It's very good to be here, and thanks for the invitation. It is a very important national event, and I'm glad to share with you my experience and the experience of Romanian organizations. As you can see, I just came up from the video to have this presentation. So my presentation will focus, first of all, I will just introduce the organization I'm working for. And then I'll just go briefly in a history of harm reduction in Romania from its beginning until the present. And I will focus on the situation that we're facing today, which is similar to Greece, but unfortunately, we did not have the intelligence to do the right things yet. I'm very optimistic that we will be able to do this in the future. The Romanian Harm Reduction Network is a network formed by 12 organizations and 12 individual members up to now, gathering harm reduction professionals, harm reduction service providers, mainly needle exchange programs or opioid substitution treatment centers, NGOs, and private sector. We also have in the network the social department of Bucharest City Hall. The network was first created in 2002. At that time, as you'll see, there were a few harm reduction organizations in the country. And the goal was to allow organizations to share experience and to increase their quality of service. In 2006, the network was officially registered and it became an association, not just a project as it was before. But first, yeah, OK. So what do we stand for? We promote harm reduction services and facilitate the implementation of effective policies on programs targeting people who use drugs and other vulnerable groups by raising stakeholder awareness with regards to human rights in relation to drug-related issues, by promoting effective drug policies based in human rights and public health principles, by organizing public campaigns to fight stigma and discrimination, and to advocate for innovative harm reduction services such as safe consumption rooms. We're doing some research. These are two research reports we did. One is focusing on the access to clean needles and substitution treatment in Bucharest, in pharmacies, and it was done in 2010. The other one is documenting the increase in use in new novel psychoactive substances, mainly in young people and adolescents. Both of them were done with UNICEF support. And more recent studies went on analyzing the national drug policy and its costs. And also the consequences of pretrial detention over the lives of people who use drugs, what impact on their social reintegration chances and their criminal record as well. We're doing training. This is a picture from a training, and we were understanding the process of preparing a clean shot. And this is an opportunity to talk about injection, a dose, which is risks related to injection. What we are also providing as training topics is harm reduction principles, needle exchange and syringe and needles programs, and management. Over dose prevention, people who use drugs and human rights. And we also provide, produce brochures on needle exchange programs or substitution treatment. We also organize campaigns, communication campaigns. We work with media. We work with international partners. And this is part of the video we just saw prepared in collaboration and also with support of HCLU and Peter and Lisbon were in Bucharest a year ago in order to do this video. We also participate in talk shows as many times as possible and produce articles or help journalists in their efforts to document the situation. And I must say that in the last years, the media overall in Romania has improved its tone over this problem. And I would say they got to understand the complexity of the problem there. No longer talk just about junkies and about the whites and stuff like that. They started to present a more humane portrait of poor populations affected by drug use. And our most important part is advocacy because we use research, training, and communication in order to follow our agenda, which is, as I said, humane drug policies for people who use drugs and vulnerable populations in general. So our first aim is to amend the law on drugs in the sense of decriminalization of possession for personal use because this is in itself blocking the access to services for poor people. And also, it affects the private lives of people who do not necessarily develop problematic drug use. To reduce sentences for petty sellers because our legislation is not very clear. And a person who use drugs and gets two dosages for him and a friend, for example, is seen by the law as a drug dealer. And it sent us to prison as a drug dealer, not as a person who use drugs. And also, to promote alternatives to incarceration. Another part is sustainability of harm reduction services. As Fabiana said, when international donors live the country and as long as the government is not taking over the financial part of the projects, these interventions that we are operating will just be left without any support and forced to decrease their area and range. We also advocate for quality standards because this is the best way to assess the effectiveness beyond epidemiology. We also promote access to services for underage drug users. According to the current legislation, if you are under 16 years old or in the case of needles and syringes, you are not eligible for the program. So from the point of view of law, if an outreach worker provides syringes without parental consent, without asking the mother or the father of a child age 10 years, for example, who is injecting drugs, it's sort of a very unclear situation from the point of the law. OK, harm reduction started in Romania in 2000. In 1999, there was a small outreach project targeting sex workers. And with this project, the first contact with injecting drug users was made. And in 2000, there was a first needle exchange center in Bucharest in a psychiatric hospital. So at that time, nobody believed that there are so many users in Bucharest. And even the people who were operating this service were skeptical about it. But they just realized the scale of the phenomenon when, like a month later, from the first day of the beginning of the center, they had like 100 clients per day coming and getting syringes. At that time, we introduced an anonymous code because we were concerned with protecting the identity of our clients. And it's a simple code. That's, for example, it's my code. It's three letters from the first name of my mother, year of birth, my three letters from my first name, month, and the gender. And we used this code to gather information about the age of the people who were accessing the services and also to gather information about the gender distribution. So from then, we know that about 25% of the clients accessing programs are female and the rest are male. And we had also information about how many underage people we have in the system. At that time, police was very reluctant in accepting needle exchange programs or syringe needle programs because they just believed that it's a way to promote drug use and that our mandate should be to persuade people not to use drugs to stop doing drugs because drugs are bad. And it's easy that you just realize that.  It wasn't the case. So our colleagues in that time had a lot of trouble with police officers. We're just parking their car next to the needle exchange program, waiting for people to get syringes and then harass them and stuff like that. Even the clients were reluctant because they believed that we're undercover police officers who found a smart way to attract drug users and then to arrest them. So that was the part when the programs started to develop. At that time, there were few needle exchange programs were available in three cities in Bucharest, Timishara, and Constanza. And in Constanza, the program was operated by people who use drugs. In 2004, 2006, with global fund support, we managed to scale up the services and we reached up to 5,000 people in two years. We had protocols with police and police finally accepted the existence and effectiveness of needle exchange programs. The focus in that time, because we had access to funding, so we were quite safe for two years, was on quality, on what information we provide, on how we educate people, what are their rights, where they go ask for help in case of medical problems or social situations. And it lasted until 2007 when the first part of the global fund project stopped. And we were in the risk of stopping the services. In 2007, 2010, another round of the global fund, round six, allowed organizations to continue the services and also the United Nations UNODC program allowed state institutions and one NGO to open more open substitution centers. So five new centers were opened by the National Anti-Drag Agency in this interval. Two programs in prisons providing substitution to prisoners as well as two pilot needle and syringe programs in prisons. Also, an NGO with the Infectious Disease Institute in Bucharest opened another opiated center who is still working today. It was the best part of our harm reduction history because in 2009, we reached about 9,000 people with the 1.7 million syringes with the calculated rate of 183 syringes per client. And from 2009, the services continued to go down even though the distribution of syringes sometimes went up. But on a general basis, we're in a crisis right now as we were last year when you guys came in Bucharest and we did this video. In 2008, approximately, new substances like synthetic drugs entered the market as it happened in here as well. First, they were used by people who were not close to injection. But in short time, heroin users just discovered that these drugs were way better in terms of effect and cheaper. And the best thing was that they were legal, so they were no longer facing any issues with police. And all these conditions determined an epidemic of synthetic injection in the communities of people who inject drugs in Bucharest. And just two years later, we had this increase in HIV. At that time, we organized a conference on opiate substitution treatment for the whole Balkan region and for the, sorry, sorry, sorry. Just sorry. I have another line here, which is not on my presentation. I changed some things. So at that time, we also had six NGOs providing needle in syringes, while now we just have two. Starting with 2010, our services went in the crisis because the Global Fund, the main supporter of HIV prevention services for vulnerable populations, canceled the program because Romania is a quite developed country, and we've, as you know, and it's no longer eligible under their eligibility criteria for HIV. So UNODC also ended their project in 2011. The European structural funds allowed organizations to apply just one organization in the network to manage to submit proposals that were approved, which includes needle exchange syringe programs and opiate substitution treatment. And the cost was actually to turn our colleagues in this project into bureaucrats because the European structural funding in Romania is taking the Brussels bureaucracy, adding the Romanian bureaucracy and passing all this bureaucracy to the people who are implementing the project. So in fact, instead of working with people, part of the teams were just doing papers on and on and recording personal information and data of their clients and sending them to the state because the state wanted so. In 2011, for the first time, the Infectious Diseases Institute, which is the national focal point on HIV, signaled a very high increase, actually, compared to a year before 12 cases and now 62 cases in September 2011. And that draw attention of international institutions as well, and World Health Organization, the European Center for Disease and also the European Monitoring Center for Drug and Drug Addiction. They came in Romania in 2000. Actually, I'm not sure if they came in Romania because our government did not ask for WHO to come. Anyway, in 2011, a common paper was published by ACDC and EMCDDA showing that Greece and Romania have major issues with HIV among people who use drugs. Our expectations was that the state will react immediately and do something about it. But it was not the case. There were signs of interest from the municipality of Bucharest. So the Bucharest city hall contracted one organization in the network, the Romanian Association Against AIDS, to provide syringes to drug users in Bucharest under the same condition to gather the ID information because, unfortunately, in our country, this is the only way, I imagine, because of bureaucracy and corruption. It's the only way to double check if that syringe really made it through to the beneficiary and it was not sold or something else by the professionals. So actually, the aim of gathering personal ID information was not to see how many drug users we have and who are they, but just to make sure the syringes were delivered as planned. In 2012, 2011, drug users started mobilizing and started realizing that this is a difficult situation and they have to at least say something about it because to do something about it, it was quite difficult. So on 1 December, 2012, we had the first public statement from the community of people who use drugs done by a colleague who, unfortunately, now is dead because of an overdose. Just a few months after this statement, in 2013, we organized a protest. I will show some images about it. In 2012, 2013, we noticed a general scale down of services, not necessarily in the NGO part, but also on the governmental side. If we had in 2007, 2009, we had effective needle exchange programs in prisons. Starting in 2012, they were canceled, not officially, because even now, if you ask the prison administration, if they have needle exchange programs or syringe and needle exchange programs, they will say, yes, they have. But the condition is that the prisoners have to ask for the syringes. It's by demand. And there is a problem with keeping the confidentiality, protecting the identity of the person. What happens is that if you're a prisoner and you ask for a syringe, the next night, you will have the guards looking for drugs in your room. So nobody actually asks for syringes. So from the point of view of the administration, we don't have any problem with drugs in prisons. So actually, this is the consequence of this policy. Sorry. 2008, we had 52 cases in prisons. And 2013, we have 321 cases in prisons. And about 250, something like that, it's people who use drugs out of these 300 people. But according to the prison administration, it's former drug users. It's very important. It's no longer people who are currently using drugs. It's former. This graph shows how the epidemic started developing. In blue, you have the syringe distribution, which was quite changing over the years. On yellow, you have the emergency cases due to synthetic use, synthetic stimulants, and also synthetic cannabinoids. So there was a peak in 2010. And then the government immediately, after public pressure, of course, criminalized 44 substances. And in 2011, they managed to find legal methods to shut down the shops, which were quite a lot in Romania, I must say. And then you have HIV in red. From 2012 to 2013, it looks like it decreases a bit. But we're talking only about new cases. The formula of the epidemic is novel psychoactive substances. Mainly, I'm actually exclusively synthetic stimulants with an increased number of injection per day per client without syringes. It results HIV. Because people were shutting like three to five times per day. But when they turned to NPS, they started using like 20 to 50 syringes in one period of time. And in conditions when it was absolutely impossible to be aware of the risks. Because apparently, on synthetic stimulants, you lose this skill. 2013, we organized a protest on 26th of June as part of the Support Don't Punish campaign, which is a global campaign which aims to draw attention on people who use drugs and the negative effects of the current drug policy system, which is prohibition, we have to say. The protest was organized in front of three ministries, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Labor. And we asked for services, continuation, for removing the ID information from the records, and for more comprehensive services for people who use drugs. The protest gathered about six organizations in the network, professionals and people who use drugs as well. OK, this is what we are facing. Sorry, sorry, sorry. This is the formula of the epidemic I told you about. And this is the protest we're organized. And this is the current situation where we're talking about cumulative cases. From 2008, we have in 2014 716 cases until September 2014. So we are still waiting for the government to do something about it, or to hope that international donors will come back in the country and will allow us to continue what we started. We're not alone. We are supported by people all over Europe. That's part of a message campaign organized. Like just a few months ago, to show that international activists are on our side in our fight for funding and for people's lives. This is a group of activists. In the happening we organized in 2013 in front of the Ministry of Health. And they say that stopping the needle exchange programs is the fastest HIV transmission route. That actually was our point. We have the capacity. We have the know-how. We just need the funding to stop this epidemic. And even though it's cheaper compared to any kind of other interventions such as antiretroviral treatment, still apparently there is no funding for it. So the challenge is in controlling the epidemic. When money from the state were available in small amounts, the biggest issue was to procure syringes. And our public procurement system forced us to get the cheapest offer. So the cheapest offer was procured. And the clients of the needle exchange programs rejected the syringes because of their very, very bad quality of the needle, first of all. Overall harm reduction scaled back following the closure of international projects and decreased access to HIV testing and treatment for people who inject drugs. Because a year ago, if I'm not wrong, the access to treatment is no longer universal in Romania. You have to have papers. You have to pay your medical insurance. Otherwise, you don't get or not everybody gets to receive the treatment, which is a pity, because we had this very good practice for years and years. And it stopped right in the moment when people who inject drugs got affected by HIV. Oh. I will just end with a few conclusions. The first conclusion is that harm reduction is developing constantly, but very slowly in Romania. And with some ups and downs, but we are sure that we will continue.  The harm reduction interventions in Romania are depending on international donors. And the biggest challenge is to secure the funding from national or local budgets. It is cheaper to prevent than to treat. This is just a slogan. State authorities are prioritizing health problems depending on their scale and the type of affected population. Therefore, people who inject drugs, sex worker, Roma minorities, or other vulnerable populations will always be by the end of the list, not because they are difficult or expensive problems, but because there are not so many. And the focus of the government is to cover bigger problems. And as our health system is not the best, we have a lot more other issues to take care of before HIV, unfortunately. And we realized that it took us some years to understand this. HIV gets public attention because it scares people. That's why HIV does not have anything to do with that. And it will get even more public attention because now in our communities with injecting drug users affected by HIV, TB is spreading. And the difference between TB and HIV is that you can get TB by air. So that will be another moment for our population to understand that if we do nothing now, it may be too late to do anything in the future. State representatives invoke the economic crisis to excuse their lack of reaction. In fact, it's not the economic concern. It's the lack of political power of marginalized population. And this is where we have to react. Even though publicly recognized the reality of HIV and it's spread across various marginalized groups, the problem is overpassed by the health and social issues covering broader populations. And also social problems like unemployment, for example, which is like a bigger threat in the country. All right, so that was my presentation. And...


Rich Pigs Daily is an online community for traders to exchange smart, straightforward and profitable investment ideas. Join us today at richpigsdaily.com. Subscribe to us on YouTube to learn useful stock trading secrets and discover the next ten-banker. Hey guys, how you doing? This is Rich from Rich TV Live and I wanted to talk to you about vicinity motor corp, otherwise known as bus. We introduced this to you as bus when it was like at around $1.50. It did a somewhat of a three to one reverse and a lot of people were worried and they're panicking and they were selling and creating all kinds of fear and look at what it's done since the reverse. It was initially around $7.27. It hit $8.80 yesterday and it just looks like it's going to continue this move up and that's the symbol in Canada, VMC. And in America, the symbol is BUSXD and a lot of the same. As you can see here, looks extremely similar. It's just a beautiful trend up. So both of these stocks look like they are trending up and going in the right direction. And then once again, there was news today and the news just keeps coming for vicinity motors corp, vicinity trademark buses select for Washington statewide contract. The news just keeps coming vicinity motor corp, VMC in Canada on the Toronto Stock Venture Exchange, BUS, I believe it's XD or XF, but it says XF here and 6LG in Frankfurt, Germany, formerly Grand West Transportation Group, a leading supplier of electric, CNG gas and clean diesel buses. Today announced the state of Washington has selected vicinity buses in a statewide purchasing contract that gives state transit agencies the right to purchase from the company's diverse bus portfolio. Vehicles for selection can be produced from the company's planned Bi-American Act compliant assembly vicinity facility in Washington state, which will be capable of producing 1000 electric CNG gas and clean diesel units annually across all sizes and powertrains. That's right, 1000 buses. We are pleased to announce that vicinity motor corp has been chosen as an OEM supplier for Washington state's growing fleet of buses, driving forward the transition to a more sustainable public transportation system. Said William Trainor, Chief Executive Officer of vicinity motor corp. This contract when marks yet another exciting milestone in our expansion into the significant U.S. market where our purpose-built vicinity trademark line of products, quality and consistency allows us to capture market share. Our guidance to deliver over 100 buses in the first half of 2021 is a testament to the value proposition that vicinity brings to private and public transportation operators. I look forward to continued execution in the months ahead, creating sustainable long-term value for our shareholders, concluded Trainor. The company also announced that certain eligible directors have requested that their respective directors' renumeration for the calendar year 2021 be paid in deferred share units, DSUs, and accordingly the company has granted 3,269 DSUs in connection with director's renumeration for Q1 about vicinity motor corp. Facinity motor corp, VMC, BUSXF, 6LG is a leading supplier of electric CNG gas and clean diesel buses for both public and commercial enterprise use in the U.S. and Canada. The company's flagship line of vicinity buses, which maintains a dominant market share in Canada, are produced by the company's world-class manufacturing partners or at the company's Buy America Act compliant assembly facility in Washington State. The company's innovative vicinity lightning trademark electric vehicle bus enabled through a tier one strategic supply agreement with BMW batteries and components seeks to lead the global transition to more sustainable transit vehicles in the private public markets. For more information, please visit grandwest.com or vicinity bus for product details. So here's grandwest.com. So you can see this website is literally developing. This website is literally developing. You can subscribe for updates and they will be launching soon. So just simply subscribe and you will get the updates as this website develops. So it's pretty exciting to see what it's going to look like when it's done. And let's see if there's any changes to the vicinity website. Let's quickly look at that as well, vicinity.com. So no changes yet to the vicinity bus.com site. As of now, still look similar as what it did before. So remember, RISTV Live is strictly for information and education purposes. Always do your due diligence. Always do your research before you miss anything that we talked about here in RISTV Live. Always invest in the best. The best is blessed and you deserve the best. BMC has been on a tear since it did the reverse. What do you guys think it does today? The trend is up. Let's see if that trend continues. This is rich from RISTV Live. If you're not winning, you're not watching. We're bringing the winners and we bring them to you first. If you like the video, smash the like button, comment on the video, subscribe and share it everywhere. BMC put on your watch. Just put on your radar. If you're not winning, you're not watching. We bring you the winners and we bring them to your first. What do you guys think of this news? I think it's big news. Get your popcorn ready. Put vicinity motor corp on your radar. Put on your watch list. The news says BUSXF, but it's still listed as BUSXD in America. You're a boy rich from RISTV Live and I'm out. Peace.


Everybody Matt here for late in sports cards are up in one box of 2022 leaf metal draft football jumbo. This is for Alec M All right. Good luck Alec with four soccer boxes and five Father's Day packs in queue. That's it.  Let's keep the low-numbered hits rolling here. That is Draftbound auto David Bell to a five. That's not straight this is Tiger stride auto Romeo Dobbs three of five This guy has a has a an opportunity to blow up and have a huge season This is Draftbound blue wave auto Jerome Ford We'll wave that is to 25 and Tiger stride auto Jaden Reed four of five Tiger stride auto Chikwari Robinson also to five four of five. This is touchdown Kings auto Four of 15 Isaiah likely. This is redemption. There you go. You asked for it Alec Bryce young Leaf metal draft football autograph redemption. There you go. Alec Congrats nice Bryce young Auto redemption on the back is One-of-one autograph pre-production proof crystal red Reggie Robertson or Roberson jr. That'll do it for your box Alec appreciate the purchase congrats on that Bryce. We'll get these right out to you


Hi, and welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen, I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and it is Saturday, so it's grocery haul day. I'm really excited to show you everything I picked up for the week, what is on my menu for dinners and what you'll see in Monday's meal prep, it's gonna be a good one. So if you're excited, give this video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you're not, turn your bell on because I do a grocery haul every Saturday and I do upload five videos every single week. Don't forget to check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching, where I offer personalized to you macros and calories. Highly recommend this is what I utilize to lose 140 pounds and maintain that weight loss as well as one-on-one coaching for accountability to ask questions or talk with me directly. Links and discounts to my favorite things and come join our Facebook group. It's a community that would love to have you. So let me flip you around, let's go in the kitchen for the grocery haul. So for this week's grocery haul, I went to my local fries store which is a Kroger store and then ran over to pick up a couple of things from Sprouts. So starting with Sprouts, because like I said, I just grabbed a couple of things. They had these Kiwi turnovers for $2.50 on clearance. Normally they're 450, they look amazing. I love Kiwi and I thought that this would be kind of a nice little sweet treat. What I mainly went there for is shredded chicken. So I bought one small pack and one large pack. I actually need shredded chicken for a dinner recipe as well as my meal prep. And then I grabbed this water and by the way, 10 out of 10, recommend this water. It's so good. This is from the brand Roar and this is the organic and I picked up the cucumber and melon. It has antioxidants, electrolytes, super good. It's 20 calories for the bottle or 10 calories for half of it. I was just feeling like I needed a little bit of an energy electrolyte boost and it's really, really good. They had two other flavors as well. And then starting with Kroger, I did grab some meat. You guys know I love to take a look at the reduced meat. They had the 91% ground beef for five, 26 a pound. This is the Simple Truth Organic. Really, really good deal. Almost $9 a pound normal price. I just either cook it up right away or throw it in my freezer. And then this was discounted as well. The little take came off. It was $5.99 and this is a 2.25 pounds of 85% ground beef. This is for Troy when I make his sloppy joes. I always try to buy a fattier cut for him and that was a killer deal. Speaking of killer deals, I saw this when I went to grab some paper plates. This is from the brand Pure Organic. These are the Double Cheddar Crackers. These were $1.54 on clearance. So they're supposed to be kind of like a Cheez-It. So I thought that I would try them out. Didn't hurt for $1.54 and this is a really good brand and typically a pretty pricey brand.  This is for a dinner recipe. I needed either a small corn tortilla or flour tortilla and I wanted to try these zero net carb ones out from Guerrero. Some hamburger buns because we are going to do a burger night this next week. And then I did stock up on a couple of the Idahoan potatoes, these loaded baked potato. And this one I've never seen before, Monterey Pepper Jack. I love pepper jack cheese. I like to make copycat KFC bowls and I actually have some gravy in my fridge that I need to use up. So I bought potatoes for that and then I like to add the shredded chicken as well.  Fire roasted, diced tomatoes for a dinner recipe. And then I also needed some pickled beets for a recipe. I love pickled beets and I never buy them. So this is reminding me how much I love them and that I should be purchasing them more often. I did grab a gallon of milk for Troy. And then here's the paper plates I picked up where I found those crackers on clearance. We were out of paper plates and I had a coupon from Kroger. And everything else is produce. So I grabbed a huge pack of strawberries. These were on sale for $2.99, I think, which is a really good deal. And I need quite a bit of fruit for my meal prep and then we eat a lot of fruit during the week as well. I also grabbed a huge pack of blueberries and then a small pack of raspberries. Three peaches, this is for my meal prep. A zucchini for my meal prep. Couple of limes, I needed one for a recipe and then I like to put lime in my water as well. Some fresh cilantro for a recipe as well as a red onion. Green onions, this is for a recipe and I love green onions on salad.  I love lemon, lime and mint in my water. That's kind of my favorite concoction. I also like to put cucumbers and mint as well.  And then some grape tomatoes. This is for a dinner recipe. I also picked up a couple 24 packs of Diet Coke which is currently being put away in the garage. So let's go ahead and jump into what's on my menu for dinner and what you'll see in Monday's meal prep. So here's what is on my menu for the week. Now Friday I went out to dinner with my girlfriend. Saturday we always go to dinner. Sunday I'm making burger bowls. Monday I'm doing chicken tinga tacos. You guys will actually see this recipe in Wednesday's What I Eat in a Day. Tuesday, Wednesday we will do leftovers and then Thursday we're gonna do a burger night on the grill. And then here's what you'll be seeing in Monday's meal prep. You guys I'm really excited for these recipes. Super fresh, super light. We're making a chia lemon and strawberry zucchini muffin for breakfast. For lunch I'm doing chicken burrito bowls and then for a snack I'm making a blueberry peach crisp. So definitely stay tuned for all three recipes on Monday. Thank you for joining me for another weekly grocery haul. I hope you enjoyed seeing everything I picked up from Kroger and Sprouts. I'm really excited for Monday's meal prep so make sure you're subscribed and your bells on so you're notified when it goes live because like I said it's gonna be a good one. Don't forget to check out the description box for nutrition coaching, links and discounts to my favorite things and don't forget come and join our Facebook group. We'd love to have you. Happy Saturday friends and I'll see you in tomorrow's video. Bye.


Welcome to Dare to Dream. This is Debbie Dashinger, pleasure to be with you today. Today's show features Sheldon Eeps, one of the most successful and universally respected leaders in American theater. Sheldon radically changed theater through his leadership, including his insistence on making diversity a priority both on stage and off. I'm very much looking forward to that conversation. This show, Dare to Dream, has been nominated for two People's Choice Podcast Awards for a Webby Award. We are currently listed in Welp Magazine as one of the top 20 best podcasts to listen to, listed in Apple Podcasts as a top self-improvement show, and recently won the Coalition for Visionary Resources for the Best Podcast and Radio Show. I thank all of you for joining us and staying on this journey. This show is sponsored by Dr. Dane here at Access Consciousness. They do beautiful energy work out into the world. If you'd like to become a facilitator or take one of their classes, go to drdanehereheer.com or accessconsciousness.com. I'm Debbie Dashinger and I am a media visibility expert. I am a book writing coach and I help you get from the idea of your book to a finished book and published. I also have a company that takes your book to a guaranteed international bestselling status and I do all the heavy lifting. Finally, I show you how to be interviewed on radio and podcasts and get massive results. I've got a gift for you. If you're ready to become visible and learn some of these aspects, writing books, getting booked on podcasts as a guest, go to debbiedashinger.com slash gift and get your templates and videos and learn how to. It's D-E-B-B-I-D-A-C-H-I-N-G-E-R.com slash gift. My guest today is Sheldon Eeps, who is one of the most all-time influential African American theater leaders, as well as a prolific director of television. He's directed on Broadway, The West End, and is the director of the upcoming BET Plus movie, Christmas Party Crashers. He received the NAACP Community Service Award and the prestigious James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his many accomplishments. His new book, A Memoir, is titled, My Own Directions, A Black Men's Journey in the American Theater. Mr. Eeps is a longtime member of the executive board of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and served as chair of the SDC Foundation Board of Trustees. He's a two-time recipient of the Theater Communications Group Pew Charitable Trust National Theater Arts Residency Grant, and currently he is honored to serve as senior artistic advisor at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. And with that, I welcome the amazing Sheldon Eeps to Dear to Dream. It is so great to have you here today, welcome. Good to be here. Thank you. Thank you for the nice welcome and the great introduction. Yes, it's my pleasure. You know, I majored in theater at USC. And I'm sorry we didn't cross paths because that would have been a momentous for me, but I did major in theater and that was my life, my livelihood for a very long time. And of course, I know who you are. So, when- Well, great, so we have common ground then. That's wonderful. We absolutely do. And I know you're busy. I wanna just start by asking, do you have a website? Is there a Sheldon Eeps website out there? You know, I'm so not great at all of those social media things. I probably should spend an hour with you talking about that personally. I am on Instagram under my name, Sheldon Epps. So if you can go there, that's fine. But no website, lots of stuff on Google that people wanna know more than they find out today. Okay, and then to that end and to further correct myself and anybody who's interested in going to Instagram, it is Sheldon which is easy enough and E-P-P-S. So, beautiful. And that is a name I grew up with. I'm a very common name. I'm from New York. I know you're from Teaneck, New Jersey. And nobody names their children Sheldon anymore. It's a great name. Well, I'll tell you something funny. It's a name that's usually associated with men of the Jewish faith. A lot of people when they just speak to me on the telephone or just see my name, think I'm Jewish. So when I show up face to face, they sort of look past me. That's hilarious. My mother's done a sign or a store or something. So it's not a family name. It's just a name that she saw somewhere and she liked very much. So I think it's a great name. It is a great name. Yeah, greatly underused, but I'm glad you have it. And you have directed many major, major productions on and off Broadway, London, theaters across America. And you've had a very active television career. And now, as we said, you're artistic director at Ford's Theater in Washington. So with all of this, how is it for you now, this phase of your life, this beautiful phase of your life compared to the trajectory getting here? I would say that it's been great to have in my dotage and my old age here, just a terrific last year, working on some great theater projects, continuing to work on television. And then having the time to write and edit and then get this book published, which really tells the story of my life and all the things that led me to being artistic director at Pasadena Playhouse in my 20 years at that theater. So to have all of that in the space of the year has really been pretty phenomenal and kind of overwhelming. It didn't really hit me until towards the end of the year. When you get to New Year's Eve and you start to think about, okay, what did I do this year? When I realized all the things that had been accomplished, I was pretty impressed with myself, I guess I have to say. Your story is pretty amazing. Did you ever feel like somebody was helping you from the other side, that you had angels, that the universe in general was for you? Yeah, actually, I do feel that. I wouldn't say that my life has been a bit of roses or that it's all been easy. There's been challenges, there's been obstacles, there's been things to overcome, but I have really been blessed and fortunate and had the rare opportunity to do almost all of the things, maybe all of the things that I ever dreamed of doing. So I don't think you accomplished that by yourself. You need some help from the universe or the spirits or spiritual fathers and mothers and all of that, yes. What are the qualities, Sheldon, that you think makes a good theater director? Number one is patience, not to rush the process, not to try to produce results. I think you have to be a very, very good listener. One of the things that I think I've learned is that listening in the rehearsal process is as important as talking. You have to be a bit of a psychologist, a bit of a therapist. Actors like people are all different. There are certain things that help some people and other things that help other people. So as in any good relationship, you really have to be sensitive to who the person is and what their needs are and what is helpful to them and work from there. And then good taste, I think, you've got to have good taste. And you have to want to be a storyteller also. You have to love storytelling. Yes, absolutely. What did you mean more specifically by good taste? I often think that you see, you see productions, you see movies or stage shows or whatever, where everything is just thrown in together. It's every idea that everybody has. And it's a little like the great fashion critic, Deanna Vreeland, said about dressing, or maybe it was Coco Chanel, I'm not sure. But one of them said, when women get dressed in the morning, they should put on every idea they have and then they should take two or three things away and then they'll be perfect. So you have to have the taste to know that just because an idea is there, you shouldn't try to use every idea in every production. You need the taste to say this is appropriate for this production and the style of this show and for this story, but not for every show and not every story. Some things need other simplicity, some things need more complications. Amazing, so there's a lot of discernment in there. Yeah, yeah, I guess that would be another way of saying good taste was discernment, selectivity, maybe. And your life, as you said, in the entertainment business, there were highs, there were lows. Can you talk about some of that, some of the low times that you experienced and how you got through them? Yeah, again, I don't think it's distinct to me as an artist. I think anybody's life as an artist in America is a roller coaster ride. You're never gonna be working all the time. It's not a clear trajectory from beginning to heights. Ups and downs, peaks and valleys all the time. But I think there's more challenges that have been involved, that are involved for artists of color because on top of the normal challenges of a life in the arts, you also have those restrictions that are placed on you, not by yourself, but by our society that says you can do this, you can't do this. This is available to you, this is not available to you. You can be a follower, but not a leader, all of those things. So we're talking about dreaming, daring to dream. I still believe that you should dare to dream, absolutely. But there are forces out there that want to inhibit those dreams and tell you not to have those dreams or kill those dreams. So I've certainly experienced that in my life and had times when I don't think my dreams were ever diminished, but they've been challenged. I'll put it that way. Was it mostly early on in your career that you experienced that or has it been pocketed throughout? I would say throughout. I would say throughout. Certainly early on. Early on, you put into as a black theater artist, you're put into what I call the black box and you're told, okay, here's the list of 25 plays that you can direct. Don't think about directing anything else. And usually they're placed by black writers, which is great. And certainly I admire many black playwrights, but my admiration for black playwrights doesn't mean that that's all I want to do. I also want to do Shakespeare. I want to do Noel Coward. I want to do Tom Stoppard. I want to have the freedom and the artistic range that any white director would have. Any director who is not a person of color. So certainly I had that challenge early on in my career and had to make it clear to people in all kinds of ways that I wanted to go beyond the black box. But later as the leader of a major American theater, there were people who felt I had no right to the job. I shouldn't be there. How did I get the job? Was this an accident? How long is it gonna be before you fail in the job? And that was certainly true at the beginning of my time at Pasadena Playhouse, but I can't say that those feelings from some, not from everybody, but from some didn't follow me all the way through my 20 years as the artistic leader of the theater. So yeah, and then even after that, I think that there are opportunities that come to that come to white folks that don't come to people of color unless you really fight for them. Is there anything to date that you have not yet done that you really would love to sink your teeth into? You would love to be at the helm of and direct? You know, it's a great question. I actually, after all the theater I've done and after all of the episodic television that I've done, I'd never done a movie. I'd never done a full-length movie. And I did get to do a very sweet, charming holiday film that you mentioned, Christmas Party Crashers. That was on BET. And it was a great experience, a lot of fun, but that left me with a bit of a hunger to do a real feature film, you know, a real big movie. And there's one that may happen. I have a script now that may occur. Okay, great. Well, this is your year. I see that for you. Thank you. So once again, your book, My Own Directions, Black Man's Journey in the American Theater, and you were talking about some of the challenges you experienced and the black box. Very interesting term. I hadn't heard that before, but I completely understand what you're saying. And so that was some of your personal experiences. In a more global sense, what have you seen? And has it gotten any better? Are there still a lot of areas that where there is a black box, whether it's TV, film, or theater that could use improvement? Well, let me first talk about the fact that things have definitely improved. Let me say that there is a lot to celebrate. There was a time early on in my tenure as leader of Artistic Playhouse when I was one of the only, and for certain years, the only black person who was the leader of a major theater. That's not true anymore. There are many, many men and women of color who are artistic leaders, executive leaders. We're seeing many more faces of color on screen in movies and television. And behind the scenes as directors and writers and all of that. So there's no doubt that things have gotten considerably better. But we don't want better to mean that everything is perfect. We don't want better to mean that there aren't still challenges there. And we don't want better to mean that there's nothing more to be accomplished because it's a constant battle, I think. And even with those, you know, since 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement, we've seen a lot of hiring of people in executive positions. My fear is that it's a moment and not a movement, that it was a knee-jerk reaction. I hope that's not true. I hope I'm wrong about that.  And then we can say we did it and then we can move on. So I think we've got to be on our guard against that as well. Absolutely. And so what I hear you saying is, yes, things have indeed gotten better, but better is not done. Yeah, right, right. And you can't judge success by things being better. If something was really, really bad and it's better, it still could be not as bad, but bad, you know, and certainly doesn't mean that things have been healed. That's the other thing, you know, racism is an illness. And what do you do when you have an illness? You take medicine. You don't take medicine for as long as you wanna take it. You take it until the illness goes away. And that illness has still, as demonstrated right now by so many things we hear in the news, the illness of racism has not gone away in our country. Yes, agreed 100% and it's sickening. Yeah. I would love to give you this platform to speak very freely. What specifically do you see as infractions and or what specifically Sheldon do you want to be different? Where do you wanna see the difference made? You know what? I would like to not have to talk about this anymore. That really would be the ultimate goal and the ultimate measure of our success. When the doors were all open, when there were no impediments so that we didn't have to, so the diversity was a fact and not an effort. So that we weren't fighting for these same things that we've been fighting for so long. They would just be the reality of our existence. And yes, it's gratifying to have been one of the first, one of the only, one of the few. One of the few. It would be a great event anymore. If there weren't so many people of color being successful and in leadership positions that it wasn't an event for somebody to be the first. When there were no more first would be a very nice thing.  Number one, is that true, but should we be well beyond that by now? So that's if I'm really being a dreamer, that's what I dream of. Beautiful. And when we're not even having to, we don't need to have these discussions anymore, but right now we do need to have them. Yeah. We're shining a light on something really important, and I know that in your two decades at Pasadena Playhouse, you as a leader, it was a lot of strategy to radically change its diversity. Can you talk about what your strategy was and maybe some ways that you employed that? Yeah, I can. When I I'll tell you a story first, when I arrived at Pasadena Playhouse, it was acknowledged that I was the first black person to lead a major American theater on the West Coast, really. And there was a lot of applause for that, a lot of celebration, which was great. But then there was a very sort of left wing newspaper that did an article saying that it was a it was a fluke or a mistake or somebody was just a sleep out of the wheel to let this black guy come in and be head of Pasadena Playhouse, which is in a conservative community and was really quite blatantly a white theater company, no doubt about it. And accompanying that article was a little line drawing of me being boiled in a pot of oil with rich Pasadena socialites dancing around the cauldron. And the reaction you're having right now is the same reaction that a lot of people have. So that that's where I started. That was within my first couple of weeks at Pasadena Playhouse. And the article comes Sheldon. Yeah, exactly. My God. The article was predicting, you know, Pasadena is never going to stand for this. They're going to run him out of town on a rail or something. So, you know, that's where I started. I also started by sitting in Pasadena Playhouse is a beautiful courtyard outside the theater, which is kind of like the lobby because of the great southern California weather. And I used to sit out there and so frequently I would be the only person under 60 and the only person of any color going into the theater, both of which were dangerous things. You know, it meant that the the audience would be leaving us shortly if we didn't develop younger audiences and in no way did that reflect the diversity of Pasadena, certainly not the diversity of the city of LA and not the diversity of our country. So I did determine that had to change. The first way to go about it was through the programming, through the selection of material to make sure that there were other than white people on the stage and involved in the work. But then, you know, you also have to make sure that you get the message out there to new audiences that you're doing the play and that there really is a genuine invitation to them to come and share the experience. If you've been locked out of a place, a home, a restaurant, a bar, whatever it is, a theater, if you've been locked out for years or decades, somebody's got to make it very clear to you that things have changed. And that's a marketing effort. That's not really related to the play itself or to the craft or the artistry. That's marketing. And it's also, you know, going out to the community, not waiting for the community to come to you, but going out to the community and saying, listen, I am here now, which is a big step. And I really want you to come into my home. I really want you to come and be a part of what I'm doing. What was what was the greatest reference point? What was the biggest marker of all of what you did around that that was really well received and created the most diversity and maybe change? I think it was a particular production. I did. I threw a lot of good luck and good fortune. I was able to attract Lawrence Fishburne and Angela Bassett to star in a production of Fences that I did, the great August Wilson play. And that great combination of a wonderful play with not just well known, but spectacularly good actors in a play where everything really came together, completely drew in a new audience. An audience of passenger playhouse had not seen. Maybe in decades, full houses. I think we sold out within a week of announcing who was in it. And that celebration of everything coming together artistically, as well as in terms of diversity, was was a great, great moment for me personally. But also for the theater and really put us in that in a great way. And those are well, it's amazing play, amazing play, right? And you got amazing actors. Yes. What attracted them? Was it you, Sheldon X, or was it me or I think it was the play. It was the play first and foremost, you know, August Wilson so greatly admired and deservedly so. It was that particular play, which many people think is his best play. The fact that that play had such a great role for Lawrence Fishburne and such a great role for Angela Bassett, then attracted other well known actors to fill out the company. So it was the play. And I do believe that that people understood. What I was trying to accomplish at the theater, you know, all of those people were aware of Passage to Playhouse, but had probably they certainly never worked there. They may not even have been there in many years, but they understood that I was trying to break down the walls of the theater, so to speak, and and give this theater to each and every community in Los Angeles, not just the community that had been supporting it over the last 20 years. And so they were supporting my mission, you know, they were supporting the play, but they were also a whole mission, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. It's a mission that they believed in and that they wanted to help. Mm, amazing, beautiful. I actually saw the play bill for that. Oh, did you? Yeah, yeah, I think it's up. Yeah, no, I I sometimes have to there are a couple of situations like that. Angela and Lawrence together is one of them, but I did another play with Felicia Rashad and Diane Carroll in the same play. Wow, I sometimes I sometimes have to look at pictures of whatever and say, wow, that that really did happen happen. Those people were really in that play together. That's kind of amazing. That's beautiful. Yeah, I know the play bill is sort of orange with their faces on it. Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. Yes, a beautiful picture with your event. Yeah. Today you are in Washington and yeah, can you talk about what you're doing there? Are you allowed to talk about what you're doing there? Yes, I can. I can. I'm I'm working on a new musical called Shout Sister Shout, which opens the middle of next month, middle of March. And it's about Rosetta Tharp. Do you know who Rosetta Tharp is? I cannot. OK, well, that's one of the reasons we were doing the show, because everybody should know who Rosetta Tharp is. Rosetta Tharp was a great gospel singer. She was also a great, great guitar player. That combination was very unusual for a woman and very unusual for a black woman. And over the course of her career, she was the one who sort of combined gospel music with R&B. And was a precursor to great singers like Aretha Franklin and Brooke Benton and, you know, so many others, Sam Cook, you know, so many others who did the same thing. But Rosetta was the pioneer of that, of sort of combining the sound of gospel with the sound of popular music. And along with that was playing not only singing these great songs, but was playing these great guitar licks that everybody started to steal from her. You know, and everybody from B.B. King to the Rolling Stones gives a lot of credit to Rosetta Tharp as a guitar player, as well as as a singer. So it's her life story told through her great, great music and wonderful songs that she made so famous. Are you casting now or have you completed casting? No, we're in rehearsal now. We're in the middle of the rehearsal period and have about another another week or so of rehearsal in the rehearsal room and then we'll move into the theater shortly, and it's at Ford's, Ford's Theater in Washington. Great. So if you want to fly there or if you live there, that sounds like the show to go see. That sounds amazing. How was the casting because, OK, you know, singer, you could do that, you could find somebody amazing. But the guitar playing at the level you're talking about and a singer, how was that going through the casting process? It was it was quite quite a hunt, quite a hunt because, you know, she's I would say that the character is on for probably seventy five percent of the show off stage, very little. She's either acting, singing or playing the guitar or all three at the same time. So you can imagine it's a hugely demanding role and takes skill in all of those areas equally, you know, it's not that she she can be a good guitar player and then kind of slough through the singing and the acting. You know, it's all got to be of a certain level. Exciting stuff. Yeah. Who has been your favorite actor or actress? What kind of story can you tell about something really momentous that you got to experience? Well, we talked about Lawrence and Angela. That that was a great experience. Felicia Rashad was was wonderful to work with. Per a real consummate pro, you know, she's she just knows her instrument and knows it well. Diane Carroll was was great to work with. But I'll tell you the funny thing about Diane Carroll is it actually was a little hard to rehearse with her because she was so charming and so entertaining. And she had so many great stories to tell and was very open about telling them, whether they were about her career or her love life or, you know, people she knew. So I it was actually I had to pinch myself sometimes and remind myself that I was the director because I was such a good audience for her. But she was great to work with. Delores was another person who was wonderful to work with. And I worked with her a couple of times and she taught me a lot. She actually taught me a lot about music and theater, but a great deal about life. She was a great believer. You'll appreciate this in creative visualization of seeing very, very clearly what it is you want to happen. And having a real clear picture of it. And if you had a clear enough picture of it, you would get it. She she told me years before it happened that she wanted to be. The star or the secondary star of a major television program on one of the big networks. And this was at a time when she wasn't working a lot. But she said, Sheldon, this is what's going to happen. I'm going to be the star of a major television series on one of the big networks. And I said, oh, okay, Della. Well, two years later, she was the star of Touched by an Angel, which was one of the highest rated television programs on CBS. I watched it. Yeah, we all did. So that was a great lesson. And, you know, really putting out into the universe exactly what it is you want. Dare to dream. Exactly. Incredible, incredible that she would impart that. I can imagine her having that kind of spirit. I mean, she came across even in her acting and her performances like that.  Yes, she was she was. And and then, of course, so so gifted as a singer and as a musician, as an actress. So, you know, I I'm always grateful to her for all of the things she taught me in many, many ways. You yourself performed, is that correct? You originally were a long time ago. Yes, I trained as an actor originally and went to Carnegie Mellon University, which was a four year training program. So my degree was in acting and then I acted for about about five or six years after I graduated, and then I shifted lanes into directing. What caused the shift? It was really somebody else's suggestion. A very talented director named Norman Renee went to college with, went to school with and then worked with five or six years after we graduated. And he said, you know, when I direct to you and we disagree about something, I usually think that you are right. I may not admit it at the time, but I usually think that you're right. And I come back around to your point of view two or three days later and claim that I thought of it, which was incredibly generous of him to say. And he said, you know, I think that means you you think like a director. So you should you should try directing. And I did and loved it and then started working very, very quickly as a director and didn't have to audition anymore, but you'll appreciate. And I was happy not to have to do that, not to have to be on that audition trail. So it just seemed like the natural shift of lanes, as I said, to to the career that I was meant to be in. I've always really admired directors because in my estimation, when I was in the acting world, to me, the director had a vision that saw everything was the full matrix. All the moving pieces included what they looked like sounded like where people moved, what intentions were connections, relationships and the whole arc of the story. And I do not feel I have that skill at all. I was actor, period. No, I think you're right. I think what you're trying to do when you do a production, certainly in the theater, but also film, television, you're trying to create a world, you know, probably a world that's different than most of us are in, you know, if it's a play like Hamlet or The Cruise of the Bull or Dream Girls, you're creating a world that is different than the world that the audience lives in at the moment. And all of those elements that you talked about that certainly the performance of the actors, but also the design work, set design, costume design, sound design, all of those things go into creating the world. Yeah, it's impressive, really is. And with your decades of success in entertainment, what have you learned as Sage Wisdom about the craft of theater or any entertainment modality overall? Well, I think a few things. Patience, again. The great great actor, Andre De Shields, once said that. The quickest way to get where you want to be is to go slowly. Which I think is a great way to think about things. Perfection is probably not an ideal goal. Process is a much better goal than perfection. I think sometimes by trying to force things to be perfect rather than allowing them to have a process, you can get yourself in trouble. And then leave yourself open to discovery. I think when I was a younger director, I used to enter the room thinking, I have to have it all figured out, I have to know all the answers. I have to have my vision has to be exact of how I want everything to go. And I've learned that's not true. Sometimes I think the less you know entering the room and the more you learn through the process and with the people that you're doing the play with, the better, you know, I said once some people like to cut the suit and then make the actors wear it, whether it looks good on them or not. The better way is to get in the room with the actor, find out who the actor is and then cut the suit knowing what color looks good on them, what fabric looks good on them, what works well on their body, what works well with their aura, with who they are. So leave yourself open to discover things in the process. How interesting. It sounds like a really organic experience working with you. And does that mean then that the first thing you start out with is a table read or what is your process when you work with people? No, that's exactly right. I do a table read and then I stay at the table probably longer than most other people do. You know, there's some people who may not even do a table read, but if they do a table read, the next thing they do is they start blocking the play. I don't do that. I sit around the table, talk about the play, talk about people's lives, talk about where their lives intersect with the play, who they are, what they want, you know, what's the arc of the play, what's the rhythm of the play and tell you the truth. I think if you do that and the actors have a clear idea of what they want to do and what they want in a play, then the blocking becomes much, much more easy and much more organic than my saying, OK, cross over here, move over there, move over there because it's coming from them. It's coming from what they have learned during that table table work process. What makes you just nuts still about the theater? Good in a good way, nuts like and I I'm sure I could fill in lots of that, too. I grew up in New York, one of the things we did was always go into the city in New York City to see the theater. I mean, this is a part of my heritage. So yeah, the things you love, but the things that it's like in general, gosh, they can really improve this. Huh, that's a good question. Well, the good thing is that the theater, even after all of this time, is still magical, you know, and you still have moments where everything comes together perfectly and, you know, it's just like being lifted into heaven because everything is so right. I guess, sloppiness on stage, you know, because in New York, in particular, runs can be long and you can see plays after people have been doing them for a year, two years, whatever. And you kind of know that the performance you're seeing probably has no relationship to what opened because people have gotten bored, they've gotten tired, they may even be misbehaving. So watching that drives me a little bit crazy. As to working in the theater, the thing that drives me nuts is there's never enough money, budgets are always lower than they should be, which on one side is great because you have to use your imagination. But now and then it would be nice to have all the money in the world to do something in the theater. Speaking of money, I know theater really took a hit during covid.  How are we doing now post covid? I think I think we're still recovering. I know that theaters I'm working in or when I talk to colleagues at theaters that box office sales are not nearly what they were. They are getting better, but it's still it's still a tough road right now. A lot of people have just fallen out the habit that you talked about where people used to get on the bus and go into New York City once a week, once a month. They just fell out of the habit of doing that. And also, frankly, I think that ticket prices are a real issue. You know, it's really inhibiting to buy a theater ticket now. You know, and I don't know what can be done about that, but something's got to be done about that because I think it really is keeping people from going. Even those people who want to go have a hard time going because prices are so high. Yeah, I just wonder how much could be subsidized. And I wonder, do grants play? I would imagine that theaters can apply for grants from state or federal. Yes. Oh, yes. Yes. No, that pays a huge amount. We just got a little increase with the National Endowment for the Arts. Tiny bit, if you compare it to the national budget. But thank God, it means that there's a little more money to spread around to arts organizations. We need to know what they do in Europe. You know, in Europe, where things are so hugely subsidized, you know, wouldn't it be great if we have those kind of subsidies in American theater? Absolutely, it would. It makes way more sense where where arts are benevolent. Yes. And, you know, in this country, the military is where all the money goes. Yeah, that was first. What about arts in school right now? Do you do you ever play around in that area at all? Are you still going to universities and so forth? Yeah, I do. I'm not on a faculty anywhere, but I do guest, guest lecture, master classes, things like that. But if you're talking about arts in public schools, that's another woeful area. Because as budgets get cut, that tends to be the first things to go. You know, and in a way, you know, it used to be that there was a lot of a lot of money around to to take kids in school to see things, you know, to go to see plays, to go to see ballet and music events. That's kind of all disappeared. And now it falls on the arts institutions to try to make student tickets available, which is good and a lot of a lot of theaters and performing arts organizations do that. But that then becomes a drain on their budget. So, you know, it's it's tough. But I think it's essential that people are like you and me and they get in the habit of going to see things early in their life. Yeah. So we mentioned covid and I want to relate this to your book. My own directions. Timing wise, was it the pandemic that caused you to write the memoir? What elements went into committing? Because I know as a book writing coach, I know what it takes to write a book.  You gave birth to a baby there. No, you're absolutely right. I first started thinking about it in 2017 when I stepped down from my position at Pasadena Playhouse. And actually, it was other people who made me think about it. People kept saying, oh, you should write a book. You should tell your story. Why don't you write a book? So I started thinking about it and thought about it a lot and thought about how it might be put together and all of that. But I was also working, you know, I was also directing television. And you're going around the country and directing at theaters. And then this little thing called the the pandemic hit and we were all isolated at home and both I told myself and my wife told me, OK, now is the time for you to sit down and write that book. You have absolutely no excuse in terms of schedule for not writing it. And she was right. And I made it my job during the pandemic over the many, many months of the pandemic to really force myself to write for a certain number of hours every day. Did you read chapters to her? No, I didn't do the whole draft. And I did. I did. She didn't read it until at least the second draft, which she gave me hell for it because I didn't let her read it, but I wanted to I wanted it to get closer to what was in my head. Once once it was pretty close to what was in my head and what I wanted to achieve, she was the first one to read it. And what was your method for writing? Did you did you architecturally lay out the book and then know where you were headed? Did you just let it pour out of you? What was how did this manifest? It was I went pretty much chronologically. Though it starts with it actually does start with my arriving at Pasadena Playhouse and the story I told you about the the article and the terrible drawing. And the book begins with the question, how did I get here?  How did that occur, you know, when those kind of opportunities did not come to so many others of any color, but certainly so many people of of a color? How did it how did it happen? And then I jump back to birth, really. And all of the things, all of the steps living in California, moving to New Jersey, discovering Broadway theater, starting to do plays, going to college to study acting. Many of the things we talked about today, all of those things that eventually led me to Pasadena Playhouse. Then I get back to where we started with, OK, I'm here. And then the rest of the book is about my 20 years as artistic director. Incredible. Today, looking at diversity, looking at leadership, looking at racial parity on and off stage, how can it be healed? What ideas, suggestions, what wisdom do you know that a healing would occur? Well, the first thing is something I said before, let's not assume that it has been healed, let's not assume that with all the progress that we've made, that there is no more progress to be made. Let's let's keep our eyes on the prize that I talked about before of of it being so free flowing that we don't have to talk about it anymore. So awareness is the first thing. Conversations like we've had today, open, honest, depersonalized conversations that are about healing rather than blame, I think, are really important and then taking talk into action. We can talk about things for days and days, and that's useful. But unless we actually do things, unless we actually make things change, make things happen through action, it's always going to be talk and not forward movement. So those are the things I would suggest. And belief, belief that it can, belief that things can be different, that's a big one.  Yeah, you have to believe that you can be healed. You know, they say that about medicine, medicine, medicine's only half the battle. Whatever that prescription is, you could you can take it. But you've also got to believe that it's going to do you some good.  You can fill in the particulars if you have them or just an idea of what that creation would look like. Sheldon, what would you do? Well, first of all, I will say I've been so lucky to have had the chance to do most of those dream projects. You know, directors are supposed to keep that wish list of plays or musicals that they want to do. And I've really gone through my wish list and done many of them. So at this point, I would say I would like to find a story about some unsung hero, some some small person, small, meaning not famous, who did some remarkable thing. Not necessarily the changed history, but change the way we live together, change our relationship to each other, get a great playwright to write that story and then find wonderful, wonderful, brilliant actors to tell that story to a willing and open audience would be a great thing to accomplish. Beautiful. Your book is on Amazon and yes. So if folks want to get the book, it'll be in the show notes and so you can go there. And what about on a daily basis, Sheldon, is there something you do?  What do you do? It's funny, I was just talking about this with somebody at rehearsal today. The most grounding thing that I do and it's not revolutionary, it's not brilliant or anything like that, it's quite simple. I when I wake up in the morning, I try to give myself at least 10 to 15 minutes of quiet time before I look at any device before I run to my phone or my tablet or my computer, just 10 to 15 minutes of time just to be at peace and to express gratitude for the fact that I woke up and it is a new day and that everything is ahead of me. Lovely. This is Dear to Dream, Sheldon Epps. What are you next Dear to Dream? What are your future dreams and visions and goals? Well, we've talked about some of them. I'm looking forward to an opportunity to work more in film. I want to keep working more in theater and telling great stories, as I said. And I'd like to. This is a really honest thing for me to tell you, but I will tell you. I think there's something about artists that always pushes us to want to prove ourselves more, prove I can do the next thing or the next thing or the next thing. I'd like to relax a little bit more, Debbie, in a sense of achievement about what I've done. And I have been fortunate to do so much to to rely on that and do things not because I'm trying to prove anything, but because I want to because I have a burning passion and desire to do them. Is there anything here at the end you'd like to say to the listeners and the viewers?  And know that anything and everything is available to you if you approach it with passion. Thank you so much for being on the show today. This has been a real treasure. Oh, thank you. It's been great to talk with you. Thank you. I end today's show with this quote from Willem Dafoe. Great Theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to. Subscribe to this number one transformation conversation Dear to Dream with Debbie Daschinger. Please like, comment. I read all of what you write and I appreciate it so much. Send it to somebody you know who will enjoy the show. Next week on the show, I'm featuring the amazing Anna Leverence from Germany speaking about the quantum way of being co-creating the new earth and manifesting quantum miracles. Thank you so much for joining us today on Dear to Dream. And remember to go out there and be the change you heard about today on the show. Be the healing and the change because you are that important. The recording has stopped. Thank you. Thank you, Debbie.


Hey guys, this is the 2019 Hibbley Days update on McKayla Meddings here with Gary Sloan. We have a pig drop winner. Mike Howard is the lucky winner of $1,000. And McKayla, I understand, it only took just a little over an hour for the pig to make its deposit. Now this is the third year. The first year took five hours and 12 minutes. Last year, five minutes, an hour this year. But we do want to address something. During the broadcast, we were live, but there were other news agencies there as well filming this. It seemed that the pig was injured. And it was not, though. This was something that was a reflex for a little piglet sometimes whenever they're released into an anxious atmosphere. Yeah. So it kind of stiffened it up a little bit, but the piglet is fine. Yes, he is fine. As we've stayed in contact with people that organize the situation and he's up running around playing, he's fine like nothing ever happened. So we just wanted to address that, that the pig is okay, but we do want to talk about Mike Howard, just a little bit more. He won $1,000. The whole thing brings in about $2,000. Each square, there's 100 squares for $20 a piece. The winner gets 1,000. Shriners Children's Hospital gets another 1,000. But he has decided to donate his $1,000. So now the Children's Shriners Hospital gets $2,000 for a donation. And I believe every winner has done that. So total of $6,000. And as you can see, the poo, I guess that's the correct term for that, was clearly seen in spot number eight. So congratulations to Mike Howard.  He's running around. He's fine. No need to panic. And with this Hibbley Days 2019 news update, I'm Gary Sloan. I'm Micaela Matting.


Payton, career high, 31 for you through three. Was there any kind of push for you to want to stay in there and maybe add to that? No, none at all. I'm not really in stat chasing. I think eventually in my career, I'll get another opportunity and I'll pass it then. What means more to you, the 31 points or the 11 assists? The balance of both, I think. The taking with the defense, giving, hitting my spots when they're open, and getting my teammates involved. I think I ended up with five assists in the first quarter, so everybody was getting a shot up and getting everybody comfortable. So it wasn't just like a, I'm like, had ball dominant the whole time, so I was proud of that. Joe mentioned that you having a consistent role this season has been helpful to you.  That kind of impacted your ability to be consistent? I think it definitely helps a lot for any player. When you get in spot minutes, it's tough. You don't know when it's going to come. When you do get the minutes, what is your role out there? What are you being put out there for? And I think in the past, a lot of the time, it wasn't necessary for me to be a point guard or even a playmaker. It was really like a come in, try to hit some threes and bring energy defensively, the big rebound and stuff like that. So I think my role has definitely grown a little bit this year. And with that, I've grown and been better at playmaking and just making the game easy for myself, also my teammates. And do you feel like you're at your best when you're playmaking, when you're running a bench unit, that you're telling everyone where to go and running the show? I think it's something that I'm going to continue working on. And hopefully by the time my career is over, that's where I want to be the best at and be in the true point guard. And that's where I want to hang my hat on. But it's definitely a process. And I'm going to keep working on getting better at that. Thank you. Hey, Peyton, how you doing? How you doing? To see Nimi go from the start of the season, get those minutes, work hard in the G-League, now that G-League team's in the finals, and then earn the standard contract, what's it been like from a teammate's perspective to sort of see his growth throughout the year? I love Nimi. I've been a fan since they won. I actually did draft workouts with them. My junior year of college, and I ended up going back. So I've been a fan of him since then. Good kid, works really hard. And I think he has so much potential. I mean, he's a great rebounder, has great hands. He finishes well. So he has a definitely bright future. And we're going to stay on him, but stay working. And he wants to be good himself. So what's going to ask, where does he rank on the most fun to throw a lob to on this team? He's probably, he's up there. He might be one. I mean, we got a couple. I mean, KP will go get them. Even Luke will go get them, too. So thank you. Peyton, kind of along those lines, a bunch of the guys who have been part of the main finals run, got some running there together. What did you notice about the chemistry among those guys? I mean, it just shows why they're in the championship in the G-League. Jordan, JD, Nimi, Drew, all tremendous players getting better every time I see them. So eventually they'll be ready to take the next step in their careers. We talked about it on the floor, but playing in every game this season, how gratifying is that after the ups and downs and the infrequent playing time? It's definitely a big accomplishment for me. Like I said before, to play any two games is tough. But through the summer, the work I put in to get my body ready for that. But also just the journey of me last year, my second year of times where I didn't play at all and how frustrating that is and how much that hurt at times. But it just fueled me to keep working. And for this year to come and play any two games and be a part of the best team at NBA and try to do something special, it definitely feels good. Presented by your New England Ford dealers. Built for America. Built Ford Proud.