Thanks for staying with us now according to Sahara reporters the actress Jokersilva had on Monday posted a video of herself the legal state first lady be Jokersangulu and other dancing and others rather dancing and waving brooms the all-progressive Congress party symbol on her Instagram page. Now Silver wrote that it was time to meet up with the governor's wife who is her fellow holy child college old girls alumni right now on the Monday rally came few days after the actress was announced as a member of the women's wing of Tinambo's presidential campaign council. Silver and Sylvia is or Jokersilva rather is the she is to head the creative and entertainment industry committee of the council the pictures and the videos however didn't go well with our obedient supporters supporters of Peter will be who have since chained out heavy criticisms against silver and today we are curious about this Peter will be movement and we are asking do ninjas even have freedom to choose differently because it seems like anybody that just comes out to declare another candidate there's a cultural fight I will follow you I block you I do this that's what you see there's a lot going on on social media right now please I want to beg you before look at the show and think about what everybody's gonna say objectively we are not here to fight we believe in having decent conversations right so please let's make our conversations very decent and our contributions as well let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08-1-803-4663 you can also tweet at us at Weisshow Africa one with a hashtag Weisshow all right so there's a lot of my mind that I want to say about this topic but first today I want to hear your thoughts first there's a Peter movement there's a Peter will be movement and there is a trend online that it seems like anybody that comes out to declare some level of support for another candidate it's like it's a taboo you have committed you know the young people especially because we try to speak to our our own we are the ones like fighting shouting and going all out I am not saying that other party candidates do not have supporters that do same yeah but because ways is targeted at young minds and we are focusing on talking to ourselves as the youth right I want to understand why it is not okay for people to come out and declare who they want to support why are we not giving people that freedom to choose now you are smiling so it seems like online there are so many supporters for Peter will be you should know that the youth dominate social media and who are the youth supporting Peter will be so I think it's natural for us to see that but a question today is do my entrance have freedom to choose differently yeah so they have freedom oh so I'm going to cite an example just this last weekend I had my electrician come in to help me do some electrical work and just because I'm the most I talking I was supposed to go to the island market that morning so and we just dive into politics and we just don't normally I'm not to bed this time around so involved yes I'm so conscious about that's what Peter will be has done a lot of young people which is a good thing because a lot more young people are more conscious now discussing politics go ahead so he told me his preferred candidate and I was shocked because as a young person knowing what is going on and having some information on ground I also have my own candidate in mind so I was surprised why he was talking about yes so and I took three hours trying to make him see reasons with me why this candidate which is my is the preferred candidate but at the end of the day so he also came up with his own point why he is going to know you know still I will sit and but why is he not seeing things from my own perspective right at the end of that was like okay I summarized by saying well we have a past we have people that have been there in the past we know what they can do but this person we see him like the future someone that we don't know his potential yet we want to we want to find out yes so that is the reason why willing to risk it so it's more or less like we are trying to risk it this time around just something new something we feel like it's different yes so I feel like that's the same thing that's going on online right so people have freedom to choose but because of the fact so I see the youths currently they are like you know there's this adage what an elder can see sitting there the youths in social media are now the elders do you understand what I'm trying to say so we've switched roles that's just what is going on so we're trying to tell some people that are going for people that are against our choice to say this is what we are seeing can't you see what we are seeing why you know understanding what we're trying to say so that's why it's almost like they're attacking other people that are supporting other candidates I like let me hear your thoughts why did you adjust it's not that serious the there's really no freedom of choice when we're trying to make a decision per se you can say who you want to who your preferred candidates but we feel as Nigerians that we're at a crossroads of is it that we get it right or we're messed up for life because if we get it wrong this time we run the risk of having that continuity of the same old same old for another eight years and then we don't we lose hope like I kept saying if it shows over and over again that there's a fire burning in the ashes of the youth right now and if they don't get who they believe will make a difference maybe the fire will go out and they won't be able to bring it together four years time eight years time people have the freedom like the Antijochist over has the freedom to choose who she wants to vote for the people that are complaining the major general that said that people were not killed at the end says is the one that has joined the team of this people being that you people are because of him fighting everybody at the end of the day there are no permanent enemies and there are no permanent friends when it comes to politics when America was running the campaign and Trump was a candidate there were so many people that were blacklisted anybody that was a public figure celebrity someone that people were supporting with their money and their business they just started blacklisting them one by one even the ones that offered to sing and the inauguration lost business because people were like you're just selling us out we don't know when we're going to get a chance again for a change this is exactly what is happening here like you said the only reason why everybody maybe not everybody but a large majority of youths are making noise about people bees we've seen you people the other two major candidates be in government decades upon decades one way or the other you've infused yourself in government whether you were sitting there or you were playing godfather isn't you've always been involved and we haven't seen any changes you guys have been doing things business as usual we just want something new like you say when you say about these not necessarily the messiah we don't know but we just want something new if I've been like they say you're rather if you've been trying if you've tried to husband's houses that's where you know which one you prefer because I said Nigeria has always complained when they have the benefit of her inside that if we had no maybe we would have left it as it was but we won't know we want to take it okay so I I took note of some keywords that both of you had mentioned you said you are willing to take a risk and lady you said that we can't afford to make a mistake because if we do make a mistake it means that another eight years to eight years we will be in a death situation and maybe by the end of that 80 a 10 year we might have lost hope now I get that part and I get that fear but great decisions are never made out of fear right I'm taking my time to study almost good majority of the presidential candidates that have been coming out right there are other candidates right less popular but they have so much content right inside of them right so I need us to be careful and you see because I mean you rightly said it evil was created for a reason and you become a master when you are able to lord over evil you have the ability to govern and counsel evil so for the young people that are shouting that how can he appoint somebody that said we and what's he called the answers shooting and all of that we have was photoshopped why would he be part of the presidential campaign that means you're not ready you do not understand governance you do not understand politics 90 young people are always thinking and this is where I need them to understand that it's not about attacks because you perceive this person to be a good person for you to be able to govern a country like Nigeria you must have both evil and good inside of you yes I must be able to know when to bring what out you cannot be a goody two shoes to be able to govern this country and neither can you be a purely evil person you must have both of them inside of you and if you're not able to what's he called what's he called lord over and govern evil and good then you're not even a president material in this country because where we have gotten to in Nigeria it has gotten so deep that it is going to be very very very tough for whoever sits on that's that is going to sit on that chair it's going to be very tough and what happens down the line let us say play our cards fast forward to 2023 a Peter will be emerges as the president and all of that and things start to go south what happens this same youth will now come and start shouting so that's why I want us to give people opportunity to express themselves freely let's not feel like because I have said because you kept on saying something why can't you see it the way I'm seeing it I've had this argument with some people and somebody was saying that it's like this person is not in the same country that I mean no now if I tell you that what you is in front of you is a white so it is a red plaque you would argue with me that is white because if you look at it from your own angle it is pure white I am seeing red you are seeing white so we should learn that perspective what's called perspective matters I can see things I can choose to see things differently but that doesn't make it that I am wrong now did your module also was on Twitter and there was a lot of backlash because he came out of course his everybody now knows that he's clearly supporting what's called the APC party right and people are saying you're a sell out your ideas your dad have you bothered to ask why he's choosing to understand this because again if you understand how how the political game in Nigeria is played you cannot rule out anybody's choice because they have seen things that you are not privy to right so I mean that's where I need the youths to be a bit like step back a bit and let us have a conversation so you have taken your time you've explained to your electrician and he then comes back and tells you that this is still the candidate I'm sticking to let's respect his opinions let's respect his choices let's respect their options and this goes to the to all political parties because now why we are having this conversation and I'll tell you why if things do not go the way people expected to go come 2023 if we do not understand and respect tolerance and understand people's choices we will go thank you and that is why a lot of people are leaving the country saying that they will be back on April they'll be back after the elections because now people are not seeing that capacity to tolerate another person's choice and if we continue at this trajectory that we're going that it is it's either my way or no way at all we are going to I am telling you we are going to have a war in this country after the elections yep and this is why we are trying to be proactive early enough to start to tell people calm down and just tolerate other people's choices so that's why I hope with this viewpoint of mine like he said the major thing we should start happening on now is tolerance for people's expressions of what their preferences are because I didn't see that way until you said it maybe I thought about it but I didn't see that way until you said it that if we have a very high intolerance for accepting other people's choices we run the risk of having a revolution a war a disturbance where military may even have to come and take over again in 2023 when they say that we're being unruly and we don't want that we want a land of peace we have been able to by the grace of God have peace in Nigeria even with everything we've experienced looking at it from different perspectives the red spots that we can see both of us can see that you can't see from here but you know that is there is the same reason why some people would choose a tin or a an article over an OB we you know now the red is there whether or not you can see it here from experience and from dealing with that over the years you know what to expect they know the game players I mean the players in the game they speak each other's language because I would they've said it there the ones that taught me that phrase no permanent enemies no permanent friends it's whoever is seeing things my way at any particular point in time because we've seen them change parties over and over again so by the same token they choose teams almost like they're playing football just for the camaraderie of the excitement that comes with politics because if we only had one choice there will be no need for elections we will have a dictatorship so they they if you're going with a PC let me stand on the PDV side brother you'll be surprised that they're eating together they'll be telling one another let's see who's going to win me the best man win at the same time amongst themselves they have or not amongst thieves they understand the game they understand the language I've seen a picture where abacha a Buhari not yeah Buhari Babangida I think like six people that have gone into running coups in Nigeria one after the other sat down together playing cards back in the day these people know one another their friends and they speak the same language we should just try as much as possible to try to convince you when we're trying to win votes over I'll leave it there but let's take a break because I would like to open our phone lines I really want to hear your thoughts about this you know and how do we manage the expectations of young people and how do we start to consciously put it in the minds of people that we have to get to that point where we tolerate another person's choice now stay with us over right back all right thanks for staying with us now if you just tuned in it's our ladies night out and we're discussing the PTOB movement we're asking do Nigerians have freedom to choose differently now please let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08-1 803-4663 you can also tweet at us at Weishaw Africa one with the hashtag Weishaw now our phone line is now open remember we're just here to have a conversation let's try to keep it very civil the number to call is<PHONE_NUMBER> that's the number to call<PHONE_NUMBER> and remember to turn off the volume of your television set or whatever it is that you're watching us from all right so we have a few comments if you can quickly just take it yes one says good evening my beautiful ladies for me I'm choosing my own presidential candidate and that is PTOB because I want something different Sam from OTTA thank you Sam go ahead this is from someone says here no name all the noise about OB is only Lagos let OB go and campaign in Anambra the states he came from then someone said let's compare Anambra of OB and Lagos of Tinubu the difference is clear nothing like war you win you govern you lose you go home so I hear that part where he says that nothing like war if you win you govern if you lose you go home but what happened when there was a lot of agitation for the NSAS movement what eventually happened where we started having looting you did not understand or you cannot even understand what we went through especially for those who was country at the time yes no for those of us here in Lagos you can't even understand what we went through a lot of commune a lot of estates started gathering money just to keep those people out of their estates people were going into people's homes looting and all of that malls were being looted and so it that is how it starts so you cannot you see that's where I think I have a problem with people do not trivialize people's agitations right the young people today are agitated and that is why you see a lot of you call it noise but there's a lot of talk going on everywhere right so that is it is a show of agitation people are tired and I really beg our leaders especially the older leaders the older generation do not trivialize the pain of the young people we talked about mental health yesterday how people just shove it right do not trivialize their pain we understand it because I am in my past mid-30s now you know I was being told as a child that read your book whatever future the you are the future leader tomorrow I grew up I'm still not a leader now there are young people there that we have told the same so it's almost like you have lied to us over the years so when I'm saying that there is agitation agitation yeah it is a valid agitation so when I hear comments like that you are trying to trivialize you're trying to just brush it aside I beg me to sit down and don't let it talk and that in itself is what eventually now causes these kinds of what's it called unrest civil unrest that we are talking about go ahead so I understand the needs for tolerance right so even when I had the conversation that Saturday I ended by saying if this is your choice that's fine but this is the reason why I'm talking about this person I was trying to guide it around what I looked at the developed economies what are the borders the guidelines for good corporate for good governance so I ended by saying that so but I feel like in terms of what's going on on social media and people going after people because of their choices so the youths they expect something from some certain category of people right for example some celebrities who they feel like relates to what they are talking about and feel like these people are supposed to be up there like supporting us you know giving us the energy to go on so if they get a different response from those kind of people that is what causes that but obviously I understand the need for us at the end of the day we still have to respect each other's choices but I should not also stop us like if you believe in something you know this thing is really good though even you will you will preach about it now it's natural right it's just not to go to the S-stream right that's just what we're saying okay so we're talking extreme sorry I'll let you come in when we are talking extreme I've seen comments right on social media they say I know where you live I am coming to your house right so people are doing all of that but we have Hassan on the call thank you Hassan for joining us this evening hello hi Hassan you're live hello go ahead you're live hi good evening very well thank you yeah yeah I would like to comment on particular may I say topic of today go ahead please when people are beginning to say issue of youth, youth, youth I don't think there is any set of youth that are preventing youth from participating in any political activities whenever a youth organize themselves in a mature way and now growing those elder I think the elder will allow them to participate but when we begin to say no youth, youth, enter, enter, enter I think it will be the result of enter when you look at it it's not positive on the side of the youth because they could not organize themselves properly now when you look at this but particular election that is coming up now some people announce shifting their mind that we should elect youth, youth, youth I don't think it's the wrong thing it's supposed to be right once if we have an elderly person who lead us then we too will follow their push instead of saying that youth, youth, youth, youth and nobody is preventing youth to participate when you look at our mood of racism the way we talk the way we visit that's why the elderly people will not allow to participate in all that thing I think I've gotten the crux of what you said thank you so much Hassan I like what he is trying to say because which is also part of you see this council culture it's also part of what we're talking about you can't just say I want to say my mind you go blunt and all of that even the terminologies you use so I get where Hassan is coming from comport yourself you must have that decorum you must be able to say I can stand anywhere amongst elders amongst the younger generation you can't be assertive without being insulted which is what I see a lot of attacks it's like so we need to calm ourselves down but let it go ahead back to the point he made which is exactly what I got from it as well if we comport ourselves a little bit better the adults will probably listen to us and listen to us and maybe see things from our perspective because we're acting like unruly kids at the moment but then again talking about the celebrities and them joining and being public figures and seeming as if they're disappointing the youths Chris Brown sang a song and in the song he said how can you hate when you're outside the club they're just trying to be in the club some of them have good intentions and they realize that if we don't get involved we can't make any changes by just screaming outside the club we have to participate with them we know that they're not the first choices but they say even if evil has a way of doing God's bidding sorry I'm not done even if it has a way of doing God's bidding so I think the fair and you say we can't speak from a place of fair but we have to speak from a place of experience let me not call it fair we've heard people say we want to take part so that we can make a change we hear your voices we know what you want and then they get there and it's as safe once they get there there's an injection they give them and they start doing exactly what we were all complaining about and continue where their forefathers left off and we don't even know who is youth and who's not youth the young ones that have been there to go and party I was going to say that I think I have Charles on the phone then I'll come back to Charles to your live good evening Noah thank you for calling so I'll speak personally for myself well the thing is that the reason why sometimes when you look at people although you get disappointed in the choice of people the choice people have made regarding who they are supporting the reason why sometimes you get disappointed is you look at the way the country has been governed the past seven years for instance now if somebody is supporting the APC I want to say ok if you're supporting the APC you'll be surprised why is this person supporting the APC look at the way the country has been governed in the past seven years do you think this post should be given an opportunity to come back to security look at the economy look at the issue of asset strike for the past seven months school has been shut down what kind of reasonable government do that kind of thing so if you look at the issue of inflation look at the cost of things in the market you put all those things together and you see somebody supporting the APC you'll be having disappointed and that's why sometimes when you try to talk and the person is not listening to you you'll be like hello this person is this person in this country so that's why most of the time people get disappointed because I don't think APC has already done very well I don't see somebody coming back to command and if put differently APC present a better candidate you'll be like ok maybe you want to give them a try but this one the person they present he said to me personally I don't see him as a viable candidate he might even look good look at the other day when he was talking he was saying something about assurance is here security is here sometimes when he talks he's not coherent but the issues NBA he didn't attend some of the programs that have been he hasn't even talked to the public he hasn't talked to the press so how do you not tell me about the kind of candidates I mean if anybody is supporting APC as soon as I'm consigned thank you so I was going to say that because again this is also tying to why Banki W at first when he joined the PDP there was a lot of backlash that why would he join the PDP it was just to piggyback to what Lady had said about joining the club you have to be inside the government to be able to effect any form of change so I get that part but there's also a place where people must understand that there are systems there are structures in place that must be put well structured for certain things to happen especially when it comes to leadership in Nigeria, governance but let me take Loma then I'll finish up my point Loma your life okay good evening good evening yeah long man from APC go ahead please with the question that you have just thrown for us it is only a hypocrite that will not take his time especially in this present dispensations it's only a hypocrite somebody who in the morning in this party in the night but if you standing in your ground maintaining what you believe in and you have an ideology and you believe in that ideology I'm telling you nothing will make it democracy we want the freedom of choice and in that freedom of choice I cannot because I have to benefit something from you in this party benefit something from you Loma can I ask you a question I ask you a man that will give me something that will last long okay thank you I decide for a shift of ground he's missing the point we want to ask a question Loma if you can hear me right I'm saying that it is okay for you to have freedom to choose I'm saying that would you also be kind enough to respect other people's choices because now what we're seeing is almost every time somebody else comes to choose something differently I hear that part people are believing that oh it's like you're not in the same country that we are in this country how can you be even thinking about the idea of choosing a candidate or maybe an APC or APDP or whatever anything you know so I get that part but can we be can we allow other people to just choose who they feel like choosing differently and have peace okay see let me talk to you I heard your question this is exactly what the fact is if you say you are not forbidden you will see that some people will if you say you're believing another person and not forbidden they will be attacking you this is what I wanted me as a person is I will allow somebody to make his or her choice but some people I don't want to I want to use this video as a video which if somebody says he's not supporting your vision don't attack in that region use it in some foreign languages thank you not everybody will support your vision not everybody will support your vision everybody has freedom of choice thank you thank you answer my question because what I was now saying was when Bank of W had moved to the PDP because he saw that he had a better chance there because he really did well in the previous round that he did so imagine he is now going to a more structured party that had a lot more spread what do you think would eventually happen to his his ambition for going into the house of representation of course it would definitely because now he has a bigger support I get the party in all of these parties right be it NNPP, be it PDP be it APC or labor party all of these parties they have both evil and good people inside of them even your labor party that everybody is thinking is in misery that would happen and all of that we all have evil people there so we must understand that principle see once we understand that principle we will not be disappointed if anything happens and again we will then go back to strategize because what you used to win an election is strategy you do not use emotions you do not use sentiments but let me take Charles again I think there is another Charles from somewhere Charles you are live from a border hello go ahead you are live Charles hello good evening good evening go ahead I just joined up for Charles I listened to the past the last speaker before the one that just ended his talk you see we are getting a lot of things from here and the way we are doing about it we can never get it wrong because anything with phase of sentiment and emotions it can never happen anywhere like we see we are see blaming party this is not the issue of party before I through to your program I was on CNN when the committee that was set up to probe probe administration was set up and I can see that about 20 months all of them both republican and democrat they all supported the probe was invited to come and give accounts of what had happened if at this time yes we may have how many 60 years of PDP we are not satisfied with gross ADC but can we tell you that the problem is not about the party if we are talking about how to move the Nigeria forward we should talk about individual we are putting phase in mind the second last column was talking about you know I don't think that's supposed to come off here we also the same people thank you so much Charles I think he just summed up what I was trying to say yes it's not even about it's not about propaganda right when we start to do all this antagonistic approach you are losing focus you understand there's a strategy to winning politics there's a strategy to success in political games and every young person needs to go back to the drawing board and understand those strategies and suppose focusing on what's he called that's how this person is you know let's leave all of those things but sorry I think I have a call today not today Peter is in Peter you are alive go ahead Peter are you Peter Obiti yes go ahead you are alive hello good evening good evening go ahead that's called from protocols that is my own issue that I normally have because I too I have my own country I find it difficult that if some people should post a particular party it's a thing that can be bad but to some people they are good it is only to you that I learned that okay thank you so much go ahead quickly we have to take comment yes I wanted to say that if we woke up tomorrow and for some reason it became a case of Tinumbu had decap to PDP and he was now the presidential candidate with PDP do you know people who still follow him so it's not so much APC and PDP he is the person and the reason why a lot of them are supporting them is because they've chopped from underneath this government listen to it please very quickly 30 seconds Yoruba has a saying that says Oluwoma jasikoto un jamu no wen meaning that is because you are gaining from him Oluwoma jasikoto do you understand the logic people say Tinumbu has made a lot of men he has put them in positions and powered people if Tinumbu told them tomorrow we are going to PDP people will vote PDP which means they are voting for the person but the reason I am scared about a Tinumbu is because of his age let's take you are still playing the sentiments that I don't want to say youngest old man are we leaving in one minute today they are hot I am really happy about the whole situation everybody is trying to prove to all that I have something to say but all I want is that in this election coming we should vote wisely some people are so annoying I am not the person that I respect your own opinion there is some fun that is done in Na'ev you get to hear somebody go the reason is because of the country and they still tell you to vote for the person and see if he is blind about what is happening in the country but you want to tell me that I want to vote somebody because I am giving you money I can understand you I can understand you but you can't tell me to vote somebody because of the situation on ground because of my ability to become but some people are so annoying and they want to vote somebody because they want very expensive we are giving you money we are being used to so calm down so let me quickly take you there welcome my dear thank you to me I will choose differently no point deceiving myself and everyone, Peter Obie is my choice and candidate and nothing more people who I hold in high esteem and respect are in so much in a hurry and trust me the people that vote to power when he is there and fails to deliver they will be the first to condemn him PDP started our problem and APC continued killing us to me PDP and APC should be scrapped let us try something else enough is enough my name is Daniel Ilo Yawizreglafa Obie has what it takes to rule Nigeria physically and economically Nigerians don't need any person above 70 years go ahead greetings ladies Nigerians have the right to vote for any candidate they want about the actors don't mind them because most of them are not politicians but are paid to do their job which is acting film as campaign from Angola thank you so much ladies I think we had a fantastic conversation sorry we couldn't take all the calls time is always not on our side now before we go and show you follow us on Instagram follow us everywhere if you want to interact with us further drop a comment most importantly follow all our engagements on social media like share invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation if you missed this very important quote here it is again respecting others opinion doesn't mean being untrue to your own it is just you learning the act of tolerance we'll see you guys tomorrow at 8pm also bring another great conversation to your screen enjoy


Thank you for joining us at Mechanics Institute for this post-Valentine's Day program. We're gathering today to talk about the yin and yang of relationships, loss and love. The writer's lunch is a casual and virtual brown bag lunch activity on the third Friday of each month. Look forward to craft discussion and formal presentations on all forms of writing and excellent conversation. My name is Nico Chen and I am the program manager here at Mechanics Institute. For those of you who are new to Mechanics Institute, welcome! Mechanics Institute was founded in 1854 and is one of San Francisco's most vital literary and cultural events, cultural centers in the hearts of the city. Mechanics Institute features a full-service general interest library, an internationally renowned chess club, ongoing author and literary programs, and the Cinema Lit film series. A recent article in the San Francisco Standard describes this as the coolest library in downtown San Francisco and a remote work sanctuary. Come see this for yourself by joining us for a free tour, which happens every Wednesday at noon. You are also welcome to join us on a special evening tour on Friday, March 8th, starting at 5pm, which incidentally lands on International Women's Day. Light refreshments will be available during the welcome reception and complimentary beverages will be shared. Please visit our website, www.milibrary.org, to learn more about our upcoming programs. We have a variety of great events coming up with many in March marking the celebration of Women's History Month. Today's theme for our Writers' Lunch is Writing About Love and Loss in Relationships. This discussion will include a Q&A with the audience, so please add your questions to the chat box and I will read them aloud during the latter half of today's Writers' Lunch. Please also mark your calendars for our next Writers' Lunch, which is happening on March 15th. The theme for the March 15th Gathering will be Crossing Languages and Writing with Christina Garcia, who's writing often crosses into Spanish, Grace Lowe Prasad, who's writing reconnects her to her native Taiwanese language, and Saskia Vogel, a Swedish to English translator. This event will also be obviously moderated by the wonderful Cheryl Jay-Bazay Boute. Say hi, Cheryl. Hi, Cheryl. Hello, everyone. I see Alan, Alan, you still have your Valentine's Day colors there, good for you. An award-winning author, Cheryl Jay-Bazay Boute, and Pushcar Price nominee is an Oakland multidisciplinary writer whose autobiographical and fictional short story collections, along with her lyrical and stunning poetry, are fully succeed in getting across deeper meanings about the politics of race and economics without breaking out of the narrative. An inaugural Oakland poet, Laureate Runner-Up, she is also a popular teacher, literary reader, presenter, storyteller, curator, and emcee host for literary and poetry events. Next we have the wonderful Lauren Alwyn. Say hello to the crowd, Lauren. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction who lives and works in the San Francisco East Bay. Her stories and personal essays examine bicultural identity, cultural inheritance, and intergenerational relationships in which attachment and belonging play a central role. Her short story, An Amount of Discretion, which looks at family relationships through a lens of grief and loss, first appeared in the Southern Review and appeared in the O. Henry Price stories in 2018. Her fiction as well as literary and personal essays have appeared in a number of literary journals such as Ziziba and is forthcoming in the Alaska Quarterly Review. Next we have Leslie Cuck Campbell Leslie, Say hello to the crowd. And her debut short story collection, The Man with Eight Pairs of Legs, won the 2020 Mary McCarthy Prize for short fiction. Her collection is a 2022 Women's National Book Association Great Group Read Selection, a finalist for American Book Fest 2022 Best Book Awards for short story and a 2022 Ford Indies winner in short fiction. Her award winning stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and she is the author of Journey into Motherhood, Writing Your Way to Self-Discovery and has published feature personal essays in San Francisco Chronicle magazine. Campbell is currently working on a second story collection called Free Radicals. She teaches at Wright Fruits Writing, a creative writing program she founded in San Francisco in 1991. Last but not least we have the wonderful Nona Casper's Nona, Say hello to the crowd. And BuzzFeed, listed Nona Casper's novel The Fifth Woman as a book queer women and everyone else should read. It was a lambda finalist. Her other books of fiction include Little Books of Days and Heavier Than Air, which was awarded the Grace Paley Prize in short fiction and listed as a New York Times book review editor's choice. Lovers' exquisite, quiet risk-taking writing find language for the trick of love and of daily existence itself. Lovers are here and then gone. We are all here and then gone. She is also the recipient of numerous awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Best American, Notable Short Story and more. Her work is forthcoming in Prairie Shunar, Simeron and North American Review. She teaches creative writing in the MFA program at San Francisco State University and lives in the city where she wanders the neighborhood with her, with her dog Bora. Let's unmute and Cheryl please take it away with our discussion today for writer's lunch. Well thank you all for being here. Thank you Leslie. Thank you Lauren and thank you Nona. And thank you Mechanics Institute, especially Niko Chen. I'm going to launch right into it because you know we only have an hour and we want to make sure that we get as much discussion as possible. So let me start by asking this question, convening question. You know it's said that in writing when writers write there is something about writing about love and loss that enables us as writers and humans to find our strongest connections. The strains that go through these topics and that topic together are universal. I'll start with you Leslie. How do you feel that manifests in what you write when you write about love and loss? Well you're right that these strains, these connections are universal. For example motherhood as you heard I wrote a book on motherhood is one of a very important part of my identity and then my own parents. All of my key loves in my life are either the seed and germ of one of my stories or one that I'm planning to write. No one, they engender so much deep and profound vigor and emotional content and satisfaction too for me as a writer to kind of excavate those relationships through the stories that I write. Thank you. How about you Lauren? Thank you for that question Cheryl. You know I think as one challenge of writing especially when we begin a new project but of course it can happen at any stage is finding our way in, finding access to the emotion to the real heart of your subject and I think around this subject of love and loss it's particularly difficult because it is so you know those moments of connection and loss are so huge in our lives. So for me I think the way that I find my way in is through attachment and what within the milieu or the characters I'm writing about what I'm attached to. It might be the setting, it might be elements of the setting, it might be the back story of the character that I want to explore more as Leslie said excavate and through those particulars I think I do find my way in and hopefully to an emotion that even though I kind of know the territory I'm in which is loss and love I might discover something else about it that I didn't know. Exactly. I like that part about attachment, you have to be attached. How about you Nona? Yeah I like that attachment I was thinking of that word and I was thinking you know yesterday was yesterday yeah Valentine's Day and I said to my students happy big love day because I think that we channel so much of this we think love and we think romantic love and all this energy gets channeled in that direction and then I'm so glad Leslie brought up as well. There's these myriad forms of love and for me in my writing the characters, the people feel love the most when it's gone. Not the love isn't gone but the person is either dead or vanished or broken up or that there's something that I try to find language for that like I'm pulled forward with my imagination to maybe re-experience the person but also in fiction but also to just sort of understand that place. I mean the first love of my life was a black mutt out in rural Minnesota. It was my brother Joel who was born at the piece of his spine missing and I though that feeling that passion that I had at that young age we don't think of that as love in any conventional sense and there's something that will then pressurize the writing from that passion those passions that I've felt and attachments and I think maybe that's I'll just stop there I think that says it. Let me continue with you Nona and ask you this question how does a writer prepare themselves to write about love and loss? Well I think for me because when you have any kind of expansive emotion I think about the readings that I did the craft readings around Richard Hugo's triggering town and Ira Richards and he writes about the difference between sentimentality and sentiment so what I needed I had to you know I went to an MFA I got the skills to then write I needed the craft skills to then have that as part of my imagination to be able to find the language and the scenes and the stories for that so sentiment versus sentimentality is something Ira Richards talks about and other people and just about getting closer so there's some sort of pleasure also in crafting right Lauren and Leslie and Cheryl you know this all you writers know this and getting closer imagining beyond the familiar reduction of love but what the textures and moments were actually like so that I think that's what you mean by there's that barrier of not being able to see not being able to see clearly and find true language for something that's has passion in it or a big grief in it but to me it has to do with craft and getting closer and laboring into beyond the familiar social reductions that were fed all the time right even that right exactly exactly so the partnership between the craft and the imagination yes being able to get to get there what about you Lauren oh that was that was wonderful yeah thank you for articulating all that that that idea of getting closer is why I don't know a story might I one story the the Southern review story that was mentioned in my bio I mean I worked on that story for 18 years it took a long time to get closer to the heart of the loss in that story and there's a great loss in that story I think I began with an image and before I knew really anything and began that process that arduous process of getting closer I started with an image and I had an image of a woman alone in a house with a kind of exhalation that was taking place in her and it wasn't one of relief it was one of loss I knew that very clearly so I had to reverse engineer the story so that I ended up there and it took a long time because especially around the topic of loss you're you're writing about absence and it's hard to write about something that is missing more than a few times my husband said to me said you know you're you need to how can you write about something that's not there you know because the character of this story had had lost so much and was kind of steeled steeled herself emotionally against the world and yet there was something she wanted and it was to continue a relationship with her deceased husband's stepson that was the only the closest thing she had to a child but getting closer to that was was difficult in part because of all the absences so how did I do that I did it through portraying the whole story takes place inside a house and I did it by portraying the setting of the house the objects inside it the belongings that she that meant a lot to her and that had kind of been the prompts in a way to her life they had been there all along so I did find a way to get closer through concrete objects and that was kind of a learning experience for me in writing that story was how objects can be on just the objective correlative be characters in the story to help move it forward you know to its to its end point thank you Leslie there's so much to talk about about love I never know where to begin my gosh and I was thinking you know 18 years for a story certainly it's taken me many years to get into a lot of my stories but one example is that this piece I wrote basically three days after my mother passed away called mother load and the first line is a daughter is unable to part with her mother's body and the story she actually is with her mother's body you know it starts out just being you know few hours but then a day and another day then like the Buddhist do it three days and then it goes on to months years and so on and she stays with her mother's body and tells just bones that I feel like you know one of the things that I teach is something called what I call the writing faith F A I T H which means that we always write what we need to write and my goal is always to just free myself up internally as much as possible and and so that encourages I think the imagination I want my I need my heart to be open I know it takes a lot and in fact one of the things I was thinking of when you were talking is how do I do it I cry like some of the things I'm writing I cry because and that's a good sign because then I know I've touched a nerve you know that I've wrenched my heart you know in a place that that feels important you know so so in addition to sometimes definitely stories I've written where there's a lot of distance I'm working on a story now dark to themselves it's related to in that case a romantic relationship that that ended and so on that was years ago but then that mother load you know I just you know my mother's body was actually in my home I was writing it you know and and and then and love is so complicated you know it there's a mother's relationship with her daughter is so complicated so how to get the the the morning the special kind of love that I had have and have for my mother and and all the complications of that relationship you know all in the same in this case a short piece and one other thing I wanted to say because I thought of it when no one was talking about sentiment and sentimentality is a young Lee when I studied with her once at the Napa Valley writers conference she she talked about reading Tolstoy's war and peace every year and how and how she learned that into to get at the the real terror of and and visceral horror of war that the talking about a dog wound on the battlefield you know some a small detail you know rather than confronting facing on people shooting I don't know people dying bombs blasting like focusing on like looking at slant as Emily Dickinson said you know going slant to the small detail that isn't in the center of things and always in general just to to pull back when things are overly dramatic to to what is that saying that the F or OID foie there's a saying about that that Amy Hempel used to use does anyone get no no do you know what I mean no okay anyway but it's a kind of coolness towards what's so hot in that moment and and how that your right one's writing self as we mature as writers then can handle it in in a way that feels very true and doesn't over dramatize right thank you let me pick a piggyback just for a second on the the crying part it took me 10 years to write a scene for a book that was so horrendously tragic I couldn't face it so I put it into a historical novel where it belonged because it happened some time ago and I have to tell you I relate to the crying I cried the whole way through writing that scene because it was so ugly but it was the best scene in the book and remained so in my mind and I think writers know when this stuff is good and when it's not we know but that being said the crying is there how about the humor do any of you inject humor into your stories of love and loss and how do you do that and where do you do that norna well um I think okay so this I don't know I don't I don't I don't I don't know about the word inject because I don't think it's conscious but in the consciousness of whatever the characters are there is some way that my own humor which tends to be a little tilted and I don't know somebody called it did they use the word rye or dry how strange I don't think of myself that way but um but because there's a a sort of natural way of seeing the world's absurdities and then the closer I you can look at something there's a way that the absurdities make reveal themselves um in the woman in the fifth woman um she's in this room and um that was that was that book was compelled by trying to find language for a really big deep sudden loss oh years and years before I could find the language for it um a girlfriend who I'd moved here with and um in the book it's it's death so there's the complete absence the entirety of death and yet not because because death the person comes even closer in a way in the memory and imagination for a while anyway so when I started finding the language for it I think there's just an absurdity in in the details of life that starts to come forward from my point of from my tilted way anyway so she in one way to find language was through metaphor and what some people might call the other dimension um that she's walking through her apartment she doesn't know if it's night or day and when everybody else is asleep she's awake and when everybody else and and then at the end she just sees she looks up and she's staring at the wall and she sees a stain on the on the wall of her fallen down broken down fallen apart apartment building in san francisco which is the place one of the places I lived um cheap cheap and um then there it looked like a jellyfish and there's something absurd about that within all of this you know time is different for her and the darkness and the slowness and then there's the jellyfish and you're left with this jellyfish and I would call that humor it's just yeah there's something absurd built in and that's a shape on the wall but that's looking closely and then something you know imposing itself on that but I don't I like jellyfish a lot that's all I know I think they're hilarious that's all I know is if I came from that it's because they are hilarious jellyfish that's great Lauren well Cheryl that's a tough one for me because I find humor I feel like I'm still learning that and um my the stories that um I've worked on the most and that have been published tend to have a more because they are about largely about loss they do tend to have a um a more you know somber side to them although I have to say um I do love um injecting strangeness in and and a bit of circumstantial dissonance I guess to sort of um to counter that you know because uh because that's how life is and um so I tend to I'll put my characters in situations that are maybe unexpected um as a way of countering that heaviness um um I don't have a jellyfish anything nearly as good as a jellyfish um but I did have a character after she had broken an object in her grandmother's china cabinet uh it was an award her father had gotten I had her out deciding out in the backyard to bury it um which isn't exactly humorous but it is um it was a bit absurd I guess and I'm comfortable shifting into a bit of absurdity to counter the loss um because as she's digging of course uh this takes place in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles where I grew up and the dirt's really hard there so it's quite hard to dig and um I had some empathy for my character in you know being so set on doing this and it was a bit hard for her and I was just hoping that that unexpected dissonance in in the situation she's the character six years old um might bring a bit of just to counter you know a lightness in in to shade to offset the dark I think that's about the closest I think I could get to humor is that absurdity yeah it's it's it's you know in injecting something other than that the sadness of loss uh continually uh how about you Leslie yeah I mean I I think I'm so serious um that's why in the sobbing I'm writing my stories uh and but I I totally connect with like the strangeness the odd situation um even the one I mentioned earlier mother load I mean that's that that took me to a strange place this daughter stand with her mother for years um and at some point her mother's corpse uh specifically so I mean there was a moment when uh she she takes a a selfie with her mother's corpse and and notes that her mother isn't smiling uh you know that that's pretty black humor I would say dark humor um and so there is I'm because maybe and maybe because it was so recent you know since like I said she was her body was in my family home and I was there too uh it just went in these weird places but and another thing that I thought of is um just in the character who does things that are funny like even like in my story Thunder in Illinois which is in my collection the man with eight pairs of legs um and it starts out the the the first line is Mr. Evans who still loves Mrs. Evans has thought up a dozen ways to leave her so it sort of begins with a sort of tongue-in-cheek thing and then Mrs. Evans is the kind of person who at a gas station you know Mick wants it to be all exactly six zero zero zero you know for how many gallons she gets and if I know her she keeps going as though some of the gas ends up filling you know it's over the tank it's on her shoes you know and so uh and she's involved while her husband is dying and her husband who has cheated on her also she she's learned um she she's they're playing a game that's a cumulative game that they've been playing for uh for 35 years you know of a word game and she's winning you know they have that's over a million points for each one uh so you know they're just so much in in life what can I say you know when you say about life it includes incredible love incredible sadness and um these moments unexpected moments that you could just you know slap your knees of hilarity or absurdity wonderful do you consider your readers when you write about love and loss uh I know when I wrote the scene that took me 10 years to write I just felt I wanted to write it and I really I got some pushback from some people who thought that didn't happen that couldn't have happened oh but indeed it did um do you consider those kinds of things when you were writing about love and loss Lauren? That's a great question um I have to say that I think for I'm kind of a sentence by sentence person uh I I I have the um habit of not being able to go to the next sentence until the one before it is pretty much the way I want it which is I've heard a lot is not the way to do it all the time but it's just how how it is so um oh gosh I got so stuck in my sentences tell me the question again do you consider the reader? All right so to be able to do that um I really do have to be inside the text um to be able to move sentence to sentence so um I'm afraid I don't because um certainly I wanna I want my sentences to be readable I want them to have a logic I want them to have as much integrity as each sentence can have um and in so in a way I'm writing for a reader because I want that sentence to be pleasurable to read but in crafting it I have to say I'm just inside that sentence I'm inside the syntax I'm inside the word choice I'm inside the rhythm of it I'm inside where words are short and where words are long I mean all those things that you you obsess about you know or at least I obsess about but I'm I'm I'm writing a sentence so um yeah so I think probably probably not thinking about readers at that point I hear you no no you readers who um no I okay I think that I'm I like how uh Lauren put it in that I'm I'm very much inside the what's happening with the sentence and um and then I'm and what's happening with it's kind of embodying the character um and then at the later drafts when things are coming together thinking of the fifth woman I and little book of days I don't remember about heavier than air I um I do these feelings start coming up of oh something this is too heavy this is too you know I get those voices so I think that's when the reader slips in it's when I start going oh this is too and but not in a bad way because then what I do is somehow that rolls around inside of me and I sort of see is there another piece that needs to be added is there a way that I can craft this so that maybe it's not allowing in enough room maybe there's it air or something um also I have real readers in a in a writers group I've been in for a long time one of them is here Barbara Tomash is an amazing poet and another poet named um and Pelletier and and Jesse Nism so uh one of them is also works in fiction um so I I have reader readers so I have people who will they tell me things too and I listen I listen so I have you know lots of us have that I there's nothing like it so you know Kathy Rose and I work together I don't know what Kathy's here I think she is Anne Gelsior and I so I have those readers who give me like feedback but I can get those voices and I think that that must be the consideration of but it's later way later and then I maybe will like a little book of days I added some dream days to break up the rhythm or you know based on both feedback and my own feeling that it was too the rhythm was too repetitive in the days because it's day after day after day these I don't know it could be called prose poems or little vignettes um so yeah so I think I think later I consider the readers who are my readers and give me feedback very seriously because they're such they're generous and they know me but and they care about my work a lot so I listen to them closely and I also do get those other voices which I can only that must be the the consciousness of okay now this if this is out in the world what what might be missing is there enough air for everybody to breathe I don't know that's the best I can say but advice how about you Leslie I mean I have had so many students over the years and know that when people are thinking about the readers early on in the process it just stops the creative juices from going so I'm with no I'm with no no and and I'm with Lauren on when I'm creating when I'm generating I'm not thinking of I can't think I don't maybe even have the intellectual capacity or emotional breath to think about a million people out there who might might or might not ever see my my sentences it's just this world I'm totally immersed and if I'm not you know it's it's not working so I'm a writer who works intensively you know for hours and hours on end into the night and then and then maybe take a break so that's how I work and and then also similar to no no I I mean I could I have in my acknowledgement so many people for my debut short story collection man with eight pairs of legs like people it wouldn't have happened if you know they and I went to a number of summer writing workshops for example bread loaf tin house nappa valley writers conference as I mentioned and more and those I am so thankful for those strangers you know like 11 strangers in each case around a table and things they say there's I there's I find there's no better that's a little different than the monono was talking about with this group of fiction writers who who bonded but the absolute strangers different ages but there's no greater gift I feel for me as a writer than to have someone closely read my work you know before it's totally totally done and of course after it's done too but during the process of development uh there's I I just always listen to what they have to say no matter how devastating sometimes in one time at the nappa valley writers conference um and and I was working on the Tasmanians and they were someone said I can't have this this character I can't have the objects going for the grandmother and and also have any of the trees cutting down you know and I was just sobbing in the parking lot afterwards and called my best friend in LA it's like right people so you know but but I listened you know it takes time then digest some of that take that in and that that story did not need that character that they that they were like killing off it at all became a much stronger story and then each case that's become a stronger story so um so those people have been reading in the development process so there's all these stages right and then one other thing I want that I think of is when I'm writing them so close to about people that I know right so for example Mr and this is Evan since I mentioned it before it was very much inspired by my parents you know and I really wanted and my father had passed away my mother was alive and I wanted her to read it you know so you know and she said um it wasn't her she and there I am all she said it wasn't my favorite story of yours but that was a lot better than saying you better not write that you know yeah you can't write that I you know I'll remember to the day I die you know um or uh and one one other quick example is a doctor themselves and when I said I'm writing about a love relationship there's a lot of things based on a lot of our love letters that are actually in there so I've talked to her uh sisters her three sisters a couple of her people who she was with after me you know I just sort of wanted to just to see even a draft um and and then in terms of readers more like you were saying Sheila you know if I'm writing about Armenians which in one case or something like that I I or someone who's a double amputee which I am not um I do so much research I talk to so many people and I always have people who are within that group so Armenian friends and acquaintances read that story to make sure that that it felt true to them and you know and so then the delight is when they say that my grandmother thought it was written by an Armenian then I know I've I've done my that's how to avoid appropriation there you go that's the way to do it that's a whole other subject we can get into uh in another in another time thank you right right so uh Niko do we have any questions from the audience we sure do um so Casey actually has two questions so um I'll start with the short one and this is directly directly at nonam regarding the jellyfish did you decide to include the jellyfish for absurdity and humor or did it organically show up for you as you were writing it showed up it showed up in that room in that moment in that state in that place that the narrator was living in in that moment yeah in that crappy apartment with bars on the window falling off yeah thank you for your direct answer and here's a question from Casey for everyone how do you begin writing into love and loss do you see yourself as a choreographer or director of these major themes when writing or do you rewrite and then sift or is it more about collaging pieces basically is your process the same when you are writing to any topic or is there a new process born and juggling such a significant topic such as love and loss how about Lauren you start with that one how that's an amazing question um I have to say I think when it it happens that as I begin a story if I such as the example I gave with the image of the woman in in alone in the house that I began with I knew there was going to be lost there but yet in beginning the story um um of course there were many failed attempts at the start of the story but when I finally got to the correct beginning it was the same as in a story about any topic which is I accessed the voice that was telling the story whether it was first person or third person no matter there needed to be a voice there and I was able to access the voice and I was able to access the the point at the best point at which to enter into the story yeah I want to emphasize it didn't happen the first time yeah I was a few years in uh but um but when I when I found my way in it was because of uh finding the right voice and by voice I mean an emotional perspective uh so we've been talking about you know emotion in during writing about loss and yet I find with my hard heart it's best if I have a lot of emotional distance so that as Leslie pointed out I can um most effectively make choices about what needs what maybe what's gone too far maybe what's not far enough emotionally um there's so many choices to make but the voice is the guiding is the ship that's guiding you through through those choices at least it is for me so um there really is no alternate approach for material that's more intense emotionally um as long as I've got that voice and as long as I've got an idea and often it's just instinct about the type the way that that voice would tell the story then I find I've got I've got my anchor I've got my anchor and I can go forward what do you think Leslie well my my first thought is that I I just write from my body yeah and um I don't know exactly how to explain it more than that um in in a lot of ways so there's this visceral thing and to answer the question is it different for love and loss no I don't think so every time I I carry story ideas around for years and years I'm not a prolific writer I don't I don't have thousands of stories dozens of stories or even dozens of stories the stories in my debut collection are the stories I cut my fiction teeth on they're the original ones that I wrote and I kept working on them and working on them and I was just thinking for each story there always there's this just devotion um and commitment devotion and love I think you know maybe there's love I never thought of it that way um of for whatever is happening it's like to me like going into a foreign country you know and looking at what are the restaurants or the foods like what does it smell like in the streets you know what oh look at this museum meeting somebody that you never knew before how where did they come from what does that do you know it's this whole uh scary incredibly thrilling and enjoyable pleasure to to go into these different um to these different worlds and the other thing I thought of is that when I think about because I was thinking before this this talk about all the stories in my uh in that collection and then and then um the stories I'm working on now and they're all about love and loss they're all about love and loss so they're in one way or another but different kinds of love as I've said between a daughter and a mother or son and their father between a husband you know having an intellectual mistress in the heroin addict who lives next door because they both love Heidegger and Paul Salon you know there's unconventional loves of all kinds that cross different kinds of borders um I tend not to go towards romantic love but love in its many permutations you know uh it seems like everything is about that and then there's always loss with love because like even with Mr. Evans and Mrs. Evans there's this long marriage and I was thinking about they loved each other at the end even with all the difficulties but how you know there's a loss in love because it's not like it was yesterday you know and then four months later it's not like it was in the beginning and 10 years in 10 years and 50 years later in this case it's long marriage you know it's still love but what love is that so I'm interested in exploring all these kinds of love in the way love evolves destroys and uh changes form wonderful any more questions from the audience Nico um we don't have any other questions but I do have a question that emerges for myself we've been talking about love all this time but we have yet to actually define that word so what's like your personal definition of that word love Leslie oh my gosh it's this it's magic it's a miracle uh it's um I think I you know because I've I've come to learn and have felt for a long time that I was said here on this planet to understand compassion and then I have to say what is compassion and it and it's very much about listening to someone else to really listen in about someone else you know regardless of what they feel about gun control or regardless of what they think anything you know um to be able to really take in another person completely let go of my own ego my own ideas um and to to keep working on that through my life um and in a grand way too people in another nation um in another country losing their children in a war uh and it's love to me is I think is really compassion I mean that's it that's what it really comes down to and then I can only hope that when the close people I love you know my own two sons um the the my closest closest friends and family my partner that um my goal is always to have my love be seated in that kind of compassion and you know it's not that easy to just listen to the person you live with you know need your career but it's an ongoing work it's a process thank you nona okay so the question is what is love what is your definition of love I don't I don't have a definition but the closest I can come is when I think about I just taught this Edward Said article on the theology of language from democratic humanism and and and the the warmth of great act of the warmth of true attention and seeing the true face yeah here here lauren that's beautiful nona um you know I have to say I come back to attachment um for me that um and in its varying degrees um it really defines for me which is a love is kind of undefinable um but I understand it best as an attachment that may be um emotional but it might also be physical as in attachment to place um certainly we're attached to things but you know saying I love my car is not exactly the same as I love this place in the desert where I feel the way I did when I was nine um you know there's but but yet these these different types of attachments I feel really do drive a deeper connection and for me um that that connection that can happen with a person or a place um suggests to me different types of love for sure yeah and I I think Leslie mentioned the word devotion that's um part of it certainly um but I really do come back to to that sense of and and what I mean by attachment is I and I think what happens when we do attach to a person or a place is we see uh a kind of ourselves in that other person we see we want to see parts of them in ourselves we want to you know maybe embody certain things about them there's kind of a an interesting transmission that goes on you know when that when that happens and um certainly a very it's interesting territory for uh writing and literature for sure well let me ask this which which may be the last the last question we could get in here um and I'm going to uh take that word that you just used transmission Lauren and I'm going to ask you all um what have you learned about yourselves in writing about love and loss and how do you think it is going to influence or um enhance or feed your future writing projects Lauren um well I have to I'm thinking now the stories that have succeeded the things that haven't succeeded yet are just you know uh it's different but the ones that well what about the stories that you love the most that I've written or others have written that you've written I think they have um I think in externalizing a lot of the emotion that came up when I was writing them um that's certainly been a kind of cathartic experience because um in externalizing it you do feel a bit lighter around that subject for me I get a bit of distance and I think that's especially around around loss I think that can be really helpful because it teaches at least for me it's it's it it teaches me um how to keep going how to be more resilient um how to not unlike some of the characters I've written be destroyed by it um because it can destroy us it can it can um loss can reduce us you know in our capacities and and as a human you know with a limited amount of time we have here uh I think that resilience is is really important so I think definitely the stories have have made me more resilient emotionally um and maybe more willing to take risks you mentioned in stories going forward I think we're willing to take more risks emotionally in stories thank you how about you Leslie so what is the question how has it changed me to to approach these well how um has what have you learned about yourself in writing about love and loss and how do you think it's going to manifest or or enhance your your future projects well it's sort of it's related to my last question I I believe that that I uh it helps me in my world to be a more compassionate person uh to have spent so much time with all these other people I mean if you don't write then you you know you might have I don't know maybe you have a partner maybe don't maybe have a few friends uh it so it adds to the panoply of relationships that um I curate and experience and feel connected to in my life and so I I learned so much from that I think that foreign country is part of it because you know that's going into foreign foreign territory always informed um by myself uh I remember that my title story the man with eight pairs of legs um there's a lot of love um there's potential loss it's one of the few stories that ends up and seemingly kind of a happy note um but uh I remember when I did a workshop with Charles D'Ambrosio in Tin House when I just had graduated from my MFA program which I went to in my late 50s by the way um went back to school and um he I had a one-on-one with him and he looked at me straight in the eye and he said do you have the courage to write this story? Do you have the courage? And I'm like and then just like whoa it was so confronting right it was so confronting and he's such I mean he's a wonderful writer but he's a brilliant teacher uh and so I just thought my god he he's seen into my psyche and beyond my psyche and into the future uh like or something and and in fact that title story um I went to three different workshops over eight years I brought it to bread loaf I brought it to Juniper and I kept working on that story um all that time and I and I just always felt wow do I have the courage to write the stories that I really want to write do I and um I feel like I have because I've achieved that and and it's it's out there and and people it's rewarding to hear what people are experiencing but because we have to have an incredible amount of courage to write things that people are going to really respond to exactly that makes allows them to be vulnerable and let things end and learn about themselves and so yeah it's it's admitted the do I have courage to write the next stories in the right oh my god there's a story that called the dinner with the mortician um that I know I've had in my mind for quite a while but damn if I can I can I get to the desk to start writing that story I don't want it don't you'll get there anyway so there's a lot to learn yeah I'll just say two two words which is um allowed me and honest looking at at myself and others honestly and um honesty intimacy yeah on those two words I will say thank you very much ladies thank you thank you nico mechanics institute this was great of course and I want to suggest for all of our attendees today if you can turn on your video and just kind of pulse love at our special guests for today thank you so much um for sending the love into our writerly community for this beautiful conversation today um within our chat box I do also want to point you to the fact that we are holding a course at Mechanics Institute on this very topic on March 23rd with Joey Garcia who is also at the S of Writers Conference and we also have a slew of wonderful free events coming up that I'm also adding into our chat box and we'll honor everyone's time it is 1 p.m. let's pulse love again as we exit this space and we hope to see you again next month on March 15th for our next writer's lunch take care everyone thank you everybody thank you for coming thank you


Hello friends, I am PR Kulkarni and today we will be discussing about the flow diagram. The outcome of the today's session will be, you will be able to draw a flow diagram for the given problem. The flow diagram as you know is a drawing or a diagram drawn to a scale to show the relative position of a machine, equipment, jigs and fixtures, gangways, assails and shows that the path followed by the material or the machine or in some cases it can be a person also. The flow diagram is a pictorial view of the entire process followed by material, man, machine, equipment and so on. And the purpose of the flow diagram is we understand how the total process moves and then we will be able to find out whether value added and non-value added activities are happening in that particular process. The ultimate aim will be to remove the non-value added items, non-value added movement, non-value added inspection processes and such areas where the purpose will be to simplify the process to remove the non-value added items and make the total application in a better method. Various applications are it is to document a process for better understanding, quality control and training of the employees. We can train the people once you understand the process and show the same process in a pictorial form to standardize a process for optimal efficiency and repeatability. The present status is known to us and then we can find out the present efficiency, remove the unnecessary moments and then we will be able to go for optimal efficiency of the particular process. To study a process for efficiency and improvement, it helps to show unnecessary steps bottlenecks and other inefficiencies. To model a better process or create a brand new process, if it is observed that the present process is quite clumsy, it has a lot many of repeatable elements and then it is better to have an entirely new process than modifying the existing process. To communicate and collaborate with diagrams that speak to various roles in the organization or outside of it, it is observed that pictorial view is always better as compared to the a text form as such. Now we would like to draw a flow diagram, let us understand what is the procedure called drawing a flow diagram. First, we have to have the layout of the work piece which is drawn to the scale. Then afterwards, we have to show the relative positions of the various machines, workbenches, equipments and other accessories in the entire machine shop. We have to show the path followed by the material under study and is traced by drawing various lines, a thick line generally drawn and the arrow movement will show the direction of the process. Each movement is serially numbered and indicated by arrow for direction. Different colors are used to denote different types of movements. Now this is an example of a flow diagram for manufacturing of a bicycle pedal process. It starts with the raw material, we take the raw material from the store so it is the starting point of it. Once then it goes to the after taking the raw material it is taken to the cutting shade the raw material is cut into the required size. After cutting it goes to the forging shop, forging of the particular component is done after forging then it comes to the machine shop where there are two operations shown in the machine shop. The first is turning section and other is the milling section. The first operation is turning and then turning to milling it goes to after milling the entire the job goes to the heat treatment process where heat treatment process is carried out. After heat treatment process it is inspected and if it is ok it is sent to the assembly section and after assembly final inspection is done. Once final inspection is showing ok mark as such then we will be handling this particular job to the part stores or final stores generally called as FG store in the typical organizational language as such. And then here after it can be further dispatched to the required destination through the dispatch section as such. So, this is the flow diagram where if you observe this you will find a typical flow straight line flow is there and some heat treatment process we have some backtracking and done after studying this process we should be able to analyze this process and then analysis should be done on the following lines. The analysis is now you have to think for a moment what is the conclusion of this flow diagram and what do you comment about the process its flow its backtracking and whether the bottleneck of the particular operation is happening or not. Once you have understood it now we have to study the path of the material observe for backtracking if any backtracking is observed you have to repeat the if the backtracking is observed or in the repeat material handling is taking place you have to note down that in particular which particular two work stations are there where the backtracking is happening. We have to analyze why that backtracking is happening whether layout can be changed or there was a temporary moment or particular for batch and what is the reason for the backtracking whether in the waiting of the particular job is done whether it is the process change for that particular day or whether it is some adjustment or it is surely because of we have fixed a layout or for a particular location on a particular product line and then afterwards we have modified the product flow we have modified the products and processes but the layout has remained same. Generally it happens it is a common experience for most of the organizations that once a layout is formed the products and the product material flow goes on changing the layout remains same as old as it is as a result of that as the new lines are added the backtracking for the material goes on improving when goes on increasing and then it needs to have a look at whether the particular layout is giving the correct material handling or not whether we are following the principles of material handling and then once we are following the principles of material handling we have to try and see that the maximum of the flow maximize the flow by avoiding backtracking of the material handling. Once this is there then the next comes after analysis we have to go for the improvement phase where it is generally called as the improvement in the method study. In method study we are trying to find out what is the present method and what is the proposal method once analysis of the present method is done then we have to go for suggest suitable alternatives so that backtracking is eliminated or minimized. The best way is to eliminate the backtracking it should have a straight line single simplified flow it is called a generally maximization of flow in terms of lean manufacturing. If it is not possible then we have to see that at least the backtracking is minimized waiting is minimized bottle drinking is minimized. For this matter we have to have the layout experts we can have brainstorming sessions we can have the line diagrams we can have simulation models and then we can finalize the layout on the paper first have a simulation run it and then see that whether backtracking can be avoided again for this layout propose we have to use the basic principles of layout which definitely act as a guidelines for maximizing the material flow and minimizing the bottle drinking or eliminating the backtracks. Once it is then we have to go for a proposal flow diagram where we have to comparing the existing flow with the proposal flow proposal flow diagram definitely will show what are the improvements possible what is the total distance we are trying to minimize the distance may be of material may be of a equipment or may be of a person. Once the proposal flow diagram is ready we are going to compare the existing flow diagram with the proposal ones the proposal should show improvements in terms of some of the areas like as I said minimization of the metal handling movement it should show the distance which is reduced after the changes in the method it should also if possible try to see that whether workers or operators stress is minimized or not. If it is not possible then we have to think of some additional ergonomical designs in the same layout ergonomics definitely will help for the improvements. Once this is done we have to find out what are the possible changes those are needed in the processes or in the layout we have to work out the cost economics of it and then we have to estimate the benefits if there are some investments we have to calculate the what is the ROI of the investment considering the batch size of the equipment what is the minimum return minimum time it will take on the ROI generally 3 to 5 years of return of investment is generally taken 3 years is supposed to be the best ROI for the given processes. Once this estimate are then we have to run it on a simulation on a 2D3 modeling we have a trial we have a trial phase we are conducting the trials as the trials are taking place probably there will be some issues related to implementation there will be some resistance from the workers side because there is obviously a nature natural phenomena that people try to resist the change may be much better than the earlier one initial phases we have to overcome this particular resistance to change once that is there once workers are taken into confidence we should be able to convince to the operators we should be convinced to workers that this new method we definitely going to help them to reduce their movements to reduce their stress their physical handling and it will also be helpful for improving the quality of the material since the backtracking is avoided that also will result into better quality minimum damages to the work pieces and so on once this is done then implementation of the particular process implementation with the necessary changes we have to do it once we do this then we have to compare the existing flow diagram with the improved flow diagram and then try to compare where and what we have said how much it has helped to reduce it in turn that should also be able to make the possibilities of productivity improvement sometimes it happens that the material moment is reduced the worker moment is reduced time is saved but it is not reflecting into the final figure of the implementation in terms of productivity improvement once the improvement in the productivity is possible we have to set the new norms and then probably improvement will be a routine practice so in short in summary what we are trying to understand is that we have to draw a flow diagram for the existing process we have to draw for the improved process compare the processes try to minimize the metal handling and then improved metal handling should result into the improved production improved productivity which is the value again for the company thank you


Hmm Minds mad of human flesh how about yours?  It's up Corbin. I'm Rick And you can follow us on Instagram also as well as Twitter and you can follow us on official Twitter account If you dare subscribe if you haven't and hit that like button. You know why you know why it helps the algorithm That's what we all want to do. Mm-hmm, and now we should make t-shirts. I Follow OSR because it helps the algorithm. I'm tempted to create an NGO And just to help the algorithm about an NFT to help the algorithm help the algorithm What do we want to do we want to make Google more money they need it's true. They're hurting great world hunger health problems Poverty Anyways today. We get the first of a slew of trailers. Oh great word Just this dropped yesterday, and we got a couple of the trailers And then we got another trailer drop in tonight and then another trailer drop tomorrow. You know why? Nope because they're all trying to drop with pop That's what they want they want to play them with Potham Yeah, like how many trailers do you think we're gonna get before the actual film starts? 17 18 well It's interesting because normally you don't get a lot for Indian films. You may not even get any Yeah, yeah some you don't get you don't get any trailers at all But obviously the bigger ones. Yeah, but it's not all Indian Oh, no, no, like you'll get Hollywood ones. Yeah. Yeah, I remember a big one's like when we saw cage KGF to or Brahmastra Brahmastra there were trailers for American films. Yeah. Anyways, this one is a New Akshay film what and it's called Selfie and it's Akshay Kumar Emron Hashmi And it's coming out February 24th. I do believe somebody said it's a kind of a remake of a Malayalam film I think I think it was called, you know what matters to me. Hmm Water is it gonna get wet and I think it's a it's a comedy. I do I do believe it's awesome a comedy I'm trying to find the name Driver's license. I believe is the Malayalam original version. Okay of this one, but wait a minute Hashtag remake I guess man. Oh, well, yeah, it was it was We'll say farewell to it It's a joke. You don't not see a movie just because it's a remake. Uh, here we go Hahaha Okay Is that emeron that doesn't even look like emeron hashmi Oh Or Oh This public Hahaha I like the premise, I think it's a cool, fun premise for a film, especially one that's like obviously the Akshay's kind of in on the joke of being this big superstar obviously right the funniest thing about it is that they have him living in India and I wrecked crazy Canadian why wasn't this in Canada what do you think it looks like it's gonna be hopefully a fun family film that's gonna make you laugh and is gonna have heart yeah and have a sweet message at the end and if that's the case I really hope it's considered on its merits and not considered because it's a remake or for any other reason yeah I mean obviously you won't know till you see it but from what it looks like it looks like it's a fun family film that's gonna have some heart yeah it does honestly it almost feels like a one that like a Ushman might do yeah a little bit a little bit because you know it's gonna have a message yeah a little bit and also it's very current of like we're gonna wear his fans we're gonna bring him down because you know he's upset in some way and stuff like that yeah I like the premise I like the fact that it I mean you could have gotten I guess multiple stars to be the Akshay character of like either Akshay Shahrukh Khan Salman Khan even Amir I guess you could have gotten yeah and I guess they they did a similar thing in luck by chance right Rithik was the celebrity it wasn't there were a few yeah there but yeah it was Rithik was the main the main yeah celebrity in the film Emmerman Hachmi looks a lot different oh yeah like I it looks like he put on weight for this yeah but and and the other side of things is in a film like this it's it's probably only gonna go one way I don't think there's gonna be much middle ground in terms of people it's either going to be a fun family film that has some heart or it's just gonna be kind of cringeworthy yeah yeah and you hope it's not I mean yeah the trailer doesn't look like it's gonna be cringeworthy at all it doesn't it definitely looks like it's you know what it is yeah it's it's just a fun family flick which I think at least I mean outside of it being a remake that could be something that could derail it obviously because remakes just outside of I think it was Trishyum Trishyum 2 in Hindi yeah that did well did really well but that's also a franchise that was already right well loved obviously but I I think a lot of Hindi audiences are clamoring for family friendly films I don't know I couldn't tell you but I like the fact that it has Emmerman Hachmi Akshay is is is fun I don't who's the director did it say if it did I missed it gonna check real quick to see if we know who this director is why does here I don't I am to be always pop up with chewy chop whenever he opens up I am to be it goes to Juhi's page yeah it does Raj Mehta so I was worked with what capacity in Kapport and Sons I was gonna say but did he direct good news because that's an Akshay film that is an Akshay film that we didn't see right that one was with who is that with that was with the was it Dhanush good news I don't know why do I feel like Kareena was in that or was it Kareena Kareena Diljit is who that is with that was Kareena Kapoor and Akshay and good news so it was the same director as that one yeah and I think we didn't get a chance to see no I heard mixed things but I heard a lot of people did like it as well and so you guys can tell us how that was what you're expecting from this one are you expecting to be a good fun family film you're expecting to be terrible are you expecting it to be a lot of water that's what I am I would hope I was disappointed in the trailer there wasn't any water I do like the fact that he stopped a helicopter with his hand I did too that's awesome anyways let us know what you thought about the trailer down below


Iran created hypersonic ballistic missile Iran has announced the creation of a hypersonic ballistic missile capable of destroying moving marine vehicles and flying eight times faster than the speed of sound. According to the Iranian Fars news agency this was announced at an event in Tehran by the head of the general staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammed Bakiri the general noted that the missile tests were successful Iran has become one of three countries with such missiles he said Bakiri claimed that the speed of a ballistic missile is Mach 8 8 times the speed of sound and its range is 1500 kilometers the presence of such a missile in the arsenal will allow creating a security zone in the seas around the country with a radius of up to a thousand kilometers said the head of the Iranian general staff of the armed forces at the same time Bakiri did not provide information about when and where the missile was tested on November the 10th 2022 the commander of the Air Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps General Emir Ali Hadzadeh announced that Iran had developed a new ballistic missile hypersonic weapons are missile weapons capable of flying in the atmosphere at a hypersonic speed greater than or equal to 5m or 6,000 kilometers an hour or 1.6 kilometers and maneuvering using aerodynamic forces they cannot be intercepted by air defense systems