. So based on our discussion today, we will firm up the funding recommendation. We've also worked on the concentric circles recommendation to incorporate the conversations that we've had about eligibility. And then I have added an additional recommendation that I wanted to just quickly get feedback on here. It occurred to me that we did not have a recommendation in the report regarding continued education to mostly the non-black community regarding the importance of reparations. This is really integral because in order to sustain support for reparations and Amherst, as well as to develop support, we need to be cognizant that education is a critical element there. So the Stolen Beam series, which many folks have either participated in or are aware of is what I wanted us to consider recommending, not exclusively, but that it be used as an example. And the question I had for the committee was initially I had thought that any, the Stolen Beam series is free, but any sort of resources that would be committed, say toward marketing that series, I thought initially, okay, we have the reparations fund to cover that, but then I thought would it make more sense for the recommendation actually be that the money comes from the DEI or from some other source given that it is not going to necessarily directly impact black residents, the way that the other recommendations are. So the floor is open, if anybody would like to comment on that. Don't you kind of think the allyship of the non-black members kind of is equally as important as that all the other recommendations to continue the reparations? Absolutely. But what do you, do you mean like in terms of where the funding for that? Oh, I see. Well, I mean, I think if you can link it to the DEI department or to the HRC or to the, like if you have the HRC or the CSSJC be a co-sponsor of the events and it can easily come out of their budget. Okay. Does that from a philosophical perspective land, you know, as opposed to using money from the fund, whatever it is that we have on an annual basis. And again, the resources, it's a free program in that case, but maybe marketing it will have some, you know, resources attached to it. The only thing, so I hear sort of two parts. So to the first part, I think, and I thought we maybe even had already, you know, agreed that that kind of ongoing educational work is definitely something that we want to recommend and ask the council to in, you know, whatever ways. But it sounds the second part of what you raised, it sounds like specifically more about a, particularly budgetary aspect around the marketing piece. And, you know, I think that is a, is probably really more an item that the successor body could really reasonably, you know, reconcile or address. I think it's sufficient, in my view, I think it's sufficient enough now to recommend that we, you know, that the town would embrace all such educational activities and support accordingly. You know, it could be something that our marketing division from within the town, Brianna Sunrid and that area may have ideas and resources that are cost or no cost that could really help to market and to amplify. So I think rather than right now have to load up a recommendation that, you know, calls for a particular monetary support around marketing. I think it's sufficient to simply say that we're recommending support for educational work, such as Stolen Bean series and others, and that the town would, you know, in look at how to support in ongoing ways, whether, and again, its own marketing division through PTI, HRC, as Jim Furze raised, you know, Jim Furze raised, you know, but that we could just kind of leave that open-ended rather than trying to, you know, nail down calls for a specific budget amount or support for a budget amount of this point. Excellent, excellent, okay. All right, great. And so if there aren't any other comments on that I'm gonna move on to the fund and I would like for Dr. Rhodes and I to share with the committee the sort of summary of what, of our discussion this morning. Dr. Rhodes, would you like to do that or would you like me to start off on that? Honestly, Mr. Albert would like for you to do it. I have two more meetings today and I'm fading rapidly. I know, I'm so sorry. Oh my goodness, we're just, it's not an easy time right now. So absolutely. Let me try to summarize what occurred today. So we had a very productive meeting. We shared the two possibilities. So essentially I started the meeting by saying that when we started talking about this two months ago, what we talked about was the need to have meaningful money now for initiatives. So we went to Sean and we said, hey Sean, we recognize that the current paradigm basically makes us wait 10 years before we can start pursuing initiatives. And that within the sort of context now of these recommendations, particularly given the recommendations are in many ways, companions or in collaboration with other initiatives that are already ongoing in the town, we would like to have meaningful money now to begin our work. And so Sean came back to us and he said, I agree essentially and why don't you recommend accelerating the growth of the fund? And so then we came back and we said, okay, what are the options for accelerating the growth of the fund? The first option that I had put out there was to move the balance of what's left of the full $2 million commitment from the current reserve account and just sort of like move that money into the reparations bucket. And again, for anybody who may be watching or isn't clear on this. So this has always, we've talked about this fund being like an endowment fund. So only the investment income off of the principle will be used on an annual basis toward initiatives. So the first option was, okay, let's move this money from this bucket to this bucket that's labeled reparations. And then on an annual basis, the town can pay itself back into the reserves and then we'll have the income there to be able to begin pursuing initiatives immediately. The second option, so we went back to Sean with that. Sean also thought that was a good idea but had some concerns that were more related to precedent setting and some other things. And he said, instead, why don't you consider picking an amount of time that is less than 10 years, so like four years and saying, we recommend that you accelerate the growth of the fund and get it to 2 million within four years. And so you divide out the 1.6 that's left and would have to through certified free cash, transfer that money over on an annual basis for the next four years. Both of those options were well received by the people that we met with this morning. And then there was a third option that was presented. The third option was the possibility of, okay, right now we modeled the annual contribution off of the cannabis tax revenue and we know that the revenue is declining. So the option to explore is, let's say it's $100,000 this year, that cannabis tax revenue is $100,000. And so it comes time for certified free cash to be transferred into our fund. And so what we do there is we say we've determined that X number is needed to meaningfully create reparations initiatives on an annual basis. I'm gonna use $50,000 for that. So that meaningful number is $50,000. And so of that $100,000, we're going to take $50,000 and we're gonna use it. And then the other 50, we're gonna put into the fund. So this is gonna mean that the endowment itself is gonna take a lot longer to grow to that $2 million figure, but it's also going to mean that we have the funds available to us on a regular basis. And it's also going to mean that we have the funds available to us immediately to begin pursuing the initiatives that the black community chooses to pursue. So that's a third option. And so what sort of came out of the meeting is and what I would like to recommend to the committee is that we include in this recommendation an example that identifies the problem with the current paradigm, identifies the need, meaning what is our funding goal that we feel is significant on an annual basis. And then outlines these three options and asks that the council take those to the finance committee to review and explore and determine what would be the best way for the town to meet our goals. Another mouthful. Sorry, I'm just full of them today. I'm gonna pause and see if there are any responses or how folks are feeling about that approach. I would just ask if Irv is able to, if he has anything to add or amend to that. No. Dr. Ritz. Michelle did a tremendously good job of summarizing all those options. And I particularly like the one where we get it all up front and the other one is that like also we take part of what would be coming to us now and spend it targeted for expenditure and the rest will be done as a contribution as we would have already done. A lot of this is one of the ideas and one of the two of those ideas are all based upon the discounted fast flow model. And I think all of them have an opportunity. I, as I stated to both Paul and Len, want to have something nailed down that is agreed on so we don't have to depend upon the actions of future councils. Thank you. And thank you both for the beating and for this presentation. I am just kind of mulling it over right now. I'm also attracted to the idea of the upfront option. But I just wanted to raise a question relative to that. What I heard as the challenge relative to the upfront is the way some council members might look at it as a precedent setting move that they might not support. Could any of you expand on where that idea as you understand it, this fear of creating a precedent? Yeah, I can share that, you know, when it came time to make decisions on funding the new elementary school building project, for example, there was a call from the community to take some of the funds from the reserves to, to make the, what we were going out to the community less essentially. And so that precedent already got set. I believe we agreed to move five million from the, from the reserves as well as ask Paul to find five million somewhere else. So I think that Sean's concern was if we continue to take from the reserves in this way, are we setting a precedent that I think in particular would put us in a position where we would be oppositional to our financial policy, which our financial policy asks that we keep a reserve of a certain percentage. And so the other piece I think that he was concerned about is will the council remember to pay itself back? I think they will. But he had that concern. And I think that, you know, given that this is the principal would remain intact, no matter what, and if there was an emergency even that the town would have the same mechanisms and controls to take that money and move it elsewhere for whatever it was needed for. I don't think that concern is as. I think. I think this precedent setting is the is sort of the, the biggest concern from a practical and political perspective. Does that answer your question, Dr. Spas? It does. And what I hear you say is it's not the fear of creating a new precedent. It's a fear of building momentum around a precedent that was recently set. That was, you know, that had some folks not really fully agreed on board. And probably it would come up again that they, we're going down a road that, that, you know, we've, we've done once and we don't want to do again. Is that, is that along the lines? I think that's exactly right, Dr. Shabazz. And I think. Because we would. Presumably have to consider the bulk of the reserves now is in this newly created capital reserves account. And so we have some very serious needs in, in the way of a DPW and a fire station and. Real people are being impacted on a daily basis in our community because of the condition of the DPW and the fire station. And so there's going to be both practical and political. Concerns raised. To have public reserves that could potentially be used to fund one of those other projects or to partially fund. However, I did not get this sense. And maybe Dr. Rhodes has a different feeling on this. I did not get the sense that either of the two options we presented or the option that Paul thought of. They were all on the table. They were all very, you know, they even. that they appreciated the creativity and they appreciated the sort of critical thinking that we've put into this. So I think that they will seriously consider all three and I think the finance committee is the place for that to happen. And that doesn't mean that there can't be public input when that occurs and there will be I'm sure and input also from this group. So my preference is not for us to draw a hard line in the sand and only put one thing and say, this is what we want and this is all we'll take because the reality is that's not what we're gonna get necessarily. So I think if we put, if we show, if we demonstrate that we have thought this through, we understand the larger context, we understand the other competing demands and here are the options that we would like you to consider. I think that that approach will get more support than a singular recommendation. Can I be heard? Yes, you can. Please.  I can't see you just so you know. Yeah, we can. I can't get my video back, I don't know why. Maybe it didn't like the way I looked. Anyway. You're on, Dr. Rhodes, we can hear you. Did you wanna? No, I didn't. I just wanted to confirm that you could hear me. Okay. So are there any other, are there any objections to that approach? And of course, wait until you see the language, wait till you see the way that we've sort of framed it and then we can of course, if there are, if there's any opposition to that, we can certainly come back to that and discuss it. Sounds good. Okay, excellent. And Hala and Dr. Rhodes, I assume I don't see your hands raised so I'm gonna assume that it's safe to move on and please let me know if you'd like to come back to that. So the other two pieces that I wanted to make sure we covered today, the first is the health recommendation. I wanted to get some more clarity from the committee on that. We agreed last week that we were going to recommend or endorse at least the Board of Health statement on race and health disparities in Amherst. And I've sent that all to you. And so the question here is in other places in the report where we've endorsed something, we have a recommendation tied to it. I recently did receive the community health assessment that the Board of Health did and it has some very interesting information and I don't think that it's been formally published yet but I think it's safe for me to send it to the group and take a look at, but I'm wondering if that, if it's only going to be an endorsement, might we consider including it somewhere else in the report as opposed to it having a standalone recommendation or does this committee feel there is a particular recommendation around health that we would like to make that expands beyond endorsing that statement. And maybe the answer is that you need to look at the community assessment but the floor is open for that. Okay. Well, I will send the community assessment and if there are thoughts on that, then we'll have to discuss that the next time we meet. And for now we'll do our best to put that recommendation into some language that makes sense within the context of the report. I'm also going to because I'm sensing, I know Dr. Rhodes is not feeling well, I know Dr. Shabazz is also has some stuff going on. So let me just put out there that the committee charge that we're recommending has not been approved by this body yet. I can do some work over the next few days to put based on my understanding of committee charges and based on all of our discussions here, I can put something together and I can send it to the committee for review and feedback. As always, you would just provide that feedback to me and Jennifer and Pamela. And then we can make a final approval of that. And at the same time, Mati and I will be working on concluding statements and acknowledgments for the report. We'll have a whole page of acknowledgments, I'm sure, as well as sort of the visual aspects. I'll be working on a power, not a PowerPoint, but a slide deck for us for our presentation as well. So really the final matter that I wanted to cover before we call one more period of public comment is, I would like the committee's permission to share the report with some folks in the community. And I'm totally open to who others on the committee would like me to share, us to share the report with if there are folks that you think would look at the report and be able to provide us with some feedback. And particularly black folks, whether they're within the community or not, that might be able to and willing to read the report and offer us feedback. So I first wanna ask if I have permission to share it, if there's any opposition to me sharing it with a few people, please let me know. And I can share who those people are if you reach out and you have any concerns. And I'd also like to ask if there are any particular folks and you don't have to answer that now, but that you think would be good to provide the draft to for some feedback. And Jennifer, I know you and I had talked about that at one point, so we can talk about that again if you have anybody in mind. Okay, so I'm not seeing any opposition. Thank you for that and for trusting me to share it with some folks. I will check in with other committee members who are not here just to ensure that that's okay. And we'll just, we'll go from there. So I'm gonna go ahead and call the second period of public comment. So if you would like to make public comment, please use the raise hand feature and I will bring you into the room. Okay, so I'm not seeing any public comment. And so before we wrap up, I just one more time would like to review this timeline for myself. So we are unable to meet, of course, next Monday due to the holiday. So I had proposed in this timeline that we might be able to meet on Tuesday the fifth. So I will do a poll. So we don't have to do that right now and see if that's a possibility. I know probably some folks are getting back. Dr. Shabazz might, the semester might be starting, I don't know what others have going on, but I'll do a poll for that. Are there any other member comments or questions or anything at this time before I adjourn the meeting? All right, it looks pretty quiet out there. Well, thank you all really appreciate it. And we will see you next week, next time. Thank you, adjourning at 2.50. Good week, everyone. Thank you, you too, Jennifer. Bye.


on nvidia had its investors meeting today just like all investors meeting they shoot it out of the cannon they bring it down to red they shoot it right back up and you can see here now back to back times nvidia got rejected at this at the top of the range here at 364 nvidia starts building above this 364 maybe this thing starts its next leg up as well


وَأَقُولُ فِي القُرْعَانِ مَا جَاءَتْ بِيهِ آياتُهُ فَهُوَ الْكَارِيمُ المُنزَالُهُ وَأَقُولُ قَالَ اللَّهُ جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ وَالْمُصْطَافَ الْهَاديِ وَلَا أَتْ أَوْوَالُهُ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ العَلَمِينَ وَالْصَّلَاتُ وَالْسَّلَامَ عَلَى عَبْدِ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين فهذا هي المؤسسة التي تساعدت جدًا و here the first thing I want to establish is I want to establish that Bir al-Wali Dayn is one of the biggest obligations that Allah has placed upon a Muslim male and female Allah told us in the Qur'an وَعْبُدُ اللَّهِ وَالَا تُشْلِكُ بِهِ شَيْئَ وَبِالْوَالِ دَيْنِ إِحْسَانَ worship Allah don't make any partner with Him and have ihsan towards your parents and the basic position is that this should continue in all of the situation of the life of a Muslim male and female married and unmarried that they should continue to have this spirit towards their parents but the real question is here when there is a clash between what the parents wish for what the parents want and what the husband asks which one of them should be put ahead here there is no doubt that the right of the husband takes priority for a married woman and that's why Imam Ahmed was asked this question about a married woman who had a sick mother and he said he said that obedience to her husband is more obligatory for her than going to look after her mother unless he gives her permission and this unless he gives her permission I think this is essential to understand that the basic concept is it has to do with the parents she has to look after her mother however the husband ultimately if there is a clash that's when it takes priority so what is the position of that husband in that situation of course that husband wants to cooperate with his wife upon goodness he wants to be able to help his wife in doing good and keeping away from sin so if he sees there is an opportunity to support his wife to be good to her mother then I think he should take that opportunity if that opportunity is available to him however when there is a clash that's when we ask the question okay which of them goes first there's a clash the mother says you have to come I need you here the husband says you have to be here I need you here which of them now gets priority if the wife isn't able to convince her husband or convince her mother and it remains that there's a clash there's a تعارب if that تعارب that clash is there then the husband has to have priority and that just shows you the right of the husband in Islam and how important it is but having said that that doesn't mean that that right should be abused and that doesn't mean that the husband should be sort of stopping his wife from a good deed doesn't do any harm to him doesn't do any harm to him and it's sad that in this day we have seen that from some husbands we have seen that mentality that you have to cut off your wife from her family in order to make a heart completely for you or to give her 100% focus upon your rights but ultimately that's not going to bring her nearer to Allah or you nearer to Allah in reality they are letting each other to do good and the husband looks at the situation and he has the right if he sees that he requires or needs his wife at that time when her mother needs her or her father needs her and he isn't able to find a way to reconcile between that his right comes first once the woman is married there's no doubt about that however it doesn't mean he doesn't want to emphasize that simply to show that he has that power rather he should be wise and gentle and kind and look for opportunities for good deeds سبحان الله عز و جل described something wonderful about the companions و يؤثرون على أنفسهم و لو كان بهم خصاصة they give up their rights for other people even though they're in need of them so that kind of idea that kind of concept of إيثار of giving up your rights sometimes you know you see for example that her mother is unwell and her mother needs her daughter to be with her and you see that to be honest the husband is able to be with her and she needs her daughter to be with her and she needs her daughter yet to be honest the husband is able to give up that and to expect the reward from Allah then there's no doubt that is more befitting than for him to simply exercise his rights without thinking about how that would impact upon other people so yes the husband when a woman is married the husband's right takes priority over the parents right but that doesn't mean that she is excluded from the obligation of and it doesn't mean that her husband has to exercise that right at every moment in time and Allah is our best السلام عليكم ورحمة الله how can you do a two second action right now that will give you a share of the reward of everything we're doing on this youtube channel simple like this video and click subscribe why it will allow youtube to recommend our videos to other users and imagine a reward that could be waiting for you on the day of judgment if you did that with a sincere intention of spreading the deen of Allah you'll be rewarded for every single person who benefits from one of our videos as a result of your like or subscribe that's an easy two second action that you definitely don't want to miss out on do it now click like and subscribe and don't forget to make that intention


I better myself when I'm all in. I got the mind of a broke man. Make sure the heart of a lot. My name's Randy Beard, and I recover loud. Hi, and welcome to Recover Loud, a TV talk show dedicated to ending the stigma of substance abuse. By sharing our hope, experience, resources, and stories of amazing comebacks, we recover loud. I'm Mike Paddleford, and I recover loud. Today's show is discussing how we change the narrative in recovery. Early on in recovery, I was told I had to change people, places, and things in order to stay clean. But a lot of the things I used to do to get my substances is something I enjoyed. One thing I used to do was go out in the woods and pick fiddleheads. And I would spend all day out in the woods to get as many as I could so I could sell them that night. And no matter how many I picked that day, I would wake up the next morning, broke, and sick, and needing to start over. So in my recovery, it was really hard for me to decide what I like to do. And really, once we get into recovery, we have to reinvent ourselves. Because now we don't have that to fall on. So I did find that I enjoy picking fiddleheads. So I wanted to continue that. But this time I didn't need that money. I was able to build up some funds, and I went out and I bought some kayaks. So today I get to go down and kayak the rivers, spend a day on an island, have lunch with my wife, and really enjoy the experience. And the desire to pick as many as I can is still there, but it's not required. I don't have to meet a certain amount so that I can provide what I need for the day. So Randy, you mentioned being unhoused and giving back and being an advocate for the unhoused. So what are some of the things you do today to help that community? At least once a week I try to go down to, I'm from Portland. I'm a seventh generation Cumberland County guy. And I was unhoused at Oxford Street and Preble Street. And I tried to go back there. And like during the summer, whenever it's hot, me and my group would raise money. And we'd buy water, ice creams, food, whatever it takes. And now that it's cold, like just this morning, we're actually running a warming center with a few different organizations that we've all come together. And we all pitched in and got a bunch of brand new gloves, brand new hats, brand new socks, backpacks, food, coffee, donuts, just whatever we could to get the people off the street because these temperatures, people are going to die from it. And somebody has to do something because ever since COVID broke out, there's no longer day shelters. And people don't let people into public places anymore. So there's no place for these people to go. And it's sadly going to cause a lot of deaths. Yeah, yeah, that's some important work. We actually stopped in earlier today and took some video of the warming shelter. And it was full. I was surprised, but that just goes to show how many people need that service. So I personally appreciate you doing that and helping the people out there who need that service. I will say too that when we started doing this, today we've had the Rest Center in Lewiston's running one, AARP and Augusta, they're running one. So a bunch of different cities are now seeing that this is a necessity and recovery's becoming big in Maine because sadly it's, we're like the sixth worst overdose rate in the United States per capita. Yeah, and as you just mentioned, it's a lot of the recovery community is running these shelters today. People that have been through it. Yeah, and that's important. When you mentioned changing the narrative earlier, do you have a similar situation where you were somewhere and today you're able to go back and it's different for you? I can honestly say much like you, my substance abuse disorder was tenfold and it was a 35 year addiction and I didn't have the will to go out and work for my money. I did everything that was wrong in life. I stole, I hustled, I sold drugs, I did whatever it took to make sure I was high. Yeah, and that's important because there's a lot of ugly truths to addiction.  And I'm an open book now. There was days that I would laying on the sidewalk because I was so sick that I couldn't get myself up on the sidewalk and my face was two or three inches from my own vial and I didn't care and all I could do was lay there and moan until I had something to fix my sickness. Yeah, and when we're in that active addiction phase, a lot of times we feel hopeless. It feels like there's no way out. In my situation, I didn't know anybody in recovery but what was it that led you into recovery? Can you tell us that? I can, if I get emotional, I'm sorry. It was my daughter's birthday and I was gonna take her to Bingo and I'm not a Bingo player but it's something she enjoys. There was no way I was gonna go sit there for three hours or not, be high. So I stopped on the way so I could get high before I went and some random person found me in my vehicle three or four hours later and gave me CPR until the EMTs got there and then he just walked away. Never wanted to be his name, nothing, he just left. And the EMTs will narkate me multiple times and when I woke up, the EMTs said he'd never seen somebody so gone come back and at the time I was street smart and I knew I had a lot of drugs and paraphernalia on my person so I signed myself out of the ambulance and when I did, I opened the door and there was a policeman there and he said if you're not going to the hospital you're going to jail and I went to jail and I had a lot of charges from a lot of years. They were never able to catch up with me and even though I had money to bail myself out they wouldn't let me because they had to wait till they globalized all my charges and I detoxed on a jail room floor because at the time they weren't giving any, they gave me Benadryl I think and it was the worst feeling I've ever had in my life and but the worst part was with today's technology nobody knows anybody's phone number and I had my phone but it was dead so when I got arrested I didn't know what my daughter's phone number was and then once I went into this pod they wouldn't let me back out to get my phone and I was never able to call my daughter for six months and she knew I was of my addiction and that I was homeless and my daughter had to come to the realization that I might have been dead. Yeah, yeah that's tough. So how soon was it after that that you were able to contact your daughter? It took six months and the only reason I was able to was because I had to make her the power of my attorney so she can go get my money out of the bank to be able to come and get me out of jail and get a lawyer and stuff and I was never able to get a lawyer I was stuck there. And I was too sick to do anything about it. So when you got out of jail you had detoxed you were in there for six months. But that's where it starts to get good. When I was and I'm proud of that when I was laying on that floor I swore even though I had a 35 year duration I would never be back there. I was placed on probation and I was doing a bed to bed where I was going right from jail right to a sober house and I was on the bus going over to the sober house and I just happened to make a Facebook account and the first thing that popped up was an apartment and I called the guy and he said if you got the money you can move in right now and I went up there and it's in Wyndham and I didn't have a license so I was up in the woods I had no way to get into town and I still live there today almost three years later it's a beautiful place I'm right on the river I get to go fishing I have my dog it's everything I need for my peace of mind and it was just perfect you know it just fell into place and then I went to probation and my probation officer suggested I should take the recovery coach class which at the time I was just doing to make myself look good in front of the probation officer but I did and I was worried that I was going to be the only person with substance use disorder I thought it was going to be a bunch of college kids and professionals who would look down at me but I got into the class and it was everybody was just like me and me and one of the people that were in the class my friend Ryan really hit it off because they were putting us in breakout rooms in the Zoom and me and Ryan kept getting matched up and we have a lot in common we actually saved the same overdose date so we hit it off and when I ended up becoming a recovery coach I decided it was right around end of February last year and a good friend of mine overdosed on fentanyl laced Xanax and it was like a third week of February and we decided we were going to host a BlackBloom event up on Monroe Hill which is on March 6th which is National Overdose Awareness Day and we started out with six people that day in our group and within a week we had 500 people in the group we had 483 names of people who overdosed and we had, well I'm actually wearing this here but we had shirts made with people who had passed away because of overdoses and we had 500 BlackBlooms made and now we're at 11 months to group turns a year next month and we have 2400 people in the group Yeah, it's amazing I actually, I met you at BlackBloom at the BlackBloom event Yeah, you went and you know I had seen it on Facebook and joined your group and just seeing the connection that was being provided and Lorraine and I drove down recovery on the road we were getting ourselves around the state and you know trying to visit these events and I appreciate you putting that event on I remember when we met it, we hit it off right off Yeah, yeah and it was such a touching event you know I remember there was a family there they were holding a big poster of their son and you know I was drawn to them and I walked over and introduced myself and I said, you know I'm sorry for your loss do you mind telling me about your son? She knows and it was just an amazing time so you know thank you for doing that are you planning another one this year? We are and this year we actually, we're planning on two we're gonna be doing one in Augusta where we're gonna wait to release all the details once we have them finalized but we're gonna be doing the same thing that's going to be up on Monjoy Hill this year so we're excited about that and that last year for me to be sitting here doing this now because when I ran the streets as being a hustler you don't put yourself out there so and this just started and like we had every news station and newspaper there and they all wanted to talk to me and I was like Ryan you go do this I'm not doing that and I'm sitting here now doing this to see the complete 180 since that time it's miraculous and I made a promise to every person that came that day I would not let these people be forgotten and I would be their voice and we would recover loud and say their names loud and until I get called to go to my next life I will be their voice, I will I'm gonna be the voice for the people we've lost the ones that are living with substance use disorder now and future generations I call it the three Ls, living lost and later Yeah, yeah because we know there's probably never gonna be a cure for this you know there is a new vaccine that I noticed they're working on now which is something great and hopefully they can come through with that and it's able to help many people but in the meantime we wanna keep as many people alive as possible today and I don't mean to chime in but right now with because of COVID there's not a lot of nurses because a lot of nurses lost their jobs because of the COVID shots so it's very detrimental to people in our situation because all the detox places are closing because they don't have funding or they don't have staff and I personally, I'm a 51 year old freshman in college I've gone back to school and I'm taking high risk management and psychology and I'm gonna give everything back to the community free person that was really inspiring to me Jesse Harvey rest in peace he, when I was homeless he come down and he got me into seeing a psychologist which I never would have done and that helped open me up and just him doing that showed and he did that all out of the kindness of his heart and because that one guy saved me that day that was my goal if I can save one person and get even with the house and I'm happy and now I preach that to my group I tell that there's 2,400 of us if 2,400 of us can all save one person there's 2,400 people that we saved and sadly there's gonna be what 130,000 overdoses nationally this year yeah unfortunately we keep hitting new highs with the overdose rates I just want to mention the name of your group Recover Together yes it's on Facebook you can join the group it's all one word it's recover the number two and then G-E-T-H-E-R so recover together yeah and everybody's welcome we only have one rule that we really stand by and the only thing we discriminate against is hate yeah and we open to all pathways whether you're 25 years clean or if you're 25 seconds clean absolutely and we don't knock anything we're self-funded we're not a non-profit sadly but we're not because every cent we get we get, we turn back to helping say Michael you call up and say I have a person who needs a U-Haul truck unloading which we're going through now I'll put it out to my group and we don't, not any of us have anything we're not rich but 20, 30 people throwing $5 each we cover it yeah we put multiple people into sober how living paid the first week or two a rent we paid single moms heat bills we between the different people we adopted 17 families for Christmas we help people fresh out of prison get them into a safer environment where most people get out of prison they don't have anywhere to go we get them set up we get them to fundamentals to survive to start a phone, clothes, place to go, food and it's just all stuff that we're all recovering addicts and we know how hard it is to make it past that and for the people who are at the point where we are past that part hopefully I mean it's gonna be a continuous battle the rest of my life but I wanna get back and it helps me stay in my recovery by getting back exactly and I'm proud of that fact that I do it yeah and you know that's exactly what changing the narrative is all about you know you were unhoused you were on the streets you were suffering and now today you're doing everything you can to get back and I for want to appreciate that and I know the rest of the community the recovery community in Maine appreciates that I don't know what that was that was I will say though in our group I don't I call myself the lucky guy who gets to be the messenger it's us Michael you're right along on that journey your wife Lori in our group I think we have 37 different groups in our group now I mean we are all and I'll go into this I'm part main rap the recovery advocacy projects I I was selling drugs on the streets three years ago and eleven months ago I had state representatives come up to me and say hey you know we want you to go to Las Vegas and learn about the opiate issues and help come back and educate where'd that come from right you know where did it and I was all dead against it but I went and the people I met the things I learned and it's just amazing a whirlwind I've gone through in eleven months yeah I I remember when you came back from from uh... Vegas the fire that was lit under you and uh... you know it's only the community that's benefited since then you know so uh... you know it's it's it's a pleasure to talk to you it's a pleasure to have you here it's a pleasure to find out all the things that you're offering to the community you know you're doing great things and uh... it's important for us to share that with everybody and uh... we have to show that we do recover and we can be very important people in our communities yeah I mean I do a lot of different community things and outreach and uh... so Randy how much money are you making for all this stuff you're doing I take everything out of my own pocket I know you do and that's important you know uh... a lot of us in the recovery community we're doing it you know out of the kindness of our heart but what's your why why are you doing this why do you put in your own time your own money because I know what I've been through kids today they don't need to go through that now with the new drugs and fat garlic everything it's been a one killer of people under fifty it has to be stopped I've seen a thing the other day that said there's going to be more kids in junior high in the next two or three years that are raised by their grandparents than that are raised by their own parents and that that's a sad truth I missed out on most of my daughter's life because of my addiction and now my granddaughter is three years old she's almost exactly incoherent with my recovery and she's my best friend yeah yeah tell us a little bit about your relationship today with your daughter and your granddaughter I could not be actually I should have said that I could not be more proud of my daughter when I was homeless both her and both myself and her mother were both people with substance use disorder and mental illness and we were both unhoused my daughter would come down on holidays and often she could she would come down to the shelter not knowing I was going to be there but she would put together fifty bags out of her own pocket to people from the unhoused community she's going to become a nurse and she's the one who talked me into going to college and helping and giving back and she could have very easily hated me pushed me away and then as well not let me see my granddaughter and be jealous of my granddaughter because of the relationship I have with my granddaughter but she's not and I'm a strong believer that substance use disorder is a hereditary thing and I think my higher power that it skipped over and now hopefully we broke the cycle and my granddaughter won't have to deal with it so that's it I could not be more proud of where my daughter is for what she's been through and I'm sure she's saying the same thing about you Randy I'm sure she's proud you know you're doing some great things and you know you should be proud I am as a person especially a person somebody who deals with substance use disorder as well as being unhoused for as long as I was you get shunned in society you can look down at you get spit on you learn and you lose any self-dignity any feeling of self-contained and it's a hard thing to get that back and I am at a spot today where I am extremely proud of where I am I'm extremely proud of what I do so if anybody has a story they'd like to share regarding the Good Samaritan Law you know an experience where they've been either Narcan'd or we're too scared to call 911 uh... we we've heard a lot of stories already uh... lori and I are going to be working on a documentary discussing the Good Samaritan Law alright Randy I want to thank you again for coming here tonight I love you bro I love you too Randy uh... keep doing the things you do uh... you are making a difference and uh... I'm really proud of the things you're doing today uh... I'm glad to know that you're proud of yourself I'm glad to know you thanks Randy you're covered again bro you thank you so every time I call you pick up the phone in always reminding me that I'm not alone in even when I'm scared and my feet are frozen you help me keep it going like a semi-colon every time I fall you just pick me up say you was down a ride through the thickest mud can't you see helping me light your way and even in the dark you're always keeping me safe and everything I'll be willing to pack up the phone in always reminding me that I'm not alone in even when I'm scared and my feet are frozen you help me keep it going like a semi-colon so I'ma follow your steps for all of the way up on my faith in you and walk on the waves and if I stumble a bit and fall on my face you come and save me with all of your grace thank God the overdose my girlfriend found me in the house I was barely breathing her and my neighbor put me in the car and dropped me outside of the emergency room never told anybody just left me outside of the emergency room and took off and luckily someone found me and I woke up like three or four days later from being in a coma my name is Senator Chloe Maxman and I support the expansion of the Good Sam Law in Maine Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Samaritan for me Text anyone, a person who in good faith is seeking medical advice for someone experiencing a drug related overdose or the person who is experiencing the drug related overdose yeah so the Expand Good Sam for me campaign has two really main goals right so the first goal is that we teach and educate our community members that the Good Samaritan law exists as currently is because it is a law and it's on the books and it does protect some people at the scene of an overdose and we want our community members to know that that is on the books so we're going to spend a lot of time educating folks on that law and also that it's not currently on the books as well as it could be the bill would expand it to cover everybody at the scene Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Sam for me Expand Good Sam for us, we need it