Again, for those just hopping on, my name is Cynthia Gordy-Gewa, Marketing Director at ProPublica, and your host for tonight. Thank you for joining us. This conversation grew out of a recent article by ProPublica reporter Anna Clark called The Unfinished Business of Flint's Water Crisis. In the piece, Anna says that criminal charges against public officials and appending class action settlement may seem like the last chapter in Flint's story, but many of the most important reforms at the root of the city's water crisis remain undone. So we'll talk about this and much more with a terrific group of experts you see on your screen who I'll introduce now. The first we have Anna Clark, a ProPublica reporter based in Detroit, Michigan, hovering issues in the Midwest. She is the author of The Poison City, Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy, which won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. We have Jaquanda Johnson, a veteran journalist and founder of Brown Impact Media Group, a publishing company that develops media products in underserved and marginalized communities. She is the founder and publisher of Flintbeat, a new site covering Flint City Hall, neighborhoods and public health issues. E. Yvonne Lewis is the founding director at the National Center for African American Health Consciousness. As a community health advocate and consultant, she translates complex information in order to answer community questions and meet community needs. And Benjamin Pauley is an assistant professor of social science at Kettering University. He's the board president of the Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint, a member of the US EPA's National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the author of Flint Bites Bath, Environmental Justice and Democracy in the Flint Water Crisis. And finally, we have our moderator, Tilia Buford. Tilia is the talent development director for ProPublica, where she oversees staff development and recruitment efforts. And before that, she was an environmental reporter. You're at ProPublica, Politico, and for other outlets covering disparities and environmental impacts. In addition, Tilia was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. So our panel will also answer some of your questions tonight. If you'd like to submit a question at any point during the webinar, click the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen. And now I'll throw it over to our moderator, Tilia Buford. Tilia. Great. Thank you so much, Cynthia. First, thank you to everyone who is joining us and watching us from wherever you are in the country or in the world, possibly.  I'm really excited to get into conversation with you. So let's hop right into it. Yeah, I'm going to assume that most of the people tuning in here know at least generally of the Flint water crisis, which started in 2014 when the city switched a source of water from Lake Huron to Flint to Flint River, and eventually switched back, right? So, but even within Michigan, there are a lot of confused narratives about what's been happening since the crisis rose to national infamy. First off, can you give us the lay of the land and help orient where we are today? You're muted. Yep. Hello. Of course, I'd be very glad to. So, as you suggested, so the Flint water crisis happened, you know, here in the Great Lakes state and there's a whole lot of reasons why it was a purely man made disaster and that goes both in for the realm of the reasons why the city was vulnerable in the first place as well as a series of decisions that happened during the time of this ill fated water switch. So this switch happened in 2014 under, while the city was under a series of emergency managers, the idea was that they were going to treat the Flint water at the rebooted old water plant using water from the local river, but the problem is this old water plant did not get the staffing or the resources it needed to treat the water properly in some ways as that violated the law. So this led to highly corrosive water being sent through the pipes, breaking down those pipes, a problem that gets worse the longer it's ignored. And it also led to toxic lead being getting into the water as well as E. Coli bacteria and other contaminants. There was also a two year outbreak of Legionnaires disease connected to the water which is actually what killed people and is what's related to most of the most recent criminal charges. It took 18 months of pretty extraordinary community organizing and citizen science before the city returned to Detroit's water but the crisis didn't end there not least because the pipes, the citywide infrastructure was corroded. There's also been this long tail of a search for accountability for the choices that caused and prolonged this that's kind of an open question right now in this second wave of criminal charges that we've recently seen. We're at the brink of a probable class action settlement being finalized soon. I understand you, some of our panelists folks in Flint have just gotten some papers today about registering for that. There they are. So it seems in a lot of ways we're at this last chapter of the water crisis but the there are systematic reforms that caused and prolonged this crisis that have not yet been addressed. And of course a lot of people have questions doubts concerns about about the charges about the terms of the settlement that they're wrestling with right now. Thank you so much for that. I took one I'm going to turn to you now so as Anna just mentioned you know we had the first round of charges that were announced back in 2017. I remember there being sort of you know widespread outrage that Governor Snyder had not been among those charge during that period. He's a part of this indictment you know that we've recently heard about, albeit it's a misdemeanor that carries like a maximum, you know one year sentence and you know so that's that's a whole other story, but as a journalist, specifically someone who is covering this community and in touch with you know the this community and kind of the pulse of it. Can you talk a little bit about the public perception of the recent indictments and whether community members see this as a step toward justice. I think that a lot of us are were even surprised that standard was charged right. We really thought that it would it would never happen. And it happened, but there's still no real sense of justice there, you know, we're still going through the court process he's been charged, but there's still nothing right. No one has been sentenced to anything. No one has come out of pocket for anything the community is still suffering and they're living through that every day, no matter what's happening in the court systems. And so we still have people who are, they don't trust their water. Right. They're paying some highest water bills in the nation. I think our average Flint residents can pay $140 per month in water and fees alone in an economically depressed community. Right. So, there, there's still no from what I'm getting from community community members. There's still no real sense of justice here. And the settlement itself, everything, there's too many questions. There's not a specific dollar figure. Like if you do go for this, what do you get? We really don't have the answers, even as journalists is it more doors we open and more confusing it becomes as we're trying to explain this thing to residents. Right. And so there's definitely a lot of questions and a lot of distrust, and we're still trying to figure it out in no sense of, yeah, I feel like I was made whole, like that's not happening at all. Um, then I want you to pick up on the settlement and the, and the, that whole issue. Obviously, in addition to the settlement, there is this class action lawsuit. Can you tell us what's happening, what that, let's say that settlement rather would do for impacted residents and as Chiquanda is mentioning, you know, kind of your assessment of whether or not these remedies are actually meaningful in any real way. Sure. First, maybe a little history is in order in 2017, the large number of civil lawsuits spawned by the crisis were consolidated into one massive class action suit. And in August of last year, it was announced that some of the defendants in that suit, most notably the state of Michigan were prepared to settle with the state putting up the lion's share of the money $600 million. The city of Flint later decided to settle as well kicking in 20 million. So the pot stands at about 641 million right now total. Other defendants including the engineering firms viola and land as well as the EPA are opting to fight rather than settle so depending on how things go with them. There might be more money coming but for now 641 million is what's on the table, which might sound like a lot but there are some important caveats. One thing a significant percentage will be carved off for attorneys fees of course, and also whether any particular resident gets a piece and how big of a piece they get is dependent on several criteria which some say are not fair or reasonable. So first of all children are going to get more than adults and that's probably as it should be but for many maybe most adults it's going to be pretty hard to get much of anything. As a donor, you might get $1000 if you're lucky for property damage, but beyond that, you're going to have to prove that your health was detrimentally impacted by the water and that means you need documentation. And there are a whole lot of people who don't have doctors notes linking specific ailments to the water. So many adult residents are going to end up with what will seem like an insultingly small compensation for the expense hardship and harm that they've endured. For kids, the settlement proposal is notable in that it considers exposure to the water alone to be grounds for at least some compensation. And it also provides a little more money if the child lived in a home with a lead service line. If you want more than that though again you need documentation of health harm that means a blood lead test or a bone lead scan or a psychological assessment demonstrating a developmental delay. If you're like me you didn't manage to get your child's blood tested in time for it to matter, and you haven't been able to get a bone lead scan because until recently these haven't been available to the vast majority of residents. And so now there's a big long line. The psychological assessments have also been hard to get so aside from the people who are who are going to fall through the cracks because they simply can't document harm for whatever reason. Even those who have a chance of doing so using these methods probably aren't going to have the data prior to the opt in deadline at the end of next month. So it's hard to make an informed decision about whether whether this settlement is likely to put the kind of money in your pocket. You think you deserve. So, you know the most practical thing might end up being to take what's on the table. I mean even to get this settlement proposal took years worth of legal battles and negotiation and opting out of it means an uphill fight, but the people are understandably reluctant to settle for less than what they think is just. And at the very least a lot of folks are feeling trapped between a rock and a hard place, and also kind of disrespected all over again to some extent because even though the settlement proposal has some good qualities. I think it seems to a lot of residents like the institutions that harmed them are still trying to wriggle out of taking full responsibility. Thank you for that. Yvonne, I want to have you, I saw you nodding. I want to hear what you're thinking about.  Yes, Talia, thank you so much and I'd like to first say yes I'm naughty, because it is the lived experience and sometimes we're asked that question. Now that it isn't so popular and we're not in the national media every day, you'll get the question is it over yet, and absolutely, it's not over yet. We still have people in long lines, every week, couple times a week, getting food and water from help centers that were set up during the water crisis to make sure that they can get the resources that they need so no. It's not over yet when we think about the fact that you know we're still having bottled water you know I have water in my cabinet right now, because I'm not comfortable with the water in the tab, because it's more than just did they switch the water flag, but the infrastructure still has a lot of things that need to be repaired. And that's question blue flag outside of my house right now that reminds me every day that it's not over yet. And so then, when you think about having to cook and brush your teeth every day you constantly reminded that this is not over. And so when you talk about the water settlement. I agree with the other panelists know it isn't sufficient will once say something is better than nothing I think that's the point been is making. However, people have died. Children are ill. And at trauma that you cannot walk away from. So is it over. Absolutely not and I think I said this and thank you and for an interview just a few weeks ago. And I said it and I will continue to say it. Every single physical emotional issue that arises will take you back to 2014 to the water switch. Is this the result of something that happened during that time, because even when we were told to boil the water, not knowing that there were contaminants and lead in the water that you cannot boil away a heavy metal. So you've concentrated now the metals that you put in your body but it isn't alone that alone either. So the other contaminants, there's still questions out there. So it's the what if what's going to happen next in the back of my mind and in the back of the minds of other members in this community. What is the impact of that exposure. We have no idea. Will a settlement remedy that I don't think so. Especially a certain indictments that have no teeth. Surely nobody wants to act just as you know we're not hoping and wishing somebody goes to jail in some cases, but there is this sense of justice that is missing in these conversations. So is it over. Absolutely not. It's an ongoing story that I think it's important for us to continue to share, because our lives every day are impacted by what happened. Thank you for that. Um, this is a random question but for I guess our panelists who live in Flint do you do you guys drink the water out of the tap. No, that's why I say you got water on your counter and you got water in your bathtub anything you have to eat or ingest or any way. Now there are people I will say there are people who have become comfortable to the extent that they will use a water filter because we have had that conversation and use the water filter. To the extent that people are comfortable using a water filter but I do think this has created an ongoing question that even when you go to another city. For some of us, you flush the flush the faucet before you use it, and you would opt for a bottle of water than opting to drink out of the faucet. It's it's it's it's dependent upon where a person is in their comfort levels are, but I think you'll find that many people are still greatly concerned about what's happening with the Flint water to quantity or muted. I remember interviewing a young lady who she had Legionnaires she was one of the people who contracted Legionnaires but didn't know it. And she had moved in North Carolina and she said she was still scared to drink water out of the tap. So she still drank bottle water. I know people who have filters, who had pipes replaced and they're still using bottled water, some of them are using bottled water to cook. Still brush your teeth. They just don't trust the water and I completely understand that no matter what the government says, they were poisoned by the government right. And that's a level of distrust there, that it'll take years and years, you know, to forget or tuck this away like the trauma itself years before people trust water here in Flint. I'll just say really quickly, although I do personally drink the filtered water, you know, I've had to make choices about whether to give that to my kids depending on their age. The filters are not a one size fits all solution for a variety of reasons and so I think it's it's worth pointing that out and that's one of the reasons why residents continue to insist upon having access to bottled water. My family who still lives there, they didn't want to put the filter on because you know it would have required a whole new faucet and all this. It just was like, you replaced our whole faucet to get it on that that's an expense and that a lot of people can't afford it's a lot of trouble to go to there all kinds of reasons why filters don't work for everyone. I want to remind folks that we are accepting Q&A questions if you have questions as we're having this conversation to pop them into the Q&A chat we'll get to them at the end of this conversation. Now, I'm kind of, you know, kind of going along with this idea that you know there are lots of people outside of Flint, saying, Oh, this this whole crisis is over. Jacqueline, I want to talk to you or have you talk a little bit about the tension between, you know, not people like me but you know news organizations nationally that are not based in Flint, you know kind of coming in and saying that you know this is the end of the water crisis and and obviously you know everyone on this on this conversation is saying that no it's not. I'm wondering you know what's at the root of this disconnect and really who gets to decide when or if this ever will be over. The people get to decide when it's over. That's just how I feel. They might have to accept the decisions that are made, but they do not have to declare this over like their struggles their trauma, whatever they're going through they do not have to say that this is over that is there every day right. I recently put somebody on blast and I can't remember what news agency it was because I was on Twitter and they said water crisis over something that tells them this is, you know, bad reporting it was reckless. It was political. It was. Oh, that's, I can't remember. Okay, that's why I put on blast. It was the headline, to be honest. I felt that the story spoke to a lot of truths but we do know that people really don't get beyond headlines. And in the industry we call this parachuting a parachuting for story it's like the hot thing right and you look up media is everywhere I remember when this got national attention it was what 2000 and what 15 and I was standing at City Hall and was reporters everywhere, everywhere, you know, and we locally we have been covering water, we have been covering water main breaks boil advisory alerts, you know, like we were following water. And next thing you know every news outlet in the nation was in Flint. And I just remember telling the police at City Hall like look there on my spot man. Like, you know, for them to go move them. But I get offended as a journalist, you know, as a person a community person as a journalist, because I felt like people before stories. And you parachuting and you try to have tell the story because it's not the whole story, which can be damaging to us. And it's also disrespectful. You know, I really want journalists to put some time into this or partner with local news agencies to tell this story like agencies that are already here boots on the ground that have a more clear picture of what's going on here. This time, but I don't know what to do about it. I just get furious. And I do things like I did on Twitter in my anger, and I'm a Flint resident I mean I was just before this call I was saying I got my letter in the mail. You know, for this class action suit I don't know what I'm going to do with it but I got to. So, um, I'm part of this community. I, I hear the comments and I feel like they're not telling the story. Like I'm looking at comments now from people with stories. The things they say when you report on it the things they say on social media. Some of the things are still going through hair loss. Some of them are saying they're still having skin problems. They are complaining about how high the water bill is, you know, I've watched people die, literally get Legionnaires hit hard health just completely fell apart and a lady a young lady in her 20s deteriorated. You know, and so I was part of that I spoke at her funeral. It's just those stories I feel like they're not spending enough time here to tell.  Every Monday, heading to a community center I drive past a waterline. You know, and it's the same church that's given COVID testing. So now we're going through that too right. So I just, I just don't feel like they, they do us a disservice. That's how I feel to do us a disservice I find it to be highly disrespectful. And I can't imagine myself parachuting into another community, trying to tell a story like this, and hurting them even more. So that's how I feel about it. Yeah, yeah, completely understand that. Thank you for sorry if I get emotional.  And I want to turn to you because you know part of the reason why you are here is because you know you are based in Michigan right like we wanted to make sure that you know when we covered Michigan that we were having you know people who are in community with the people that they're covering. And so I want to have you bring you into this conversation a little bit about, you know the accountability that we're talking about right like it's it, whether it's you know with, you know, charges or with you policies or even with you know the national narrative you know this is all kind of you know rolling toward accountability and so we talked about some of those steps that are currently moving forward but some of the underlying problems are still in place and in your recent story you mentioned open records legislation to make the state government more transparent as a needed reform. What would that legislation actually do and you know kind of why is it important, you know for this story, and then you know kind of what have been some of the barriers to making those changes. Yes, this is something I have been thinking about for years I think one of the first articles I wrote specifically about Flint and its water crisis involved open records stuff. This is because Michigan is one of only two states in the country, along with Massachusetts where the legislature and the governor's office are totally exempt from open records request so they don't have to abide by basic transparency standards they can opt in or opt out as they can opt out as they please which makes it hard for journalists, or citizens or community organizers or scientists or anyone else to get access to information on the critical decisions that powerful people are making that affect our lives and in the case of Flint as we can see it the stakes are literally life or death. There are two lawmakers in Michigan, a Democrat and a Republican who have been working together for years really to bring transparency to the legislature in the governor's office in Michigan, and just to be clear that's not the only issue with secrecy in Michigan but it's a big one. There are several attempts to push forward this open records bill, but it didn't get traction initially, because it just didn't have this support of the Republican leadership in the legislature who just simply did not want to do it it was just dead. Now the lawmakers who are championing this are both in the Senate, there's been change in leadership they're really optimistic about getting it passed this last year they plan this huge unveiling for Sunshine Week in March. As you can imagine that ended up getting postponed because of COVID. They did have another chance to bring it forward in the fall but it was delayed by a lot of other backlog legislation and then by the hearings that the Senate held on Michigan's presidential election, and the clock just ran out. So that's unfortunate but both senators have told me that they plan to introduce it yet again in this coming year to bring transparency to our legislature and to our governor's office which hopefully can help make a rising emergency like Flint. Solve it before it escalates basically. Yeah. And then obviously one of the maybe not obviously but one of the things that you know kind of got us here is you know the emergency manager. That was in place in Flint. And so for years they've been calls to repeal Michigan's emergency manager law. And that law obviously pans political authority over from cities to state appointed officials. Is there any movement kind of to address that now or is that just kind of like out of the out of the public sphere right. It's a good question because you would expect this to be an area where we saw the crisis leading to some real change, especially with former governor Snyder himself admitting that the law failed. And yet we've seen basically nothing up to this point. I mean, since December 2015 a variety of Flint inspired bills were introduced to repeal the law, or at least reform it. Not just from one side of the aisle but they didn't go anywhere and that's especially striking when you consider that the water crisis did lead to some substantial policy reform in another area, namely to the State Safe Drinking Water Act. So you know Michigan now has some of the most progressive water regulations in the country, but it's notoriously draconian emergency manager law is sitting there untouched and it seems like nobody's even talking about it anymore, at least not publicly. That doesn't mean nothing has changed I mean the law came in for such criticism after Flint became big news that it became politically unviable to make much use of it so all of the cities and school districts that were under emergency management have had local control restored. We haven't seen any new emergency managers appointed, but the law is still there ready and waiting to be used if the political climate changes so why is that to get to your question. I mean my understanding is that at the state level it's it's two things first of all, too many Republicans who've supported the em law over the years are reluctant to admit they were wrong, even after Flint. And even for those who are open to the idea of reforming it. It's not exactly the issue of the moment. So there's not a lot of political will there. Having said that I've heard that there's at least some conversation going on behind closed doors about about making reform a priority again, and that as soon as it reaches a critical mass and Lansing it will become a public conversation. So of course what many people in Flint and other communities affected by emergency management have called for is outright repeal of the law and this could become an opportunity to mobilize again around that demand. You can't repeal it by referendum as was done in 2012 with an earlier version of the law. For those who continue to believe that the state needs some way of intervening in cities that are struggling financially. There are any number of proposals for how to make those kinds of interventions more accountable. How to ensure that local interests and considerations of public health are prioritized and so on. So, for example, some people have proposed requiring EMS to post $5 million bonds when they take their positions that they would forfeit if they engaged in gross negligence. Others have proposed putting financial management teams in place rather than individual autocrats, including local ombuds people. We could look at mandating some kind of public participation process within the response to financial emergencies, and requiring popular votes on certain kinds of proposals for example, changing a drinking water source. Over the years, we've accumulated quite a few ideas about what to do instead of having the state take cities over unilaterally and appoint what amount to dictators to govern them by fiat, but we just haven't done much with those ideas yet. So hopefully we're right on the cusp of some kind of reinvigoration of that conversation. But just like with anything else, you know, public pressure of some kind would be helpful if the issue is going to be made a priority. And we know that a lot of public pressure usually comes in the form of academic research and books and things like that. Not only I've been obviously you wrote a book and a wrote a book, but also some of the research that people like you are doing right like in the academic sector or in the health sector. And so I want to turn to Yvonne really quickly before we get to our last question for the panelists and then we hop into the Q&A, which the Q&A is popping. So Yvonne, what do you think the role of researchers is in helping communities get justice? I mean you talked so eloquently earlier about, you know, kind of this idea of justice and what it would feel like for the people of Flint. Is there a role?  What would you study? What research would you do? And what do you think that other cities should be studying and paying attention to, you know, kind of as a part of like learning from what happened in Flint? Thank you, Talia. One of the first thing I think should happen is relates to research is that there is a clear pathway to engage communities in what the research will be, how the research will be conducted, and in what ways it will be conducted, right? So we've stood up here, we have what we call the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center, which is a partnership between our community and academic partners. We believe, if in fact, if we just take the water crisis as an example, when the citizens saw, saw the water look different, smelled the water look different, and we could have partnered and done research and all it with, then you've got the issue. The community understands what the issues are that they're facing. We need our academic partners to come and walk along beside us and work with us. We don't necessarily know and really want to do all of, you know, understanding research jargon and all of that. There are ways to communicate the important things about research so that we understand how that research is conducted and why. Research is simply saying, I've got a question that I need an answer to. Our academic partners have been trained and prepared to do the necessary studies, put the surveys together to get at those answers. The research team also needs to have community voices involved in that. So the questions are relevant to what the communities needs are. And we're sure then that not only is the research being effective, but the outcomes that that research will really resonate and make a difference in communities. There has to be clear, important partnerships, open and transparent communication. And most of all, once the research is done, it can't just sit in the book. It just can't sit on the shelf. It just can't go into a journal for somebody's next level of academic pursuit. It must come back to the community in a way that something can be done that will make an ongoing change for the residents in those communities. Flint is one example, but there are many communities who need the same type of investment that we're calling for here. And we trust that the work that we're doing will be an example that other communities will be able to follow. And that's why our academic partners are so important because the data drives the question, the data drives policy, the data drives the resources. And so together, community and academic partners, working together, identifying what the issues are and working collectively to resolve those issues and then utilize results from those, those investigations. Thank you for that. I want to make sure that our audience gets a chance to be in conversation with you too. I'm going to ask you a rapid fire question so that everybody else can jump into this great conversation. So also for people, if you're, if you're watching, make sure you're adding your questions in and we're going to pick a couple to try to go through.  I'm wondering for you, what would true justice look like? And what are the big changes that maybe are not widely discussed but that you think should be on the table? Rapid fire, so I'm going to go, I'm going to go, Ben, Yvonne, Jakwanda. Okay, so one thing really quick that I really don't think has received nearly enough attention. When we talk about making decisions about water more transparent and accountable and democratic, we can't just be talking about emergency management. We also need some reform in the way that water is managed right here in Flint. We need reform of our local water utility. We need to make sure that the people who are actually dispensing the water on a daily basis are doing it in a way that, again, is transparent so that when issues arise, we know who to go to. We know we'll get a response. We need to have, you know, residents overseeing to the extent that that's possible. The way in which that water is managed, we're supposed to have a water system advisory council in place here in Flint. It's now a matter of state law should have been in place already. We're still waiting on that. And so, you know, it's things like that that would allow residents to exercise an everyday oversight of how their water is actually being managed. And those are steps that we're not even close to taking yet here in Flint in any meaningful way. Okay, and then Yvonne and Anna, sorry. What does justice look like equal opportunity equal right equal access to what is a human right clean affordable drinking water. Jaquanda, for me, justice for Flint is equity. When we started the water crisis, we was already behind decades. And that's because we just do not have an equitable community. And so we need to bridge gaps. We need equity. They need resources. They need education here. We have high illiteracy. I feel like if we can build an equitable community. We can prevent things like the water crisis from happening to communities like Flint. So that's what I'm working towards equity. This is a bit of an echo of that but I would love, I don't think it's up to me to say what's justice for Flint but I would love to see a broader conversation of the context for why we have gotten so accustomed to these chronically disinvested cities in Flint and all over the country that we have come to think of it as normal. It's not normal. And I think that I think we it is beyond time to start reckoning with the choices that have caused and prolonged that state of being. I'm coming back. Hi. All right, so let's get to questions from the audience. We actually have a bunch of questions sort of related to the class action suit that Ben was speaking about earlier and detailing. Just wanting to know the extent of like what it really would cover. Does the settlement provide compensation for property damage from corrosion of interior plumbing, or if you have a lead service line, and do these amounts cover lifelong health care related to people's exposure to lead. So does it cover you know lifelong health care and also like infrastructure of their homes. So I can follow up on that real quick. Again, if you're a homeowner in Flint, then you can get up to $1,000. You know I had my hot water heater burst in the middle of all of this.  I think about other kinds of damage that might have been done to interior plumbing and appliances and so forth, it could easily get beyond $1,000 so I know there are people who would like to see that number raised. As far as long term health needs. I mean, basically you take what you can get from a settlement like this I mean. People who have suffered the most say who got Legionnaires disease and have had their bodies compromise long term they're probably going to see the biggest payouts, and it might be enough to fund some of the care they need long term, but for most people know I don't think that it's going to be anything like that. Okay, thank you. I have a question about what remedies are available at the federal level. Why did the environmental protection agency fail to enforce title six of the Civil Rights Act. And to me I'm going to start with you because I know you've done some work reporting there. So, I haven't done anything super recent but I'm in the past I've written about title six of the Civil Rights Act and how EPA one it was, it was not recent not used a ton by environmentalists and because partially it was a slow wheel to kind of turn to get justice. And then EPA, once you can finally got your title six case into title six of the Civil Rights Act basically ensures that you know any entity that gets, you know, state or government funds can't do anything that would be like racist essentially. And so, what would happen is that EPA, even if they got these cases, they wouldn't really find any any discriminatory impacts which really meant that there was no remedy for the people even if there was some harm there just was there was no remedy for the people didn't use it. I'm not. I don't think that there was a title six case and someone can correct me if there was but there was, then you're sorry about that. Yeah, so there was I mean, it's a long story, we probably don't have the time to get all the way into it but yeah there were there were complaints lodged with the EPA that went through the Civil Rights Office and and so there wasn't anything decided about the Flint crisis case specifically but there were issues with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality going back to the 90s that the EPA said needed to be addressed and that in and of itself was a historic ruling. Right, right, exactly and that was like one of the only ones that they ever did, but yeah, so no absolutely so I think the part of it is that you know title six is an imperfect remedy, and it's not well used it's not a great. It's an easy kind of road to go through either so I think that's part of it. Okay we're also seeing a lot of questions about infrastructure. So is replacement of the municipal water supply piping complete or still ongoing and if it's ongoing like where in the process are we. Well yeah, I was going to say it's still ongoing, and I think that's one of the big issues when we talk about where we are. And again this is a long story has been said we have to go all the way back and start talking about Karagande and understand what that is there needs to be transparency about the process being utilized to get to a really improved infrastructure. We've got lots of we got large spaces of land where there's no one flushing. And so even if you do your best you got you got to, you've got consideration of contaminants in your in your water, even if it's not let it let's be clear the flat river in and of itself is not bad and it's got a bad rat. It's a process that was used so when people think about Flint and they think about the river. No we're not on the Flint water with the Flint River is no longer the municipal source so that isn't the issue now. The issue now is the infrastructure is larger than we have really useful right now with the city of this size. There are some things that need to be corrected so I will just to make it simple. I think it can be very transparent about what the process is, because if we are not clear about what's going on, it's going to be very difficult to get to a place of trust. Cynthia you're muted. Thank you. I have questions sort of taking a step back a bit. What do people usually get wrong, or what common misconceptions do you run into when covering or discussing the water crisis and Jaconda let's, let's start with you on that one. I think people always assume it was just lead. They didn't take in consideration like all the bacterial things that we had going on in the city, including Legionnaires. People assume that by now the pipes are fixed, which you just heard Miss Yvonne they're not, you know, some of the homes with the highest level still haven't had their pipes replaced. I know that for fact. So there's an assumption that it's over. You know it's done. They don't hear anything about it anymore and then I have to say no we're still going through a water crisis. And there's also assumption that everybody has an awful story. And I'm a young lady that I know and she said that she gets nervous. Anytime someone asked her about the water crisis because her story is different. Her children didn't have rashes their hair didn't fall out. You know, the herd. The she's a higher income bracket than most here. Right. And so she didn't face the same challenges. So it's assumption that everybody in the city was impacted the same way, but they weren't. So those are the main things that I go through. And can I can I echo that just quickly because when we first started off in the water crisis we we really set up some places in the community for children to get lead tested. And I was helping to set up one of those events reporter comes in and ask about it and he says I need a story. And I said, Okay, I'm a resident of Flint and he looked at me and said I don't mean you. There's a stereotypical view of what our community looks like and who was impacted. But I say to you the water in the pipes, don't get to a resident that has a high education attainment and has a recent has resources and say oh I'm not going to go there. It goes to everybody's house. So everybody in this community is affected and sometimes when we talk about inequities. And then it is viewed that only one segment of the community is affected. It's easy for others to be dismissed, but all of us are affected by this and that's the story that should be told the story of all of us. Good, bad, and the ugly to ensure that we get the remedies that this community needs. So the next question is, what is the best path to achieving water confidence in Flint and what partners or assistance would most benefit the community in its journey to water confidence. Maybe Jaconda or even or or Ben. In my head, I know, I think that only that's time. Right. You know, I think that we can expect this community to trust in what government says to them after they've been poised and like, okay, your pipes are replaced. Your water is good. Get to drinking it. Right. That's the expectation for some reason like I see all these different comments from people who don't live here. And that's the expectation. But if, if someone's wife cheats on them or husband cheats on them and they say look I'm not cheating anymore I'm all yours. Do you just start trusting them tomorrow. So, it's time, and some people may die with that distrust. It is what it is, you know the damage is done and that I think has to be accepted. It has to be accepted that people do not trust be okay with it, because it was a, it was just it was a horrible situation that you could not go to your tap and turn on water.  And people expect you to get over it. You know, I think that time will tell. And I don't meet personally. I don't think I ever would trust water again like I just don't, you know I think I'm going to take that to my death bed, you know, be somewhere traveling still drinking bottled water because I'm terrified of what might come out of the tap. So, it could be 10 2030 years from now and people may still not trust the water and it's nothing you can do about it, except do your job. You know, do your job, be transparent. And maybe just maybe one day, things will change and stop expecting it to happen overnight. And I would support that by saying that consistent action. Let's let's see what the plan is. And then let's follow the plan. And if we if there is something put in place is that these are the things that we're going to do, then let's see that action happening and see it on an ongoing basis. Let's, we've got to move beyond the start and stop, and hope that somebody's going to start it again and next time, but let's put that plan in place, make it available to the residents, and then let's continue to move it forward. And the quick thing if I if I can just add on. I also think we need to get beyond just talking about trust and start talking about the trust worthiness of the people in institutions who are asking for trust because sometimes, you know, when we talk about trust it's almost as if the residents have some kind of problem right that you know the water is just fine now what's wrong with them for continuing to distrust it. Whereas, in fact, a lot of the people in institutions were talking about have yet to prove their trust worthiness a lot of these people who came in, saying they were all about rebuilding trust and Flint, after they finally acknowledged the problem, ended up doing things that only generated more distrust. Right. So, again, we have to be really careful about this whole trust narrative, degenerating into kind of a victim blaming narrative, whereas, where it's the problem of the residents for not trusting, rather than the institutions for not being trustworthy. Okay. Next question. The US food and drug administration's limit for lead and bottled water is five parts per billion. Does Michigan have such a help have such health based standards. Yvonne or Ben maybe you could take this one. Well, so bottled water is regulated by the food and drug administration, as opposed to tap water which is regulated by the environmental protection agency so you have to totally different regulatory standards that apply to those different kinds of water with bottled water. Yes, it's five parts per billion but you've got other issues with the way bottled water is actually monitored. You basically are dependent upon the bottled water providers to monitor their own product and report out the data. So bottled water has a higher threshold for lead but it's very regularly monitored. And so we know a lot about it, at least in a general way at a system wide level. One of the issues we've learned a lot about in Flint is that you can have one thing going on and you know system wide on average and you can have a very different thing going on in any particular home. So we have to be really careful about relying on these kinds of general standards to make sweeping claims about water safety in any water system. Now as for Michigan there has been. I think that that it's we're supposed to go from 15 parts per billion to 12 parts per billion if I'm not mistaken. I don't remember by what year that's supposed to go into effect officially it's it's, but there has been talk about bringing that that threshold down even lower because we know that there's no safe level of lead and ideally you want the amount of lead in your water to be zero but you know they're all kinds of logistical complications involved in bringing the levels down that low. So we have to realize these aren't public health based standards, right. There's a lot to do with just the feasibility of realizing, you know those levels within a water system. How likely are similar water crises to hit other American cities, and does the country need to be thinking about what does the country needs to be thinking about in terms of water quality as it reopens schools and other institutions, where water has been stagnant over the past year. Anna, take a shot at that. Yeah, the shorter answer is that it already has. Just in the last few years there have been water crises in Pittsburgh and Newark, New Jersey and Trenton and other communities besides I mean, well before Flint there is a huge water crisis in Washington DC. The problems with drinking water safety and infrastructure are systematic and as are the problems with concentrated poverty and some of the other issues that we saw in Flint story and well, what happened in Flint escalated and an unusual way for a lot of reasons it's not a singular story I mean this is a broader. We have a broader challenge to deal with us as a country. And one thing that I think it's important to mention is that well it's very much true that communities that are chronically disinvested are much more likely to bear the brunt of this making it an environmental justice issue it's communities that are more privileged are not immune and I think that sometimes people make that kind of a simple thing I've come across this a lot when I talk to people they think if they live in a kind of a wealthier community then this won't touch them and we have to show we have lead pipes everywhere we have some drinking water regulation problems like everywhere and when people, especially now are returning to schools and other institutions where water has been shut off for a long time. You're going to run into a lot of the same problems that you saw in Flint which has as Ivan was kind of mentioning like a lot of vacancy issues which means the water sits stagnant in pipes or moves more slowly through pipes. This lets the water get more contaminated, because it just gets saturated while it like just sort of sits there you need to be moving the water to keep it healthy. There are strong flushing protocols that are out there and water testing protocols that are out there that would be wise for people to be looking into well before they're inviting students back into school schools or employees back into their other institution and I think folks should definitely be looking at that. Certainly if they're a decision maker at these institutions but also if they're a community member in them. And Cynthia that's a very interesting question because a lot of times people will say they've got a problem but it's not like Flint, but a lead problem, an infrastructure problem is a problem. And so what we again and encouraged to think about it, the issue of cross this nation, we have an aging infrastructure. And if there is a national mandate and national conversation about what do we do with an aging infrastructure because at some point, all of our communities will be affected by something very similar, even if it didn't happen as a result of an emergency manager. Thank you. I have a question I think would be interesting to hear from everyone on if they have some advice here. And that is, what is one piece of advice you would give to communities fighting for safe drinking water. Keep fighting. Yeah, that exactly that's what I was going to say because this this fight was led by passionate residents, mothers who saw something wrong with their water, right. And they just kept fighting and fighting until someone listened. So you have to keep fighting is in it. I can't tell you how long their journey will be. But, you know, if you don't fight, then we're worse off for it. Then we have to continue the fight. And I'm pretty sure if you talk to any activists around here. It wasn't easy. It's not easy. You know, even a ridicule and how tired they are I said I was going to throw up, throw a gathering just for the activists alone so they could get a break like some self care right because they're still fighting seven years later. They're still out here stumping water and trying to be heard about these issues. So, I'm with Yvonne like keep fighting. There's no simple remedy. There's no book on it of how to go about this fight, but you just have to keep fighting. I want to add something not about obviously citizens but I think one thing that I think that Flint could show is that maybe the federal government or election officials need to consider other ways and other other I guess standards of science as a burden of proof because I think that so much of so many people in the community were kind of dismissed when they came with their bottles of water because they hadn't met the scientific standards of EPA or the Michigan environmental department or whatever. I think that as we, you know, citizen science and citizen, you know, kind of accountability has a place, I think in in governmental decisions and I think that maybe there should probably be some conversation among some elected officials about you know kind of okay well what is the standard that we're interested in and what is, and even if you know it doesn't meet our standard, what's enough to say okay you know well this feels like there's something there maybe we should look into it. One more thing to add to that you know in these struggles often it is the case that scientific evidence of some kind is really crucial for getting people in positions of power to take you seriously and to take action. It often involves some level of collaboration relationship between people within communities and people from coming in from the outside people in academia, people who are quote unquote experts. We really need robust relationships like that but we've learned in Flint that you know communities have to be really careful about how they structure those relationships. And if you're going to bring people in from the outside know that those relationships can easily go south and result in some real abuses and so we really need robust institutions within communities that ensure that residents who enter into those kinds of relationships have some protection when things start to go wrong and Yvonne is doing great work in in that respect. And you know when you have academics coming in respecting that that infrastructure and working within it and so forth and really putting the community first, then it can work well but it can also go very badly and so this is something that people in other communities should know so that they can take steps to protect themselves. I also feel like we need to get back to elected officials work for us. You know, all too often we forget that, you know, we vote and we put people in place, and we elect them so they will listen to us and that we can make change in our communities and for some reason, it seems like we're working for them. You know, we forget that we have the power, right we have the power. And I think we really really really need to lean on that power that we have in communities, you know and come together when elected officials are not listening. You know, show up when they're not listening show up to council meeting show up at city hall and be heard. You know, we have a tendency to just kind of complain amongst ourselves about problems and not really take it to them in a way where we can really really be heard and, you know, I think that's an ongoing battle. Well, on that note, that is our time for tonight. I want to thank our speakers for this informative discussion. I'd like to give a special thank you to our sponsor for tonight's event McKinsey and company and also our co presenters for this event Flint beat and Michigan radio video of tonight's event will be available on pro public as YouTube channel.


So in a previous video, we talked a little bit about what is emotion? What's some of the basic characteristics of emotion and and we just started a conversation a really good conversation about emotion And I wanted to continue that a little bit here by talking about some of the influences on emotional expression Where does this come from? Where do our? Emotions come from and what you know factors are there that influence how we experience and how we express an emotion particularly So let's take a look at some of those influences and factors on emotional expression first our personality plays a big role in Emotion right some of us are I mean we're just wired differently in a sense emotionally speaking some of us are More high-strung some of us are more low-key And neither of those is intended as judgment sometimes high-strung people need to be you know We need you need that in a person and sometimes low-key people I tend to be a little more low-key emotionally and I get accused of being Not not not as feeling as I should be you know not experiencing emotions Oh, I should but so but our personality, you know We're just sort of born with some of this hard-wired in in terms of are we how do we have a calmer personality or do we have a? You know out their personality and how does that influence then how we experience and how we express these emotions and get some of That's just DNA. So it's just how we're wired Another major influences our culture There are cultures that that encourage emotional expression like those of us in Western cultures Westernized cultures in the United States and Western Europe Canada places like that We are encouraged to express our emotion to just bluntly state. I'm feeling this or I'm you know having this emotion There are other cultures where? That's not as encouraged right that where they're Encouraged to kind of keep that to themselves. That's not You know expected that the people would express emotion that you're just supposed to kind of bottle it up a little bit more And to us that seems unhealthy and may not seem wise, but other cultures that that's about maintaining the the Collective perspective right that just because you're feeling something doesn't necessarily mean we need to have everybody feel that so They're thinking about the whole rather than just the individual and so your culture though will have a massive influence on How you experience and how you express those emotions? Gender will also play a role am I gender remember we're not talking about biological sex here. We're talking about the the the you know masculine or feminine or androgynous type of of gender that you that you Maintain that you kind of subscribe to and that you develop and that you you build from So that the different genders view emotion differently through socialization, but we're taught Through this that that genders experience and express emotion differently And so while it's all eight this these are generalizations We're not talking about individuals talking about generally speaking so it could be different for each each individual But we know that in general masculine and feminine gendered people tend to have different Relationships with their emotions so to speak right they tend to experience and express emotion differently Your social roles and convention which again comes back in some ways to culture but in a very specific way What are the expectations for you socially where you grew up? You know if this was the 1950s America then the social roles and conventions would be the that women stay at home They take care of families. They raise children, right? They maintain the home while them the men go out and earn a living and things like that Now we know that that's not our social role and convention that men and women both work outside the home that men and women can both stay in and Raise children if either of them is going to sometimes kids are you know not racing themselves But both parents work so you make adjustments for that one of the social roles and conventions When I was growing up in the you know in the 80s and 90s was much more of a me time Right much more of a me focus so we were encouraged to express or it was okay for us to express our emotions much more bluntly Now in in the modern day We're expected to be a little more considered about what other people may feel about that how they may react and almost to the other extreme to an extreme of that and so But the social roles and conventions change over time and and they change as we grow and age and different things so Social media certainly has had an influence on emotion as well Due to most largely what we call the disinhibition effect where we know that the people who are separated by a screen That tends to amplify emotion in a lot of ways we tend to see a lot more emotional expression Happen a lot faster So that that plays out in a couple different ways first you see a lot of a lot of anger for example There's social media people are much more inclined to just let loose and call somebody names and and start spitting fire On social media then they would be probably if that person was was right in front of them in a face-to-face way we also see relationships develop much faster for example in the online environment because Emotion is experienced differently there. So you're you're more inclined to Share and self-disclosed at a higher rate Online then you would be in a face-to-face relationship. So again for better or worse those are things that happen via social media We experience things differently when we have a screen between us and the other person And it certainly impacts emotion the the experience and expression of emotion in many ways via social media Some of the idea of Emotional contagions right contagions being things like, you know, if you have the common cold or you have the flu or something We know that those can be passed from person to person, right? We know that one of the reasons said that COVID for example was so dangerous COVID-19 was so dangerous was that it was passed so easily from person to person it was aerosolized and Emotions are much the same way.  We need to be aware of that that our emotions can kind of Be passed to others and rub off on other people. So what kind of emotion do we want to share with the world then? Finally we can look at the influence of emotional Intelligence now emotional intelligence. I want to give you a bit of a definition here and back up a little bit with it Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize understand and manage your emotions as well as understand and influence the emotions of others So let's look at that In segments here first of all recognize understand and manage your own emotions Gosh, that's a challenge, right? That's that's that's a good skill. Some people are have this ability to do this a little more easily than others but always have the ability to some extent to Recognize understand and manage our emotions. That's something we should be working toward Now this does not mean that we need to suppress our emotions or that we need to totally be fake with people But we ought to be able to identify. Okay, what emotion am I experiencing right now? We're talking another video about a sometimes the physiological aspects for example of a strong emotion Are ambiguous? They can be the same for anger and for love and confusion and fear and so forth So which one of my experiencing I need to be able to recognize that and identify emotions appropriately that I'm feeling I also need then to be able to understand them. What does that mean? What implications does it have for me and for other people and What triggered that and so forth to understand those things more deeply and then to manage those emotions Not necessarily again to suppress all the emotions that we have either good or bad Or positive or negative valence emotions But to to be able to manage them in a sense that just because I feel a strong emotion doesn't mean I have to first of all communicate it at all Or secondly that I have to communicate it in a particular way just because I'm angry doesn't mean I have to shout right I can manage my anger in different ways Or just because I think I'm in loveless one doesn't mean I have to necessarily jump in and just Goo all over I love you. I love you. I love you. That could be a bit much too I need to manage that emotion in an appropriate way for myself and for the other person, right? That's that's part of emotional intelligence The other part is being able to understand and influence the emotions of others now Please recognize this does not say manipulate the emotions of others That's not what we're talking about but to be able to recognize the emotions of others to kind of identify What emotions they may be experiencing and then allow that to influence how we interact with them And thereby maybe affect their emotions if I see that my friend is very sad I may try and cheer him up right tell him some jokes or tell him some funny stories reminding of Of something good, right? I could attempt to influence his emotions in that way Um But there's just a variety ways that we can benefit from understanding and being able to influence then the emotions of others That's what we mean by emotional intelligence Aristotle kind of summed it up this way he said anybody can become angry That is easy But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose And in the right way That is not within everybody's power and is not easy Really he's talking about emotional intelligence there, right? He's saying that you know emotional intelligence is not easy Anybody can expect can have this emotion and can just let it spill out and you know wash over them or whatever But to be able to manage that emotion effectively and constructively That's really what we're getting at with emotional intelligence and that is challenging But it is a skill that we can develop and we should Absolutely seek to develop along with understanding and and really managing all these other aspects Of of influences on our emotion and emotional intelligence then So hopefully we have a better understanding of emotion where it comes from what it's influenced by It's really all of those things you you throw them in a blender and and and you get how any given individual is going to experience And express that emotion If you have a question about emotions specifically the way that it relates to interpersonal communication Please feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you there and be able to continue this discussion in that way In the meantime, I hope you'll give some thought next time you experience an emotion To okay, where did this come from and how did I I come to see this emotion? Just do a little self examination about how that influence came to be What it means for you and how you might best be able to manage it in terms of experiencing and expressing that emotion


A Brainerd High School graduate has been released from the hospital following a brutal attack last Friday in Fargo. 21-year-old Isaiah Smith suffered serious injuries in the attack that happened near NDSU's campus. Fargo police say Smith confronted two men the night he was attacked. Isaiah's mom Jennifer says he called the two out because he believed one of them was abusing a girl who was a friend of Isaiah's. The men then attacked him leaving him seriously injured. Family members say he underwent seven hours of surgery. His jaws broken in three places now wired shut and he's lost over half of his teeth and he has a concussion. Fargo police have investigators working on the case but for now the suspects have not been arrested. Our investigations unit has spoken with all parties involved in the incident and will be working towards sending over a report to the Cascone State's Attorney's office for for charges. Police say there's no timeline on when we will hear back on the possibility of charges for the suspects. Smith is a former three-sport athlete for Brainerd High and graduated in 2014. If you'd like to help Isaiah on his long road to recovery there is a you-carrying page set up for him as of this evening more than $33,000 has been raised to help with his medical costs. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public


Now blood types are a phenotype that is caused by multiple alleles multiple alleles Contribute to the phenotypes that you see when we're talking about blood typing I'm gonna start by Explaining to you what blood typing is like what is your blood type and I if we were if we were sharing space I totally would ask you if anybody knows your blood type I try to give blood as often as possible It's the easiest form of organ transplant Because I just remake the blood that I give away every eight weeks Which is awesome, and it's super beneficial to folks who need blood So I this is super interesting, but most of us or many of us don't know our blood type and don't really know What blood typing is so let's? look at What are what it was what is blood type? Let's start with the phenotype for blood and I love you and I have to draw this it doesn't matter how many times I have talked about blood typing I Have to draw my blood cells in order to remember the story of What causes the blood type phenotype? We have four possible phenotypes when it comes to blood type and I say we have four possible phenotypes if anybody out there is like a blood-giving Hero you probably know that there actually is another thing involved in blood typing I'm not gonna talk about that other thing I'm gonna just stick to this but look at this We have type a blood Type do I have to write type every time or can I say type B? Type a B and type O So you may know what the thing is that I'm missing that would increase the number of possible phenotypes we have here It's the RH factor and the RH factor adds a plus or a minus to your blood type So actually and I I said I wasn't gonna do this, but I can't help it a Type a blood can be a positive or a negative Where the positive and the negative piece is the RH factor? For some reason they don't use RH factor in Genetics problems, and I don't know why because I have heard that it is coded for by a gene We're just gonna leave that Over there for we can talk about it when we do physio and come take physio with me because it's really fun to talk about blood type in that class so If you hear about RH factors or pluses and negatives, that's what it it means But what is the actual phenotype of a type a blood human? Well, they have these things called antigens Embedded in their some membranes think about this these antigens are Proteins and I make them with little a's on the end so that I can remember that those are a antigens and Antigens are just proteins Which means? How do we get proteins home kids? Proteins are coded for by genes So we need a gene the blood type gene to Tell us What kind of antigens to build? Proteins to embed in the cell membrane of a red blood cell What kind of antigens do you anticipate are found in type B blood? It was an easy one wasn't it? Blood typing is easy Please tell my physio students that it is easy It's not so easy, but that's okay. We will if it makes you feel like it's easy We will be very happy about that. What about type A B blood? You are correct because I can hear you We have both a and B Antigens embedded in the cell membrane and what about type O? What do you think is going on there? Hmm that that is going on there with type O blood. There are no antigens embedded in the cell membrane So the next question now we're talking about multiple alleles blood typing the A B blood types are coded for by one gene But all of our other situations have had two alleles right we've had a recessive leal and a dominant allele Well in the case of blood types, we actually have three possible alleles and I'm going to throw those Possible alleles down here. I'm going to throw the possible alleles way down here The gene I have no idea why is called the I gene cool and The I a allele codes for a antigens to be embedded in the cell membrane The Sun is coming out. Can you tell that the Sun is coming out? And it's like there's raindrops coming out of the redwood trees right now, and I'm like Super pretty out there and we're talking about blood typing, which is like my favorite thing. Oh Everything's my favorite thing, huh? What other allele if you had to guess another allele? What's another allele? the I B allele look at how I'm making the The Different alleles I've got the gene and The leal I'm doing like this little subscript. I'm doing capital eyes. What does that tell you hint hint? There are no hints on here for what I'm trying to tell you it was in the last lecture that your hint is Is that the end of the story? No, because of course we have a recessive I allele So we have there is a recessive I allele possible now Push pause you can totally do this What do you think predict the possible? Genotypes that give rise to each one of these phenotypes, so I'm gonna make you a chart genotypes Because there's gonna be multiple genotypes and once we do the genotypes you will see How this is actually an example of co-dominance. I Gave it away We do have multiple alleles. That's what we're talking about today, but you'll see anyway the co-dominance part Okay, guess the genotypes You pushed pause now you're gonna check yourself and see if you're right Well, if we have a antigens, I'm assuming that the I a allele is Necessary in order to get type A blood and I am assuming correct now. I could be homozygous I a That makes sense that that would lead to a Full expression of type A blood What's another possibility? Gotta have the I a you could have the little I recessive allele and still fully express Complete dominance in this mmm. I got to be careful of that In this case this heterozygote is fully expressing the a type A blood Okay, but we have two possible genotypes That's gonna lead to some complicated problems that you're gonna solve. Okay, what about B? What are our possible genotypes that lead to type B blood? Uh-huh, I Know that you knew that or I Know you knew that too Good job What about a B blood? What are you gonna do? Gotta have the I a to give rise to the a antigens Gotta have the I B to give rise to the B antigens.  That is that's super easy That's super clear The only thing that's weird about this is now we have three possible alleles to pick from and Our dominant alleles express Co-dominantly so they share the load and they're both fully expressed.  Be nice to yourself We're gonna keep this exact same picture and in the next section. We're gonna talk about a concept called epistasis Here we're looking at all the different ways that we can have complexity There's a phenomenon called called epistasis that we can see in blood typing that leads to phenotypic complexity That can be quite unexpected


And the joy is increasing in your life. It will not decrease, it will increase. Because you're present, you're aware of your soul, you're also, beautifully so, aware of the soul of the other. Not in a cosmic sense, but in a terrestrial, corporeal, present sense. You're aware of the other. So, your actions with the other are much more precise and informed than when you're in that larger picture.  There is no experience of body anymore. And then the question arises, why not just be a spirit?


Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the club. It's bell time. My name is Drew Kazoo, joined at this time by Joe Business and Mark Green. And here we go, ladies and gentlemen. We have got the El Mundo Championship ready to be defended here. Fenway Park, Masshole, Toto Loco. For a lot of people here, this is the reason that they showed up. Oh, I cannot wait for this.  One of the greatest rivalries in New England wrestling history. Second year in a row. These two have done battle for this very championship here at Fenway Park. No one will forget last year. Former reality star Richard Hatch, lending the assist to the Masshole, Mike McCarthy, helping to win that El Mundo title. But this year, no reality stars. He's got to do it all at once. Just Toto Loco and the Masshole. Winner takes all the El Mundo title on the line, Ken. Toto Loco regained that title for a minute. And you say what you want about the Masshole, Mike McCarthy. He takes a great amount of pride in being El Mundo champion. He takes that title with him everywhere. He shows it off. He is very proud to be the El Mundo champion. And that music sounds a champ and a homecoming. And there he is, the hometown favorite, the Masshole, Mike McCarthy. I'll tell you what, I have watched this guy for most of his career, from all the way back to the Wrestleplex in Rhode Island and the Super Junior's Tournament down there, to where he is now, one of the best in New England. It's a meteoric rise. It's a great story. And it's something he can be very, very proud of. Absolutely, Mark. And the proof is in the pudding, because around his waist is that El Mundo Boston championship belt. As a matter of fact, if you remember, he won it at this very event last year. Yeah, we already talked about that, Joe, you missed it. But that's OK. This year, no Richard Hatch, the Masshole's coming over, knocking our drinks down.   Taking the ring apart, knocking drinks down, living up to his name and his moniker, the Masshole. No, we've had a lot of fun out here tonight, but this is serious. This is the El Mundo headway championship. Mike McCarthy is a master technician, and... Absolutely. You are going to see probably the best wrestling you've seen in New England this match. It's got on the black and gold. This is the match that was on the poster for a reason. This has all the gold on the line, all the stakes, all the history. I cannot wait for this one. These two tore the house down here last year. Yeah, I'm still trying to find out where Tokyo, Mexico is. Right next to Tijuana. Ah. It's right next to Tijuana, China. There he is, the champ, the king of oistyle. He is unorthodox. He'll go from a wrist lock to put a booger on you. Absolutely. But that is what has made the Masshole successful through the years. And you would think he would be the favorite in Fenway Park, but not the case. That's sort of a mixed reaction for both guys, I think. All the marbles, you can just feel it. Big fight feel in the air here. Absolutely. Crowd is jacked up. We are ready to go. El Mundo Heavyweight Championship on the line. Canton Oloco, recapture the gold he lost one year ago at Fenway Park. He is amped up, look at him. He is fired up, chomping at the bit to get his hands on McCarthy. He feels like he was robbed a year ago. He has been dying to get his hands on McCarthy ever since then. And McCarthy clearly in no rush. That was a clean victory the way I saw it last year. And McCarthy now playing mind games, getting into the head of Totoloco. He's going to start when he wants to start. Hey, when you're the champion, you dictate the pace. You dictate the rules. And that's what he's doing. He's just taking his time. Look. Let's bear in mind now that the Masshole Mike McCarthy does not have to win this match. Totoloco has to pin or submit the Masshole. Very good point. Totoloco is just ready to go. He wants this so well. More mind games. Sporting the new merch. Yeah, surveying the crowd. And keep an eye on that shoulder of McCarthy. He's got that wrapped up. Something's wrong with that shoulder. We don't know. I didn't get any medical report on it. But that is a big, big target for Totoloco. Absolutely. And you know that he's well aware of that. Wait a minute. Just like you said, mind game baited him right into that trap and the Masshole. Oh, my goodness. Hard shot of McCarthy's haunt in the crowd. Totoloco now showing that quickness that unorthodox style. Off and over by Totoloco. Hits the ellipse on the other side. Comes back. Hip toss, block, hip toss, block. Totoloco flips those lights over. I feel like my eyes are playing pinball. Docks the clothesline. Whoa. Oh, drop that rope. And McCarthy takes a trip to the floor. Watch out. Totoloco going to fly. Suicide dive. Nice. Nice move. Risking life and limb there. Yeah, there's nothing mixed about that reaction, Mark. Now, Belt time club faithful, firmly behind Totoloco. Oh, McCarthy goes on the bricks and mortar. He's out amongst the people. Depending on what referees should be exercising his tank gun, this isn't a false count. I'm losing track of them now. And the crowd is just kind of swallowing them up. Yeah, these guys are fighting. They left the ring. And they are working their way down to the concourse. They could end up out on the stage there. Yeah. Yeah, we don't have a great vantage point, guys. There's not a whole lot we can do here. I'm going to stand up and see what I can see here. Yeah, I'll leave that to you, Kazoo, because I'm not having any luck. I mean, I could see the orange hair of Totoloco. There you go. That's about all I can make out, though. There's a lot of people out there. I lost McCarthy. Oh, there he is. Hard shot there by Totoloco. Oh, McCarthy's firing back. These guys could end up on center field. These guys are going back and forth. We knew this one wasn't going to be a technical marvel. Now, we talked about it. So much history, so much bad blood between these two steps back. Oh, my god. Wow. Right into that concrete support structure, face first. I don't know, that could have even just took him out. But you can't win the title on a count out. I haven't yet to see McCarthy stand up since then. Oh, now he's being picked up and dragged around. So without it, Totoloco is willing to do anything and everything to reclaim that El Mundo Boston championship. Absolutely. It's prestigious. Wait a minute. Oh, there we go. Oh, right across the table. Right in the concession area. Say goodbye to someone's merch. This is insane, guys. Oh, what's he doing now? Put him in the ring if you want to keep your title. Wait a minute now.  All right, local back at ringside. McCartney. Wait a minute.  No. Oh. Oh, McCarthy with the fans. Totoloco now with those two big kicks. Irish whip into the ropes. Oh, tilt the world backbreaker. With authority into the cover. All in a two count. What do you think that's more tattoos, the referee or McCarthy? You know what, that's a good question. Totoloco in control now. You know, I asked all the wrestlers in the back if they had a favorite Fenway memory. And the muscle Mike McCarthy's favorite Fenway memory was beating up jocks outside the Ratskella Club. Oh, oh, oh my god. That knee just completely gave out on him. All that. That's not good. Ladies and gentlemen, that knee, I just saw that. That knee bent in a way it's not supposed to bend. We should get the medical staff out here and take a look. That is not good. We might need help out here for McCarthy. That's not good. Yeah, that's. Hold on a second, folks. This is a situation here. McCarthy landed very, very awkward on that leg. That knee twisted up. McCarthy is going to try to get back in there before the counter attack. He's going to get this thing going, but. You've got to give the tenacity of Mike McCarthy. He's not going to just sit out and lose his title. I mean, guys, I saw it clear as day. That knee just completely buckled and folded under him. It was fairly grotesque, to be honest with you. You can look at it right now even. It's bent in a weird way. Wait a minute.  Trick, total, local trick. Oh my god. Did you see? Unbelievable. That stunner on the ring apron, that was downright violent. And now it's total local that we need to go check on. I'll tell you what, I'm a very skeptical individual. And he got me with that one. The way his knee folded when he landed was sickening. Absolutely. That's dedication. Maybe he's double-jointed or something. I don't know. Yeah, it was interesting. Well, whatever it is, the tactic worked. And the mass hole, Mike McCarthy is firmly in control of this contest now as he throws total local back into the ring. Although here's the thing, if you're McCarthy, why don't you just completely continue to sell that knee's hurt? Double underhook. Butterfly suplex. But why do you sell the injury, take the 10 count, take the title and go home? It works. I don't know why he didn't do that. If that was his objective. Well, I'm not going to question the wisdom of the mass hole. He's the Almondo Boston champion for a reason. I think Mike McCarthy just enjoys putting the screws to people. Anything to needle, though, you know. That's probably true. Well, I told you, I've seen him put his body at risk to flip and hurt other people. I've seen him punch people's lights out, and this was all before he got into professional wrestling. So that's just a little window into the character of Mike McCarthy. Yeah, he's a tough guy. I don't think Mike McCarthy has any character. I'll tell you what, he is hardcore to the bone. The king of lifestyle. Oh, my god. Oh, my god. In a really, really hard land in there for Toto Loco on the apron.  I'm not sure if you're aware that's the hardest part of the ring. I've heard. I have heard. Here we go. McCarthy hooks both legs. Only a two count. Long two. Oh, you can see the welts for it on the back of Toto Loco after that fall. And McCarthy let out some kind of brow, which was quite interesting. So much punishment being dished out from his full sides. Yeah, he did. This is not a fan of Joe Business at all. Big stomp to the rooms there. Well, you better watch out on your way back. I'm not walking out with you. Oh, nice. Oh, hold him out. Here we go. Oh, right at short lariat into the counter. So close. As brutal as it was, that's not enough to put away the Toto Loco. Still in this contest. Yeah, I don't want to be on the receiving end of that. I don't want to really be on the receiving end of anything we've seen here tonight from these guys. Well, the Wildman from Tokyo, Mexico needs to pull it together here. If he wants to walk out of here with the title. Wow, hard forearm shot. Those well-placed kicks. Oh, I've got to tell you. And I think we know what we're going to see here, Joe Business. Are we going to see the 617? I think we can call it. Call it for it. Here it comes. Got to your number. Oh. At least he didn't put a booger on him. Not yet. That's a true Bostonian. It's still early in the match. We have yet to see a booger in this match. I'll be happy with that. Who knows when he'll do it? No puns in this match. No puns in this match. McCarthy hard to the outside now. Yeah, into the delight of the crowd on this one. Now McCarthy went for that slingshot.  And now Loco has already done that dive once and paid the price this time. That's what happens when you go to the well too many times. He showed it to McCarthy once. And McCarthy is quite adept at recognizing and reacting. I think we're going for that jumping DDT. That stage dive DDT. Here it comes. Loco had that scout and came up with the drop kick and takes the mass hole out of the match for the time being. Yeah, McCarthy did not expect that at all. That was a nice trick that Total Loco pulled out, but he better have more. Both men down. Who's going to make it to their feet first? The champion doesn't have to rush. All the urgency is on Total Loco. And Total Loco's to his feet first. Dying to get to his feet. The mass hole trying as well. Oh, big chop by McCarthy. I'll tell you what, we have yet to see Total Loco go after that clearly injured shoulder. Oh, big forearm by McCarthy. And Total Loco saying, bring it on. Block that one. Start off one of his own. Now the kicks. Those educated feet of Total Loco. Send McCarthy into the corner. No, McCarthy is not even with it right now. Sucks the clothesline off the other side. Catches him. Heart attack style clothesline into the cover. Two. No wasted motion by Total Loco. Hit that clothesline right into the cover. Right, I also got to wonder how long McCarthy's shoulder is going to hold up. Every time he kicks out, he has to expend energy on that bruised shoulder. That's an excellent point. We're waiting to see if Total Loco's going to capitalize on it so far. He hasn't. I know. That's why I made it. Oh. Oh, in Cigari. Here we go. Got him up. Going up. Ow. Dropped hard. Nothing fancy about that. I should know Loco win many matches with that very move. Has the back press. Two. Oh, no. We almost saw the title change hands there. That was closer than close. And Massel's in a bad way. He's just trying to get back to his feet, giving Total Loco the break that he needed. He's going to have to dig down deep into the reserves right now. We've seen him before. We've seen him battle back against adversity. Let's see if he can do it here today at Historic Fentway Park and leave here with that El Mundo Boston heavyweight championship. Wait a minute. He's going to meet him up top there. Got him hooked. Turrick can run it over. Oh, ow. McCarthy hooked the ropes and blocked it. And now we got that stage 9 DDT. Yes. That's going to do it. That's it. That's all she wrote, folks. One, two, throw. Total Loco kicks out. I cannot believe what I've just seen. I think that would put everyone down. Wow. Total Loco kicked out of that stage dive DDT. McCarthy's got to be wondering. What's left? Yeah, what can I do now? Yeah. Rolls him up. One, two, no. Unbelievable match here, folks. What a great contest we're witnessing. Mike McCarthy on spaghetti legs. There we go. Looks for half and half. Got it. Wow. Got the half and half on Total Loco. He rolled him over and got the cover. That's it. Not able to capitalize. Loco able to get to his knees quickly. Is he going for that CTFO? Yes. Going for that CTFO. Trying to choke him up. Oh. Look at the core strength of Total Loco. Well, he's got that locked in tight. He doesn't have the second hand lock, though. He never got both hands locked underneath the jaw. That would have been the difference. Total Loco able to capitalize on that mistake. McCarthy was on the inner corner. Oh, feeds Total Loco and elbow. Mike going up again. Perhaps going to that well again. Trying to put away that stage dive DDT. No. Loco, oh, right outside the head with that boot. The elevation on that kick was impressive. Absolutely. Loco has him right where he wants him now. Can he get that? Heron can run off the top. Here he goes. Got it. He got it. He did. McCarthy up to his feet quickly. Loco grabs him. And he got it that time. He got it. One, two, three. History has been made here at Fenway Park. Total Loco has won the El Mundo Boston Heavyweight Championship. He's spent, but he's elated. This was a big redemption day for Total Loco. What an unbelievable match we just saw there, fellas. Two tremendous athletes toe-to-toe.  He came in thinking this was a home game. And the mass hole leaving empty handed. Total Loco regains the El Mundo Championship one year after losing it. Wow.  That was definitely right up there. Won with one of the best at Total Loco now. Get in the adoration of the Belt Time Club faithful here. And well deserved as he walks out of here with his new El Mundo Boston Heavyweight Championship. All right, well, for Joe Business and Mark Green, my name is Drew Kazoo. Thank you for everyone watching at home on YouTube. And we will see you next time.