Spirituality as a whole program must also self-destruct for you to return to the natural state That's right. It's a good segue into jumping into the stages that is as Frank just described to you in these short stages. That is this fifth stage transcending the entire paradigm of spirituality itself that very natty state the natural state so We'll go ahead and pull up towards this long definition of the stages first and a brief Entry into that. We're just going to mention that each stage has three levels. There's the more intellectual There's the experiential and the realized and it's important to be sincere and honest with which level you are at with each stage So let's go ahead and have Frank kick us off with the stages to find long Okay, let's do it. So Before I go into the stages, I just want to remind people that all those stages are just references Just like the code that I read nothing can No labels can touch This But during the path it's very valuable to have stages I mean help myself and a lot of people and if you look at a lot of different research About the different stages of waking that people go through like Warsaw Jeffery Martin or even the third about our four path model or there's the models that are, you know Advocated by people like Dana Ingram or whatever tradition that you're in there's always going to be some kind of stages in there Except for the really radical non-door teachers but usually people do go through different stages among filming and The stage what we're gonna talk about if you really want to match it you can match it to any school any tradition and it will make sense Stage number one is ego state stage of separation Basically, you're identifying yourself with this character inside the meat soup your sense of identity or sense of self is behind the eyes inside the head Or somewhere in the meat soup you're a contracted You're separated from the rest of the environment. There's a huge gap between the subject and the object Okay, second stage you have the awareness and consciousness face This is where I was a 95% of mainstream spiritual teachers talk about it Tell you to abide in awareness They tell you that you choose self is awareness or abide in consciousness or witness observer, whatever The reason for that is because After you see to that the ego is an illusion that it's just a fabrication You have to move your sense of identity to a larger ground after you have more spiritual openings and glimpses and Then you sort of disidentified from the ego and now your identification is with this new ground of awareness and consciousness Now this is a very vast Infinite spacious field, but there's still an observer here There's still someone that's observing the ego and the next step is to unplug even that to dissolve even the observer to be aware of awareness To witness the witness observe the observer And if you can't witness anything or observe anything you can still Disidentified from it. You can still objectify it and You realize that the observer is just actually more solidify sensations in the field of experience. That's taking credit for Nature or the universe at first it was the ego taking credit for it You have this huge block of solidity like a marble taking credit trying to take credit or infinity and then Awareness trying to take credit for infinity So now your new identification is awareness and the reason people ask you to abide awareness. It's not This is a very important point. It's not to create a new identity of awareness and be like I am awareness I mean that is the better more spacious identity than the ego, but you're an identity After you unplug different awareness you dissolve even the observer You move into the third stage is which is what I call the God stage This is the infinity stage, you know the creator being Christ consciousness Ottoman big self true self love The universal mind and this third stage is what I call the pinnacle of Spirituality the pinnacle of spiritual experiences anyway, maybe not the pinnacle of spirituality but the pinnacle of human and spiritual experiences and A lot of people think this is it which it could be I mean every stage is completely in of itself Don't get me wrong every single stage every aspect of the jewel the multiplicity of jewel of enlightenment is complete So we're not really making a hierarchy.  What do we get we did contraction? This whole process is about expansion and contraction after you expand to infinity You shrink down from the big bang to the big crunch down to the singularity of nothingness emptiness Nirvana non-being or Brahman death non-existence So basically three and four are two sides of the same coin so at this phase You have this very nabulous sense of self total loss of identity Where the third stage you go around saying hey, I am God In the second stage you're hey bro. I'm consciousness. Don't you get it? Spirituality I am consciousness and the third stage you ice up consciousness. No, I'm God And the fourth stage you Total loss of identity you have this really big nabulous sense of self that you can't define it off And this is kind of like the stuff that Buddha talks about the emptiness the originations Where you Disidentified from even God consciousness because if you can be aware of God consciousness if you can experience God consciousness It's still an object within your field of experience that you can still Disidentify and objectify and make it not self and not this not that so we're doing self inquiry along the way, right? And after this phase you slip it to the natural state now This is very very tricky because stage three and four a lot of people would get stuck in a stage thinking This is it which again, I completely understand because I've been there and again each stage is complete But there's more to the picture. There's more to the fast different jewels of enlightenment the nothingness face If you can still experience it's very subtle sense of law sense of self so to speak There's still an experience there if there's an experience you can still witness it I've checked it back on it and after you disidentify and Disembent all the previous stages spontaneously you move to this fifth stage Like I'll shoot no self or the natural state the town So this stage not only Transcend all the other stages include some as well because the only way to truly embody something is to Disidentify from it if you let go of it it becomes yours even more fully and All the previous stages all the experiences all the mind blowing especially had that can be experienced even more fully paradoxically without the experiencer in the middle and This is the whole process is to dissolve the center point if you want to boil this down to the I Guess the microscopic level it's all about dissolving sensations and the last piece of sensation to get Disolved from solidity to emptiness is usually somewhere in the center in the head Before it was in the body, but then you keep shredding shredding shredding And it was in the head even if this last little bit of speck of sensation is as tiny as an atom It's still going to project itself onto a new ground and the smaller this atom is the bigger this ground is To get to a natural state you have to dissolve not just the ego But the background as well The background that gets created from the separate state and say oh even though my identity is this tiny little thing here That I can't even find it's in the middle of my experience. That's you're gonna Hang on to some sort of a ground some sort of a source like Brahman or like Godhead and very subtly He's thinking to think hey, I am from I am Godhead. This is just the Godhead. This is why I did shantay um Let that out. No, no, no, we'll get you out of shantay later, but this is what I said If realizing true self of no self, it's like perceiving the world without the eyeball Because the eyeball can't see itself. They can see everything else. So if you really truly recognize no, so You're not gonna be of experience or even see the no self. If you still have this sense of hope I'm looking for the cell but I can't find it. Oh, it's infinite. That's still not true No, so there's true no self There's nothing you can say about it, but the eyeball that nothing to be said about can see things and the manifestation of this What it sees You can describe and there's infinite levels to the manifestation Um If that's finding out your true self Uh An eyeball that can't see itself another analogy that similar is a mirror versus no mirror first you have a source you perceive the world as Denominance arising and passing out of a mirror the mirror could be any ground that you encounter in the path To the consciousness awareness or the God mind But after you truly dissolve separation If the ego is gone, so is the so is the mirror. So is the sword.  If you disappear into them, you actually manifest them even more fully So they're only reflections, but no mirror at the end. There's only manifestation There's no unmanifested There's no source no background the unmanifested is just something that you imagine Because how can there be something that's unmanifested if it's non duality If this is one thing, right? There's only the manifested There's no mirror That's the answer to the Zen koan. What is the sound of one hand clapping? That's that that's the answer to that koan That's actually the koan There's actually this daymaster or maybe I think he was reading some uh some poem or some koan that he student wrote And for his student was writing about oh man, the mind is like a mirror I have to shine the mirror and everything just coming in and out of this buddha mind This natural mind, but then after that he realizes wait a second this mirror this buddha mind is also just a construction And then he said there's no mirror Okay, that was a little Thank you There we go. Thank you a little presentation All right before before we go on I just want to say one more thing If you find the stage the stage is very complicated Just remember one thing this whole spiritual path is about one thing The solution of the conditions that makes up the separate self the more you dissolve The more glimpses of reality which is formless it's open up And all the mystical experience that you experience are just a byproduct of This realization itself is not an experience And the separate self both disappear without the subject There won't be an object even the object that is God consciousness eventually dissolves And there's just this The absolute normie Now you're free to put on different lenses of perception as you see fit Yeah, so basically the entire spiritual path if you find this whole map too complex Just remember that the whole process is the solution of the separate self and its condition. That's it The more you dissolve the bigger opening you're gonna get That's why the stages of awareness and God and nothing that's whatever, right? um, so if the Separation is completely dissolved when the subject in the center is completely vanished. So is the background the background is also going to vanish So it's not like there is really ultimately no difference between ego awareness infinity and it's all the same They're just different with configuration and solidity of sensations, which we're going to talk about in a bit what sensations are But perfect


Hi, welcome to Think Tech. We are raising public awareness about technology, energy, diversity, and globalism. This show is center stage. I am your host, Donna Blanchard, proud managing director of Kumakuhua Theater. And we are coming to you live from Pioneer Plaza in the heart of downtown Honolulu, very near Kumakuhua Theater. I generally open my show by jumping right into an introduction of my guest. I'm very excited to get to her. I'm going to start slightly differently because of a lot of attention drawn to a post that I made on Facebook last night. Let me tell you about it. If you'd like to see it, it's public. You can go there. It's Donna Dot Blanchard. I posted a picture of the actress Meg Ryan, who I have always loved. Meg has had some plastic surgery done and she doesn't look like herself anymore. So I posted, I don't remember my exact words, you can read them, that we need to stop accepting plastic surgery that is bad as the norm. I don't want it to become the norm. And I did say right off in that post that I'm sorry to use Megan as an example, but I had just recently seen her on television and I couldn't help it. So first of all, I want to say, now there's been, I was called a cyber bully on my own page by someone I don't even know. I had a lot of friends stick up for me and I felt like they got what I was saying a little more. However, I do recognize that my initial comment may have looked a little harsh. So I'm going to take just a moment to clarify that. I want to say that first of all, it is an actor's job to move their face. I recognize that we live in a world where so many people are getting plastic surgery now and so many people are getting bad surgery that we are getting accustomed to that frozen deer in the headlights duck lips look. Let's not get accustomed to that, please. It is not acceptable. And a lot of people commented on my page that it's tough for an actor. It's tough for someone in Hollywood to get work. Once you start to age, and here's, I got two ideas about that. One is if I wanted to play Annie in the musical Annie, I can't. I'm too old to do it. I have to play Miss Hannigan. It's a good role. Don't bunk playing Miss Hannigan. You've got to play within your age range. And I understand that I've always wanted to play Christine in Phantom of the Opera. I'm too old and I don't have the, I'm too alto. Okay, so there's that. You've got to age into the roles that you can play. Freezing your face shouldn't make that easier to do. And if you feel like there aren't enough good roles for older actors, actresses in particular, then take that money you want to spend on plastic surgery and use it to produce a film of your own. Come on, Meg, you have enough experience. I think you already have directed some. Produce a movie of your own, a film of your own, and put your, your compatriots in it. Other women who are over the age of 40. I'm not sure how old you are. But it doesn't, the world doesn't have to be the way that it is. We can always look for ways to change it. I thought I had a second point there, but I think I just, I just meshed my two points together. And this very nicely, well, so please forgive me, Meg, if you're watching. Hey girl, hey. I did not mean to offend you at all. I do love you. I really want to see you do some great work. You were looking really high and tight in that photo. Maybe just got out of recovery and things have gotten a little more slack. Oh, and I do, there is one more point that I want to make. I don't have a problem with plastic surgery at all. And as soon as this all starts to go, I'm probably going to be looking into a little injectables over here. But I'm going to make sure that I, yeah, go to a really good doctor. And I don't want to, I cannot freeze my face. It is my business to have a face that moves. And Meg, we didn't just love you because you were young. We loved you because of who you were. And that came out in your facial expression. And it cannot come out if you're frozen. Okay. Now, that is a very nice segue into a guest I just happened to already have scheduled today. Her name is Crystal Kwok. She has, she is a host here on Think Tech. She has a show of her own, Kwok Talk. And she has a really wonderful background as an artist and someone who is very outspoken about female issues and the all of the issues that we should be well aware of and educated of as women that too often we just glide over and keep going status quo particularly those of you who are born in the 60s and 70s like me. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Crystal Kwok. Donna, I don't know what you're talking about. Get the eyes wide open. Let's do this the whole time and see if we can understand each other. Right. Part of what is it 95% of communication is not words. It's the tone of voice and the expression and everything else that goes along with it. I saw that interview. Was it with Jimmy Fallon? It was that interview. Right? She's so skinny. I think the weight issue is worse than the classic surgery or maybe they go hand in hand. Well, and that's another issue. You can never be too slim or too rich. You can. I don't know about being too rich, but you can. I think so. You can. Yeah. What is it? J.K. Rowling just is the only billionaire to leave the billionaire list because she just gave out a whole bunch of money. Well good for her. She said I don't need it. Other people need it. Anyway, I need it. I wish she would have sent some of it over to me in my theater. But yeah, you can definitely be too thin. And particularly after you do get to a certain age, a lot of people compliment me on aging well. It's fat, man. See, that's the thing. Meryl Streep said that. She says you're gonna have to either sacrifice the collagen or the boobs. One thing gives when age comes. Right.  I just naturally said it. Good luck. Well, thank you. Yeah, have you ever made a comment on Facebook that got really misconstrued or not on Facebook, but on my show, my previous talk shows, I've always said things because I'm also very straightforward. And a lot of times people see that as being over critical, or that you should take on a more, you know, neutral position. But where's the fun in that? Why do that? That's just talking heads, confirming each other's beliefs. We don't need that. We're not trying to slap criticism on something. It's just a comment. And it's an opinion. And it's a point of view. Yeah. And we all have a right to it. And I will add, I did not delete the comments from the woman I don't even know who called me a cyber bully. I believe it's your new title now. Cyber bully Donna.  Actually, I was there's a bumper on the car behind me.  And it was, it was saying everything to me. It says girls who behave never make history. Right? Right? Unless you get out there and have something to say or do something like make a if you don't like what's going on in the film industry, make a film. There hasn't been a female, a film director nominated for an Academy Award and something like six years. Yeah, right. Because they're just not making as many films. And that's not I refuse to believe that's because they cannot get the the costs. No, it's a double standard. It's funny. I used to think when I was in Asia for over 25 years that it was just a, you know, an Asian thing, like a male chauvinistic thing that because of culturally we grow up accepting that patriarchal society. But I think it's worldwide. Right? Yeah, apparently. Yeah. Let's talk about your films. Okay, because you have produced a film. Yes, I wrote and directed a film. Going back to the women's issue is because I couldn't bear I was fascinated about this world of the mistress because growing up in the States, you're, you know, you're brought up to be independent. Everything's equal. You have an opinion, you can share, express it. Your position is not less than because you're a woman in terms of anything until you get to the real world, right? At least, right? And having met some mistresses in my lifetime in Hong Kong, it really struck me that there are positions that women accept for themselves for better or for worse. Yeah, yeah. So you made a film about one and I have to admit I a friend recently approached me with a business conundrum because he had a client who had propositioned one of his employees. Okay. While she was technically there under the auspices of the business. Right. And wanted her to be his mistress. This is here in the States? Here? Last week. Oh. And I said, well, how much was he offering? Yeah, what are you getting at? Right. I just wanted to know. And he handled this, my friend handled the situation really well. Yeah. Hopefully it won't happen again. But there is a certain, you know, big question mark, I think that a lot of us have about that. And I think there's a there's an attraction to for these women to be wooed by this offer because there's, you know, the other woman gets treated better. They don't have any baggage. They always have that special, you know, priority because they're not the ongoing thing you always take for granted things around you. It's that special one that you only see once a week you're going to do put more effort into. So, you know, you they get a lot out of it.   They're just abusing the whole, you know, it's just they're two white two sides of the coin. There's so many layers. There's so many layers to it. It's more of a baklava. There's a lot of layers in why someone would do it and and what it does to them and the people around them when they when they do that. Yeah. So when you decided to make that film, you you wrote it first, you wrote it just started with a roommate who is tutoring this girl who was a mistress and she came back from time to time telling me about this mistress. She was from China and she was like a more like a village girl. She was more rough around the edges. But her boyfriend would be bringing out the cash and giving it to her to pay for their weekly English lessons and gave her extra money to say, just go ahead and buy her this and do this, all this stuff for her. And it was really interesting because my friend was this educated British born Chinese girl and that girl was a Chinese girl from the mainland who didn't speak any English, but who's hungry to see the world and to to grasp anything that she never had. And so it was a story of kind of like her obsession with that world and switching places ultimately in the end, her becoming, you know, into that world and stepping into it. Now you had, you already had, let's say this, you were born in the United States and then moved to Hong Kong when I was three. Hong Kong. Oh, OK, very young. But then I came back when I was like 10 and then I finished till university and then I went back and then I moved there and I stayed there for the last 25 years. Oh, OK. Yeah. And you got into, how is it that you got into theater there? I studied theater at UCLA. It was just something, well, I guess it goes back to high school. I was, I got a small part in the mid-summer night stream at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, opened up my world of theater and I just, it just moved me in a way that I knew I needed to do something in this industry. And so I took that degree and I loved it and I actually theater is my stronger base than film in terms of studying. And I did use that in Hong Kong on smaller stages. You were, so you worked as an actor in Hong Kong and were able to, you had a talk show there, you had your own personal voice as well. Yes. Somehow, pretty quickly. Yeah, because they tried to mold me and I couldn't fit them mold and so I guess I leaked out some kind of a thing where they just said, OK, this is working, we'll keep it going. Awesome. And they, you're talking about a society that is male, very patriarchal. Yes. Not patriarchally dominated. I know, it sounds so intellectually kind of boring, right? Yeah. But so here you are, you've got an opinion and you're going to say what you believe and you have a talk show, did you have any trouble with, don't say that because of our sponsors, anything like that? I'm sure. I've had so many times where they try to make me careful, even just in terms of style because the last few times I had a radio show on the public radio in Hong Kong of all things and when they trained me to have my own hosting show, they said, you know, you've got to listen to the person and you've asked the question and you pause and you let them answer. Don't interject and prepare your questions and I don't see you having your questions, you know, it's just free flow and most people are not accustomed or they don't want that uncertainty, right? Right. Most people want that box. They want the boundaries so they know where they stand but I don't work like that and so I guess I found my own voice and I found projects where I could keep my voice going. So my little theater plays I wrote and directed in Hong Kong were, when a time I couldn't take all the time to create another film because that's just, you know, overwhelming time consuming and my kids were little so I would write while, let's say they were napping, let's say my first kiddie was, every time he's napping I'd write a scene and I would try to find ways to put it into my life while things were changing for me as a woman. Awesome. We're gonna go to the first break real quick. We're gonna pick up right there, I swear. Thank you for sticking with us after my little story, we're not going to call it a rant about Facebook. We're gonna take a short break, we'll be right back. Hi, I'm Steven Philip Katz. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist here in Hawaii and I'm the host of Shrink Rap Hawaii which is on Tuesdays at 3 o'clock. Have a great summer, take care of your mental health. Aloha everyone, I hope you've been watching Think The Kawaii but I'm here to invite you to watch me on Viva Hawaii every Monday at 3 p.m. I'm waiting for you. Mahalo. Hi, I'm Chris Leetham with The Economy In You and I'd like to invite you each week to come watch my show each Wednesday at 3 p.m. Aloha, my name is Danelia, D-A-N-E-L-I-A and I'm the other half of the duo, John Newman. We are the co-host of Keys to Success which is live on Think Tech live streaming network series weekly on Thursdays at 11 a.m. Aloha. Aloha. Hi, welcome back to Center Stage. I want to let you know that if you would like to join in our conversation, you may do so via Twitter. We are at Think Tech H-I. We have a screen right here, we'll see your tweets on. If you'd like to join in the conversation or make any comments about my rant, go ahead and call me a cyberbully, I'm used to it. I'm happy to be talking with Crystal Kwok. Timing is perfect here to have you on the show. So I beg your pardon for interrupting you.  And even in your time of life, I think, don't you think when you're in a different phase you have different thoughts and different values and different focuses. So when I had young children, my focus was on my body changing, my perception of relationships, and many things.  And it was really interesting because you get feedback after the show because theater is so immediate, right? And they come back and they say things like, wow, that really hit a chord. Or, oh my god, I've always had these issues and I didn't know where to. You know, so it's really nice to be able to have those platforms to share something that so many people actually relate to. Yeah, and to do it in a black comedy. I love it that you did that. Oh gosh. I love a reverence. It was so fun. Nothing makes a point, like a reverence.  So we did a little spoof. So one of the characters, this girlfriend of mine, she came out as a penis.  An actual penis. Literal. Well, it was just a macho guy, you know, very simple guy, right? Yeah. Penis. And it was co-written by one of the male actors in my team.  So it was really interesting. Some things came out when we worked together in the creative world of theater. Oh, very cool. Yeah, it was fun. Well, and so you were getting your voice out.  Yeah, not necessarily a female issue. Right, right. And I think it's good to challenge and subvert ideas and find a different perspective on it. Because, you know, everything's told and retold. How many love stories there are and how many dramas. But what's your take on it? It just makes it all more interesting, right? Yeah. Yeah. And those things that you can have great conversations about, if there's dissension, that's what's interesting. Conflict. Yes. Yes. Handled well. Yes. Of course. Black comedy is a good way to handle it. It's hard. It's hard to write comedy. Yeah. Yeah. It's harder than drama. Yes, it is.  In general. Because well, when I went to Hong Kong, I felt like I was so over-opinionated that people, some people appreciated it, some people didn't. And then when I had the talk show, it kind of threw things out like, oh, she's the one who has a lot to say. And, and then there is this newspaper that published, I had like little articles that came out weekly on issues that I observed about, you know, women's sexuality relationships. And it just kind of grew. It just kind of snowballed. And I always had something to say about certain issues, and it just became my work. Yeah. Did you have, I, I admire the fact that at fairly young age, you were already thinking about these issues in terms of the difference, the inequity. I didn't. I don't think I really started thinking about that until probably my 40s when I realized, hey, that's not fair. Right. That's not okay with me. A lot of things that I had always accepted. Now I grew up, I was born in the 60s, and I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian family in the Midwest. So there's hours of therapy, months of it right there.  No. Where did this come from? Opposite, if anything, I came from a very typical Chinese family, where nobody spoke much during the dinner table. And, you know, you're not allowed to express too much.  My mom called me a flip-flip when I was like four. You know, I don't know why. I guess it was just, I was... You just had it in you from the beginning. And my sisters are not like that. So I can't say it's a parenting issue. But I do think that sometimes when you suppress something too much, things can come out, right? Depending on the situation. They got to come out. Where are you in the birth order? Just out of curiosity.  My mom would blame me for things I didn't do, even if I weren't in the room.  Your name just came out. Yeah, always me. Yeah. Oh, okay. The problem. All right. Well, good for you. I'm glad. Right. Bad girls make history. That's right. Sitting around and being good didn't get anybody. No. Okay.  You were working in theater. You were writing plays. And then what, how did you make that leap into film? What made you say, I want to take on this gigantic, expensive project? Well, everything kind of went coincided because the film making process, it took me, like I said, five years to prepare to the point where I could actually make the film. Because I've had these stories and thoughts in my head. And during the time I had the talk show, I was also taking a master's in Hong Kong University about comparative literature. Maybe that's what sparked it.  You're learning different philosophies of life and you're trying to question things. And I think that all puts it out on the table. And again, it all just puts some piles more and more, the layers, the baklava you're talking about. And then you want to take that and do something with it.  And you get support from that and slowly, hopefully, it all comes together. Yeah, took a long time. I find that where where my focus naturally goes, if I just pursue those questions that I have or someone like our mutual friend, Jeanette Damingo, wonderful woman says come to lunch. I want to introduce you to these people. And you find that things just kind of fall in place. Somebody is proactive with that, right? Somebody's doing it. Yeah. And I learned because I remember distinctly when I was at UCLA, I was actually a dance major. I wasn't even theater. No, I was a theater major by that point. And I wanted to take film classes because I wanted to I decided I wanted to do film production. They wouldn't let me enroll because I wasn't a film major. I was a theater. Oh, and so I sat through some theater class film classes and and wouldn't leave. The teacher says, Well, you can't enroll unless you know, somebody leaves. And so I just sat there for two weeks straight. Now couldn't participate. I just sit there. But at the end, he finally let me in.  How awesome that you learned that lesson so young and yet you had the clips, but sit there. I guess so.  I would watch theater all the time in Hong Kong, the big arts festival. They would bring brilliant international productions. And some were sold out. I'd get there late and let me shoot. You know, I really wanted to see this and I wanted to go in and I'd stay there and I'd stay there and I find a way. And so when they start, come on, there's got to be a seat left.  That's right. Now, it may not may not work with Hamilton. However, people get a thousand bucks. People get we are current show is totally sold out at Kumakuhu Theater and people come in and they wait and wait and then you almost always can squeeze people in. Someone doesn't make it for whatever reason. So before we run too late on time here, tell us about what you are doing now here. You're back in Hawaii. What brought you here? Well, we we've always want my my I have a family of surfers and they we've been coming here to surf. Well, not me. And my husband luckily found a job here. So we like first flight out. We just said we're meant to be here.  So we're all very happy enjoying everything here. And you have your show here on think tech. What else do you do? I'm writing my next screenplay actually. And again, another pretty hefty woman's issue because my grandmother who grew up in the south in pre civil rights, Georgia, deep south in a they had a grocery store in a the black neighborhood. And I find it very fascinating where the Chinese sat between the white and black drink segregated south. So I'm writing that. And that's going to be my huge next hopefully film project. Oh, awesome. I'm so excited about that. Are you present? And I never think about that. I've spent a lot of time in the south and even as a child, my family would travel down there. And that's a community I didn't really think about. Nobody thinks about it. It's really interesting. I'm so glad you're writing about it. That's what art is supposed to be. Oh, it's a big one, though. So we'll see slowly, slowly. Okay, good. And what else? What else are you working on? Are you involved in theater here? Or do you love to? No, I would love to. I'm not. I'm, you know, girl. Okay. Cyber bully or not. I'm going to plug with you.  I'm going to get a bad rap. I would like be so lucky to ever have a bad rap. Look at me. Okay, so yes, we do need to get you involved in theater here.  I imagine a lot of you is going into raising your kids. Yes. But you know what?  And we used to have helpers who had to cook and clean for us. We didn't have to do anything. That's why I could pursue my career there. But here I've got to raise, okay, I've got to leave this second after we're done because I've got to pick up my kids and then I've got to cook dinner and pick them surfing and dance class. So, you know, I'm like any ordinary busy mom here. And you got to juggle and you got to know your priorities, being family first, and then work with what you have in terms of time and get those creative juices plugged into all the little holes there are. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. And when do you find time to write? Are the kids still napping? Is that when you're going to do any worse things than that? But yeah, I try to find time. Yeah. Good. I hope you continue to do it. I will. Thank you. We just have a couple of minutes left. And I want to say that I had a guest last week who's from Singapore, also involved in the arts. And she had recently traveled to Bhutan and I went there for my 40th birthday. It's amazing. Oh my God, it's beautiful. Yeah. In both of those regions though, women are women have a place that is a few steps behind men and I have a very hard time reconciling the idea of being happy and satisfied. The happiest place of mirror. Yeah. And while recognizing that I'm not allowed to walk next to, you know, my husband or my business partner there. So I hope that I'm sure that this is coming out in your writing. I hope you become one of those film producers who uses women who are age and graceful. Oh, I can't wait. Are you kidding? Although you can't make fun of me when I do eventually get my injectables. It depends. Let's talk like this now. My injectables. Donna, next time we talk, we're going to have to be more elegant. And I'm going to, yeah, well, and God, the, the thinness scares me. That's seriously, yeah. It's getting, it's getting pretty ridiculous. I used to have, I didn't have digits. This is, this is funny. We've only got a minute left. So I'm going to tell this little story. I used to have a cable, but it wasn't digital and it wasn't compatible with my TV. So I had to, you know, you can stretch the picture to fit. And it made everyone a little more plump. And, and I, you know, I got used to that. Everybody looked healthy to me. Then when I switched to digital and they were their active, their actual size, I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's not healthy. You know, they always say TV gained 10 pounds. It's just not because of the lighting. And then real, real life is like, Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. We have to judge people on screen though, you know, it's just part of what it is. It's what it is. I hope that we as women can always support each other. And when you hear someone say something marvelous and smart, make sure that you repeat it and give credit to the person. Absolutely. OK, so that wraps it up for this week. Thank you so very much to Crystal for being here. I really appreciate it. Thank you for being here. There's a few people in the studio I would like to thank our floor manager, Rich Prepis, who's right over there. Thank you, Rich. We're glad to have you back. Zuri Bender, our studio overlord, who is in my ear. Thank you, as always, Zuri and Jay Fidel, who somehow manages to put all of this together. Thank you for being here. Keep commenting on my Facebook page. I really do enjoy the conversation and we'll see you next week. Bye.


Hi, good morning guys and welcome to today's products and focus as you actually be able to see there the US 30 has Had a slight relief rally Kind of when I haven't come down a fair amount smashing through the 21 period SMA During yesterday's incredibly volatile session But we have managed to get quite close to potential resistance at 69 69 And obviously the markets came off quite strongly yesterday as kind of news fell out of Europe that a Portuguese bank Banco Esperanto Espirito has got a lot of kind of family debt issues or they've got a lot of exposure to some risky assets Causing a 20% drop in Portugal's biggest lender and Was the ripples of that or a catalyst for for big moves in Big downwards moves in banks and insurance companies right across Europe yesterday, which then also impacted Wall Street Now what we also had is a double family of really low industrial production coming out of loads of European Centres yesterday Which caused big jumps in gold lots of yen buying safe even aspects and obviously that big sell-off and equities now What I can see US markets bounce back strongly European markets Well, Germany theory in particular looking rather weak this morning So have a look at that in just a second So this is a level to have a look at on the on US 30 definitely stronger than the European indices S&P 500 SPS 500 sorry and US 30 actually recovering quite strongly from yesterday's broad sell-off Looking at the UK 100 I was looking like a right dogs breakfast at the start of the session We're actually trained below 6 6 6 6, but we managed to get back up above there run between two ranges But we are not out of the woods yet the product I really want to show you is Germany 30 which is not recovered Really that much at all as looking particularly weak. There's actually quite a few chart form updates We've done here last couple days. Let me just make that go full screen This is a really aggressive sell-off that we had here now. We're slap bang in the middle of ranges 94 25 is the next longer-term potential support potential resistance remains at 97 89 Germany 30 is going to be in focus today I think this is where you're gonna get a little bit of volatility if we do begin to see a sell-off in the markets I am seeing a little bit of growth in the US markets that might just drag everything else up But do keep your eye on that throughout today's session So Japan 2 to 5 hasn't really been feeling in love because of all that yen buying We did get an eventual break of that he sitting triangle formation. It's almost perfect from a technical analysis perspective We've got that big breakout. I went down to potential support at 14 977 only to bounce back up And if you notice there, we've stopped dead on the broken trend line the broken potential trend line Which I think is very interesting now looking at dollar yen and your yen They're in the middle of a range right now So I wouldn't be surprised of towards the end of the session with everything is happening over in the Middle East right now with Israel on the Gaza Strip and The lack of any economic data and I was heading into the weekend I wouldn't be that massively surprised if there's pressure on equities and You know potentially a bit more Gold and yen buying towards the end of session But we need to see how the rest of the session transpires because we are looking a little bit more bullish this morning So keep an eye on those markets. I think they'd be very interesting. So looking at dollar yen in a little bit more detail We firmly broke through 101 spot 35 yesterday. We actually went all the way down to about 101 spot. Oh wait It's actually 100 spot 80 is the next potential support I think that's something that people need to be looking at if you are a believer that there's fear in the markets right now and That there are there's a lot of pressure out there then people should be looking at yen They should be looking at gold if you're on the opposite direction You think you know this is only short term that us and earnings are gonna be particularly good Then keep your eye on the indices, you know the US 30 is certainly performing a lot better than some other markets out there So lots of interesting indicators out there. Look at gold. Look at yen. I'll tell you exactly what's going on So moving on to Cuddle West Texas It's been very volatile last couple sessions as ever and this is why I really love technical analysis with break out break down on Wednesday With a reversal right back up yesterday and Thursday look for stops bang on 103 And what we're doing again today. We are resuming the downwards move So looks to be that one with three is a potential resistance in the short term and that'll be a very interesting Level to look at over the next couple of days. So moving on to gold gold had its Breakout above 1332 smashed it actually but then gave up some of the gains as the relief rally kicked in for equities And people could have really couldn't realize that a small a Minor European Bank in Portugal is not the end of the world But it is as a catalyst for other big moves. We are now above 1332. That is the next potential Broken resistance now expected to act as potential support. Okay, so this could be the springboard from move up to there in 62 I've a bit of that fear returns. Okay, so we'll see How that continues on through it today. So your dollar continuing its move back That is a little bit unfortunate to be fair But with all those industrial production figures in Europe just really disappointing yesterday It's not a massive surprise resistance at one spot 3645 is held We are showing long-legged candles along the bottom these areas right here So that's indicative of at least some buying interest from to get close to one spot 3568 in the middle of two ranges right now I'm not too bothered about your dollar and GBP USD has slipped a little bit as well on the back of that disappointing UK data that came out We were unable to breach one spot 71 84 We're looking a little bit weak just now a little bit of pressure on there It's not that that decent. So If you're interested in effects keeping an eye on dollar yen euro yen that type of stuff So there's no economic data today. I've had to fast forward on to on to Monday, which will be the 14th Nothing really that exciting. Let's go on to Tuesday. Then you've got some some CPI data from the UK And RPI data as well, which will be good for for cable. Keep your eye on the chart form as ever Look at insights for updates from a global analyst team and join me again on Monday to find out what happened next


Hello everybody my name is Linda I'm with Code Pink and together with my colleagues here today we are standing in the lobby of the consulate for the government of Lebanon in the city of Detroit. We are about to make a visit to to thank the members of the office for their government's criticism of Israel's genocidal actions and we will then hand them a copy of the petition with the 30,000 signatures we've gathered supporting South Africa in its case at the International Court of Justice and we will urge their governments to to support them and build a critical mass to help the people in Gaza and then finally we will offer our friends a bag of chocolate kisses in appreciation for their solidarity and then from there we will move on to our next three.


7. Activities for teaching the simple past for the ESL classroom. The simple past is one of the most important tenses in the English language. As it describes past actions, it's quite an easy tense to teach using a variety of fun and interactive activities. Here are 7 activities for teaching the simple past for the ESL classroom. 1. Preparations. For this activity, the students think of significant accomplishments in their lives. After sharing with the class what they have accomplished, the students should describe what they did in order to achieve this goal. For example they graduated college, studied English, and took classes. It's important that the students use the simple past to talk about these actions. 2. Good days and bad days. Brainstorm a list of things that can make a day good and things that make a day bad. Pair up your students and have them ask each other questions, and give answers about a day in the past, yesterday, last week, and last year. For example, did you spill coffee yesterday? No I didn't spill my coffee yesterday. This is a great way to practice questions and negative views in the simple past tense. 3. Charades series. Similarly to charades, the students describe the steps they took during the charade. For example one student performs the action of brushing his teeth after getting up and eating breakfast. Once the charade is over, another student describes each step. First he got up, then he ate breakfast, and then he brushed his teeth. 4. Dear diary. To practice the written form of the simple past, have your students write about their day in a diary. Have them write about what they did yesterday, last week, and last year. Pay attention to the transitions of time, next, then, after that, and finally. 5.  To freshen up your grammar lesson, get your students out of the classroom and outside for a short walk if you can. Have your students take notes during the walk about things they observe. Once you're back in the classroom, the students share what they saw and experienced using the simple past tense. 6. Accurate endings. This activity aims at practicing ed endings, because they are not pronounced the same for every regular verb. First, brainstorm a list of regular verbs with your students and write them onto the board. Next, have the students sort the words into two categories, words where ed sounds like ed, and words where it sounds like t. Next, challenge your students to figure out the rule that determines which pronunciation to use. 7. Double-duty review. This activity tests how much your students remember from yesterday's class. Ask the students to tell you what happened during class yesterday using the simple past. You could also change this activity up, if the majority of your class traveled overseas to study English.  Are you ready to teach English abroad? Thanks so much for watching. We are ITTT the leading provider for TEFL and TESOL training courses. If you like this video, please subscribe by clicking that button down here, and click on any of the videos here on the left for more interesting teaching tips for getting certified to teach English abroad and online.