There's a couple of things I'll Obviously I'll open it up to questions real quick just kind of an update kind of where we're at Obviously, we're in phase three in our OTAs Which is we take here as a teaching and development stage More passing you'll see we understand we're trying to build up the training camp and there's a lot of fundamentals So we'll be working out there so you guys will see today So it's not and I know everybody wants the the hot takes and we're gonna be putting a competition When we get into into camp and late July, but that's what we're doing We're trying to get everybody ready to go pull them up so we can be in the best shape We can physically and mentally going into camp going into camp. I also don't understand that there's the attendance It's a big deal out of the guys. This is voluntary I'm saying but I'll update you on a couple things not gonna go through a full injury report But just where guys are at the program key Smith Got something, you know cleaned up should be ready to go for a camp But keys, you know doing his rehab same thing with Dion Jones had something cleaned up after season He won't be out there. He is rehabbing same thing with Vincent Taylor who somebody was signed coming off of the surgery The other guys different spots that return to play It may you know do some light work out there and that's all in Tate Austin Trammel TQ Graham Nick Kulikowski These are minor things You know, they'll be doing some some work with some not just kind of just kind of giving it out there For those who like to check the roster the lead so Other ones too guys coming off of you know other offseason injuries John Fitzpatrick Say Oliver different return to play Eric Harris tease Tabor You'll see those guys out there in some capacity and then like I said, it's voluntary and I respect that We don't we don't guilt trip here coach guys that are here We need guys that we got a lot of pros on this team that have different reasons and that's real here So it is voluntary guys that communicate that we think if I had a good spring Casey Hayward Damian Williams Cordell Patterson. So just to answer those questions about any, you know where guys are guys like to everyone looks to look at the The hot take who's not showing up If I missed anybody, I apologize Bassie can follow up if you're out there in the field Voluntary just family things things that yeah, which is volunteer and those guys are great. They communicate the real pros Yeah Yes, yeah, we feel great about our offices, I know everybody is very optimistic spring post draft, but We've got a we've got a great good group out there. It's a fun group of coach. We got a hungry group Little bit chip on our shoulder. That's a good thing these guys We have a lot to prove as a team and we're building towards that and we know we're not in real football Competitive team stuff right now, but we're building and then guys are we're trying to enhance our fundamentals and really the mental Especially with the young guys are learning stuff for the first time Yeah, you could do a lot of that with seven on seven won't be collisions It's not what we want some of the rules are anyways, but we're trying it It's really kind of bringing stuff to life, you know the spacing in your drops in your zone drops Your communication and in it in your man coverages and then offensively obviously we talked about this the timing the spacing Really that trust that chemistry you try to build you understand There's not like a live pass rush, but those are things that you try to work on and enhance right now. It's time of year You said this is a teaching and development stage What's that be for for greater who's coming in the play, you know the most difficult position? Yeah, there's a lot and so it's a good question. So Obviously, this is a new offense for him and Dez is a very bright young player and To handle it, but what we're trying to do is catch all those guys up They're all coming from different offenses and it's just kind of art. Here's our language Here's how we're teaching things get on the same page. So it's familiar So you get those reps over and over again So when it is live and we can go compete you feel like he's further along in the playbook So we'll get some live seven-on-seven, but again, there's a lot of variables that are out there I may run it, you know, maybe short on it may look bad. That's what we don't overreact especially in the spring We're doing seven-on-seven, but we'll bring him along like we will a lot of these rookies It's really good to get them up to speed when they go on the camp I know that's that's another hot button issue going around with but look all these guys This is a very competitive league There's a lot of great players in this league their teammates Guys are competing every year for their jobs and that's the nature of the business We understand the contracts when you invest, but you got to create those habits It's a tough profession and I got a lot of respects the Grady Jarris and Jake Matthews that continue to push themselves at a high level And work there so everybody every year is competing for their job Players and coaches, you know, it's what have you done, but we know what we signed up for so Look, there's a lot of good teammates. I know a lot of those hot takes get taken for more than what what they are But my experience the national football league is most these guys are They're great teammates help that they also know they're also trying to get ready for their job, too And you can do both and most guys do and I know things have been taken out of context and other places But in our in our room Marcus is here. He's competing for a job. He's a good teammate and you got to have the right people in that room So it's not toxic You've used the term several times included once already today about guys coming in with a chip on their shoulder Marcus wasn't here last year, but for other reasons. Do you think he has that same? his own guy, I mean Marcus is you know, that's why you like about certain players. He's authentic. He is who he is He doesn't try to be anybody. We're not asking him to come in here to be Matt Ryan or to be Peyton Manning or Be Marcus Mariota. That's what what's what we want. He's also I think Everybody you get when you get another shot at something There's lessons learning. They're hard lessons and if you take them the right way, you're more appreciative of the opportunity and It's been fun being around him again Not just as a player as a person He's one of those people you enjoy being around and he's doing a good job right now What we're asking him to Ryan was such a force here for 14 years and and clearly the leader of this offense Marcus Just doesn't come in with the same kind of in that same kind of position does somebody else have to Step into that role. Does that role have to be filled? Do you let it organically? Sure happen. Yeah, you got a lot of organically happen. You can't force it. This has become phony matter we what Matt had his own style in certain years he may have done more or less and Most quarterbacks they got to be themselves We're getting troubles when guys going there and somebody's told them some guru has told them You know act like this and it just it's not authentic It's like if I came in here and tried to act like some other coach or emulate it You know if I just hijacked Pat Riley's look I wouldn't look very authentic. So I don't know if I could pull that off Maybe maybe so if it happens you guys can probably take shots of me for an identity crisis But got to be yourself, right? So same thing we asked the quarterbacks leadership comes in all different ways It's a good question, you know different points of their career but Marcus all those guys out there leaders good leaders will emerge and they'll do it in their own way We have an offensive coordinator David going and does a terrific job and I'm a head coach So so I understand what you're asking being a play caller But yeah, I got to run the whole team too And that's why you have to have a good staff and you've got to be able to delegate And you got to set the tone for the whole team. So I'm involved in every aspect Because the job I was how to do is be a head coach and you can be a good play caller You don't have to micromanage as a coordinator as well. That's why you we've got good people. We've got a terrific staff But with the way your coach players were fair, but it's not one size fits all There's a certain way of guys I've coached in the past that you know You try to find different ways to enhance and push Best you but you can to fit their personality because not everybody reacts the same. So it is different That what you're asking us There's there's somebody Misconceptions about that. There's so much mythology out there.  It's like It's always laughable to me too You know and guys want to get the missed number of this guy's a coach on the field Maybe or not, you know, some people love to put perceptions out there Same thing with the quarterbacks like guys are themselves certain things you may have to lean into lack of experiences like that but The really good teams good offenses you get those leaders emerge and sure you hope it's from the quarterback spot But you can get it from other spots, too You've talked about it a bunch we've seen players talk about that chip on your shoulders to add to it But more about the team is that something that you're kind of driving into them that they don't have to they all have anyway Well for most of us. Yeah, I Don't think it's a bad thing. It's not bravado. It's just what it is. We got guys here Young want to prove we got guys that that are hungry, too. You know that are That we're here last year that want to improve build off good things and fix the issues we had and And we got veterans here on one-year deals that want to prove themselves. So I think it naturally happens That's a good question Kind of the outside looking in of what OTA's provides all Well, I think as a coach you got to understand the rules. You don't want to do thumb things and Put your team in a bad spot and whatever and there's a lot of methods and then there's a lot of great coaches This makes it fun. It makes it fun as a the strategy behind it as you try to plan what's best for your team and you Try to learn from others and you may pay attention to what other people are doing and see if it's a good idea You can steal But OTA's aren't real practices And I think I think sometimes I used to joke that you can sit there and overvalue Some in the moment evaluation I used to call it the king of spring So hey, this guy's the best player on the D line.  So You try not to overreact in that regard Taking a perspective and not overreact to it like evaluations there Yeah, just a chance He's a valuable position player assuming that he can go win the return job again and build off some of the stuff Especially he did late in the year We think there's a place for him. He Helped us out in a jam last year had to go in there and play play inside the slot and at the nickel spot for us and That's a tribute to him and in his football intelligence And we think there's there's possibly a spot for him in offense And it's not fair to him to keep moving him back forth and last year we brought him along Expecting him to be the returner. He was I Gave us more snaps and we anticipated because of injuries on defense and he's a good team player and so we thought as a staff let's Trauma an offense and see what he can do and that's a very valuable position because if he can do that He'll be there and then in a pinch. He can go right back over to defense and bail you out And we get to talk to you a little bit after Grady signed his extension What kind of leadership does he provide you know in that during these kind of times and also do you hope it?  I think Grady what I appreciate about Grady He's the same guy every day comes in here and so it's habits that you hope people Try to pick his brand on all right Grady. Have you had this success? Why are you still playing at a high level? What are you doing? So I think it naturally You'd be very smart as a young guy to watch what he does or what Jake does Well Lisa and I don't think I got booed. I didn't hear any maybe that's helps at the end when people maybe been over served So that was a plus it was cool Like there's a lot of I got a eclectic musical taste and I got appreciation for a lot of artists and it was a cool event to be at and Happy they asked me to come on and sign the helmet Well, it's ironic you bring it up. I was gonna and I will say something at the end I'd like them and I don't want to distract from Y'all came up here to do a job and I will say something there at the end if you don't mind but I wanted to make sure I didn't want to start with it and you can fact check my capacity because I Appreciate the jobs that all of y'all do and I wanted to give you that time we're here And I didn't want to hijack that conversation, but I will say something there at the end. Oh, there you go. So you got to the end so Essentially, you know, I'm not gonna get in some political rant Part of me that probably thinks our political process is broken on both sides It's been hijacked by in my opinion extremist and I think there's a lost art to compromise and like again I'm an independent thinker. I appreciate everybody's opinion You're the lost art of debate But again, I'm gonna stay out of the political side because that's not why I'm concerned. It's more you brought up as a parent the father husband Son and really a concerned citizen community in this country because I believe in the people of this country and I think It would be it's a shame as leaders and I again I don't care about your politics But as people that care about this community that you can't find a compromise solution To keep military-grade assault weapons out of the hands of mentally ill people and I'll leave it that Appreciate your time. Thank you


Welcome to our interview show in which we interview LGBTQ guests who are important contributors to our community. We want to acknowledge that all things LGBTQ is produced at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which is unceded Indigenous land. Enjoy the show. Hi everybody. I'm here with Salem West, publisher, editor, author, extraordinaire. Welcome Salem. Thank you very much for having me. It's wonderful to have you in and talk about buywater books and ample books and let's start our conversation with a clip. Remember the first time you saw yourself in a story.  Stories are powerful. They allow us to explore different worlds and to imagine better endings. They teach us to remember and they illuminate a way forward. They offer comfort and sadness and hope for tomorrow. They show us that we are valued, that we are never alone, that we belong, stories enrich our lives. Buywater Books and Amble Press, we are all stories. Great. That's very upbeat and, you know, it sort of speaks to your mission in a very entertaining way. Let me move to a print version of that and read the mission of Buywater Books. Now, a Buywater Books ink represents the coming of age of queer literature. What a laudable project. You are committed to bringing the best of contemporary writing to a discerning readership. The Buywater Books imprint features lesbian and feminist themed fiction and narrative nonfiction. While Amble Press primarily publishes fiction and narrative nonfiction with an emphasis on writers who identify as people of color and those writing across the broader queer spectrum. At Buywater and Amble Press, we are all stories which echoes the clip. Very exciting. I have some questions. Where did the title Buywater Books come from? That's a wonderful, wonderful question. Kelly Smith and Mary Ann K. Martin founded the company back in 2004 and they had another partner. They were living all over the country at the time and the one thing that tied them all together was they were all living by water. Oh, because Buywater is a neighborhood in New Orleans. So I thought that might have been the origin but they were all living by water. I get it. That fits. But let's talk about geography for a minute if we could. You live in Winston Salem. North Carolina, yes ma'am. And the mailing address for the press is in Michigan. Yes. How does that work? Well, the company was originally started in Ann Arbor, Michigan and that is where the headquarters, formal headquarters is today. It's where Mary Ann K. Martin, one of the founders, still lives and she still controls the warehouse where we, you know, when we ship our books to people who buy from our website. I, being the publisher and editor-in-chief, can live anywhere in the world. Books today are digital. We edit manuscripts in MS Word. We typeset in InDesign and Quark. We design our covers in Photoshop and InDesign. All the files, all of our assets up until the point of printing are electronic. You can live anywhere in the world. That's a very informative thing. Times are changing, huh? Indeed they are. Tell us about Ample Press, if you would. How is it founded and when? Okay. Ample Press, for many years, those of us working at Buy Water Books knew that we wanted to expand our mission beyond the traditional feminist and lesbian writers and readers that we work with. We were getting really good submissions from gay writers, bi writers, trans writers, and we also knew that we wanted to really extend ourselves and to try to offer a seat at the literary table for writers of color and writers who are coming from other countries who don't really have the support that they deserve, they need, and there aren't a lot of resources. We were lucky enough that we talked to the great author, Michael Nava, a great seven-time land literary award-winning author, Michael Nava, and we asked him about taking on Ample Press as the managing editor. He said he would, but he wanted to make a focus, though not a primary focus, on writers of color because he himself is a Latino man. So in, we started talking late 2018 and we formally launched the Press in January 2019. What does, you have two managing editors. What do they do? Michael Nava and your managing editor for Buy Water. What they primarily do is they really work with the authors in bringing the books into house and working with the authors and getting them into the content or developmental editing stage, working with them on a regular basis to get the support they need, the resources they need to do the work they need to do, and then getting the books ready and into the content or the copy editing stage where we then consider it in production. So they really work to get, get a raw manuscript to the point that we are ready to enter production for printing and formatting e-books. Well, back to the mission statement before we move on, I guess it's important to clarify that feminists and lesbian women of color are free to submit to Buy Water. They're free to submit to Buy Water. We, we wholly encourage it. We have a handful of writers of color. We're always looking to add, add more, but they are also more than welcome to submit to Amble Press. We want people to find a place where they feel most comfortable publishing themselves. And we understand that that's going to be different for different people. As you mentioned, Buy Water was founded in 2004. When did you take over? I joined the company in January 2015. So I've been here six and a half years. The, the point of coming in is that we, we really wanted to Buy Water has, has always had a strong reputation in the, the queer publishing world. We wanted to really branch out. We wanted to look at our reading audience. We wanted to look at, at what different age groups were reading the different kinds of books. We wanted to expand beyond pure literary fiction and go into a little more into romance and mystery and adventure and sci-fi and climate fiction, things like that. And not just bring in one or two books in those areas, but, but build sort of a momentum. So we have several authors who are supporting one another in their writing and in their marketing of themselves and the books that we publish. We really wanted to sort of build that momentum and to do that it meant growing. So we really had to find a way to, to grow but, but grow in a fiscally responsible way. So we didn't end up collapsing on ourselves. You have a business background.  How did you happen to get involved and how did you happen to become editor and publisher and she, publisher and editor in chief? Um, a year or so earlier Buy Water books inside my wife and McMahon. And Anne is, is multi-talented and she also, besides writing fabulous books, she also is a professional graphic designer and had taken over doing the cover design and ad design and branding and marketing for the company. And so at one point, Kelly Smith had traveled over from England. She lives in Northern England and was staying with us and we were sitting around the table and she sort of wanted to start backing away a little bit. So she was looking for someone to take over and we just started talking and it naturally came from that. I see. Is it, do you have to fundraise? Oh, we don't, we don't. Our publishing, our publishing process is that we take on a variety of books because different types of books have different sort of sales models. For instance, Romance and my wife, Anne, always jokes me that I call it romance. I'm from the Midwest. Romance is always going to be king. They're always going to sell more than any other type of book, no matter how good the book is. So by putting out very well written romances, we can then afford to go and publish a literary book that might sell a tenth the number of copies, but the book needs to be published. It deserves an audience. It has to be published. So we try to keep that rolling of keeping a good solid balance while we're able to bring in the money and we take every penny we have and we invest it back into the company. So we just keep it rolling. And so by building, by bringing in stronger writers, by bringing in people like Michael Nava, Sherry Reynolds, the noted Southern fiction writer, we have Anna Burke and McMahon, Rachel Spangler, Mary Ann, Kay Martin, we have some really strong writers, Paula Martin at Judith Katz, Ellen Hart, the list goes on and on and on. But all of that really helps us bring on new authors and publish books by established authors that might not have the huge audiences. What are the other, what are the duties of an editor-in-chief and publisher? Pretty much everything that you could imagine. A small publishing house, a small publishing house is exactly like any other small business. And that is you do all the work in-house that you can. We, I do everything from negotiating contracts, building the catalog with our distributor Ingram, doing royalties. I work on the website. You know, I traffic a lot of jobs. I just pay the bills, keep the books, all of those things. I know I was going to ask you what an average day is, but it's probably so varied. Every day is an adventure. And I have a to-do list and I rarely get to it. That makes sense. Let's step back into your past, if we may. Sure. You started and edited and wrote a blog called Rainbow Reader that ran between 2011 and 2014. How did that come about? Have you always been a reader? I bet. I've always been a reader. I've always been a reader. And I was fortunate enough to retire when I was 42 years old. And I knew I wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what it was. And one morning, at about 4.30 in the morning, I was, because I had a little puppy who got up that early, I was reading an article in the Washington Post about this author who'd gotten laid off from his job a few years earlier. And he'd always been the breadwinner. And his wife went out and got a job and he was bumbling around the house. And his wife said, write a book. He've always wanted to write a book. And he said, I don't know how to write a book. I've never done that before. And she's like, well, you're not going to know until you try. He ended up winning a National Book Award. So it was that just do it moment. So I thought, okay, I'm looking for a new career, something to keep me busy. I'm sick and tired of spending a lot of money on books that are really bad. So I'm going to start reviewing them. I'm going to give people my unvarnished opinion. That's fabulous. And I read your guidelines for reviewers and there were three points. Establish a theme and then read the book many times. And what was the third point? Do you remember? I honestly don't. I haven't done it for almost seven years. So uh-huh. Explain why you like something and why you don't like something. Don't just say I like it or dislike it. I think the middle part, you said to review the plot and then evaluate it. Was it time-consuming? It was very time-consuming because I wanted to really what when you're reading literature especially books can be interpreted it interpreted on many levels. And sometimes when you go back and you read something, especially very well written books, you'll pick up things you've never noticed before. And those things can be really important points to think about. It changes how you view a character or the plot or any element of the story. So for me, I'd pick up a book and I'd read it. Then I'd think about it and read it again. And then I'd sit down and start developing my thesis for the review. Very interesting. My lesbian book was disbanded last night. And I know, I know, but we have two other book groups. So it might have been time. But we talked about maybe starting a blog, but what came into my mind is it's going to take a lot of time. Yeah, it is. It's very time-consuming. And you stopped doing it in 2014. Well, it coincided with starting a buy-water books. I knew I wasn't going to be able to give each job what I needed to do. So I was negotiating with buy-water coming in at the end of 2014. So yeah. Yeah, that was my suspicion. You can only do so much. Yes. Speaking of activities and productive projects, let's turn to your Lambda Literary Award finalist of 2014. Who's your daddy? A heartland romance. Yes. Author with your partner and wife, Ann McMahon. Yes. Congratulations. Thank you. What was that like? What was it like writing a novel with your wife? You know, it was surprisingly easy for us because we talk about books all the time. We talk about stories. And even when she is writing, we sit down and talk about plot points and characters and shifts and things like that. So this just sort of worked that way. But the book is set in the place that I grew up, the area that I grew up. Because she had been hearing me for years tell stories about people I grew up with and how things are different in the Midwest and how families are different, how people react differently. And so this was, as we talked about this, it just sort of naturally drifted into storytelling. Her father was a union organizer. I, when I was in high school and college, worked in a factory that was non-union and very vehemently non-union. And so in talking about these things, the story just blossomed from there. Where in Indiana did you grow up? Well, I actually grew up in Southern Illinois along the Wabash River. And there's a few scenes in the book that take place in the town that I went to high school. But the book takes place in Princeton, Indiana, which is, for reference, it's near Evansville, Indiana, where the Ohio and the Wabash come together down in that area. I got my MA at Purdue. Okay, so you know Evansville, you know Princeton, right? And there's a huge Toyota plant in Princeton. So the manufacturing plant, we created completely fictitional. We just set it in that same place. Oh, in fact, I came out in West Lafayette, Indiana, seven years ago. Good for you. I know, I know. Let's go back, if we could, to publishing. And let me ask you, what do you think is the future of independent and queer publisher? Oh, boy, I tell you, I think we've got a hard row to hoe. What we're seeing is it's become very, very cool for mainstream publishers and midstream indies that are not traditionally queer presses to start really recruiting queer writers. The top agents are taking their queer writers and getting them signed in these places. So, you know, when you have people like Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey and Reese, whether it's been putting out their greeting lists for the summer or the best of lists for the year, they're starting to have a lot of queer titles on them. They're all mainstream publishers. So a lot of people go there. They don't think about the smaller legacy LGBT publishers that are out there. They've been doing the heavy lifting for 20, 30, 40 years. And so, you know, it's a struggle. It's a struggle finding very high quality writers, but even more so getting a review in the Washington Post or the New York Times or Publishers Weekly in six and a half years at Bywater. I've gotten one book picked up by Publishers Weekly. We published a book this spring from a New York Times bestselling author and an Oprah Winfrey book club pick from a previous novel and Publishers Weekly wouldn't even take it, even even give consent to a review. So getting press space, getting on these lists of the best books of the year, going into awards competitions, you know, as a small queer publisher, we do really well in independent awards competitions, much better than we do in queer awards competitions, seeing those things starting to be focused more towards the mainstream. Sometimes for good reason, they're very good books, but sometimes it feels sort of like we've been left behind. And, you know, you look to see what happened with, for instance, in Great Britain back about 20-some odd years ago, there were a lot of small queer publishers. And the mainstream presses in Great Britain decided they were going to start publishing queer books and all the small presses disappeared. Then a lot of the queer writers got dropped. There was nowhere to go. There was no one to take the books to anymore. And there still aren't a lot of queer publishers who are doing big work in Great Britain to this day. So, you know, we run the risk of that same thing happening here. And on one hand, it's good that mainstream publishers are giving our books, you know, space on their catalogs, and Barnes & Noble are putting these books out on the shelves and not having them on the bottom shelf by, you know, next to Christianity and dependency, you know, the way they always have been. But at the same time, you know, my own wife walks into the Barnes & Noble and Winston Salem, she's a two-time Lambda literary award winner, there's not a single book of hers on the shelves. How do you fight that? I forgot to ask you how many titles Bywater publishes, how many titles does Bywater publish in a year? It drifts a little bit, sometimes a few more and sometimes a few less, depending if we are going to be reissuing any titles, because we can usually do those a little bit easier and slip them in to the gaps in our schedule. But I would say right now, we're probably on about 12 to 14 titles reliably a year between Ambal Press and Bywater Books. What about magazine publishing? As far as I can figure out, there are two LGBT literary reviews and you are on the board of Lambda literary for a while. Yes, I was. How do you think it seems like Lambda is kind of changing dramatically when online, I remember the bookstore and the print copy and they're changing with the times, I guess. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of flux going on right now. You know, Lambda is a fabulous organization. They really, really do a lot. I personally, this is just my preference. Lambda spends a lot of focus on writers in New York City and in Los Angeles and that's really, really fabulous, but they're not going to places that writers need the support.  You know, so there are these, there are communities that really need that voice and that support. They need to see the writers in schools. They need to have, you know, those authors supported, you know, get into the fellowship programs and things like that. So their mission is still in process. It really is, but it's a really, really great organization. And it is, I mean, I write now for the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide and that's also, that's been going for 20 years also, but it seems like Lambda might be a little more accessible or, you know, because it's online and free, but they're, they're the only two that I know of. Right. Yes. On the Lesbian side, there's the Golden Crown Literary Society that is focused more. It was, the mission was originally promoting, awarding and supporting lesbian writers, readers. And now it's drifted more to the Women Loving Women Forum, but that, they're a, they're a very solid organization. I've never heard of them. How about that? And I'm a lesbian scholar of long standing. Tell us about them. They're, they're in organizations maybe 15, 16 years old right now. Every year they have an annual conference. In fact, the annual, they're having a virtual conference this year. They had one last year. Next year they will have an in-person conference if things work out in Albuquerque, New Mexico in July. They have a, they have a writing academy, which is actually headed up right now by one of our by water authors. And we're very proud about that. Where they bring aspiring writers in and just they have mentors. They do online classes. They, it's writing. You know, they write short stories. They work on their novels. And with the goal of getting, getting a manuscript that can be submitted for to a publisher that can then take that next leap. Some of the writers are a little more accomplished.  They also do an awards and they have, they have trailblazers and every year they honor a, a book, a literary book this year. The book that they, it's the Lee Lynch classic is the title of the award. And Xamy is the book. I love that. Right. That's well, 1981. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, like I said, they have trailblazers every year. They name a trailblazer, someone who has really done something to move the needle, to push, push the envelope. And so it's, it's really, it's really great in, in, in that there's, it's a, it's a good organization that really provides a lot of support to writers. Where are they located? Honestly, I don't think that I don't even know where physically their home office is. Everybody, the board members live all over the country. Very interesting. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. When I was researching you and Bywater, I saw them, you know, but I didn't really pursue it because I didn't, but now I will. In the time that we have left, it's gone quickly. What final message do you have for our audience? You know, give, give some small publishers a chance. Yes. And independent book sellers, but go ahead. Yes. Absolutely. Independent book sellers, small publishers. When you have the opportunity to buy from a small publisher instead of Amazon or Barnes & Noble do that, it supports the publisher, it supports the authors. And we never want to be in a place where we don't have books, where we are not represented. Well, you're certainly doing a lot to preserve that tradition and, you know, make sure we're not eclipsed. Yes. Thank you for your work. Oh, thank you very much. And thank you for your work. Well, thank you for joining us. It's been an honor. I feel the same way. It's an embarrassment of thank yous. So people who are regular viewers of the interview show know that all things LGBTQ has made it a priority to go out and look for those organizations that are providing services that don't necessarily get a lot of attention. And today is indeed one of those occasions. And I am so pleased to invite to all things LGBTQ an old and dear friend. Please welcome Linda in Gold, who is the executive director of the Safe Line program. So welcome, Linda. Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity. So why don't we start with Safe Line? That's a program that some people may not have heard of. Exactly who or what is Safe Line and what are the services I would come to you to receive? Okay. Safe Line is domestic violence and sexual abuse organization serving all of Orange County and five towns in Northern Windsor. We provide prevention services and support services for any victim of domestic violence or sexual abuse. A lot of our work is done at the Special Investigations Unit, the Child Advocacy Center. And that is specifically in interviews with children who have been sexually abused or domestic violence to a severe extent and also with adults who have been sexually abused. So our services, we have a 24-hour hotline. Anyone, any victim can call us at any time 24 hours a day. And a trained staff person or a trained volunteer will answer the call. So if I was someone who was experiencing domestic violence, I could retap to Safe Line. There would be an advocate who would let me know the services that were available and help me to develop a plan to get out of my abusive situation. Exactly right. We provide options. We never tell anyone what to do because we truly don't know what someone should do. It is up to the person themselves to decide from these different options what might be good for them. One thing that we do is if someone wants a protection order, for example, we can help them with the paperwork. We can help them with the process, go to court with them. We're not attorneys, but we can sit there and be part of their strength and help them while they're sitting in front of the judge explaining their situation. So it's domestic violence and then but people can call us if they don't know if they're experiencing domestic violence even. Someone will call and say, this is what's going on with me. What do you think? And I can describe the different red flags that maybe they're in a dangerous situation. That's our goal is to keep everyone safe in whatever manner that might be to figure out what would be safest for them, for their children, and for their pets. Some people. Vermont was one of the first states to include the family pet with the protection order because oftentimes an abuser will threaten not only the victim, but the family pet to whatever control and power they can take. They will use that and find a weak link. And that's where they will go. So for what you're describing, it also sounds as though if I am just becoming aware of the situation in which I am living, that I might be able to reach out to you for support on an ongoing basis or periodically until I'm ready to leave my abusive relationship. Is that correct? Absolutely. And it may not be the goal to leave, but to survive while you're there. Because people often say, well, why don't they just leave? That's not possible for everyone. Financially, emotionally, there's many reasons why someone might not leave. When someone hears about options, then they might be able to figure things out a little bit more. It gives them an idea that there's maybe different options and they don't have to be stuck. So we try to help think through the process with them. As you're saying that one of the things that struck me is thinking in terms of COVID that Vermont is just coming out of. And people who sort of were confined to their homes, did you see an increase in the request for services and support? Or was there this sort of sense of unknown in fear and people just accepted the situations they were living in? March 15th, our phones went quiet because no one could call us. Their abuser was right there in the room with them. So they weren't out in the neighborhood. They weren't visiting family and friends. They weren't going to work. They weren't going to the grocery store. They were not getting out of their house.  And one good thing is that we had more people say, oh, stay at home order. I bet you're getting a lot of business now. So people recognize that staying at home was not necessarily a safe place to be. As time went on, now we, but at that time, the hospital was getting more calls and the sheriff's office was getting more calls because the situation escalates. That is the fear and that's the reality. If someone is in a certain situation, that will become more and more violent. And that is what has proven to be true where they couldn't call us so that we could insert some safety precautions. And if they had one call that they could make, they ended up at the hospital or they called law enforcement to remedy the situation right then. Since that time, we have become increasingly busy now because victims are out into the open, excuse me, and they can call us now. So So you're talking about if I have one phone call to make, I might do it to law enforcement, a hospital because that's my way out. That's my immediate way out. Would the hospital or law enforcement then reach out to you to become involved in service providing? Yes. And then that's where we get many of our referrals is both from the hospital and from law enforcement. One thing that people did not realize is how how the children were being affected. They weren't in school. They were not near their mandated reporters. Normally, a teacher could tell, Hey, something's going on. I wonder what's going on in the family. And they could report any sort of suspicion. But children were trapped at home also. Now that they're back at school, whether at the summer camp, they're out a little bit more, they are near their guidance counselor, the school nurse, the teacher who can make a report. And that is again why our business has increased because there's more reports, which is it's good that it's being reported. So I because you're a dual program at work, both with domestic violence and sexual violence, I'm making the leap of faith that there are comparable services for survivors of sexual violence that you have just described for domestic violence. Statewide, every inch of the state has somebody at an organization that is covering for domestic violence and sexual violence. So these services are available. Yes, statewide. So if if I'm someone who lives in Orange County and I've encountered sexual violence trauma, I can call Safe Line and you will talk me through you know, what I have for options and how I want to move forward. And talk is not our first verb. It's listen. Well, thank you. Great. And that is what we first do. And along the process is we listen. Because as I said before, we don't know what the answers are, but we will give options that are need to be creative sometimes too. I am sure of that.  And again, I appreciate that it's the victim survivor's choice, whether to have a great crit done or not done. Someone from Safe Line would support me while I was actually in the emergency room and the exam was being done. That's true too. And statewide there are examiners who work through the hospital and again, by calling your local domestic violence, sexual violence organization, there will be someone who can support you at the hospital. Yes. Now, Gifford is the closest hospital in Orange County, correct? And you might use Central Vermont as well. True. That's both of them. Yes. And do both of those hospitals have someone who is specifically trained on staff to deal with survivors, victims of sexual violence? If they don't have someone on staff, they call someone. So there's someone who will come out to Gifford, for example, or Central Vermont Medical Center. If they're not stationed right there, there's someone who will come there who's responsible for that area. Yes. So I would be confident that there is a repository of people who appreciate all of the dynamics of sexual violence and would be able to support me through that process. That's right. That's right. So after in both the instance of domestic violence and sexual violence, you know, domestic violence, I've chose to leave my current situation or sexual violence. I've chosen to, you know, have a rape exam. Is there still follow-up from Safe Line to support me after a specific incident? Oh, absolutely. We meet and talk with survivors on an ongoing basis. It could be for a number of years. This is lifelong changes that someone's going through. So even if someone is had an incident years ago and something has suddenly triggered them, feel free to call us because we're a listening ear. And it doesn't need, we don't need to do something, but just by listening and letting someone go through the process, even if it happened a number of years ago, or we are seeing, unfortunately, I guess, generations. So someone that we're seeing now, because we've been working with them for a number of years, now we're seeing their grandchild or their teenager, because abuse is taught on both sides. I mean, no, go, please go ahead. Yeah, just what I want people to actually be taught is respect. And when that's not taught, then that's generational that both the daughter and son do not learn respect. And therefore, they will learn the pattern of their parents. And that's something that we would like to break that generational abuse cycle. As you were saying, and what I was interrupting with, it sounds as though there are varieties of messages that we get, and it gets into that implicit bias. What's the narrative that's running in the back of your head that you may or may not be aware of? And there's societal messaging, and then there's within the family. Is Safe Line engaged in any type of public education campaigns to help share with the public how to recognize those messages and how to change them? What we do as prevention education is work with the schools, work with youth groups, work with any faith group, any business. We will talk with them about the power and control wheel, or red flags, or about consent, or healthy relationships. There's a lot of education that is helpful for people to learn and different ways of communicating and to recognize in themselves how they may be communicating that is not respectful to someone else. So the education is something that we're always looking for outlets to do, and we welcome any any sort of invitation to educate. Such as being invited for an interview today. Exactly. So does Safe Line support a shelter program, or do you refer to other shelter programs within the Vermont network? Safe Line does not have a shelter. Therefore, we reach out to the other shelters. There's seven other shelters with the domestic violence, sexual violence network. So we reach out and work very directly with them to be able to find safe housing for someone when they need an emergency. So if if I were to approach Safe Line looking for support services, would that be a one-on-one encounter? Or do you also do groups where I could spend time with peers and talk about shared experiences? We would love to be able to have a support group of some sort, because it's Orange County that was difficult for people to drive to get to a central location at a certain time with the same needs that other people had. So we're hoping that with COVID and all of the Zoom information that people have grown accustomed to, that that could be an outlet in gathering people so that they do not need to travel and can then meet. Because what we truly do is meet one-on-one right now, either in person or by phone. And that can be somewhere safe, like at the courthouse or the library or someplace that's safe. So you have a hope to create a support group using whatever the means that are supportive of the victim survivors. What are the other aspects of Safe Line that either you need help with or you're looking at expanding at this point? As I said before, we'd love to have more outlets to speak. We speak at the Vermont Law School to talk to the students there. Any of the local schools, we would love to get in summer camps. We've done summer camps to talk to the counselors and then they can work with their campers. So that would be very helpful. And just getting the word out, mostly people don't need to know about Safe Line until they're in a situation where they need Safe Line. So to just remember, and it's an easy number to remember to call, New Safe. So that's the 800 number, 800, New Safe. Safe Line, again, that safe word began 30 years ago when a group of neighbors got together and said, there's nothing out here and we're seeing our neighbors are in difficult situations. We want to create a toll-free number first one in Vermont to have a place to call and to receive whatever services that would be helpful. So if I'm someone who lives in Orange County, I could approach you about specific services if I'm a domestic or sexual violence victim or survivor, but my guess is you also need volunteers, board members, maybe someone to help you with fundraising every now and then that the usual nonprofit needs. Exactly, exactly. We do have volunteers. We have volunteers who staff the hotline. We have volunteers who work in the office. We have volunteers who post flyers in the area just so that we've got our name out there. We do have oversight of governance, board of directors, and we're looking for board members. We need one or two right now. So that's another, and of course, funding always. We're partially funded by the federal government and the state government because they recognize that violence might happen behind closed doors, but it affects the whole community. So we do get funding that way. We also have an annual appeal. We have contributors who are very generous and donate on a monthly basis. So it's how we do outreach and all of our money is for support. So that's what, the more funds that we get, the more outreach that we can do. So as we bring this interview to a close, I first need to say thank you for the work you're doing, but I'd like to end with, so how did Linda end up at Safe Line? Non-profit management is trying to do good work from the foundational aspect of it. So I was the director of the Vermont Women's Business Center helping women start or grow their own businesses for economic security. Before that, it was at Central Vermont Medical Center doing education and outreach. And before that, it was the Girl Scouts. And so that was non-profit nationally that was raising the self-esteem of young women. So you had skills, and how can I best use them to serve my community? So thank you. And I will put it out there for everyone to hear. I now owe you lunch at Sarduchies. Okay. Thank you, Keith. Thank you for joining us. We'll see you in two weeks, but in the meantime, resist.


Okay. Well, hello. Thank you for coming. This talk is about FBAs also. Graphic design tools for open source FBAs, the Appio and ICES Studio projects. So I'm Jesús Arroyo. Well, a little presentation. I'm a husband and father of two little boys. I'm an engineer in software and also robotics and electronics. I'm the creator of Appio and ICES Studio projects, and now I'm working on Cartoon, that is an open source company of location intelligence in Madrid, Spain. Well, let's start with some state of the art. Open FBA boards, what an FBA is, it's a field program of data rate. You can change its own hardware in seconds. What is an open FBA? It's an FBA chip that you can use with open source tools. An open FBA board, it's an open source electronic boards that contains a chip. So there are a lot of different boards out there. For example, the I-Stick that you know from the previous talk. This is the first one. This is another one from the company Lattice. That is this one. We have also an isomalambra board, this board. I don't know if you know all these boards, but this is the black eye, for example, and the tiny FBA that is very tiny. Do you know who knows at least three of these boards, raise your hand. Okay, one, two, well, one, everyone. All the other boards, great. Perfect. Okay, open FBA tools. We have some open source tools like Icarus Berrylock and GTK Wave. The first one are only for simulation, so nothing to do with FBAs, but I include in this group. Then the I-Storm tools, that is the golden tool. You have uses for the logic synthesis, our Agni PNR for the blockchain route, and the I-Storm tools for the package and a bloat and things like that. So, well, thank you very much for Clifford for these amazing tools because I think this is something incredible. You can use these tools with typing these commands. For example, in this simulation, you can run a I-Berrylock, then a VVP to generate the simulation file, and then GTK Wave to visualize all the lines. For synthesis, you can execute Jossys, then Agni, I-Spark, and finally I-Spark to program. You need to type all that. So, we found some issues with that because first of all, you need to build all the tools yourself. It requires time, it requires knowledge, and also you need to have all the built environment in your computer. Then you need also to install the drivers. There are some boards with an FTDI chip, some with directly USB connection. There are also a lot of parameters for simulations and synthesis tools like you saw before. For example, this is for the FEA parameters and a lot of path and things like that. You can upload the ground bit stream that this is a little dangerous because the board is not verified. So, possible solutions, create a high-level multiplatform tool to manage every found issue. Instead of the red things, we can add a package manager and driver manager, simulation and synthesis manager, and then a blog manager. This is what Appio is. This is my implementation of the solution. Appio is a multiplatform CLI toolbox for open FPGAs. It is written in Python, so you can install it with FIP install Appio, and this is how it looks like. This is the documentation and this is the repository. So, the commands. For the package manager, you can just use Appio install and Appio uninstall. So, if you type Appio install, it downloads all the tools for any architecture. Linux, Mac, Windows, ARM, and 3264, everything. Then you can also use Appio drivers to enable FTDI or serial drivers, and these simple commands to verify, simulate, build, time clean, all the things that you need to do with the hardware design. Then you have also Appio upload that checks the platform, checks the USB, vendor and product IDs, checks the FTDI description, and also search the boards, and a lot of commands for examples and initialization, sorry. In future work, I want to improve the examples manager. I want to add a project manager in order to have a multi-director project and also support a lot of boards. All the boards I mentioned before are supported by this tool, all these ones. But if you don't like the terminal, you don't like typing, you can use also a graphic user interface for that, that is the Appio IDE. Appio is a natural plugin. It's a plugin for Atom. It contains also a very low Glinter and a very low hand PCF file syntax highlight. So you can write your code, and then instead of typing the commands, you can press the buttons, and it's easy. So let's do a quick demo about that. Well, now I'm going to use this board, that is the Dys2Malambra board. It's a board made in Spain. It has the same chip than Dys2, but also a lot of new interesting stuff. So first of all, we need to initialize our project. It creates a simple file with a board, that's it. Then you can, for example, Appio sim, and runs the simulation and runs GTK wave. This is cool because you can use the same commands for Windows, for Mac, and for every operating system that you want. Let's do, for example, build, execute this, Joss is a Ragnar NX pack, and now Appio upload. It finds the board, and just in two seconds, you'll have the bitstream here. Let's try another board, for example. I'm going to try the BlackEyes. That is a project from United Kingdom. Well, you can see the board again. So I can execute. Also, if I do Appio upload, it first builds all the stuff, and then uploads to the board. If I execute Appio build again, it keeps catching all the generative files, so it does not. In this case, we have all the LEDs on. Well, I can show you the code. This is just the code to put four wires to one. Well, this is the PCF file to specify the number of the board. But you don't need to know this. And finally, I'm going to switch to the ASTOOM Alamber again to show you Appio IDE. ID. You open the break. I don't know if, okay. You have here, for example, a simple program design. So instead of typing Appio upload, you can press this button, and you can see, well, I don't know if you can see it, but this is a counter. So you can change. You can change, press upload, and now we have working LED. So for example, I'm going to change the speed. And this is quite easy because you can focus on your design instead of all the tools. Also, you can run the simulation here. So you see, it's quite easy to use these kind of complicated devices. But, nice, this is nice. But I need to learn and write HDL code. So maybe I don't want to... Can I enjoy OpenFPAs in an easy way? So also, I have created some experimental tool called ICES Studio. It's a graphic editor for OpenFPAs. It's written in JavaScript and HTML. You can find also the documentation and the repository. And this is how it looks like. This is some kind of graphic very low. You have inputs, outputs, parameters, code, and other blocks. So let's go inside. It has a very easy setup. You can download the app image, the Windows installer, the MacOS DMG, and just install it. It contains SAPIO and all the required tools inside. So it's quite fast to install all the things. It has also driver configuration. So you press Drivers Enable, and you have a step-by-step guide. And you can create your own designs and blow to the board. There are basic blocks. Some basic blocks, IO blocks for input and output ports. Like this one, this one is an 8-bit output block. You have also constant blocks, these orange blocks from the top. You can type numbers or strings or whatever you want in order to add parameters to your designs. There are also code blocks, these ones. You can type a very low inside these blocks. And well, this one is red because it contains an error. So you can see also you can do some kind of debugging with these two. And information blocks, for example, this one. Information blocks, you can write a markdown or HTML in order to add documentation to your designs. But there are also custom blocks. It's a duality between project and block because each project can be a block. As studio designs are playing JSON with .ice extension. So you can create a project. And you can use this block as a block for other projects. For example, you can create this project. You can add some kind of the name, the description, and the image. And you can use this project as this block in other designs. We have also collections. Collections are a group of blocks and examples with translations that you can install in Asus Studio. So you can install a lot of collections in Asus Studio, but you can only select one of them. Because if you want to create a tutorial, for example, you need to have only specific blocks or examples. And these blocks are in different collections. Well, and a lot of more things. For example, multiple support, multi-language. You're going to export a lot of different files. Error detection, you can and you are redo for all the components. So it's quite easy to go back and all the things. And also, I want to add a lot of things to these two. Like, for example, memory and label blocks, parametric blocks, integrate simulation, and all that kind of stuff. So let's go to do the second demo. OK, let's connect the board. So let's create, for example, an input button. You can put output for the LED. For example, I'm going to select the SMA Lambda board. Well, you can connect and just upload this design to the board. So I don't know if you can see it, but if I press the button, the LED turns on. So I can add more interesting things to this design. For example, upper scalar. This is a custom block. So I need a constant, for example, 23 bits. I'm going to add a logic gate. And that's it, for example. So you can see when I press the button, the LED starts blinking. I can just change the bits for the divider. I'll upload again. One, two, three, go. And then I press the button, and I see the LED blinking faster. I'm going to add also an information block. This is code stuff. So I can put the block in whatever position to add information. I can add also links and images to this block to add information. So in the same picture, you can get all the information without extra windows, so things like that. And for example, I can enter in the blocks to see what is inside of the block. For example, if I double-click, I can see this is the inside of the unblock. It's just a one-line Verloch design. And also I can open the blocks as projects in order to change some kind of things. For example, I can add more ports to the code block. I'm adding one wire input and eight bus output. So I can create everything and then save. I can also update the parade information in order to add an image or whatever you want. And then I can save that and share with everybody. And well, a lot of stuff. Here you can have different collections. So when you select a collection, all the SS2 changes. So for example, if I select another collection, all these blocks change to adapt to the new collection and also the examples. And that's it. Quick demo. Well, we have created a little community in Spain called FPGA Words to share knowledge about open FPGAs. You can check the website. You can check the GitHub organization and also the list. We have around 500 members, but it's more in Spanish. So we want to create here in the FOSDM a new list for English people to, well, we want to create something new. We don't know yet what kind of group list forum or thing, but we want to share these projects with everyone. And also, we want your contributions and your ideas. And thank you very much. Well, if you want to see more ICS-Studio examples and very interesting things, I recommend you to stay to the next talk. So to enter in more detail in the designs. Yeah. OK. The design for the actual files, you may have already mentioned it. Please try to stay silent, guys. Please try to talk outside. This is a question and answer session. And it's also being recorded. Is that just strictly an HTML or just text file? The files? Oops. OK. The questions. What the files are? Or the files are plain JSON files with some kind of structure to represent all the diagrams and the connections. And then I have a compiler from this JSON to very low that is inside the ICS-Studio. So now the format is JSON. So that would be reasonable to use with? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Can you please repeat the question for the recorder? OK. Can we use the files for other tools or things like that? This is open source. And this is just the beginning. So we can do whatever we want with that. And we can create other formats or more standard formats for the files and for the blocks. So yeah. Is there a motivation for doing it? I mean, this is very cool stuff. Yeah. I'm doing this because I want to. OK. Sorry. Sorry. It's why I'm doing this, no? I'm doing this because I want to bring this cool technology called FPGA technology to everyone because it's quite difficult for all the people or kids or whatever student to enter in these tools, build all the systems, type all the commands, and then create something. With these kind of tools, you can create in one minute the environment. And then this allows you to share hardware and also to teach hardware designs to people that are not experts in these things. And also because I want to learn JavaScript, that this is a good moment to do it. Yeah. The question is about testing hardware with software? Or? You need to test with hardware. Yeah. Yeah. There is a cool stuff also from Clifford Wolf that is the one who created the project, a code formal verification. So you can add some kind of test in the hardware, like assert lines or things like that. I'm thinking how can we create some graphic tools to describe all the tests and then pass the test all for the designs? So we are thinking about that. But it's kind of difficult right now. Yeah. But there are many questions. They're so quick. OK. There are tools like Lava that can do hardware testing on a CI. And there's some talks around here somewhere if you search on the page for Lava. So I would recommend that. OK, thank you. Could the app here is based on platform I know? Yeah. Well, I create from scratch. Platform IO, it's the inspiration for that kind of tool because at the beginning we want to include all the FBA tools with platform IO. So we have also a platform IO package. But I took some ideas and I rewrite the whole thing to create that tool that is only for open FBAs. Well, thank you very much. And that's all.


You don't wanna know. Marcus is not even a person. I used to say that man. Like a Mark-ass nigga that's Marcus? Mark. We on Boss Talk 101. When you think about it. I got another question for you.  You don't wanna know. Marcus is not even a person. I used to say that man. Like a Mark-ass nigga that's Marcus? Mark-ass nigga that's Marcus? Mark. I got that. I got that. So that's what he was saying. You can't see me Marcus?  I bet.    Ask my partner.  I'm always called a nigga Mark-ass. I want you to give me the one story before you get all free about your word that you put Dallas on. Already? Already. I just want to know how you suspect. I don't know.  I said it for years and I didn't know it came from you. Let's talk about that. Was it a lingo word that you made into a song? Let's talk about that. You're bringing the word to the city. That's what I'm saying. He was all over the Texas. Let's talk about this. Same thing I just said about UGK. The drink was already being done. The car situation was already being done. The world didn't know about it. But then when you put a song out and it get out there to the masses there's a thing that's called corning a phrase. For you guys that don't know it's called corning a phrase and they give certain people credit for corning a phrase or a situation or an event. And that's basically what happened. Dallas was not singing already. At all. At all. We was on the road singing already. I ain't going to say it came from Houston but we was on the road singing already. And then when I came back to Dallas Dallas didn't know nothing about no DJ screw. Dallas didn't know nothing about Cebo anything. When I first got back to Dallas no limit wasn't even popping in Dallas. You talking about Cebo out of Cali? Yeah. Cebo was built man. I did the song Cebo. The ball hit nudge. That's my guy man. That's my guy man. That's my guy man. That's my guy man. That's my guy man. You ain't ever heard that? I'm going to tell you something man. You need to get that tell us from the crib. Yeah. Sacramento man. That's more hard man. That's another one. That boy there's supposed to be more than what he is. So give me the hour. When you came out with the hour ready are you influenced to hold? I would say he coined it. You coined it. Because there was no song now. I'm not going to say I made no word up. No, I'm not saying you made it up. I did a song. I did a song, yeah. And that song went. Distribution to Southwest wholesale. So it was everywhere. We saw a lot of records off that paper. Just like when Cash Money never used to say blame blame when they were talking about that jury. Because they put it on the song. You think they coined it up?  Exactly. I'm not going to say I did it before. Cash Money. So I'm not going to say I did that. No, but I'm going to tell you what made me start singing that. One day driving to work. I just happened to be listening to the Ricky Smiley Morning Show. And they were still hearing Dallas at that time. I think Ricky Smiley might have been here maybe three, four years at that time. And he said, why does everybody say already? Right on there. I was there at that time. And I swear a head crack. And what's mother got named? Well, I can't thank his name. He's behind the scenes. He's behind the scenes, but he would he come on some time to talk. No, no, no, no, no. He knows in front. I think his name is said, but he's working K-104. His mom worked at K-104. Everybody know him. They said bubble Luciano. I almost wrecked my car. They know it. That's the reason why they say already? Yes. I almost wrecked my car. I said my name on the radio. So I'm driving for everybody. Yeah, man. When they said that, they said and they explained it to him kind of like I'm explaining it to you. That's okay. I own that. I own that because I don't do my own horn. Somebody tutored it for you that day in front of the whole scene.


studio. That's it. Check it, check it, check it. It's a unique hustle. It's your boy ECEO and I'm here with the lovely official Mr. Mako. What's going on? None of my dad walk on. Save man. So hey man, you know, we came down to Atlanta man. We've been definitely enjoying ourselves, right? Yes, sir. So I'm something of I like to do things on a whim, you know what I'm saying? So when I seen this opportunity is when I was really like, this the one right here, we got to get this one. You get all these other people and they all entertainers and they all on stages and everything. But it's the entrepreneurs, you know, we, you know, I'm needed to that too. So when I, when I'd had this opportunity, I said, we have to take care of this man. So I got Dr. James and Mr. Reggie here, man. And Dr. James, what did you say name of it? Well, let me get it right here. Ideal B is center, right? That's right. So, so just we want, we want to know a little bit about them, right? Hey man, so tell us a little bit about how you, how you got started. How we got started with this. Yes, I know you got many. I'll be quick. So we've been here for four years. Four years. And when we bought the building, the plan was to rent out 12 doctors' offices. This was a medical building. Okay. And what happened was that over about a three month period, we started getting phone calls asking, well, do you have a room that I could rent to do hair? Do you have a room that I could rent to do nails? And initially it was no, no, no, we don't do any of that. We don't have any of that. And then one day, one week, we probably got about five phone calls. And then it was like, knock, knock, you know, the people that spoken, this is really what they want. And so we shifted our development plan from renovating medical offices to offering individual suites. And so we started out with massage suites and then it morphed. We developed studio suites for cosmetologists. That's really the majority of the suites that we offer right now are studio suites, private studio suites for cosmetologists. Wow. And then the hair tech, excuse me, nail techs. Estheticians. Thank you. Thank you. We have braiders. We have lash techs.  Right, right, right. So right now we have, we have about 25. And so we're going to build these out. Well, we'll have 35. Wow. Private suites. Wow. So that's the capacity of this building is 35. It's actually, we could probably go up to 50. Okay. You know, but what are you going to do with all the rooms? I'm sorry. What are you going to do with all, no, because you said you're only going to go up to 35. If you can go up to 50 something, why not just do all the rooms and rent them all out? That's a great point. And so, and we may, we may, but we have a couple that we're going to keep as larger suites for some other things that we plan to do here. We may open a real estate brokerage here. And so we have auto brokers, auto dealers here, we have six auto dealers here. So there's a lot of demand for that right now. It's a beautiful building. Well, thank you. Man, you know, you guys are something else because actually, that's one of the things that I've been trying to move up to, because we've had businesses now for 16, 17 years. And my, my thing is I wanted to own a property to go get into commercial real estate. My mentor passed away while he was training me. Right. And I just wanted to outright only build it.  I mean, I've heard that from you remember when I did a venture where I went to several different business men, all of my own commercial real estate. And I had, I'm blessed enough to be able to walk into their offices. And I sit down and talk to them like Napoleon Hill did on thinking grow rich. And I was able to speak with them. And we, we, we sat and we talked and they gave me their story, their spiel on how they got started. And I was trying to wrap it up in a bow in my own way for my own self in the end. So I, I still pray to God or let me be able to, you know, deal with that, with that avenue. We can help you with that. I'm gonna definitely be calling you. I got your number now. So you're in trouble. I'm going to be calling. Like I said, I'm trying to do it. She knows that's my dream. I wanted to get into it. I wanted to outright own a, own a building or several buildings. That's what God would have. Cause I've been in business so many years and just never did do anything but rent, just to be quite honest. And we were blessed to have our first landlord. He was a blessing the way how he is. It was very old school in the beginning. We didn't even sign a lease. It was a handshake and we lived by that. And it was just so awesome to see that type of trust. You know what I mean? You don't have that nowadays. I didn't really understand him. He made, he taught me a lot. Like I, one day I got beside myself. I was like, you know what, give me a receipt for, I just paid him for six months for it. And he took out an envelope that I had gave him and gave him the money in or gave him this check in, ripped it, wrote on down the ground and just gave him the paper back. He said, that's your seat. Well, we have expansion plans. So there's definitely room for you to jump in and have a little slice. Like I said, that's something I wanted, you know, that's something I wanted to venture into. And like I said, he died. I was there with him the day before he died.  He's going to pass away. And it was like about say two months before that he sat in the floor of my store and was just, we talked and talked and talked. So that's the, hey man, God has a way of dealing with people and getting them to where they need to be. And look, he brought me to y'all. So I'm happy. And let me share this also that that owning is a great idea, owning real estate, but it's not always the best idea. Yeah. So I've been in a real estate business for over 30 years. Okay. And the thing I can say is that, for example, what we offer here costs a lot less for people to occupy a space than it would be for them to go out and own one. Okay. So for now, some people think the rate may be a little high, but we allow people to move in. We take all the risks that's involved in construction and cost quite a bit. Real estate right now, the construction costs and the material costs is prohibitive. That's actually one of the barriers of entry into real estate is that it costs a lot of money. So our customers are small business owners that don't necessarily have the capital where they can go out and they can purchase a building. So I mean, we mentor people so we can absolutely put people on the right path that want to go out and buy building. But what I wanted to focus on for a moment was really the customer base that we have. So our customers, as I said, these individuals who may, maybe they were leasing someplace else and they decided to reduce their costs because they rent a building, you know, you're going to pay a rate per square foot. And you don't have that works, of course, you guys are entrepreneurs in the building. So you're going to pay a rate per square foot. And on the surface, it may sound like you're going to save a lot of money because you have a lot more space. But when you consider all the costs, for example, you're going to spend 20, 25% down. So for every hundred thousand dollars, you're going to spend 25,000.  So you just multiply 25 times every hundred thousand dollars. And that just tells you what your down payment is. And then not only are you paying a lot upfront to buy the building, but then you have all the construction costs. So we basically allow people to come into a space like what we're in right now for one week rent and one week deposit. I should think about that for a minute. A person can come in and occupy the space that we're in right now for one week rent and a one week security deposit. And they move into a space, everything's brand new, heating and air turnkey, turnkey, heating and air brand new, everything. Wow. So they can, they can, they can get in for less than a couple thousand dollars. And they don't have to do, because I know when you do lease, a lot of times it depends on the property, especially a property as nice as this, you have maintenance fees and all these other fees that management fees, triple net, all of these other things that, you know, because when we first rented, it wasn't any of that. It was just, this is what you're going to pay. And that is it. I like that. But we've had multiple locations. So we went through having stores that you had to pay the triple net. You had to pay the maintenance fee. You had to pay the broker fee and all of this, everything else. We've done it every way. I can't stand that. We take it all. We take it all. That's what's up, man. And it helps a lot of new business owners who are people who want to get in business as well. It, it, it guides a light to them to be able to get into business, right? Absolutely. And then our target market right now, although we have a few new people, we prefer the seasoned business owners who may just want to change locations. They have the clients, they have the customers, and they know what they're doing. And they're just looking for good space. And so this is what we call a class C kind of a neighborhood. This is not Buckhead. It's not Midtown. It's a transitional neighborhood. And a lot of the people that are business owners here, they live in the immediate area within a three to five mile radius. So when a couple of years ago, for example, they may have gone to Midtown, they may have gone to Buckhead to try to rent space. Then the customers have to drive across town to Midtown to Buckhead, which may appear to be a nicer neighborhood, but then they got to pay for parking. They have to inconvenience themselves by leaving their neighborhood to go, to go north. So we service primarily the south side. Okay, this particular location, as Mr. Reggie said, what we're scaling on is that we're actually building other buying other properties that basically duplicate this another neighborhood. And that's like I said, I definitely Atlanta is definitely a place where everybody's coming to a lot of different people. I know the guy that just lever, he just moved here. Yeah, if it's just McDonald, you know, it's the place is moving, the south is moving, even in Dallas, it's like people are people are looking for businesses to open up. So how was it? How was it for you during the pandemic, the pandemic, the COVID move? We shut down. Okay. And basically, the whole hospitality industry had to shut down nationally. And for whatever, and it really was politics, because they made the decision in Atlanta, like they did many cities across the country, early with the pandemic, that certain, certain professions were high risk professions.  Okay, or going into home. Because you're more face to face when you're doing cosmetology is you're, you're closer to the person. And that's part of that's what they're looking at. That was part of the logic. But you're going to come in contact with people, no matter what. So, so, so we had to live with that. We shut down for four, four months, I think it was. But for your people that rented their spots during that four months, did you, did they still have to pay that rent for the four months? Although there were clothes. How did you deal with that? We waved it. You waved it awesome. We waved the rent during that time. So just leave your gear here. We're just, we're giving it to them. Why can't I have you for landlord? We did not get that. We got, they didn't not only just, they didn't just, didn't waive it, but they actually made, because my friend, they're like similar mentor died in one of our, and he sold the property. He sold the property for right before the $1.4 million. He sold it. And, and, um, yeah, they doubled the rent on us. On us. Like right after, like, yeah. It messed me up. And they doubled the rent. They doubled it. They said he wouldn't get it. On almost everybody in that whole location. So, so think about it. And that's as the lease was going on there. That's sad, but not, but I would just say, and the reason they had to do that, because they still had these mortgages effect. Yeah. And they just, you know, they had to pass it on to you guys. I stayed and I mean, I'm dealing with it. I was hoping that they would sell it because I felt like, okay, if they sell it, maybe we'll get somebody in who's better. These people, quite naturally, they don't care. And what we did when they came back, what we did for the first 30 days, we allowed people to pay half of what they were paying. So if you're listening for those who have fantastic landlord treasure it, because you won't learn to appreciate it. And that's the lesson of life. You don't appreciate something until you end up with something else. Yeah. Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate it, Mac, all those years. I knew I had something special. I knew that. Yeah. Yeah, we knew. We knew it. And so I knew that with, if that building was to sell, I didn't even know if I would say that because I used to help maintain. We wish we could have bought it at the time, but we couldn't afford it. We couldn't have went to the bank. But the opportunity didn't just open up. Right. So the other thing that I share with you is that we don't have long term lease agreements. So as a commercial broker, that's one of the things that I wanted to kind of introduce. How long do you have it for? We don't even call them a lease agreement. It's technically it's a service agreement. So the service agreement allows, it allows, they have the exclusive use of, for example, this area. Then they may have the non-exclusive use of other parts of the property. So some of the spaces that we have, for example, they may have a shared, may have shared bathrooms. Some have shared waiting rooms, reception rooms, et cetera. Right. And so they have the exclusive use of the individual suite and then the non-exclusive use of the common area. So you don't have a term on the paperwork? It's a, it's a, it's a 12 month term. Okay. So a year or so to say. Well, it's 80 years. It's an agreement. Thank you. And, and we also allowed, we did allow them a chance to give us, to terminate agreement with the four week notice. Oh, awesome. At any time. A four week notice, they could terminate the agreement. You know, you'll never lose anybody with the way how you do things. I bet he has lost people. I don't think, you know, we lost people early. It's based on business. Yeah. And part of what was happening was that we had the number of inexperience business owners. That's it. That's it. Yeah. But if you get seasoned, easy to come in. Right. If you get seasoned ones or people who have been through certain things, they will stick to you and won't want to leave. They'll make it work because they know what they have. Yeah. But when you were choosing this building, what do you look at when you're choosing a building? Did you just, oh, that's a good deal. I'm going to buy it and make it work. Or did you, because, you know, some people will tell us, like, when we open different stores, it's like, well, did you look at a demographic? Did you look at how much everybody made? Did you look at all these statistics? Did you, they look at, they ask all these questions, but some people just do it on the fly. Some people actually do look at all of these things before they make a decision. So what's your reasoning behind? So that's an excellent question because that's the traditional, conventional way of looking at commercial real estate. You look at all the data that's going to support the decision to buy a business in the building, the demographic, the household income, etc., etc. So this was a little bit more of a gut kind of a feeling because I've been doing this for a while and I've looked at the numbers and the numbers were great. It was a tremendous opportunity. And the interesting thing is that at the time, five years ago, for example, the economy was a little bit more depressed than it is now. Okay. And so there was a lot of, I get a lot of, a lot of entrepreneurs who I know I've done business with who said, no, just stay away, stay away. Don't even, don't, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. But it was a more of a gut reaction. We bought a lot in Southwest over the last, you know, a couple decades and it was a great deal. And it's really, and so the pendulum has really swung the last, I'll say, 24 months in spite of COVID. You're right before COVID, six months a year before COVID, the pendulum was really swinging when we were getting a lot of demand because at one point again, everyone would come by and say, no, for that price, we can go someplace else, we can go north, we can go there, we can go there. And then as they've seen what we've done with the building, you know, it's been a lot of. So when you first came here, the building did not look like this. You did all of the renovations and fixed it up. Yeah, we've, we've spent quite a bit. Okay. That's, and it takes money to make it. It really does. Exactly. And this is what I was saying about, you know, buying is not always the right of the best opportunity. Okay. Because you may not get your money back when you think you're going to get it back.  Yeah, that's not cheap. I already know that. You know, and so for most people, they just couldn't, they couldn't make it work, you know. So for that reason, you'll see a number of buildings in the neighborhood where they just have put any money into it. Yeah, I've seen that. I love that. Your building stand out from everything else because of how you've maintained it and made it look. Well, thank you. And I really have to give the credit to the tenants that are here because the building is just a building. You know, building is not a business. I tell people it's a building, it's a construction. You know, the business is based on attracting the right kind of people who kind of recognize what you're doing and say, listen, I want to be a part of that. So this is, this is a community. That's what the business opportunity is about. We're building a community. We're not just landlords here to collect rent. Your family, you end up being family. That's right. Have you ever went to the city to find out what are their plans for the city in whether building it up, fixing it up, doing different things? Absolutely. Are there any plans that they're planning to do? The city is now, and the government's doing more now than they have in a long time. And, you know, the flip side, the COVID is that COVID has helped a lot of businesses. You know, COVID is something else. It had a lot of different ways that affected a lot of different things. That's right. That's right. You know, it affected a lot of businesses shut down. A lot of business shut down. A lot of commercial real estate was tough. It hit them tough. So it's like when you, when we sit here and talk about it, it's like, okay, when I first seen it, you know, I've seen millions and millions of dollar buildings, floors being shut down on different buildings, high rise buildings because people were not even going to build and they was actually doing things from their home. So this had to affect all of the commercial real estate in areas, I mean, in here. Absolutely. You know what I mean? It had to. Right. And you know, the saving grace for us was that this was, this was built as commercial office. Okay. But we've kind of flipped it where it's not just office, which is a lot of administrative, there was medical. Anyway, the point is that because we chose cosmetology, that's, you're not going to go to somebody's house they have your hair done. I mean, not, you may do that once or twice, but most people are just not going to do that on the regular. Right. And so I think that's a good, I think that's a good look. Yeah. So, so that, that, that was one of the reasons we chose the industry also, because we had the demand. And then what, and what we've learned is that it's a good customer base. Some who are in their homes who have to be or want to be in a suite. And so it's, it's really, it's been a blessing. It's really, right now we're, you know, we're not where we want to be, but we're not where we used to be. Who is? That's business. So we've been, we're really looking good right now. We think in a few months, six months from now, this is really going to be a great destination. That's really what we're working on. Greatness is a destination. And we're going to duplicate this in a few of the markets. If someone like to reach out to you to get more information about these suites, how can they do that? You can look in the camera and say, wow, they would go to www.ideal.idealsalonsuit.com. Idealsalonsuit.com. And what's your name again, doctor? Dr. James. Okay. Mr. Richie. Okay. I appreciate you guys for coming on the show, man. This year definitely was definitely something that I was looking forward to because I know that I know running a business, building a business is not easy. Building commercial real estate, being a broker is not easy. I know you guys are, hey man, you're having sin for a lot of people, man. And with the way that this whole conversation went, I know that these people over here that you are catering to are being serviced correctly. You know what I mean? And I just asked that you keep on pushing forward, man. Absolutely. We need more men like you, man. Thank you so much, man. Appreciate it. Man, hey, thank you. We love you. Well, we love you too. And we welcome you back.  We already, we, we, hey, we, Ryan, as you spoke to us earlier about coming back and speaking to each of the tenants that are here. Yes. Yes. So we're definitely. That way your audience really gets to understand what we're doing and how this is helping people. I can tell you this, when we do come back, you'll always be invited on the show. How about that? We look forward to it. Hey, man. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Yes, sir. God bless you. It's been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. Oh, yeah.