Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh I love the introduction, thank you for the warm salams If those who can hear me can make the way to the fire hall InshaAllah we're gonna start our discussion inshaAllah Good idea So as I'm looking at the crowd, we have a really good turnout And so first and foremost, I want to say the sisters are outnumbering the brothers So any brothers who might be in the local area, let's fill it up Alhamdulillah First of all, jazaf al khairan for having us here Again my name is brother Ali The first thing I want to do is to thank MCC for hosting this event Because this event touches just everyone in this room The topic, the topic actually touches everyone in this room And no one's called screen agers Tending toward the team agers But really we have, everyone in this room is affected Whether you're under the age of 13, whether you're over the age of 18 So again we have no cards going around So if you have any comments that you'd like to bring to the panel Then we'd be more than happy to answer any of those questions So again my name is brother Ali Disha I am actually a mental health therapist At one of our bay area high schools in Newark, Newark Memorial High School I am actually an independent therapist Hired by the high school to come into the high school To do individual and group therapy with the high school students there The end of the knowledge is to actually understand where you're getting this knowledge So you need to know a little bit about the panel who you're getting information from So I am going to briefly, inshallah, let you know my educational background And then I'm going to turn it over to sister Fasai And then she'll talk a little bit about herbs So my background, I am actually a master's in social work I actually did my undergrad at Sac State University And I did my undergrad work in social work The clinical track I took was clinical mental health My field work was done in non-profit sector in Sacramento The majority of my work started in alcohol and substance abuse And so when the film started to talk about addiction It resonated deeply with me Because what we see in addiction with computer screens and iPhones and gaming This is exactly what individuals who are going through narcotic alcohol addiction So my whole background, my undergraduate was in the field of alcohol and substance abuse When I did my graduate work, I did it at Cal State University Cal State East Bay Go Pioneers Alright, thank you I'm trying to lighten the mood Just trying to bring everyone up So my graduate study, I actually did that in social work as well So I'm a master's in social work Again, I took the clinical mental health track I did school-based mental health therapy So one of my field placements was Kidiyama Elementary School Where I was educated in plate therapy Where I worked with young children who have been traumatized, victimized And going through severe grief and loss And I was trained in plate therapy where I would help these young children Get through those traumatic times that they were facing in their lives My second year, I went to the high school And I wanted to stay in the school system Because I wanted to make a huge impact in the youth before they become adults The high school that I interned in was the high school I was currently employed in So the high school principal came to me and said The work that you're doing is so critical, can you be with us this whole time? And I said, absolutely So I have been now a high school therapist Independently contracted in the high school So I am dealing with teenagers who are going through anxiety, depression, grief and loss So I have heavy therapy work within the high school And a lot of it is around social media So I am very honored by this mission and the board of this mission to invite me here And hopefully be of some help as we talk about this subject So that is about me, that's who I am Now you know where you're getting some information from The last point before I turn it over to the system side I want to again thank MCC because this video We actually, we did, system side and I, we did a panel at MCA in the South Bay We did it out of this film I was told that this film is over $600 to rent So the message cares so much about this community That it would spend $600 and some change to rent this film And then send it back to the producers So I am just in awe struck that our communities are embracing this film Sharing this film and discussing this film And so again I just want to thank MCC for having me here I am now going to turn it over to my colleague, system side And she's a colleague and Insha Allah My background is not as elaborate as brother of these. I am By profession I used to teach now. I'm a homeschool mother at home, but I also do I'm a mental health advocate which I've been doing for several years my myself and my cousin dr. Who's a second and started a website called mental health for Muslims about Close to eight years ago and since then I've had a pump about the opportunity to speak to different communities throughout California and the country about various mental health issues and many times Many times those discussions have come back to this topic of social media and the concern that parents as well as teens have It's not a it's not a must your program One Thank you, so many times these discussions have you know centered around this issue of social media I can't count how many private conversations I've had here in this community in other communities here in the Bay Area and Southern California with parents especially many times Really really concerned parents like what do I do? Do I indulge my child has been asking me for months You know for a smartphone Dwight you let them on this particular app or should I say no You know what kind of boundaries should they create so there's a deep concern and it's absolutely You know, there's reasons what we know we watch this film But if you're paying attention at all what's happening in our world You know that there are absolute inherent dangers of social media and it's our responsibility as parents to look out for our teens So, you know these these grievances these concerns are definitely warranted and I've also heard from teens who are really worried or not worried more so frustrated I would say frustrated at the fact that they feel that their parents are being too strict and putting too many Limitations on them or and that there's a you know lack of trust in their relationship and they feel like you know They really have no options. There's a lot of tension in the home because of this topic So hearing from both perspectives has been really for me Eye-opening because I can see where both groups are coming from and that's why these types of events are so important Because what we're trying to do here is we're trying to encourage dialogue One of the things the generational gap and that I think you know happens naturally between parents and children is that Sometimes discussions stop, right? It's just my way. That's it, right?  When you bring up something and then the discussion sort of just ends Because parents obviously don't want to you know make you know do something or make the wrong sort of judgment call So it's just easier to say I said so that's it But that's obviously not going to fix the problem because if you know anything about this culture, you know that People find a way, right? So that's what's happening out when you have full stop Conversations that just don't go anywhere then teens will have access elsewhere And so that's where you see these problems now happening where they're getting You know access to really harmful material or just access to things that they shouldn't be getting through friends through school Through libraries through all these different places that now make things available. So that's not a healthy approach To just end the conversation. So we have to be doing exactly what we're doing right now Which is talking and that's why it's so important that we hear from you. Um, if you notice, there's a very sweet I don't know where she went one of the volunteers Marshala male bless her She's been walking around Collecting these note cards and the reason why this is so important is because we have a mixed audience here When it's just teens and it's just adults we can you know have really clear open Conversations but what happens naturally is that when we mix these groups up People kind of clam up and they don't feel comfortable talking about certain things because you don't get in trouble going into home Right, you don't want to say something you shouldn't say or admit something or whatever or bring up sort of you know But it can't work. So people just sort of tend to listen But really the purpose of our being here tonight is we want to hear from you So we've gathered a hundred a few different questions here but I really encourage you if you if you are a teen and you're struggling with this topic at home and You're seeing different you know you did you feel frustrated you feel that there's really no Respect maybe for your opinion or for your what you want Please open up to us because we won't you know, there's that anonymity that's afforded to you here with these note cards We don't know who you are, but we can address your concern here and similar with parents If you feel like this is a real issue in your home and it's causing a lot of problems with you and your child They're slipping away from you inshallah. We will do our best to help you today in this discussion. So Before we we sort of get started, you know and in presenting some of the thoughts that we had about the film We did want to get a chance to look at these But are there any is there anybody here in the audience right now who has something that they want to share a Reflection about the film or something I you know that you want to for us to address just if you didn't write a note card But you're willing to stand up and say something anybody Yeah, oh, we do have a hand. Yes, I where is that hand did it go down you change your mind All right. Yes, this is a lot in the back. Yes, I Will do my best to hear you just project your voice Yes, and we'll look through these in the meantime, but we want to get your get the dialogue going so we don't want to stop So Right Have you had a chance to talk to him about the film at all? Okay, good. Well, that's a great first step So I applaud you for coming here and I applaud him for coming here because mashallah that shows Willingness to at least you know open and be willing to hear you out I encourage you if I'm did I you did bring your child here This is a great, you know fertile ground to really start talking in a mature way You know in a way where you really respect your child sometimes what happens and it was actually brought up in the movie Too right that parents we get so authoritative because we're afraid right? We're afraid that our children are going to do something harmful that our tone becomes Authoritative right which is what I was hinting at before where it's just like nope. I that's enough I don't want you to do it anymore that end of subject, right? And what what that does is it undermines the intelligence, right of your child who is no longer your baby, right? They are growing and from the Islamic perspective The onset of puberty is when they really do become adults, right? And so obviously, you know there's adolescents and all the different physiological changes that go through that you know fully develops there They're mental capacities and all and what not but you still treat them with the same dignity and respect that you would Anybody else and so what I would encourage is to use this as a as a an opportunity to really encourage You know thoughtful dialogue, which is not just to say well now that you saw the movie You know you did you see did you see what I've been telling you? You know and kind of come with that, you know, well, I told you so kind of attitude but more like what did you think of the movie? What are your takeaways right when you as the parents? I think you know give that Encourage that dialogue from that respectful place your child is going to feel heard and listen to and Validated and then hopefully it's reciprocated right when it's your turn to discuss and you can say well You know the takeaways that I got from the movie or what was really concerning for me is this and this is my But they really now feel like they're talking to some it's a mutually You know respect respectful discussion and it's not that they're talking down to them or you're at them Right and so from that then it's a matter of well Let's find some compromise because I know now that you're 17 Masha'Allah, you know the internet probably better than I do and now how would you think we can find a compromise where both of us are? happy because as your parents I might my concerns are real right, I have reason to be worried and And I understand this is a new world that you're you know your world is different than my world and that technology is important to you And there's all these amazing opportunities with with on being online. I get that but how can we bridge this? You know and what what compromise can we find? What are you willing to do to work with me and see now what you're doing is you're again in You're encouraging your child to speak back to you You know in that respectful Compromising tone not in the pushing back rebellious tone right that will naturally You're gonna get when you're too authoritative and that's what happens whenever and I've seen this play out time and time again My parents think I'm gonna be tough I'm you know the child will either you know push back and equally be tough or will maybe You know play the part but then secretly this is where you know spiritually It's very dangerous because Shaitan is right there Shaitan loves nothing more than fitna He loves nothing more because discord so he'll inspire that child and justify all his feelings all your parents are so mean They're so strict. They don't even respect you look how they talk to you. They think you're nothing. They think you're dumb They don't you don't know anything you should prove them right you should go and you know Find these back channels and do this and this and this so Shaitan will get you know That's what he does he inspires them to justify those actions where they start doing things behind your back and at that point You know, that's it. You know the community communication is broken down in a relationship will eventually go and you know And really bad direction so I really encourage open dialogue respectful dialogue encouraging, you know your child to really Speak not just to listen the entire time but to speak and to hear them with true intention of like What you say matters to me. I'm not just here. I need to you know to Formulate my response to you because I already have my mindset made up Don't do that walk into that discussion with a really open mind and inshallah it'll be mirrored back to you Inshallah, just like a little bit of her for bringing that all that other also, please So I just wanted to that was a really good question One of the things that I find working with my students and my parents When I'm doing individual therapy, I do a lot of collaboration with parents and a lot of them issues are Exactly what the system mentioned. So one thing I would talk about is just healthy boundaries And what healthy bound what boundaries are just rules, right? And so whenever If you if you're if you have a teenager who's driving right and you invite them a car, you know Now we got to talk about healthy rules about driving the car, right? It's the same thing with a cell phone.  But we got to have some rules, right? So I talk a lot about healthy boundaries So I always talk about two types of boundaries, right? So we have our flexible boundary Which it starts with yes, but Okay, then we have a firm boundary, which is absolute. No, okay, so a firm boundary would be such Okay, I'm giving you an iPhone 8 great. I love that iPhone 8. This is amazing, right? But think of it is there's a firm boundary. You cannot have your iPhone in your bedroom Right? That's that's that's for about here you go. Here's your phone Congratulations, you've been asking for it but There's a firm boundary 8 o'clock you turn your phone in and there's no argument. There's no debate. There's no Discussion, right? That's that's what we call a firm boundary Flexible boundary would be you kind of earn it, right? You can move your parent to move their boundary in, right? So it would kind of look like You can have your phone at 6 o'clock and then all of a sudden, you know The child says well, what about till 6 30? You know that can I at least do it six there? So they're pushing against the boundary and you're like, okay, you've been really good about your phone Okay, let's push it to 6 30 on the weekdays But again, it's not no phone in the bedroom, right? So you move one boundary it now when you move a boundary And you have the right to change it back Okay, I didn't get the behavior. I was looking for or you know, maybe you slipped up somewhere else Now I want to move that boundary back. I'm gonna move that boundary. We're gonna put it back to 6 o'clock Okay, so that's so let again just talk because the film kind of discussed boundaries But we always throw boundaries out there, but we don't really define what boundaries are So as parents, I want you guys to have good healthy boundaries If you have good healthy boundaries in any relationship, you're gonna have a good healthy relationship So I'm hoping that that will help some a lot of our questions as I'm reading around cell phone usage And so I just want to read one question So why did you guys show this film? screen-agers When you guys are telling us and the children and adults that you should be using less technology It's a really good question because I like it. It's very blunt Technology is a tool. I have a phone right, but I have to be I use it as a tool Right sometimes I use it as entertainment, right? But I'm using it for a purpose and so we're not saying and I don't think scary screen-agers even said it We should get rid of technology right? We're immersed in it. It's very useful. It's very helpful But we have to find that balance Okay, so it's not getting rid of it completely But it's not being so immersed in it that it's it's it's lowering our grades It's it's affecting our relationships in negative ways and so we have to find that healthy balance And so that was just one of the questions and and whoever wrote that may a lot bless you for being so blunt so direct And I really I really wanted to make sure I read that question. So I'm also gonna read some of these questions They aren't much a lot. We got a good stack. You guys came through. Thank you And we're gonna try to get to as many as we can but there are a lot of common questions This one I really appreciate because it kind of talks about what I wanted to touch about today But someone asked why do you think people are still on their phones after the whole movie? Before coming here tonight, I actually was listening to a few different talks and then I I read some stuff that was really fascinating to me I read about a study that was done on boredom and The study was so fascinating because it said that in the study they found that One third or two-thirds of men and one fourth of women preferred pain Over being bored. So they were actually You know in the study. They were watching a film that was kind of boring and they were given this electric shocker system and You know two thirds of men and one of Fourth of women were shocking themselves throughout the movie because they were so bored But they actually preferred pain more and I think this is something that our teachers have talked about too that the problem with What what why social media especially and our phones? You know it's getting out of control is that we're basically avoiding You know being alone with ourselves, right? It's you can pretty much do anything and everything you can watch films You can listen to music you can it's just so distracting But what is it distracting us from is the question, right? What is it distracting us from it's distracting us from really just sitting with ourselves and Allowing ourselves to think to contemplate to reflect What what where do we even get time to do this anymore if you really think about the day-to-day Life that lives that most of us have from the time we wake up and to the time we sleep There's constant bombardment right of images sounds voices one of the things I don't have any of the moms are like me, but I'm with my kids come to that home, and I teach them But there's times when I really need to focus and so one of the things that really kind of drives me crazy is when they interrupt My focus right because I'm like writing or I'm working on something and then there's just constant just questions Mommy mommy mommy okay, that's mine mine mine And I always tell them like you're hurting like it hurts my brain because I I can't focus so but this This is really our reality all the time. We're constantly distracted and bombarded and so what the phones have done It's actually given us sort of this Customized way of just choosing what we want to distract ourselves with right we're not subject to Just sitting in a space and doing nothing We can actually do something that we enjoy and we like but really that from a spiritual perspective is this healthy Right from us from from knowing you know if you Inshallah just being Muslim and having heard I'm sure many Talks on the subject but the importance of thinking right how important is it for us to actually be thinking and Contemplating and remembering right remembering who remembering most of them remembering why we're here What we're supposed to be doing here our whole purpose so This is really a big problem And it's one of you know the things that I want to talk about which is looking at this issue Not just from a practical like oh we're here in 2018 Americans with teens you know parents kind of from that angle, but also from the angle from a spiritual perspective as Muslims How is this affecting at us? How is this affecting us from a spiritual perspective to be constantly on the phone? So for the teenagers out there It's one of the things that obviously your parents are concerned about is that this is so distracting That you're going to be seeing things and hearing things that are harmful for you spiritually Because everything and everything anything is available to you and as parents we know this because we were you know We grew up in this age of Knowing what it's like not to have social media and seeing What what life has turned you know into with social media So our concerns are real that there is that potential that this could really hurt your spiritual heart But even for us as adults, you know, we have to admit our own addictions, right? How many of us also have addictions to our phone? We have to be real and just you know really break it down and say as this question asked even after watching this movie Why is everybody still checking their phone every two seconds and checking their Facebook or their social media? What's going on? It's because again, this is now a spiritual problem We've talked about addictions talked about that, but we have to be willing to really look at it from that angle of how Is it affecting my spiritual heart? Am I even reading or and as much anymore? Am I doing it as much anymore as I used to maybe 10 15 years ago? if you've seen a dip in your own spiritual practice because You're constantly connected to this that's cause for concern, right? So inshallah this discussion affects all of us even though, you know Hopefully, you know the aim of some of the parents here is it wasn't just go get through to my teens But it's honestly for all of us to self-reflect myself included everything I had a friend who's only commit to just removing herself completely off of Social media for spiritual reasons and I really commended her for that because she recognized in herself That this was a real problem and she wanted to basically change that So how many of us are willing to do the same? How many of us are willing to cut ourselves off get off?  Let's just kind of get it to know each other. I'm on Facebook You don't mean you know my face How many of your Instagram? How many of you aren't snap?  My shot line Okay, I mean you see it. We're all in it. We're all in this together So I hope that this whatever we share today really understand that it's for and I see how for every single one of us Even us up here to really look at how is this affecting us? Spiritually because we can talk about all the other stuff, but that is the biggest concern We should all have right if it's distracting us from all of us about that from contemplating Things like death. I mean how many of us think about death anymore really, right? How many of you think about death on a daily basis like seriously, my shalom That's very good now. Let's all of you and continue to to increase you But that these are important reflections and it's not to be morbid. No, this is from our from the sun now We remember death because it reminds us of our purpose but sometimes when you're so caught up in in You know looking at the world through this lens of you know Just life and there's so much vibrancy on social media. You can forget the death is imminent for all of us So I'm gonna do that for this question I thought was really relevant that even now after watching this and hearing information We still can't help ourselves. It's because we're avoiding that really important discussion with ourselves Which is being alone and being comfortable being alone. I Have a lot of so we have so long left But we have so many no cards from all of you and so what I'm trying to do is I we're not gonna be Because we're really asked to be done and wrap it up at 9 I sit on side and I actually talked before we started what we'd like to do is stay an extra half an hour privately I Can I'm gonna kind of set up over here if any of the youth I would really prefer the youth Because I want to give them a voice What I what I'd like to do is give anyone half an hour private, you know, just talk to me one-on-one No parents allowed, so don't bring your mom or no bring dad over just bring if you if you're a youth And you want to ask this question? I'll be over here. I think system aside is going to be here available for half an hour I'll lost words by time so we want to respect time And so we've been asked to kind of go up to 9 o'clock But one of the things that it's a it's a very prominent theme in the no cards is addiction I've seen the word throughout many of these no cards, so I just want to touch upon addiction Okay, so there's actually signs of addiction that I wrote and I'm actually put I put it on my cell phone That is so it's it's a tool I'm using right so Some of the signs of addiction that I've seen in in substance use and also to in in in screen addiction a sense of fatigue Migraines due to intense concentration or ice cream carpal tunnel Poor hygiene, right? You're not you're not bailing here You're not taking you're not brushing your teeth, right because you're always in the game, right or you're always on the screen pro-social I'm sorry, so These are just a couple that I want you guys to think about right so there's many others But also to a dip in your attitude, right? So when when dad says put your phone away, and then all of a sudden you bite back at dad say Well, I only wanted for a minute, right? You know your attitude changes So these are signs that you know there might be some addiction issues or so where my job is to give you something Right, I wouldn't be doing my job as a therapist if I can't give you something that you can't take out of here So one of the things I want you guys to think about is positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement Now when it comes to the youth I deal with high schoolers all the time So I'm always trying to motivate them or help parents motivate, you know, their students to do better Positive reinforcement what that means is I'm going to give you something if you do something or I'll give you something If you did something Negative reinforcement does not mean getting does not mean it means taking something if you do not do something, okay? Research found that negative reinforcement does work, but not as well as positive So I encourage and I do this with myself when I was in grad school I had so many papers to write I had so many presentations to do When you get into grad school or you go into your doctorate program There is intense things that you have to do is very timely oriented and there's a lot of pressure So you have to motivate yourself. So I actually had to do this myself I would say no screen time for myself unless I wrote two pages a day Because I've always writing papers papers papers, right? So I was not wanting to do that activity and so I was actually distracting myself Right, I was having more fun watching a movie or you know video game you or whatever So I actually had to reverse it. So I used positive free enforcement for myself. I Get a half an hour because I love PlayStation That's what I do, right? So I would give myself a half an hour PlayStation if I wrote two pages a day And then when I did that I was part of myself and I even told my wife I'm a grown man. I told my wife I said don't let me play unless I knock on my two pages And I knocked out my dissertation in a matter of a month and a half and my my peers within my my cohort They're shocked. They're like, how are you doing this? What are you doing? And I'm like, it's positive reinforcement Did you guys not learn how to behave or psychology one-on-one right? That was the class we all took together Positive reinforcement. So I'm giving this to you now think about it positive reinforcement. What can you do for yourself? What can you do for your kids? Give yourself something for doing something if that makes any sense at all So we're gonna be wrapping up real soon. I just want to personally I want to give the microphone over to sit outside for her Last comments. I just want to thank all of you for taking your time here. It is Friday night. It's 9 30 and You guys could be doing other things But you guys decided to be here tonight and talking about this especially are you I see so many shining faces And I just want to thank you for just having this conversation with us.  I'm here for you. So just come find me Okay, so I saw it Just like a lot good. Um, I did have a few questions here that were kind of all similar I'm gonna ask the closing remarks to but I wanted to get to these because they're clearly written from children But they're all the same. Why do you think parents tell us to just decrease screen time if they are on their screens? Just as much as us What if your parents are on their laptop 24 7 and they say they're just working is that okay? Your dad tells you to put your phone away But then they go and they are on the phone because that's what they you know What do you do about them? So, you know the kids are paying attention I think for the parents in the room as we all know kids model behavior that we show them So if you're going to say, you know, don't do this, but then you do the same thing It's obviously confusing so you have to be willing to open our discussion and for the children in the room who see this kind of behavior I'm it is important to know that obviously adults and children are different and our lives are different and many of the adults You know, especially living in this area and you know this time Do you have to work on their computers on their phones? So if they're working, it's not the same as playing video games, right? We're playing, you know words for friends or checking Facebook.  You're just on your phone all the time but actually, you know consider the fact that they truly are doing something important and Maybe that's just a discussion that for all the families here that you have to have I've had that with my children My children are definitely pointed out to me like, mom, why are you on the phone? And then I explain to them I actually, and this is just advice as a parent. I am very open with my kids So I tell them everything. I show them like, listen, this is what mommy does. Mommy's a writer. I write I like to write a lot. So where do I write? I write on a computer Here's my files.  I'm like, yeah, it doesn't come easily, you know So they get it but when we just say I'm working, it's just, you know, it's kind of dismissive, right? And this is where we have to be more respectful of how we speak to our children It's so important that you open your conversations and are open to answering their questions with respect Especially when they're young. I think one of the tragic things that we do as parents is treat little children like they're New-senses all the time, you know, they just stop asking so many questions. What do you know? That's so rude and mean and it's not part of the character of the Muslim The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam honored everybody from old to young. He would sit and talk to children He would, you know, come down to their level and speak to them eye to eye We're very, it's just a really unhealthy part of some of our cultures and the culture, the greater culture Just treat children that way. So if you do that, why are you surprised when they're teenagers and they're slamming doors in your faces, right? Or just shutting you out because it's you it's again what you teach them is going to be mirrored back to you So if you are respectful with your children from a young age, inshallah, they will respect your rules even They will follow the rules and they'll be mindful to not hurt you and not to disappoint you because you were so careful with them When they were children, so that's just a general mercy about really watching the way you explain the rules to your kids And just your general tone. Now as far as closing remarks as Brother Ali said, you know I would like to give you some takeaways. So what I mentioned before is from looking at this from a spiritual angle You know, there's three components of what I say of call digital literacy from an Islamic perspective And I encourage all of you to really like just start being more literate about what's going on in the world If you're not on social media for personal choices, I respect that but that doesn't mean that you can't know about what's going on on social media So there's you know difference. You don't necessarily have to participate, but you should absolutely know how they work You should know how Instagram works. You should know how snapchat works You should know how Facebook and Twitter and all these other ones that all these other apps that kids are into work Because when they come to ask you if you don't know then they're not gonna look at your opinion as having any credibility What do you know, right? But if you're like actually, yeah The reason why I don't want you to go on Instagram is FY after parents just in case you didn't know one of the apps That I think is probably the most dangerous out there is Instagram and snapchat Why is because not only do your kids have access to you know, they can be friend whoever But there's pages that are called like the explorer page, right? Which is which is you know the algorithms of these apps They basically look at the friends that your kids are connected with and look at what they're looking at And then they put together a screen full of images based on what everybody else is doing So it's not just your child's behavior. It's it that the impacts what comes on that page It's the behavior of everybody they're connected with so there can be very clearly Chronographic pictures on there or just content. That's really inappropriate that your child might have never even knew about But just one swipe on a different button will expose them to that stuff. So you have to know this though That's what I mean about digital to digital literacy knowing how apps work knowing how to navigate the web And just being knowing what the digital footprint is So when you're having discussions with your children about why it's so important that they control their behavior Do you understand you can explain to them that their future could be impacted by their behavior now? You know job prospects marriage prospects if you post a picture online when you're 15 It could come to haunt you later when you're 23 because someone sees that image and goes Oh, no, no, no, no, I can't marry into a family like that or I don't want someone working in my company Who is able to do that right these things happen to people all the time now So understanding what the digital footprint made means and explaining that to your child And then all the different dangers of scam artists and things like that So it's really important to know internet safety and security and then social media Mental health ramifications, which is what we talked about or what the documentary really talks about what's going on But the brain getting addicted to these things how it affects, you know Just the pleasure sentence that the frontal cortex adobe me all of that stuff That's affecting the brain of your young adolescent children the developing brains how it's impacting them and how it's going to Possibly, you know, leave them to addictive behaviors. It's so important that you know that and then the spiritual ramifications Which you talked about earlier how it affects your your spiritual Presence and prayer in other areas that where you should be really be able to focus if you have Your brains all over the place because you can't wait to get to your phone during prayer This is a clear problem But these are the types of conversations that you should talk about when you're bringing up your concerns to your children Because they matter and they're based on you know, there's studies. There's things that you can really Back up instead of just saying because I said so so it shall increase our literacy is really important We do have like I really said so many questions. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get all of them But if you do want to talk whether you're a teen or a parent, we're here inshallah for any Discussion so this is a lot does that come off again again for all to all of you for coming and staying this way May Allah bless all of you and protect our children inshallah and And this wonderful community


What's going on everyone Sam here with late in sports guards, and I am ripping one box of 2022 Panini select WWE for Daniel H. So good luck Daniel. See what we got in here, man I'm pumped.  They will be sleep by the sorting and shipping team now Base base base got a purple John Cena on the purple to 75 Nice one there Daniel That is sick Incoming all they made a card with nobody on it Nice Cena, let's go Congrats on that one Daniel. That's sick man and Stone Cold Steve Steve Austin on the ringside Nice one there on the base Yeah, these are pretty fire, man Nice lot of color so far got Brock Lesnar On the blue blue to 299. Let's go hitting some superstars on the color so far Yeah, for sure, Bradley. I'll take a look man and Ridge Holland Come on more more fire come out of this. Let's see some big autos maybe a tie-dye or something This base got silver macho man Randy savage. Let's go Nice one there as well heck, yeah, and Shotzi on the back. I don't see a red Mysterio. That's who I'm really chasing Gots, uh, what is this Chia Lee on? The signature selections auto not numbered are you talking that we've hit a hawk or in general on the checklist? Because we we personally here got von von Wagner on the tricolor and Boa We hit a tie-dye Batista tough 25 yesterday We had a tie-dye John Cena to 25 today, and I think we hit a gold Sasha Banks to 10 today Yeah, it's the almighty Bobby Lashley nice on the really Jersey autograph Nice one there Bobby Lashley. That's cool and Mark coffee silver We also hit a redemption Beth Phoenix we had a redemption for a red Randy Orton auto That was pretty cool. So yeah, there's been a handful of stuff. That's been really solid God Alondra Alondra blaze that's maroon to 149 a little different from the red I Don't think so Chad Gable, I know like Hulk Hogan has autos a couple other big names I don't think the rock has an auto in this set. Unfortunately. That'd be cool. Cena has autos though, which is good, too Scope is Wesley not numbered and another base John Cena So we're still looking for a patch card as well It's UK Nakamura Odyssey Jones filler Kushida on the tricolor Putting that rainbow together edge. Oh my god. Yeah That would probably be the biggest chase The rock on the tricolor. Heck yeah speaking of him. Let's go It's about drive. It's about power. We stay hungry. We devour. Let's go. Congrats Daniel Perfect timing on that one. That's true Saint Apollo cruise Two packs to go here should be our relic here. I believe Yes That will be nice Bianca Belair Heck yeah on the Superstar swatches Leave that'll be Superstar worn. Yep Superstar worn used material nice Yeah, very solid box. I got von Wagner on the On the the silver smell of the rock is cooking Jimmy Hart and last pack here. Good luck Daniel heck of a break for a man got silver brawn breaker on the rookie and Dolph Ziggler on the back That will do it for your break there Daniel congrats on all the hits man. We'll get them right out to you. Appreciate it again, buddy


I'm gonna take this shot for you, put me up some Hennessy. You know I wish the best. So we're on a new episode of Talk of the Town. Today we have a special guest, Lil Mook from Philly. So what part of Philly you from? Top side aisle and second and champ floors to be exact. Okay, so tell us about how it is over there. Like, how was it growing up for you? How was it growing up for me?   So like, yeah, it was difficult, it was trenchers. Like, that's how I'm just gonna say it, like, every day.  Yeah, most of the artists are from Philly. Yeah, like they talk about how it is. And then, you know, we all got similarities. But you know, I ain't trying to compare my story to nobody else's, but all I can say is it had been rough and growing up. Like, you definitely learned a lot. Okay, so what was like one experience, I guess you learned that stuck with you for life? It's probably a lot, but one that you remember, like, I'm never gonna forget it. Don't put all your trust in nobody. Okay, so what's your earliest memory of music? Like, how did you get into music? Like, was your mom playing music or? Yeah, I got into music early because my mom was so hooked on it, like she would be playing music when she cook or clean or like even driving like, and I'm just in the world, like she always played like old R&B soul. So like growing up, I would be listening, but then I got hooked on the hip hop real early because you know, we a new era, a new generation.  All kids, yeah. So when I seen the lifestyle that most artists live today, I like just, I just always like admired it. I wanted it, so that's where it went. Okay, so who was you listening to growing up? Like, who was some people that inspired you, especially in the music scene? Um, for one, Biggie Smalls, like I always big fan of him. Okay. Oh, like I wasn't a big fan of whole music. Like I love, I definitely, I just love his character. Oh good. You know what I'm saying? Like he always had that mentality. Okay. But, and Meek was also an inspiration, like definitely like coming up and feeling you see a lot of Meek. And like I said, I was in love with that lifestyle. Meek always had a spotlight in the city. So when I seen that, it just really, like, you know, it kind of gave me that boost. Cause I knew it was possible. Okay, okay. So when did you know like music was for sure you like, was it like when your friends told you? No, I knew when I first started writing. Like I knew when I first like, started me my first rap. Like I ain't have to hear about- You remember your first rap? No, I don't. That's what I'm saying. But it's like, I always knew I was better. Like I always knew I was better than like night. Like I always knew I was better than yesterday. I always knew I was like- Okay. The hottest hour. So you always practice, man? Was he always writing? Yeah, I was like, when I was a young boy, I always used to write. Like I always used to write, like it don't matter what it was.  I like, I monitor around and like, she wouldn't allow us to curse. So now I'm writing raps and I got a bunch of curse words in it. Oh, so you didn't have to read it? Yeah, I'm not in the house rehearsing them up and down the steps. God, I know my mom, you feel me? So I go in my room, lock in, and I just be writing whatever I wanted on them papers. And I tuck them off somewhere, like in my bed or something. Okay. So he was tucking the raps. So how do you feel like you improved musically from then to now? From then to now, I feel like since like now, like I'm matured and I got older, you know, like I got more experience. And like, I ain't never used to study music, but now I do, I do my homework. So now it's like I'm more like lyrically involved.  You know what I'm saying? Now everything I rap, it's about, it's a topic in it. Yeah, it's a nice telling story. Exactly. Structuring it. Exactly. And all that good stuff. Okay, so what lesson did you learn, I guess, doing music? You said structuring it. Did you learn any business tips, like something you could give like upcoming people?  Like if you in this line of business, you need a team, you can't just walk in by yourself via like, oh, I got a guy giving gift. I'm about to go straight to the top. That don't work like that.  They don't got the right people giving them that push or putting that battery into them. Like, I feel like a lot of artist's mentality is what hold them back too. Yeah, a lot of artists is, cause some people really only know like what they see. So, you know, like say for example, I grew up in Philly and I'm just around Bums all day. I'm around, I'm around Bums or Robbers or Killers. Like that's all they know. So they don't think, oh, I could be the next, did he? Oh, I could be the next notorious B.I.G. How can we invest this in somewhere else? Exactly.  So definitely going out, getting those different experiences taught you a lot. Taught me a lot. Okay, so what do you feel like, was it a breakout song? Cause some people say while some people say best for you. I break out song and my, like, and my pain was best for you. Like when I, when I made this song, when I came in the studio and actually like, recorded that drone, like the first night I said, it's a hit, it's gonna go.  Okay, so, so like, what was, like who was, okay, when the song was going up, who was someone that hit you up like, yo, this hard that kind of like surprised you. Or it was like, anybody reached out was like, yo, this fire, cause I know you see people commenting, you see people following you now. A lot of people reached out, but it wasn't like, I can't really think about. Not saying they wanna work when they was just like, yo, this is fire, keep pushing.  And this is definitely some mainstream artist that hit me up, but I really can't think of any right now. Like, Meek, he showed me, like he been showing me support since like. Yeah, from beginning, I feel like I found you out from him. Yeah, like Meek, he always been like, had that supportive, like, you know. Yeah, he was sharing his story a lot too, I seen that.  So I know when the song going up now, people stopping you in the street and all that. Yeah, but now it's even more legit, like, I was in the, I was in the, like, I was through the LA, I was down in LA for like three weeks straight, you know what I'm like. I go to LA when I'm leaving out. I'm sitting in the, like, I'm waiting for my flight, so I'm got my glasses on, my mask, like, I'm thinking, I'm just, yeah, I'm thinking I'm in the cut. So he walk up to some random dude, like he walk up to me, tap me, I just, I'm caught by surprise, cause I'm thinking nobody don't even know me. I'm in West Coast, like, you get what I'm saying?  I'm like, it's mook, by the way. Like, yeah, so like, he's like, yeah, best for you, you're the artist, right? I'm like, yeah, he's like, oh, I knew that was him. He called like three of a buddies over here.  And so that's when it really like, kinda woke me up, like, all right, that's the world. He's definitely out of my own point, yeah. Okay, so when the moment we signed the deal, where was he when he got that call? Like, yo, come here, do this paperwork. Like, how'd you find out he was about to be signed? I found out from my big bro Boona, we was both like, we was both like traveling back and forth. Like, well, I wanna say it travels, like really running a corner, like Philly, New York, Philly, New York, like, you know, this before I moved to Atlanta. So, you know, we went back to Philly, we just came back from, we had a meeting with Atlantic, Republic, and uh. So they was fighting right now? Yeah, so we had, and we had RCA, and we had Columbia. Okay. The last one we went to was Atlantic, I believe, but we had RCA on the line. So the next day, RCA called, it's like, yo, you found a home, like we need you. So we made it right. We made it right, and we had came back down the next day, the next morning, I stayed told once, you know, the numbers were discussed, everything was, you know. Okay, sound like a plan. Yeah, like a plan, so everything was looking right.  We drove to New York, signed a deal, and that was that. Okay, okay, so how did you know that this one was for you? I'm sure it wasn't just the numbers, the overall presentation. How did you know this label was for you? I knew it was for me because when I walked in the doors, like, I like, I like, you filled me like first impressions, like it gotta be like genuine, like I gotta feel you, like, you get what I'm saying? I can't just walk in the door and be like, I know this business, but at the end of the day, I wanna feel it some more. Cause anybody, I could do business with anybody, you feel what I'm saying? I wanna know who got my best interest at heart. So when I walked in there, I don't know if, like you probably have heard of him. I walked, I met Mark Pitts. Mark Pitts, like, outstanding dude, like, he just like, real genuine brothers. So it was like, when I met him, like, he just like that, that just, you know. Felt like family right off the bat. It felt like, it just, it just snapped. Like he automatically seen like what I had to offer, like as far as like talent, bro, like he pointed out, like when I first walked through the door, like he compared me to young Chris Brown. Like I took it as a joke, like laughing, but I feel like, you know, it's a compliment, yeah. I feel like once people say stuff about that, they see a bigger vision and she don't even see it. So yeah, so like when he's saying that, and you know him just embracing the whole situation, like he really was open ears of what I had to say and like my background, what I had going on back home, like, you know, and you know, I don't really like opening up outside of my music. Right. But me and bro, we really had like, conversation. A genuine connection. Yeah, so like, he definitely felt me in it. And I, and I definitely felt him in respect. Like, you know, that he was just open ear, open minded about a lot of things.  Like Mark Pitts, like he really made me feel like, I was like, welcome. Like this was a family. This was the home. Like, you know what I'm saying? And then we made it to heaven. All right, that's good. That's good. So tell us about your project about Tom. About Tom? Yeah. When I made that, it was like kind of like, just like, I was going through like a tough time. Tough time with music, career, family, like a little bit of everything. A little bit of everything. Okay. To be honest with you, but yeah, when I made that, like it just came about, like I just was grinding every night, like every morning, every night. Grinding. Okay. So like, what could we expect? I know another project is coming. What could we expect moving forward? Are you in a better space now? Yeah, I'm in a way better space than I was last year. What I'm saying though, like, yeah. My next project will be called Who'd It Thought? Who'd It Thought? Yeah, Who'd It Thought. Okay. Any collabs on there? You know I had a little baby on the last one. We ain't gonna speak on that coming soon. Okay, okay. He's told us it's gonna be best for you, the remix. Best for you remix? Gonna be on that? We ain't gonna speak on that. We ain't giving us nothing. All right. I can't, man. I don't know. I get it, I get it, I get it. Okay, so out of about Tom, all the songs on that project, what do you, what song do you feel like is the most slept on? To be honest with you, I feel like the most slept on song from there is the most book. Okay, okay. I feel like, I'm just gonna name two. Like I really feel strongly about, I feel like so beautiful and slept on and living life. Living life? Wait a little baby. Why you feel like it's up front? I feel like they need the video. I feel like kids just need to see people doing stuff. Yeah, it's not getting, like, I'm not gonna say it didn't do what I expected it to do because you know, people that come from, when I come from, we not used to hundreds of thousands, we not used to tens of thousands. Like this all from the mugs, but I know, I know like, You can do more. I know we can do more, you get what I'm saying? So that's something that bothers me. So, you know, when I, when I look and I just be watching and I listen, I'd be like, dang, like this really is like a banger. But I feel like it needs more like recognition. Okay, do you feel like you're super hard on yourself, being our best for you went so big, Rowland went so big? Absolutely. I feel like I'm always. I'm always trying to do better. Like always. Like it's not a time to go by where I'll be like, all right, I'm comfortable with my position. I could be a million dollars up and I still feel like, You gotta work a little bit more. Yeah, like I got it. That's good. I gotta work hard. I need more. So what's something on your bucket list? What's something you wanna accomplish? 2021 almost over, so the content. But what's something you wanna accomplish musically? I guess for 40 years over. 40 years over? Probably a lot of things, but give us one. A lot of things, like, you know, every artist wanna grant me, I wanna get nominated.  All sorts of things? Like movies, like, you know what I'm saying? So you wanna act too? I do all that. Like I just wanna be in front of the screen. Like that's the type of person I've always been since the baby. Like I never looked at myself as being a regular individual or a citizen, like. So you're super open, outspoken, things like that. So what's some advice you would give an upcoming artist that was watching you and watching your story? What's some advice you would give them? What is kinda like inside of it? Some advice I would give them is like, really don't let nobody like discourage you.  Like if you know your worth, you got faith and you gonna go a long way.  Like motherfuckers always try to downplay what you got going on. Especially when they ain't got them going on for themselves. Yeah, I feel a little key haters and all that. Yeah, you feel what I'm saying? But I just feel like my advice to them is just to keep pushing. Like, you know, you don't know what to expect tomorrow.  I just was grinding.  And I just kept grinding. That's it. Okay, okay. So what's to expect for you? What should we be looking forward? You said another project, some collabs. What should we be looking forward to? You wanna see my face often. Like I'm looking forward to a lot of appearances, like a lot of showcases, you know, just coming outside more. I've been locked away for almost a year because it's COVID thing. Okay.  And this is my time to do that. Okay. All right. So tell the people where to find you, where to find your music. How did it happen? Well, you could find me on all platforms, all platforms. And I want you all to follow me at Lil X Moop at Gmail. I said at Gmail. At Gmail. Yeah, yeah. I don't like, okay. Send in them inquiries. Send in them inquiries. Send me to the Gmail. That's what I was thinking in my head. Send in beats at Lil X Moop at Gmail. You got a favorite producer or a favorite beat maker or something? Not yet. Not now, I think of Dougie on the beat. Dougie on the beat? Okay. He one of my favorite right now. Producers. So yeah, I seen you in the studio with Neek Bucks. I seen y'all cook them something. Neek Bucks, that's my guy. You know he cook that song. Any other New York artists you fuckin' with? TJ Porter.  Okay. You know, the originals. I mentioned. Okay. Yeah. I really can't think of much right now. Yeah. I get too many. It's cool, it's cool. Well, who's upcoming from Philly? Who should we be looking out for next? We know you. Any, one question? I'm sorry. What?  Yeah, me. Yeah, Sonny from New York. Any upcoming Philly artists? Any artists from your city that's buzzing that we should look out for? Yeah. You know Young K, of course. You know, Neshu Shido. Okay. I don't know. I'm really thinking like, cause I don't really listen to nobody but me. Oh, okay, okay, okay. You know how people be like, oh my little man working for me? I don't know. You feel me like, that's, I feel like we the trend of artists in the city right now. Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. I see the top 30 Philly artists that you and Young K was running. Yeah. G12. G12, okay. I don't know these two, I'ma tap in though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Before you were thousand, it's like, it's a lot of, it's a lot of artists. Like, it's a lot of artists and a lot of talent in the city.  Okay, so y'all are working Philly on this way. So yeah, tell people where to find you, where to find your music, all that good stuff. You can follow me on Instagram at Lil X Moop. And my music will all pay for them. Just type in Lil Moop and I'll pop like.


Hello, this is LaptopMedia, and today, we will show you how to open the HP Omen 16 and what's inside of it. To open this notebook, you need to undo 8 phillips head screws. Then, pry the bottom panel with a plastic tool, and lift it away from the chassis. Please remember, it would be of great help to us if you just hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. That would motivate us to make even more and better videos for you. Your configuration has an 83Wh battery pack. It will get you through 6 hours and 30 minutes of web browsing, or about 6 hours of video playback. To take it out, unplug the battery connector, and undo all 6 phillips head screws that hold it in place. Memory-wise, there are 2 Sodom slots, which work with DDR5 modules and support dual channel mode. As for the storage, you get 2 M.2 PCIe X4 slots that fit Gen4 SSDs. The cooling comprises 2 heat pipes shared between the CPU and the GPU, with one more allocated to each of them. In addition, there are 2 fans, for heat sinks, and 2 chunky slabs of metal, managing the heat of the VRMs and the graphics memory. If you'd like to see more disassembly videos of the latest notebooks we would highly appreciate if you hit the like button and subscribe to the channel.


Uh, Andrew says, uh, recently you were speaking about Siri commands. One that I use a lot is Siri turn on Apple TV when I walk into the room and everything comes on. And you can also turn off everything with Siri turn off Apple TV. Uh, I do this all the time. I never thought to, uh, to share it as a tip. PJ in our discord chat shared some additional Apple TV Siri tips. You can say to Siri, go back two minutes and it will go back two minutes. You can say to Siri, what did they say? And it will jump back like 10 to 15 seconds. So you can hear what they said.


Welcome to Sheboygan County Government. Working for you, my name is Adam Payne, County Administrator and co-host of this program with Chairman Roger Distruti. And today, as we do every month, we're pleased to have a very special guest with us, a department head, and a seasoned veteran with Sheboygan County, our County Clerk, Julie Glancy. Welcome, Julie. Thank you. Julie has, and when I say seasoned veteran, I say that with the utmost respect because I've been here 14 years now. Julie's been here longer than that and she's always been an individual that I know I can go to and seek help and assistance and guidance and it's just been a pleasure working with Julie all these years and as you may know and we'll talk about a little bit more toward the end of this program, Julie as our County Clerk has announced her retirement. She's going to be leaving us come January and it's bittersweet for those of us who've had the pleasure of working with Julie. So please begin, Julie, by just sharing a little bit about yourself when you first started working for Sheboygan County, the different positions you've held and how long you've been our County Clerk. Well, I work for Sheboygan County. I started in 1969 with the Clerk of Courts office. I was there for seven years and then I left when my children were little. I worked for office on aging for a couple years and I've been in the County Clerk's office for the last 29 years. I've been Clerk for 18 and I was in the deputy for 10 and I was here a year before that, so I've been a total of 29. So I'm going to go to person for not only County Board Supervisors as the key assistant or secretary for the County Board but just to go to person County-wide whether it's the public or employees. What are the roles and responsibilities of the County Clerk's office? What important functions do you have? Statutorily, we're required to do marriage license applications. We're in charge of the election process for the County. We have to do domestic partnerships and we're a very much an official record-keeper for the County, so a lot of records that don't have a home anywhere else are filed in our office. When you say secretary to the County Board which is kind of an old term it's administrative assistant nowadays but what does that mean? Well, we're the official record-keeper for the Board so we have all of their agendas and minutes and documents on file in our office. We are the person who takes the minutes for the County Board meetings and we also our office does the minutes and agendas for the finance committee but we are responsible for making sure the minutes and agendas for all County committees are posted on the County website. Important task, kind of a behind-the-scenes leadership responsibility but if those minutes and agendas don't get posted correctly or don't get handled correctly folks like Chairman Distruty and others aren't happy. Well and it's also you know so if we miss those deadlines and don't get them posted then the meetings can't be held which is problematic. So some of your roles and responsibilities statutorily required than others and you touched on a few aren't required by state statute but you have initiated or the County Board has initiated touch on a few of the discretionary programs. We do conservation licenses and that's really pretty much a throwback to years and years ago when conservation licenses were done on paper and at that time the County clerks were the distribution centers for the state in their counties and we would get cases of you know conservation licenses for the state we get them out to the fleet farms and bait shops and stuff like that and dealt with all the accounting and of course that's not necessary anymore but our issuing of conservation licenses kind of stemmed from that historical involvement in conservation. We do the registration of snowmobiles and things like that as well. We issue passports or not issue but process their applications. Our office is also the in charge of the phone system for Sheboygan County and the property and liability insurance for the county. And if you didn't catch all that particularly the conservation licenses and the passports I've taken advantage of both those opportunities and having bought my license, my hunting and fishing license at the fleet farm for years or the DNR station both would do a good job but rarely do you have to wait in a long line when you go to the county clerk's office we have good people there who can assist you with that and the passports as well I always find that you can very efficiently assist people. Well and you know we have you know there's four people including myself in my office and when you go for a passport at the post office they have maybe one person who handles that you know and I think because most people think of fleet farm for their conservation license and the post office for passports you know we don't a lot of people don't realize they can come here so we don't have the probably the turnover or the number of people that are involved as well so we can be a little bit better a little bit quicker service. So if you watch this program now you know and you'll get some helpful assistance and get in and out real quickly so you just mentioned for staff what's your total operating budget annually? Our general operating budget is about $142,000 a year. We in election years like this our budget will go up anywhere from $40,000 to $45,000 this year with the recall elections we've had we're probably looking at about a $60,000 increase from our regular operating budget. So $140,000 to over $200,000 depending on what the elections do on what the elections do and a lot of discussion about the elections and I know Chairman Distruty is going to touch on that more in a moment but you know the time that it takes I think county clerks across the state really deserve a pat on the back for stepping up particularly this year with the recall elections and all the assistance you provide just personally in your experience you know how has that evolved over the years and what happened this year? How were you able to manage it? Well you know when I started Sheboygan County had the lever machines in the city and everybody else had paper ballots elections were pretty much a snap there wasn't a whole lot involved now it has become it has just exploded in terms of the amount of work we have to do the statewide voter registration system has added a huge amount of work the electronic voting equipment is another huge impact and there's just been more and more paperwork that has to be done and more and more security issues you know everything has to be built and locked and tracked and you know so it's become a real administrative nightmare. It seems like rather than getting easier it's becoming more burdensome for staff. Absolutely in a time of worse every year. Right it's counter intuitive though we're all trying to streamline and gain efficiencies and hold costs down yet county clerks in particular are being asked to do more and more complicated information or systems to work with and it takes a higher level of expertise. Absolutely finally before I turn it over to Roger what do you see is the most challenging responsibilities that the county clerk has to contend with you've just touched on a number of elections are really the big thing right now it really is you know especially this year with the presidential election there's so much you know so many people interested in it and so much you know people that vote once every four years and and have difficulty knowing what they need to do you know they all seem to find their way to call our office or you know right look for ways to what they need to do excellent thank you Julie Roger well thank you Julie for your years of work in the clerks office and a lot of people don't really appreciate all the work you do with the local municipal clerks most of them are part-time and they they're not really attuned to all the laws and you help coordinate that and much appreciated from all the local governments and the election day is coming soon what are the what offices are on the November 6 ballot well in addition to president you have the federal legislators you have the state senate and the representatives of congress there are all the state assemblymen are on the ballot and because this is a presidential year the even numbered state senators are on the ballot so for Sheboygan county that's senate 20 that's about maybe a third of Sheboygan county on the local level I shouldn't say local but county level we have district attorney county clerk registered deeds and treasurer we also have two municipalities and a school district that have referendum on this ballot and is there anything new people should know for this this election in particular yeah there's really a lot of new first of all but most people will probably notice a straight party is no longer on the ballot years ago you used to be able to go in and pick your party and give every candidate in that party a vote that was huge two years ago it was represented almost 40% of the voters voted straight party and the legislature has chosen to eliminate that in this year so there is no straight party on the ballot you need to vote for every candidate on the ballot or every office on the ballot and there's a little bit of concern because what happens with this particular election is there's so much interest in the top ticket on the ballot for president a lot of people will come in and vote for president and then the rest of the ticket stays blank so there's a tremendous amount of drop off when you get towards the bottom of the ticket and there are a lot of contested races including the one for county clerk and registered deeds that if people don't continue on down and vote for the entire ballot you know will make an impact on the outcome of those elections so there's concern about that there's also tremendous amount of changes in absentee rules that the legislature has passed one of them is that in-person absentee balloting can't start until October 22nd the clerks have all had their ballots since September 20th but if you walk into their office and ask for to vote absentee they have to mail you your ballot until the 22nd of October I'm not quite sure the understanding behind that legislation but that is a change so that makes it a little harder for people and absentee balloting is also over a little bit sooner you can't you can cast a ballot in the clerk's office up until the Friday before the election but the weekend and that Monday before the election no one can vote absentee unless you're hospitalized or sequestered juror so that's going to be a problem for some people that the day before the election you go oh my gosh I have to go out of town you're not going to be able to vote and so that's a change that might you know some people might find difficult to deal with and Roger I think this last minute and a half of discussion is an example of just how complicated it has become with our elections not only in the technology and the new systems and everything that Julie has had to contend with Julie and her staff and the municipal clerks but just her explanation about early voting and who can and who can't and how I've heard her give this explanation four or five times Julie can very confidently share it but my bet is if you poll 80% of our viewers are better right now they go huh you know it's it's challenging to understand all these rules so again if you don't know or you didn't catch that don't hesitate to contact the county clerk's office and they'll walk you through it and we sure appreciate having people there who do understand it and and for those of us who vote at the at the ballot and in the polling places we used to have different times that were available throughout the county we made that uniform what are the times that the polling places are open okay the polls all open at seven in the morning and they all close at eight o'clock at night so they're open for 13 hours so you know they should be most people should be able to manage to come in during those periods of time fortunately that's still simple that's that's probably the simplest part is you can go there and vote yes and I understand the government accountability board has a new website what kind of information does that have it is the my vote website and it's myvote.wi.gov it is a very it's a very nice website it's very intuitive it allows voters to check to see if they're registered it allows them to look to see what's on the ballot and they can also fill out a voter registration form and an absentee ballot request right on that site they do have to still mail them in they can't you know just print it and assume they're done but it does give them that opportunity if you are in the military you can actually print a ballot from that system and mail it in so that's particularly helpful to our servicemen who are overseas because it's very difficult sometimes to get a ballot mailed to them or whatever that way if they have access to a computer they can print it they can mail it in and their ballot will be counted so you know it does have some good things it is a little bit of a challenge for the clerks though because if you register or you request an absentee ballot it always sends you all these emails so we're all getting you know dozens of emails from the system alerting us to people that have downloaded forms so we can watch for them in the mail so would you walk us through a typical election day and after we voted your work has sort of just begun and come to the ballot? Yeah it is a lot of people will come up to me the day after the election and go wow I bet you're glad that's over and for us the November election probably won't be over until the second week in December before the election we have to get all the supplies ready for the clerks we do the ballots and there are 59 reporting units or polling places in Sheboygan County all of those places needs somewhere between 30 and 50 for all of them and get out to them so they can use and of course that stuff all comes back to us at the end of the night on election day so when the election is over the poll workers finish up whatever paperwork they need to do they bring it into our office and the memory packs from the machines both the optical scan and the touch screen are brought in and we can download those results into our computers so that's how we tabulate our results election night once the election night is over and everything's reported after that we have to prepare for the canvas board which is really just a verification of what was reported election night to make sure all that is correct another one of the absentee changes recently is that absentee ballots can be accepted up until the Friday after an election as long as they're postmarked by election day so that has pushed back our board of canvas we used to meet the Thursday after the election now we can't meet until the Tuesday following the election to account for all those late arriving absentees so those all have to be added into the totals we got on election night our numbers are all certified and enter into the state system and then we can certify the county candidates who have won and issue their certificates of election but because we do the statewide voter registration system for 19 of our municipalities we then have to enter all the people who registered to vote between the last time in election day and on a presidential that can be a significant number of people that register at the polls we also have to enter the voter participation so every person who votes on election day has to be updated in the system to say that yes you voted you know so when you go out to that state website you can actually see your voter record and how many times you've voted and until all that kind of stuff is done it's going to take a considerable time to finish that well thank you Julie you're welcome so when you hear all that and all that's involved behind the scenes with elections next time you're standing in line waiting to cast your vote and having to be patient please be patient because it's generally volunteers who are working at the polls I think they receive a very small compensation for their time it's not a whole lot and out of the goodness of their hearts they're looking at the polls so bless their heart please be patient and also recognize that they have to learn and understand and certainly there's a lot that the county clerks and all the municipal clerks are doing to make sure that the elections run smoothly so I think if anything they deserve a little patience and appreciation absolutely and when people are frustrated they usually take it out on the person they're looking at at the time and that happens to be the poll workers which is unfortunate Julie we should have all the county board supervisors work the polls I think the legislators should vote the polls and the state legislators some of those laws when people are complaining about the fact that they can't vote in the clerk's office until the 22nd even though there's a stack of ballots sitting next to the counter those are things that that is a great idea the legislators should be able to explain to the voters moving along back to another matter that you mentioned earlier another service that you provide and that's marriage licenses periodically I'll stop down in your office and it's always kind of a heart warmer to see a young couple or an elderly couple for that matter walks of life there getting their marriage license what's that process if someone is going to be married does everyone need to come see the county clerk for a marriage license what's the process yes in Wisconsin you have to apply in the county that you live in so even if you wanted to get married in Door County in Sheboygan County you need to come to Sheboygan County for your marriage license if you live outside of the state of Wisconsin and you want to be married in Wisconsin you apply in the county you're being married in so it's pretty standard when you apply for a license we need a birth certificate we need proof where your residence is we need to know your social security number and where you're getting married things like that if you've been married before we need proof of how that marriage ended so there's documentation you need to bring with you so be prepared if you're not sure call ahead make sure you're organized and you need to know when you're getting married every once in a while you have somebody come in and say well we're thinking about getting married and we want a license well you need to know when because a license is only good for 30 days so we don't want to issue a license to someone whose plans are 40 days out maybe and now it's a non refundable license and it's $85 you know when I started I think it was 20 and I think when I got married it was 12 but you know it's not a cheap proposition you know there's a fee involved and we want to make sure that if they get a license they can use it so 30 days I didn't know that so 30 days prior to getting married no 30 days it will expire so you have to apply at least 6 days before you're planning to get married but not more than 30 days not more than 30 and is this is the marriage license a statutory requirement that you have to have a marriage license in order to be married you need a marriage license it's $85 just so I can tie the knot that doesn't seem right but that's a state requirement that's a state requirement it's actually illegal to marry someone without a license so I have you had a couple in front of you already that you know you started going through what this marriage license is all about and they decided I don't know if I'm going to go forward with it no they usually are there and they're going to do it but we do have people that will walk in once in a while and want to pick up a license and they just come in and apply and about how many marriage licenses do you process a year you know the last couple years it's been down before that we had about 750 a year the last two years it's only been about 620 so it's really you know I don't know if that's a change in the population or just a change in how people operate but it has been down and now there's also domestic marriage licenses that correct or it's a domestic partnership it's similar to a marriage license but it isn't there's no officiant like when you get married you have a minister or court commissioner perform the wedding for a domestic partnership it's simply a notarized document and the point of having that is it gives them a few additional rights in terms of decisions and end of life decisions and things like that it doesn't have a lot of value it doesn't have the same standing as a marriage license but it is a partnership understood and then of course right next upstairs from you is the register of deeds and that's where ultimately their marriage license will be recorded and if they need to get their birth certificate that's right upstairs as well very good so as you look back and reflect on your years as county clerk and working for Sheboygan County and getting married here and raising your family here and I know you've had a wonderful life at least from my point of view I think the one thing about Julie that hasn't changed Roger 14 years I've been here I know you've been longer one thing that hasn't changed is you look at her and I think she looks the same as she did 14 years ago I've kidded her about this before I think Julie knows where the fountain of youth is and if you don't know or you want to find out talk to Julie but honestly she's just always maintained a professional youthful outgoing disposition that's a big compliment for you for that so as you reflect on your years what's changed the most what do you think about that really has changed the most significantly I think it's just technology because when I think about when I started in the county clerk's office we did not have a computer in our office there were no computers at all I mean the county had mainframes that they dealt with but there were no personal computers for departments and I think after I was there about a year or two we got one and we had five people at that time and there was one computer that you could use and when I think back on the processes and the things we did county board for example we would type out on these big docket pages the county board minutes and we did it with carbon paper because we had to send a copy to the press so they could type set it and all that stuff and when you think about the changes that technology has afforded for those kinds of things elections things like that, the DNR now, when I think about the cases and cases of paper licenses we dealt with now it's a little roll of green tape basically that you punch in a computer it prints it out and you hand it to somebody you know so technology has really made the biggest difference and as you also reflect back what do you are there some personal accomplishments or collective accomplishments that you're particularly proud of or that you think back of and say you know I'm really glad we did that well I think you know I was kind of in the right place at the right time because I was able to really work through all these technology changes and really have an impact on how we do things you know setting up procedures and systems and things like that I had a big hand in designing how our office is laid out in the new administration building and it's not new anymore it's 14 years old but and I you know and I'm kind of proud of how things operate and I had an opportunity to impact that I'm also really proud of our relationship with our municipal clerks you know I talked to county clerks in some other counties and it's like oil and water sometimes between the municipal clerks and the county and so I'm really proud and happy with the relationship we've developed with our municipal clerks and you've built a good staff you have some employees working for you that have been with you for some time maybe not the newest employee I think has been there for almost 10 years so yeah our staff has been there a while and they've you know and I think that reflects on you as well because obviously if they didn't care for who they worked for or with they still wouldn't be there in all likelihood so my compliments well when Julie says that she's proud of making a difference and having the opportunity to help the county board streamline and new processes or the elections and working with our our clerks across the county and being proud of that relationship which is I think really touching to hear people have taken notice Julie and you may have read this in the newspaper recently received the Wisconsin County Association Friend in County Government Award this is a state award that's given to one individual in county government amongst all 72 counties thousands of employees one individual receives this award and Julie this year received it and Roger and I were honored to be with her when she received the award in La Crosse at the Wisconsin County Association conference and for me and I'd like to hear from you it has to be pretty sweet to know that your years of service and the accomplishments and everything you've been a part of that it's being recognized yeah I was really surprised to learn I was going to get that award and really honored because as you said there's so many people in county government and certainly some I'm sure that are more worthy than I am to receive that award so I was really honored to be chosen for that it was pretty nice well you were very gracious as you accepted it and acknowledged clerks across the state for the good work they do but this is not the first time we've received this award believe it or not it's the second consecutive year and I'm sure it's Molly who works in economic support in our health and human services department received it last year so we are very proud Shabuagan County is very proud of you Julie and thankful for your years of service and you have without question made good things happen during your tenure and we're going to miss you well thank you I'm actually going to miss government as well I've spent a lot of my life time of my life here and it is really hard for me to leave but it's time to say though the county board I think in Shabuagan County makes those things possible they allow department heads to manage and to do things and I think that makes a huge difference in our performance because we have the backing of the county board which is tremendous we got a good team in place well thank you for joining us today and providing a little snapshot on the important work of the county clerk's office if you have more questions or would like more information don't hesitate to contact Julie we have a county website where that information is available and certainly we're in the phone book and by the way our county website is going to be updated I know Julie's office is going to be part of that but we're going to have a whole new look with our website here soon so on behalf of the county board and certainly Julie and her staff thank you for joining us today next month what are we having here next month Roger I got to take a look at this next month Rochelle Valesky our new administrator at Rocky Knoll new name new person Rochelle Valesky she's been with us just over a month and we're looking forward to having her join us and telling you about the good things happening at our Rocky Knoll Health Care Center so again until then thanks for joining us