I'd like to thank Poem City and the Kellogg-Hubert Library. I think I told you my name, and Charles, I'm going to be your moderator today. And let's go forward. Let's start with Kim Ward, who is a poet and playwright and a visual and theater artist. You may have seen Kim around town in various incarnations, theatrical, poetic, and otherwise. She's the founder of the Vermont Playwright Circle and received her MFA in performance poetry from Goddard College in 1998. Her play, Angel in the Fire, received the 1999 Playwright Showcase Award by the Vermont Actors and Theater Artists Association. She was also accepted into the New Frontiers Conference of 2000. She has lived in Montpelier for over 20 years and teaches English at Norwich University. Welcome, Kim. Thank you. Lovely introduction. So I have this book that's coming out very soon, but I also have copies of it tonight, if anyone would like a copy. I used to be that person who would say, oh, they're reading from their book. Do they need to do that? And I'm like, oh, I get it. But this is where it all is, right? But I do have something that I pulled out that's apropos of the eclipse as well. Oh, you know what? I got to go get my glasses. I can either see you or read the page. Let's see. It's interesting when I try to choose poems deciding for this night, what are you going to read? And I find there are some poems I read more in LGBTQ settings than other settings. So that's what I'm doing. This is called Recovering Wife Speaks. Hurry. Close the gap between betrothal and denial, between passion and understanding why my wings did not beat once in 30 years of living. Last night I dreamt a great turtle was running with me on its back. Proof reading the desert, it insisted we were on a mission. We met a woman with a wild red mane. She fed me sweet apples. Her lover, confusing women with eagles, had chased her out with a shotgun in the middle of the night. We proof read the desert together. The turtle gave up its shell for us, and we swam in its bowl of ocean. She was laughing water, and I was in the driver's seat. My smile bordering on cool until I saw her slender hand poised to touch the horrific past before me and awoke alone. I promised myself I'd put on a timer. I wrote that, maybe you can tell as I was getting divorced from my ex-husband. He was not a bad guy. This is called The Vision. There was going to be a fire, I saw it. The bookcase was a flame burning through the dark, words spitting outward like stars. When I got home it was over. The kitchen window gaped blackly. It made me shiver to think how close I'd been to death. While picking through bedroom ashes, the night came back to me. We'd tried to rub loneliness from our bodies.  My fear of entanglement, a raw river that parted the flames between us until I became a lone flame whispering. Became a dark warmth, a space at the center of your eye, a wing in the sternum of a woman.   That poem was written as I was coming out as a bi-woman and a friend of mine was coming out and transitioning. That's kind of the backstory of that. Ooh, someone's in trouble. So it's screaming out there. Ooh, this is called The Way We See the World. The way we see the world crumbles into new country, the moment we dance outside of the circle.  Do you know the desert inside of me? See yourself become the great breath let out upon the sand, the large crack running through the belly of my world. I put my hand to your cheek, which dissolves into black night's brow, into lightning traveling a warrior's queen's skin. New skies open up in my ribs until I cannot breathe.  That was a poem I wrote for my now ex-partner who I was with almost 18 years, we're still close. That was when we first started dating but then she also suffers from a lot of depression. So I have a few poems in here that deal with depression and this is called Ghost Still. Automare seeps into your summer house.  You go still and deep and let the incision be the path. Let the slow solid pump of that muscle, the deep heart carry you through. What courses in my veins is poison in eternal life. It's gamma ray and goddess shine. I forget that among the tumult of the day until automare seeps into my summer house and I go still and feel the swirl of stars buoy me. So there's three sections in this book. The first one is love poems, poems dealing with just personal relationships. The second one is a group of poems that I wrote after several years of studying the runes and it attempts to use what the Nordic etic verse format was and that's where the title fire in a circle comes from. So I thought why not read the title poem, the poem that sort of created that title. These are very short single lines, single stanza poems and the word I'm going to use which is the title is Raido, R-A-I-D-O and it means journey and in particular journey on horseback or journey to self. Raido, wheel of days, crushes a month of thunder beneath a teal. The journey is pleasure while the world is a flame I follow. I dip myself in the water of the rains, live off of the land and the land I travel is strange. Give me the hand you want held out Raido. Let my horse flow only when it's at the end of our trail so that I may know when to stop. The pursuit is fire on a circle, water anointing my bare head and the clear aster of a new moon sky blazing blackly above. It's the only rune poem I'll torch you with. Those have been kind of fun to write because I'm trying to understand these ancient runes that people carved into trees and rocks where they had totally different cultural mindsets but just trying to bring them into the modern day for myself. This poem is actually a tiny bit from my play Angel on the Fire that was mentioned. It's called Harvest Time. It's very short so I'm going to wait till it says that. It's very short. Red Moon this morning. I am walking barefoot in puddles and find the hogs have been killed uphill. That's spoken by a character that represents my grandmother. She grew up on a 250 acre farm in Richmond which when it flooded everybody in town came to their farm and she was helping do everything at eight years old. This is a short one called Fever that's also from Angel on the Fire. When you caught the fever, it wasn't the doctor who told your mother what to do. It was the whiskey and water to break the fever. The burning of the body brought down by liquid fire. We brought you through like a horse brought through a burning barn while down in the yard drifting up to us through the cold frost came the sound of your grandfather praying. Again so this play I wrote is about three generations of women living in Vermont.  And she said we have no idea. Who knows? What were people giving them? But that's what she would do. The whiskey obviously broke the fever. This poem comes from, there's a quote that I love from Andrea Lone Chu's book called Females which talks about gender and the female situation of feminism. And the quote she had is in the combination of Eve plus testosterone would produce Adam in her world. Formula, fire, vessel, strap. In what way did I truly first come to pass? Eclipse skip turn. My skin truly burns to be let loose on the cobblestones of the city and if I had been thicker, taller, less pretty had the formula have raged over a bunsen a bit longer than would I have surely been the king of my own destiny the queen left behind in the mud pit in the tin plus estrogen minus father equals trailer of my childhood home to rot. And so last but not least I did dig out a different piece that comes from that. I was studying haiku and Renga poetry a lot when I was in my master's program and Renga were these poems that you would always have to include the moon and flowers in and they're very similar, they're precursors to haiku but this is a little longer than a haiku. The moon blocks out the sun today for a brief moment night at noon. I am eight, the cement steps have a hole beneath them bees dip and fly silently between my legs waiting for me to move until you come and pick me up in the dark and we watch the moon docy-doe with the sun visions of old apocalyptic stories fresh on our minds then the sound of the bull in the field across the way startles me and you take me inside. Thank you Kim. I forgot to tell you that there are books on sale in the rear so after the reading you might want to ask the poets to sign them and purchase a copy. Our next reader is Linda Quinlan whose book Chelsea Creek was published by Brickhouse Press and was the recipient of the Wicked Women's Poetry Award and I think Linda is a wicked woman. That's my first perspective. Her poetry has appeared in many literary journals some of which include Sinister Wisdom and the New Orleans Literary Review. She was poet of the year in Wisconsin and is working on a manuscript for another book. Welcome Linda. You mean the brand new home now, Wicked Woman? That's right. Yes. I'm going to start out with a fairly new poem that I've been working on and it's not my proudest moment but it was a moment. So it's called Secrets. I've kept your secret 40 years.  The day was snowy. I couldn't find my boots in the back of the closet were so much as buried and forgotten. The white coat you discarded at her apartment smelled antiseptic. With a small dot of blood on the collar you would have never noticed. I hand over a paper bag filled with money working class lesbian swagger. I warn the woman to never ask again. Leave word with your receptionist that your house is cleaned and yes, I locked the door. I blink and here we are retired and sipping tea on the patio before your husband comes home. We've had some interesting times haven't we and click our tea cups and smile. The gazebo is still overgrown with ivy that tangles together holding up our old furnished wood with splinters as big as our lives. So like I've said, not my finest moment. And this is another not finest moment. And it's about my cousin and it's called babysitting Danny. Danny and I met for the last time at a fifth street bar two doors down from his mother's old haunt where I ran numbers for her to the book he joined across the street. My hand reaches for him then retreats. He is a tear waiting to fall on my cheek. I taught him to steal at Woolworth's. He emptied his small pockets and delivered his hall to older girls he wanted to please. Balloons, eyeliner and candy lips that bled into our mouths. His mother was 43 when she was found dead empty pill bottles beside her no last words in an apartment above Katz bagels. I wanted to steal something for him to give him his mother's laugh the way she held a martini and a cigarette. I paid for his beer and offered nothing more. He lagged behind me my car door opened and shut. Six months later he's dead. Beer bottles on the floor California sun on my face when I get the call.  And this is your fine woman? No, this is well, I have a lot of finest women which I'll leave more of later but this is called Blood Suckers.  This is about that anyway. I'm bored visiting aunts. My parents sent me off to a pond down the road. Water lilies play with me, a comfort the way friends are when you're 11 and nothing else matters. The bottom is murky. I try to stay afloat and I feel older as I look at a boulder half submerged the way adults seem when they're lying to you. The thing is when you're young when you're young murmurs from the kitchen sink into you Carol is pregnant the boy is a jerk the mental hospital killed your grandfather when I touch the boulder my wet hands on my face it seems to be sobbing but it's just me kicking my feet to stay afloat my parents call me from the car and I move slowly to be annoying I'm sure there are black spots on my skin my father notices them the same time I do and he yells to my mother go get the tweezers they are between her toes at home my mother's on the phone the way she is when I hit scarlet fever and they quarantine the house my hallucinations of dying ducks and giant people telling me I'd be okay while praying on their knees beside my bed and out of the new poems I will read Father Tom and I could say that again this is not my favorite my finest hour I don't know I had a rough childhood funny anyway Father Tom a priest at St. Rose 45 years after phase of suicide Tommy finds me on Facebook his sister perched behind his familiar eyes a distant queen of someone long gone he was 12 and I 14 when I taught him to French kiss I had totally forgotten what he remembered as divine he asked for pictures of his sister and I had many tees brown hair, black nylons and a look of toughness we all flaunted in one she's standing beside I'm sorry we all flaunted in one she's standing beside Diane who carries a switch blade in her pocket we didn't talk about the mental hospital how we scammed to break her out give her back her daughter stolen from her arms and moved to New York City her daughter is 55 now brought up in some suburb I hope she is loved has a fuck you swagger and devours Italian food neither of us cries until one day I'm in the car and the oldie station plays Tommy can you hear me I was a pinball wizard at Revere Beach phase cheered me on and insisted we hang by the Himalaya rising our voices towards the waves before the time that nothing would bring her joy sorry I went to the wrong page okay anybody here from Boston or around Boston or no okay yeah alright so this one is called Chelsea Mass and actually the poem I read about Danny was her son this was my aunt and so it's called Chelsea Mass then as her February birth my aunt Evie swayed with every half-tone the spontaneous steps of a child living outside Newfoundland the fishing village of her family's past this wasn't New Orleans where she might have had a chance where anger and creativity collide this was Chelsea a city of bad daughters and warlike sons where nothing grew but immigrants and hunger her father's madness beckoned him to an ocean death but instead he crawled into dementia soaked in beer and sadness the smell of urine even when he slept my aunt married one son a man back from the war in Europe his pale violence swelling out of every room made him a ghost she danced at home over the kitchen tile that curled in the corners she danced in circles while her daughter slept until her husband took their child away punishing her dance commanded a beat from the suburbs and snapped his fingers again and again and again until even her suicide seemed clumsy a little on the lighter side which is, you know, hard but so this one is called Regrets I know it doesn't sound it but it really is my father my favorite coffee-stained cup teeters on the dish rack where a precarious balance of glasses faces the blinds that refuse to shut and all the women I've disappointed gather on the front porch swing dangling rebukes and every day while walking to work on Canal Street I want to pay the half-blind gospel preacher to stop a friend gave me a ceiling fear that stopped spinning and Barbara knew I lied after we hitched to Montreal her hands stayed closer to her sides on those long night walks we took where motorcycles roared outside the frenzy of getting somewhere in a chrome shiny life that left no apologies my half-unpacked suitcase leans against the salvage antique rocker too delicate for sitting and I remember fly fishing with my father avoiding all obstacles we cast a wider and wider circle over the grass in the back yard and this last poem um I guess it's well it's about Montpelier and I just have to read it when I went to Montpelier I don't know it's a little sarcastic um so um hang in there Montpelier Ramon the potty was crowded with women all white and all middle aged and still I felt out of place no meryl boots tucked neatly by the door and the wood stove had a pumpkin kind of face that threw heat but not nearly enough a woman's size and stretches her purple wool socks slouched down around her ankles says this is the best place in the world to live the village is full of smug contented people with nowhere to go after 9 o'clock I wonder where she's been to believe this but I don't ask certainly not to Barcelona or Mexico where the buzz twinkles in mid-light melodies of bodies and if you fall into it in a ditch in the dark it's your own damn fault yes there is good healthcare here and progressives and endless winters so I leave the village often carry with me the conflicted beauty of mountains that smother and soothe breasts of contentment thank you thank you Linda now our next reader is a local luminary also and I hate to mention it but I know it's a poetic setting but if you have political inclinations you may see Sam Stockwell's name on the ballot for mayor just a shameless plug unrelated to poetry maybe Sam Stockwell has published an Agni North American review and the New Yorker among other publications her new book in the back I presume Musical Figures is published by 30 West Publishing House her two previous books Theater of Animals and Recital won the National Poetry Series and the Editors' Prize at Elixir respectively she won the Massachusetts Poetry Festival first poem prize was selected as the Editors' Choice at Pan Ampley and was the Editors' Choice for Brian Mill Press Sam welcome thank you I'll start with a couple poems I will start by making sure I know what time it is can you put the microphone down a little let me do this first period brave Mrs. Kenley turns her back on the first grade and like a grass fire from raw blade to raw blade enmity spreads Mr. Hawkins twist paper clips around his knuckles Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Hall sit at their stern desks squinting at long absent children shuddering at the mirage of Theodore his head clean and empty as a silver pond no cultivated seed grew in his acre no stray fact lodged between his teeth the void must be extracted that was the clock for Theodore Mrs. Thompson remembers him without even the fondness one feels for a good meal city bus I was I was a somewhat sickly child and so I had pneumonia for like a long long time in the hospital city bus my fever hovered over long evenings in the hospital and the nurse said you're going to be here forever in clean linen sheets but gasping with my books beside me but silenced unlike the boy in the next bed over whose brain was erupting who cried when they moved him released and returned to school I got on the wrong bus the lip of the door sealing and the lurch forward on furious rounds I traveled to streets I didn't know clasped in my waiting my father served in World War II and that was an experience that really he continued living in throughout the rest of his life dining out when my father climbs out of the restaurant he's 10 years older his hands mottled in the sun when he resurfaces scared he returns for a drink he goes back to his table and his war buddies are there when he leaves the sidewalk is being bombed he falls to the ground tastes cement dust he rejoins his buddies laughing the war drops him behind enemy lines his outstretched hand reaching towards us 40 or 50 years past he can't remember he leaves the restaurant an old man trying to cross the street to his front porch lilacs and bloom and ivy climbing the chimney my parents married each other several times of course to do that they had to divorce they divorced several times wow categories my father's sputtering conversation clapped in time to ice knocking in his drink look at that my mother says to atrocity and the price of bacon catastrophes of equal measure she paints fairies on tea cups and walks the street handing out dollar bills my mother sorts her collection of sugar packets and plastic bags all the kids have sided with her father the police the pastor none rescue her despite her frequent calls his physical therapist the receptionist none save him though my mother thinks each his secret lover and the social workers bumping against each other on the narrow couch have neither love nor cure she moves to the microwave the meals she made the loads of laundry she cuts one leg off his dress pants she mails each child an empty box don't you believe people can do anything if they try? asked my sister I shook my head my parents for an argument emptied of everything but motion my father sawed her paintings in hack she threw his medication into the snow the green and blue traces like lively worms after we divided them after my mother's stroke I would hang jewelry on her when my father came to visit my father marooned in the place he wanted cries over the phone I miss her so much he sends her a letter you don't have any friends now do you? one more poem from this road trip we slept by the highway in west virginia I don't remember how we made it that far by morning the gullies of the sleeping bag were filled with snow in the few houses strewn beneath the overpass we could smell cornbread frying and hear dogs because his parents were wealthy he was supposed to bring money he unrolled a candy bar and a quarter his broad shoulders shaking as he wept we turned back a long way from new jersey I knew somebody in the splatter of houses would take us in I wanted him to show he was meek and slowly nod to show I was wise and now I will fumble with some of the poems in here sprite and sprite in this case refers to the soda not the fairy my wife I have insomnia a lot and so sleep is a treasured and rare visitor my wife untangled me from a spurt of sleep and in the dark cold snow crust we skippered over to our neighbor his top half collapsed over his lower brazed in the snow by one fist the wheelchair hunched over his back his head inching to the snow his head inching to the snow at the end of the ramp his voice softer than dark but JR death had hurt him as she limped along the road with the urgent need of the dog at the coldest hour and now the two old of us maneuvered him back in his chair and back into his house we quenched on empty soda cans by the ramp and we also have empty cans and pets to be rich with and where was his lonely mother who talks with her Chihuahua as a fewer reason and temperance and temperance my family came from deepest darkest central main so everything south of main was the south and they they didn't go out a lot apple cake the afternoon clouds came out in the afternoon sky my uncle was taking us for a long ride the ride goes by a paper mill where he worked in the long nothing of closed stores and stubs of forest like the memory of youth only partially furnished and visited on occasion he wasn't looking anyway he was caught in the now with his odd nieces and their stray comments they would have cake with his wife later and return to the south which as often as he had visited he had no language for when I was in college often well not often but occasionally some people would just break down because college is stressful and it's and there you are you're away from your home and family and you're in a completely different environment and this was Goddard so it was a really different environment she was blonde she said she needed to scream so I walked with her on the lawn of the campus you know how you see a mistaken assumption stroking its broken heart the ambulance arrived for her dizzy head one shrieking one screaming I could never scream it wouldn't come back out broke like that yawning and numb I was a poor handmaiden to madness familiar but not encouraging you remember how canal street feels like the backstage for an idea of a city forbidden only the creators wander here not the creations and spandex and jokes stuttering under streetlights this is about some well it's called the mechanics dining at back street grill and it's about mechanics dining at back street grill so it's in the voice of one of the mechanics yes I guess I could measure my wealth in the times when I haven't been bored my body leaning as if I was confused laundry on a windy day bellows inside and out my poor buffeted brain but awake rejoined if I had wealth this would have to be it Daniel said we were flung high but was interrupted a burp abruptly by an outsider and not so bright more like the dim in a broom closet it made me feel better about my failures I murmured odily to Alex and I chewed on a cigar with my bourbon as though I was mighty I'm not complaining although I wanted before I was my mother's a hand on my brow signifying greatness an emollient bestowing a secret mark and ever after a cake without compare I'll read a couple more like Kim I teach English I teach at community college of Vermont this sermon on composition a sentence Michelle is an equation it needs two balanced parts tired sentences and fresh sentences both it won't make you old to know this you've learned harder things if it is Emerson you have to blame for the state of modern poetry then surely it is Thomas Aquinas you must blame for your essays all human passion underlates in a form like geese tethered in an arrow you keep your eye on the horizon whatever has fallen will rise up whatever has risen will have its low moment fame and grief follow the same path even in the complex fortunes of a young woman one more getting there soon cold war my father made a still next to our air raid shelter the men pass the jug around choking and weeping their faces blistering saying this is a good then the rare great aunts arrived in identical floral bosoms each mashed my face in her cleavage and fluffed my hair with embroidered handkerchiefs the men wiped their bright lips on their arms in girlish embarrassment jostling the cigarette packs rolled in the sleeves of their t-shirts thank you thank you Sam now we have a fourth reader who hasn't appeared yet he's making his way from the northeast kingdom here on eclipse day but in the interim I thought maybe we would take some time and chat with the poets in the form of a Q&A and I have a question I'd like to start off with my favorite question and poets don't often sometimes don't like to answer but I'll just pose it anyway I'm ready I'm always interested in literary influences so would you mind talking about your literary influences and I think this attaches and we can come to you if you I know I'm used to this question well as a kid it was of course Emily Jenkins right and as a young adult and in my twenties it was like soviet plath sexed in and and then as later when I came out and it was RJ Lunard and Adrian Ridge it was Adrian Ridge and a lot of lesbian poets and so those were my main influences I also really like Eileen Miles I sort of feel like she's a working class poet and I'm sort of able to work a class poet and or at least you know I was and so her style and her sort of attitude I really like a lot so anyway there you go it's like oh a lesbian poet it would just be great so I love to work because she was alive and it was my first choice but when I got to college I was introduced to a number of poets and I really liked and I went directly from undergraduate school to graduate school in creative writing so I was really immersed in all the poets at that time so I probably read Barbara Kos who was spoken to by the fellow part certainly Louise Klick and Ellen Foy because they were my teachers and then I found John Baron and the world like opened up for me and I didn't read any of my more abstract work but his voice is so powerful oh and a gay poet in Boston in the western night that's an excellent book and I remember reading that but I read it from cover to cover and then I read it again from cover to cover that was a glorious shock a lot I read her when I was in the 40s I was really impressed with some of the things that she doesn't want to be tied up with there are so many people I would say almost everybody you said definitely also some of the folks that you said I read when I got to college I discovered some really fun people including Ann Sexton Octavia Paz I became obsessed with Octavia Paz and all of the Latin American poets because of course I took a Latin American seminar but I took this course in the 80s at Johnson State called the back experience which was one of those rare times when they really did talk about racism in the country I remember at Hintesapashan Gaze for color girls who have considered purple with suicide with the rainbow was enough and because she was doing poetry on stage that was what really hooked me because I'm a theater baby at heart but I also love poetry and Maris Wolf who teaches I think still there was doing dance to poetry Emily Dickinson I got to go to her house last year it had just been refurbished anyway and I turned around because they said this door was not on you know when they died the house did some amount today or something they took the front door off but the curator said we were really lucky that they saved the door for some reason and we recently put it back so I turned around and I touched the handle and I was like I just thought it was the coolest thing but yeah those are some of them I just recently refurbished her brother's house we tried to go to his house but it's just barely been finished maybe this summer other questions or comments I have a question what is it like writing these songs in private I'm assuming then now you're sharing them in public here you should have them in your books compare that experience with your mother writing it in private and then presenting it in public I know I'm thinking about that because I never write it I'm like that too I'm asking but in the moments that I am it's like in the elevator going to my apartment or sitting outside it will come to me what I'm thinking about I'm one of those people that maybe everybody is I don't know but to sit down and think now I have something that I want to work on and that's because I'm never private I'm so social I'm like who's meeting me for coffee today where are we today but anyway to answer your question the solitude of it I really like and it's also really really hard so that's my nature sticking to it I think for me I would absolutely echo like I'm such an extrovert and I used to write three lines I go over reading brand new poem I just wrote this it might be crap and I would read it and some poets are not like that I know from just knowing but I think the bigger difference for me was writing that was the big difference because I remember writing some poem in college and I was not out at all and I showed it to my advisor and he said why all this sumterfuse why just not say this is a lesbian relationship because I ran away terrified when I come to something like this I'm like what do I read I have this one poem I wrote out safer sex during AIDS epidemic it's probably the most lesbian poem I've ever written and so it's that difference but sitting down alone to write sometimes I mean I have just recorded something in the car because our new car has like a memo and I'm like oh crap you gotta get it down and we must have that experience there's a lyric I've got written down so it just kinda comes out of you someone's gonna listen to it I hope that's why I write the writing in my closet that's much better reading it in public is hard it's a bit of a challenge and I'm such a big fan of John Baron so he's on YouTube so you can meet these old YouTube's of John Baron and read his poetry well he read it completely wrong here I even read it you put the emphasis there are you sure dude because I know that poem by heart so for me the poems that I love are poems that I know from paper and someone else said this but once a poem's on paper it's your experience it's not the thing that someone has produced it's what you've made of it so it is really different sometimes I have great responses or terrible responses to my poems reading them and I think it is all the performance and not necessarily which is different from music I think it takes great bravery to get out and read a poem I just have to say that because as someone who is a musician I play guitar and sing to get up there and speak without anything and people even clap after each poem I mean do you live that moment when you finish a poem the whole audience goes mmmmmm you ended a poem till I know that's it that's what we love about it it's everything like a vlog I like that it was really like a disinpoetry reading on zoom where you're most muted and hearing people's attention what you really hear through their breathing it was like reading to a wall so that was much harder I listened to you during the last of that time and I had a man that I played around to he did zoom concerts and it was like people are really in the group chat they love it you have to see the chat that is true so when you play music it's not how it is for you guys have a show Sam was my mother's mentor she was my father my father just graduated she went to bar she graduated I think it takes a lot of bravery to write a poem when I think of some of the stuff you're talking about it's very and I love what Kim said about coming up because I've read a collection from a friend and she changed the pronouns and I thought other questions or comments I think there are a lot of artists in the room I know but it's strange so I'm a historian I translate old French journals that's what I do but every now and then I wake up in the morning and there's a complete poem in my mind and I have to go and write it down and it is absolutely complete and I didn't know I was writing it so does that happen to you guys at all? in there at least one of the poems I read the one about the I met a woman with a wild red mane we rode on a turtle that was a dream the two I read at the opening where I just woke up one morning and they were completely done and I didn't know I was doing it it happened sometimes like when I did I was like ok I'm done and it just came out I was like ok so that was one that just was kind of kind of wrote itself some are excruciating trying to find the right word trying to find the right phrase you know and the subject matter might be really difficult also I have a question for you too speaking of that you know Sam Colbert who runs Roots Up Publishers I was amazed in putting this book together I've been performing this poem that I literally wrote in the car in my head it's one of the only poems I know in my heart especially in this book I read oh that needs to be why are men not men do you feel like that's part of the process too for you guys there's always a little something to tweak and never quite done well sometimes when you're reading something a lot of you hear them mistake like you hear that doesn't work or that work doesn't but there are poems that come easily quickly they pretty much come out whole like your experience but that doesn't help a lot and there are poems that are like years of work we have a I'm in a writing group with Sam actually and we need work once every five weeks throughout the month throughout the month and I find that really helpful and I get a lot of good feedback and people who are good writers who can say that doesn't really work or maybe you could try this or that and so I find that really helpful how do you introvert how do you introvert when you're running for mayor Barry I remember that part it's a well I'm actually introvert she's an activist introvert well it's a practice you know it's like people everywhere need someone who's going to just say you know things to be better for regular folks for middle class folks for poor people, for homeless people and so yeah running is really hard I hate doing it but I made the plan I treated it as a game and I just set it up it helped really running poetry really helped me run for office because there's this process of making your statement right figuring out who you're going to reach to making sure you're out there things that of course will of course myself to do that's great so more to what you said when I interviewed you through the bridge I asked Sam Harper poetry I asked Sam what the poetry and politics have in common similar answer similar answer yeah you talked a lot about housing yeah well picking up on Linda was saying about her writing group when I was talking to Kim earlier we were talking about what a great place Central Vermont is for poetry how a life not only poems city but you know all the poetry groups and all the readings this month I mean it's really fabulous and supportive so even though Linda has that Montpelier Vermont poem I think give ourselves a round of applause give ourselves a round of applause oh dear I'm 8.30 so talk to the poets talk to the poets buy some books go forth into the evening and thank you very much for talking thank you everybody for coming this year I know it was hard on an eclipse but no the eclipse was done yeah I'm so glad the credit college worked out in the morning sorry to miss


Coach Luke, as far as Anthony Firks here with him getting more in line responsibilities, how are you going about, you know, making that transition for him to do that more as opposed to being used so much detached? Sure. Good question. You know, I think with all of our guys, we just try to preach versatility. So that's FERC or anyone else in our room. We got to be able to, you know, fulfill the responsibilities from a detached alignment and from a task as well. Obviously, FERC played a lot of third down and situational roles for us was when he was in a two point detached alignment, but he's certainly been capable in the past and currently of getting his hand in the ground and lining up and attached. So it's something that we're focusing on, but we're focusing on that with all our players trying to be as versatile as we can and add value in as many different areas as possible. And then having worked with the quarterbacks and kind of knowing how they see the game. How critical is it for you to help your tight ends, your position group just be able to, you know, have that body language and that positioning that's appealing to the quarterback? Sure. Well, if I've learned one thing, I know that the people they should listen to more than anyone else are the quarterbacks. So I can tell them how to run around a certain way and coach Downing can tell them how to run around a certain way. But it's critical that they're on the same page with the quarterback as long as, you know, Ryan is telling them where you want them to be and they're in the right spot at the right time using the specific route craft that they're teaching. That relationship is absolutely critical to success in the passing game. As long as they're on the same page, whoever's throwing the ball, that helps them do their job the best way possible. Ben Arthur.  Do you feel like just, you know, I know it's early, just kind of in the off season, but do you just feel confident about the depth and the group that you have at tight end? Yeah, you know, I'm really excited about the group of guys we got. And obviously, Jonu did some pretty awesome things for this team for a number of years, and he'll certainly be missed. And sometimes you can't replace production like his with one guy. Sometimes it's going to take a group effort, and that might be what it is for us this year. It's everyone stepping up their game, whether that's in the run game, the pass game, pass protection. There's a lot of different things. Jonu's obviously an extremely versatile player. They're a lot of great things. So I think it's a task for the entire room to up our game and do it as a group to replace that production that Jonu leaves behind because it certainly was a lot. And that's going to be one of the challenges this year. But I'm really excited about the group of guys we got. It's a diverse skill set. There's guys that do a lot of different things well. And I'm really excited about the group we have. And just kind of follow up. Any of the young guys in that room has anyone kind of jumped out to you at this point, the undrafted guys or what not? Anyone kind of caught your eye at this point? Yeah, you know what? I think everyone's done some good things. And in the same breath, everyone's got a lot of things that they can work on. And that goes for me as well. The rookies, it's a pretty steep learning curve for them coming into a pro system. Our rookies have been great. Briley and Miller, they give you everything they've got. They've been extremely attentive in the meetings. They're great note takers. They've done everything we've asked them to do. But it's that rookie transition. It's just a steady climb. They've gone through the OTA process. We'll obviously start mini camp this week. And that's just another step in the journey for them. But yeah, I'm excited about the rookies that we've added. I'm excited about the guys we got coming back and the new additions as well that aren't exactly rookies. But I like our group. It's a growing process. And we're all looking to get better, especially this week. Joe Rexroad. Luke, sorry coming in late if you've had this question. But just how do you feel about the room as a whole, the depth, you know, and also just with FERC, sir. Fair to say his role will be expanding. And how do you feel about him handling that if he's in line more this year? Yeah, you know, with, with, uh, Johnny leaving between mentioned and Michael Pruitt not here anymore, you know, they played a lot of reps for us last year. So, so there's a lot of reps that we're going to have to replace with the guys that we have. And sometimes that's not always by plugging one guy in and telling one guy specifically, he's going to do more of this and less of that or more of that and less of this. I think it really is this year for us is going to be a group effort. There's a lot of different, uh, variety of skill sets in our room. There's things that guys do really well in the run game, things that guys do well in the past game. And what my task is, is to, uh, find those areas of strength within their game and really build upon and enhance those strengths and then find some of those areas of focus where we need to improve and improve upon those areas. So, um, whether it's FERC sir or any of the other guys we have, we're going to ask all these guys to do more than what they've done in the past or what they're used to. And that just makes them better all around players. The more we can get them to do, the more versatile we can make them, uh, the better it's going to be for our offense and for our whole team. Teresa Walker. Luke, Jared Peepney is a guy that covered him in college at Vanderbilt. What are you seeing out of him? He's got a little bit of a NFL experience. What are you seeing of him as he tries to get comfortable with your system? Sure. Yeah. I'm really excited to work with Jared. Obviously, uh, you know, he's got a year under his belt in the league, you know, spending most of that time on the practice squad, obviously, and with COVID last year, not having any preseason games. We don't have any NFL film on Jared. And, um, but obviously put some, put some good film on tape, um, from his experience at Vanderbilt. I'm excited about the opportunity to work with Jared. He's another guy that shows some versatility and has a skill set in the run game and past game that we as coaches need to find and develop the best way to help our offense. I'm really excited to work with Pink. Thank you. Hey, Luke, um, I'm coming in from the other stream, so I'm sorry to be redundant here, but I'm wondering if you could talk about kind of both Ferxer and Swain. And I know there's been talked about how they have to be more versatile. What, what, how can Ferxer improve as a blocker and how can Swain, you know, better himself as a pass catcher? What do they both need to do in those regards? Sure. You know, I think Jeff sometimes gets pigeonholed into, into being a run blocking tight end only, uh, in the same way that Ferxer has kind of looked at as a pass receiver only, but, but I think they're, um, they're more versatile than they probably get credit for. I think Jeff does some great things in the past game with his route craft, his, he has great feel and savvy, uh, where zone coverages of being in the right place at the right time, understanding the spacing and timing of concepts. Um, it's really something you can't teach. He just has a natural feel for finding open spots, um, in, in past coverages. And on the flip side, you know, I think Ferk, even though he's primarily known as a, as a receiving tight end, does some things really well in the run game. Uh, you know, he's, he's got very good upper body strength. He's obviously got excellent quickness, which might be on display more times in the past game than it is in the run game, but his ability just to get up on blockers and use that quickness to his advantage is, is something that, uh, gives us some creativity and, and to use his versatility in the run game and finding the right spots to put them in. Um, I think they both have, um, skill sets that can complement both sides of their game. Thanks. Jim Wyatt. And Luke, I'm just bouncing over here. So I'm sorry if I'm redundant. Um, but, uh, on Anthony, maybe what's next in his development, he's kind of waiting to turn and certainly play the nice role here. Now he's in position to get more, more opportunities that would appear. What, what's kind of next for him to try to take advantage of? Sure. I mean, uh, you know, first things first, because I know there's a lot of questions about Ferk and, uh, he's, he's a coach's dream.  Um, I think with Ferk, you know, he can take that next step in the past game as well as the run game. You know, um, the opportunities will be dictated by, by his ability to get open. And a lot of that comes with his ability to develop his man to man route craft, which he's obviously displayed here for a couple of years. He met a lot of big plays for us in a lot of big situations. And, uh, I think that's something I'm, I'm trying to work with him. Um, just creating as much separation as possible, whether it be man to man, uh, situations or finding that void in the zone, uh, versus zone coverage. So, um, you know, he's obviously made a lot of plays. He's a skilled receiver in the passing game, but I, but I think he's still ready to make that next step. I think he sees it. He's a guy that's never satisfied. And in the run game as well, you know, um, there's obviously, uh, um, elements where he can improve, but there's a lot of great things he does. And we as a coaching staff have to utilize that skill set to put him in the best position to succeed, whether it be the run game or the pass game. And what's kind of young guys out there with OTAs? What have you seen from Miller and Brawley so far? Maybe what's important for them as they try to try to earn a spot in camp? Sure. You know, I mean, the first thing that sticks out to me about those two guys is just their willingness to learn, right? Neither one came in here and thought they had all the answers. They understand it's a, it's a learning curve going from the college game to the professional game. And, uh, they've both been outstanding in meetings. They ask great questions. They're great note takers. Um, when, when they don't know something, a lot of times they're able to talk through it and teach themselves the correct answer. Uh, so I've really enjoyed the opportunity coaching both of those guys. I'm excited about what they bring to the table. There's still a lot of areas that they can get better. Um, but, but I'm excited about what they've shown so far. It's, it's a, it's a long journey going from, uh, through the rookie year. So they, they accomplished the phase two stuff and they got through OTAs. Um, I'm sure they're going to do great this week in mini camp. And when we put the pads on and training camp is really when we're going to see a lot of these techniques and fundamentals, uh, come to life. So I'm excited to see how they progress throughout this process. And then I'm going to ask you just about Mike's confidence in you. I guess you got to feel good. You continue to kind of work your way up and, and found a nice role with the team. How appreciative are, are you of Mike to give you another big opportunity? And do you get even maybe more scrutiny from the offensive coordinator now because he's left the tight end room to take over the whole offense? Yeah, you know, uh, I'm extremely grateful. Um, every single day I love coming to work. I feel extremely fortunate, uh, not only to be on this coaching staff to be the tight ends coach. Um, I feel extremely blessed to work for a guy like coach Ravel. Uh, he came in when he took this job. Uh, I had the good fortune of being entertained by him. He didn't know me at all. We had no prior relationship and, uh, you know, I've done my best every day to just do the best job possible with whatever task was given to me. And, uh, it means a lot that he recognized the effort that I put forth. I love working for him. I love being on the staff. We got a bunch of great men on both sides of the ball. All three phases really coaching this team. So, uh, it really is a blessing. I'm so excited to be here. Uh, you know, Nashville's, Nashville's home to me. I wasn't born and raised here, but I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else. So, so I claim it as home. I'm not sure if Nashville claims me, but I claim Nashville and to be able to coach tight ends here for the Titans is a, it's a dream come true. I feel really blessed to be here every day and, and to also work for a guy like, like Todd Downing who, uh, well, I'm extremely close with and we've built a really tight relationship over the two years he's been here and I've, I've learned so much from him, uh, even prior to, uh, taking on his previous role of tight ends coach, but to be able to work for, for Coach Rable and then report directly to Coach Downing, has been a true blessing and I'm excited to see what we can accomplish this year.


for your permission and here you go okay all right let's get started okay yeah okay let's get started yeah so let's just to introduce ourselves briefly I'm Bill Emmett I'm an editor emeritus at the economist and author and chair of various things including the International Institute for Strategic Studies the Japan Society and others my car and I live in Dublin but also in Oxford I straddle the two cities perhaps partly to do with Brexit I keep my foot in both both camps let me ask Beryl to introduce himself Bill is writing a book called A Tale of Two Cities okay literally I'm in Ottawa Canada the city that never wakes and I was for many years a conciliary with of with Prime Minister Trudeau Pierre Elliott Trudeau did a variety of things from you know the Quebec Canada relationship how you organize a federation uh board affairs defense economic policy exiting controls etc I a background which I try to forget about in merchant banking uh had a consulting firm my clients were the Rand Corporation the Lawrence Devmore National Laboratory various governments and found I'm one of the found one of the founders I'm a serial founder I'm afraid of the North Star Forum which brings together leaders of from political economic and societal sectors Canada Mexico the US the creature of 9 11 how do we build a continental system that's resilient and can make its way in the brave new world now we face that situation again as a result of the coronavirus so the function of our commission is not to create a vaccine and not to deal with the medical issues though it's part of our mandate it's really to deal with the perfect storm we're in which forces us to have in mind all the variety of things that today are are accented and they have to do with the balance between rights and artificial intelligence monitoring and surveillance they have to do with the with these with the social charter uh who deserves what uh why are some people more vulnerable and less able to cope than others it has to do with the health ecosystem it has to do with the geopolitical stresses and where they might lead so that is why we've put together a we don't want to say a dream team but really a group uh able to work together of people who are thoughtful experienced wise and properly diverse because we need the different perspectives and experiences to be brought to bear so it's a global commission in the different senses of global uh yesterday we were joined in the commission and I hope you too will be a colleague as Steven Chu for example uh the name probably rings a bell uh Nobel laureate in physics uh was secretary of energy and that's interesting because one of the things we'll have to think about is should the public have confidence in science and modeling and they're a true secretary of energy and we'll need to think about the application of this set of issues to climate change so our challenge is to be broad enough and yet focused enough to animate enable a global informed discussion and ideally decision making and to add I mean if I may chip in I mean to add to barrel's excellent description really each through each of us individually could have simply written sat down and written our essays on these issues and you know produced books or whatever to share ideas with an ungrateful world but we felt that actually a more constructive and potentially influential method was as barrel says to put together actually a wide range of interdisciplinary highly talented skill sets from really the range of countries and generations too in the world who are going to be affected by this and put the minds together and then produce synthesis and conclusions and communication out of what they think and what they how they interact with one another we felt that was a more exciting way to do things but also a way that was likely to have weight authority and influence in global discussion and we do very much think it's very important to have high level representatives who a have a great knowledge of the digital world we who are a bit younger than barrel and myself and see to include very much Taiwan because we think that you have been absolutely a pioneer and an important exemplar of reaction to and handling of the pandemic but also I think in political social and economic senses there's a lot to learn as well from your experience and your perspectives hence our thought of talking to you and hoping to attract you to come and join our our group okay where do I sign in a personal capacity okay where do I sign well you sign absolutely digitally now okay okay like air sign or whatever right and street elections for your phd I see I see okay yeah I have a couple questions so what's the output of this commission I mean are we commissioned to do what exactly is this ongoing saying or does it to spawn when we produce our first annual white paper or something may I may I have a quick go of course daily for well over a decade as editor of the economists but we're not editorial writers we're not writing leading articles but we propose to have a variety of products Ted talks for example a report possibly delivered at Davos because we are funded back by Swiss Ray whose motto whose tagline is we work to build a resilient world that's exactly what we want to do help to build a resilient world so there would be a coming out at Davos there will be webinars there will be old-fashioned publications reports and we will pay a lot of attention you'll forgive me for saying this to the web and then we will have essays conversations webinars will need to think through actually together with members of the commission what our product line and the timelines should be so leaving it to bill I think the idea is that we would share with each commissioner with you a set of questions draft questions here are the 18 questions whatever the number is we've drafted are they the right questions are we missing anything and to have a discussion with each commissioner in the way we're talking now but looking at these questions from a socio-economic perspective a socio-political perspective the social contract for example and the and the geo-strategic dimension looking at those questions then we'll have that conversation with each of the commissioners and then have over at least two days because of all the time zones involved a collective discussion with all the commissioners when we will work out what do we think are the appropriate product lines over which time period we see this commission working for at least a year probably more ideally the problems will have been resolved and gone away but if they haven't we'll remain in business and we'll do by doing it's not a very precise answer but as Aristotle observed it's a sign of lack of civilization to demand more precision from a subject that is capable of generating right philosophy is not mathematics so we're a work in progress and and the commissioners will themselves help form what the timeline and product line should be but it will be in many respects digital okay so including the 48 hour discussion marathon saying which I hope we can choose to sleep between those 48 hours sure well maybe I was we were thinking Bill is this not right of one session of three hours or four hours something like that followed the next day given we can't have a full day because of all the time a lot of time zones we have to respect the fact that everybody on the commission is a busy person and they can't be overly burdened so we'll have something staged over several days to take into account people's own private work plan but also the time zones so that will be the first meeting of the group and participate in about a month yeah absolutely and I would agree absolutely with Beryl that this is a this is a flow not a stock we're not aiming to produce a 400 page report to sit on people's shelves to carry dust we think most importantly that we don't know how long the pandemic and its consequences are going to last so we don't know really what we're in the midst of and it'll be an iterative process to produce then a series of outputs which may well be a mixture also of outputs some of which come from the whole of the commission and others of which particular members feel more comfortable in being involved with than others so that it has to it's not meant to be a sort of lowest common denominator where every all 25 people are so have to have to be involved in everything but that is also what we part of the conversation okay yeah okay okay I see that the other question is that so as I I'm just checking my understanding as we contribute into this shared product of the commission so the commission will have its kind of position statements on things or a as you said something like a rough consensus like a committee's take you know the the way forward or backward as it may be and so on but what about kind of the values or the kind of founding values of the commission how do you choose aside from global diversity which I heard about that the kind of people who went into this commission the well thoughtful people wise acknowledged as legitimate appreciated in their own societies they're not so much representatives individuals how do you choose them well you know it's life it's so for example I'm one of my daughters is a molecular biologist she in fact chaired a meeting in Taiwan biologists a few years ago I'm still looking forward to my first visit to Taiwan and one of the world's great museums as she told me about it but she was the one who said and there's this strange guy who is a professor of physics and also a professor of molecular and cellular physiology she is a molecular biologist his name is Stephen true he's a great guy call him so we did how did that happen it's it's uh the lord works in mysterious ways um she really does okay so one of the people who would be a colleague talking to now is Amal al Qubaisi she was the speaker of the UAE parliament the only woman to have such a role anywhere in the Arab Muslim world so it's it's but you need these perspectives given the range of issues we're going to have to deal with so uh we have got a playbook that's set out of values which each member of the commission needs to tick off but by the process of selecting and inviting people and they're accepting it emerges as non-problematic we want to build a resilient world we're focused on questions more than answers at this stage okay so what I hear is that for example Amal al Qubaisi would not be billed as representing the Emirati uh or like that or aura Arabs right this is not a kind of multilateral ish sounding it's not ordinary it is exactly not that it's not institutional it's not partisan we are a group of individuals thinking together to build to enable a more resilient world face challenges okay that that's all I need to know I'm I'm getting I mean I think that the sort of you know there's a base assumption that uh that we all have a world view that we have a basic a basic assumption that um issues a global rather than national um or global as well as national and that um forms of global collaboration mm-hmm tell tell so I'm delighted to welcome you aboard right bill yeah to welcome you aboard yeah I just said on the record that I'm game so happy to be part of this um whatever you call it commission of individuals sounds like a arc tomorrow but okay but then uh of course I understand that there's no physical travel uh required in the first year uh and all that's required is uh digital participation on selected hours during a 48 hour period uh and that uh there will be uh no monetary compensation of any kind uh or or with there could be a modest honorarium for there could be a modest honorarium uh for those able to accept it what I say modest we were talking 10 000 euros something like that mm-hmm all right do we have to fix this if we have got to that kind of granular detail not everybody would be comfortable with the honorarium yeah I'm I'm happy uh to to uh say that I'm able to receive honorarium in exchange for my um kind of speaking hours uh as long as we do not make it's like a regular job uh then as a public servant I can accept honorarium but if it's um a kind of permanent like if I have to meet um every week uh or every uh other week or so that it becomes a kind of regular side job uh in which case I cannot accept honorarium and then I will also have to get a premier's approval uh as I did serving on the board of other international NGOs so Audrey Audrey that's why we're calling it an honorario rather than anything else it is not a stipend it's not a fee it's not a it's it's it's an honorarium and we can't put a monetary value on the contribution of uh that's why we call it an honorarium it will be modest and in recognition of uh the the effort people are putting in and the inestimable value they represent all of that if we have found that in our conversations that people haven't asked for anything they are wanting to take part yeah same here I mean I'm happy to take part pro bono I'm just saying that if this is anything that's kind of not a de facto honorarium then I will have to tell you that I cannot take it exactly perfect that's not that's not in question anyway so uh your ministerial responsibilities when you say your title is minister of digital minister sorry my title is digital minister yeah or a default title is digital minister in charge of social innovation open government and youth engagement all right engagement also yeah yeah very good and fine well excellent well we will welcome you as part as a member we're delighted we will share with you the full list of all members once we have formed the commission we're not exactly sure how big we're going to go because we need to get the diversity but at least in between 25 and 30 people and we're 20 now yourself so um so we will be quite we will quite soon complete the group and then we will also circulate the preliminary list of questions that feral mentioned that will be the the ingredient for a first three-way again three-way conversation which we'll have with each commissioner in order to get a sort of first clearing of minds clearing of thoughts um on what the parameters are that we need to think about um and then we'll take it from there and obviously shape the project steadily as we go well Audrey this is I for me this is an excellent way to start the day mm-hmm by gaining burning a new friend and member of the family great mm-hmm thank you and anything after this so this is the greatest way for me to close the business day I'm sure and yeah I wish you a local time that is as good as it can be in nowadays but good local time and really looking forward to continue conversation and if there are any kind of legal documents or any contracts as part of this commission please send it my way and I'll have it checked by our cabinet office okay right yeah we're we're going to be formality light yes we are we don't want to get in get the burdensome to anyone Bill if I may we will be legally organized as a not-for-profit yet based in Zurich Switzerland under swiss law mm-hmm okay you can't be more non-partisan than that I don't know what about mars okay exactly but um so we'll do that and what is the best way Audrey to communicate with you is it through Zach mm-hmm you can email me directly uh and actually I think I I share my email to you but if I am to join as an individual capacity I'm sharing with you both my work email and my personal email they are very very similar to one another easy to remember to and so that's that's my contact and if this is a not-for-profit in Switzerland I believe our um legal status uh with Switzerland allows me to serve as a member of a not-for-profit there but I still have to get a cabinet office uh review so the sooner we can get a legal document the better okay very good fully under Audrey might you have a phone number as well I'm sorry I know this is very old-fashioned but do you have a phone a mobile number okay um yeah I I do not uh have a mobile number that actually rings uh it calls out but it doesn't reach me uh but if you uh need a number of course I have this number but uh it could be used for example on instant messaging or whatever um but FaceTime one yeah or things like that yes but right right but but it's um like if you call this number uh I'll probably not be aware of it yeah okay that we we you know but we can send a message to you uh at all hours but but but I'm on Skype so uh it's actually easier if you find me on Skype right okay so we send you a message through Skype very good that's right that's right okay perfect brilliant well have a great evening mm-hmm a great local time we look forward to uh to uh carrying on this conversation and thank you for the live ball prosper okay okay ciao ciao ciao thank you


Oh, what's up everybody? Once again, it's Bram and Sean. And this video is brought to you by bramannnetwork.com because I signed myself. Now, before I get into something that people really have to understand about brand, it will probably bring a lot of more clarity to you when it comes to your brand. I gotta make this big announcement. I'm excited to announce that Kory, Kory the savior as many of y'all know him by, and Russ B will be joining the Bram and Network as coaches every week. Once a week, they'll be doing live Q and A's where they can really talk to people, right? This is that video format where you can talk to them, they talk back, you can provide content texts so we can dig deeper. It's gonna be really dope. Russ B will be on Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern Time and Kory will be on Thursdays, 9 p.m. Eastern Time once a week. You guys will have access to them, ask some coaches to really get your questions out, get your situations figured out. So I'm excited to talk about that. There's gonna be so many other people that are already contributing to Bram and Network and a lot of other resources, but really getting into this video right here. Branding, what people have to understand about branding is branding is ownership. We talk about this ownership idea because so many people wanna be independent these days, right? You know, oh, I gotta own you, my masters, I gotta own this, I gotta own that. Well, branding is about ownership as well. So many companies are all about, you know, they own phrases, they own words in people's minds. You have that one guy, the boxing guy, let's get ready to rumble, that's a brand, right? He literally owned that phrase. He, I think, what's the switch? Copyrighted trademark, whichever one is relevant, which means he can legally tact show as if, you know, you use it. He has a brand and the same thing applies when it comes to artists, right? And that's where a lot of artists actually, either you get confused or you miss out. And what do I mean by this? Well, here's a perfect example. There's an artist by the name of Tougaloo Blue. I did a video of him very early on on this channel. He just kind of connected. I learned a little bit about his situation. I thought it was interesting what he was doing. I think he either just graduated college or maybe he was still in college, right? And he created this entire narrative, right? That he released a project while he was in his dorm room. I'll resay that better. So this is what happened. He had a project he recorded in his dorm room. He brought other people to collaborate in his dorm room.  Right?  Like he created a whole energy and narrative around that. And it got shared. It got pushed around. I think you got in a publication or two in this local area. But the point of this is that's not abnormal. Like when I was in college, especially in Atlanta, I went to Georgia State. So many people recorded in their dorm room. Everybody was recording music in their dorm room. Even people who weren't doing music were still doing music in their dorm room. And the difference is he owned it, right? He decided to own the concept and mark it behind that concept for that project. And that created a narrative and attention and visibility around that concept. So a lot of times artists get caught up when they're like, yo, man, I did this first or this happened first and I did all these things. But you didn't own it, right? Somebody can just take one thing that you do and then they'll make that their thing, right? Dairy Queen has so many things. Like they have hot dogs and hamburgers, but they own ice cream. Burger King owns burgers. And Drake owned being the singing guy, right? Kanye did some singing, you know what I mean? Nelly did some singing. Ja Rule did some singing earlier on. Like, I mean, but they didn't own it. And as a matter of fact, they were afraid to kind of fully own it in that kind of way at that time just because of the climate, right? T-Pain, obviously he owned the auto tune. He wasn't the first person to own it, but he made it his thing and marketed himself and pushed himself that way. Drake did the same thing. So a lot of times when you miss out on stuff, it's because not only because you don't take the initiative to own something and realize that you can really create something around that, but a lot of people actually don't realize that that's all it takes. It's something that you're already doing. You just have to make it a thing, but it's so natural to you, you're not even thinking about it. So take, for example, all the people recording their stuff out of their dorm room and they didn't even think about that as something to brand around. Because I mean, that's just, you're doing it probably because you have to, that's the space you have, right? That's the difference. There's probably a lot of things that you already have innate and natural to your life, but you're not capitalizing off of it because you're not owning it. And as opposed to trying to find some cool thing out in the marketplace to get attention, sometimes you just need to create a narrative around what you're already doing. That's it for that. I think that should make it pretty clear, but if you have any questions, ask it in the comments below. And again, make sure y'all sign up for the sessions with Corey, Russ B, every Monday and Thursday. Y'all already know, mine are on Fridays. We had some good conversations yesterday. And there's so many other things that come to brandmannetwork.com. But, you know, oh, well, actually, and if you don't know about it, how you happen to not know about it, make sure you sign up, you know, the link in the description, link in the top comments, I'll pin that thing. All that good stuff, other than that, y'all have a great weekend. I would love to know what you guys think about branding, ownership, all that good stuff. Y'all have a good one. If you like this video, go ahead and like button. If you like it, you might as well share it. And if you're not subscribed, you know what to do. Hit that subscribe button.


the signal oil program yes the signal oil program the Whistler that whistle is your signal for the signal oil program the Whistler I'm the Whistler and I know many things or I walk by myself I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows yes I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak yes friends it's time for the signal oil program the Whistler rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time than any other West Coast program in radio history and signal gasoline is top two tops in quality it takes extra quality you know to give you extra mileage and signal is the famous go farther gasoline so look for the signal circle sign in yellow and black that identifies independently operated signal stations from Canada to Mexico and now the Whistler strange story solid citizen Harry Cummings stood at the window of the general store he'd inherited from his father along with the goodwill of senior Cummings had built in the small fishing village of Bay Hill Harry's eyes follow the tiny whips of fog sweep him before the approaching dark he smugly watched the fishing boat as they moved slowly out to sea boats that were manned by people who looked up to Harry respected him Harry Cummings had used the well-earned reputation of his father to cover up his own lack of character and bloated secretly that he's successfully fooled his fellow townsmen who looked upon him as an up and coming man but he wasn't satisfied for the one thing he wanted most of all the one thing he's flattened scheme for was still out of reach and had been for years he said his jaw turned from the window and walked behind the store counter it was odd he thought that time had not used his longing for it but each spring increase this longing had made him more determined than ever to win the woman he'd lost to another and he was ready to go to any length to bring this about then as he prepared to close the store for the night he heard the front door open and she walked in well well evening Sarah hello you're getting to be quite a stranger I've been rather busy this morning is it correct three hundred and forty five dollars must be Sarah Matt's been handling my books for years hasn't made a yes I just thought that Jeff had paid something on his last month he told me he would don't worry Jeff will take care of it soon I'm sure but the tuna runs in yeah heavy and it's been in years yes probably out there right now no he's indenting again he and that plenty to buy I don't know what's come over and how he changed no what's been to you just no good for Jeff no no no no no I'm sorry just that I'm so upset this bill and I understand and I don't want you to think about it anymore I can't wait Sarah I'm used to it you've been very kind to know how I feel sir I've always felt about you maybe I've just been kidding myself but somehow I know there's a chance for it. No Harry no I belong to death he loves me I've got you don't love him. Don't say things like that Harry please. All right all right. I think I better go now I have to stop at a cafe and see Mr. Loomis. You could put in a good word for me there. Why? I've been thinking I want to earn some money. I've never done anything but keep house. I know I could learn to wait on table. Well that's pretty tiring work Sarah. Now look I could use some help here at the store. I don't think that would be right Harry. Well I'll tell you what then I'll talk to Jeff about the bill tonight right away. No you mustn't you'd be angry if you knew I came here. Oh no you won't believe me. Hey maybe I can do something to straighten your mouth. After all Jeff and I used to be pretty good friends. Very kind of you but I don't think it would do. Well let me give it a try. If it doesn't work then we'll talk about a job. All right good night Harry. Dear Harry you're going to have a talk with Jeff for her sake and for his too. That's what Sarah thinks a noble Jeff here is. But you meant every word when you said you'd do anything for her. Yes anything even though the law says she belongs to another man. You know you're smart enough to change all that and it will happen sooner or later and one day she'll be Mrs. Harry coming. Moments after she's gone you close the store. Throw on your topcoat against the chill of the wetting fog. Walk two sand gritted blocks to the wooden dock. You can hear the easy clap of the bay against Jeff Fisher. The throaty blast of a steamer beyond the bay's mouth. You climb aboard the small boat and make your way along the cluttered deck and then stop before the cabin door. Blinky Tobias stands before you. Over his shoulder you can see Jeff Lancaster sitting at the table. A whiskey bottle with an easy reach. He looks at you sullenly over a deck of cards he shuffles. Oh Mr. Cummings. Glad to have you aboard. Good evening Jeff. Frankie it's care for Mr. Cummings. Yeah. Yeah sure. Oh it brings you up. Your bill Jeff. Getting pretty steep. I was wondering if you'd be able to pay something on it before long. I don't get impatient. Say all as soon as I get a good haul. You'll never get it anchored here in Port. Now look solid citizen I don't need you telling me when to fish. Get lost.  We aren't going out tonight are we Jeff. The boys are expecting you at George's place.  Fog doesn't stop me. Never had it yet. Well I can send this boat three miles out without even touching the wheel. Taking quite a chance aren't you. Not me. I know this sound like my hand. Come here I'll show you. I'll set the wheel like this and jam it with a chunk of wood. With a tie the way this is headed seaward. I can start it up bearing gears. Yeah. I'm dying too haven't I Frankie. Yeah sure Jeff but the boys are expecting you. Ah go on over until our boys I can't make it. I'll warm her up. No please. Okay I'm going. And hurry back we're selling out. You're alone with Jeff now Harry. Watch him as he staggers back to the table drops into the chair. He picks up the car shuffles him then looks up at you and screams.  Yeah Harry. Come on sit down. Let me buy you a drink. Thanks Jeff. Oh it's nice.  Better turn off that motor and get the bed. I'm alright. I'll just grab a few winks until Frankie gets back. We'll pull it off. Yeah if you're in no condition. I'm dead lost. I'm going to take him back. You watch him slump face down on the table. Your eyes swing around the cabins of the controls. You stare at the wheel jammed with a block of wood and then suddenly the thought hits you. The sound of the motor begins to pound into your brain and Jeff's words come back to you. I set the wheel jammed with this block of wood. I was just tied away. He's headed seaward. I couldn't start her up for a year. You look back at Jeff sound asleep. Then slowly you walk over to him and stand there for a moment. Then you reach over to the shelf behind him and your hand closes around the heavy monkey wrench. Oh you're hurrying Frankie. Oh it's you. You're too late. What? Well you know how Jeff is when he's drunk. I couldn't talk him out of going. He decided not to wait. He's sailed without you. He's just gone. That's right. He's gone. With the prologue of solid citizens. The Signal Oil Company brings you another strange story by the Whistler. Of course you carry a roadmap in your car but how old is it? When was it printed? Does it have all the latest road changes and conditions in it? You can be sure that yours has if you'll stop by the nearest signal service station and replace your antiquated model with one of Signal's brand new roadmap. They're just off the press. So of course these new signal maps have the very latest road information. But in addition they include many more helpful extras to make motoring more fun. A radio log for instance to tell you where to tune in your favorite program while you're traveling. Plus a guide to interesting places to visit. A western state mileage chart and then large sections of metropolitan areas. What more? Although these new signal maps are large in size for easy reading they have the improved accordion folds so they'll be equally easy to handle. Guess what? And you'll agree Signal really goes all out to give you the best. That goes for a free Signal map as well as for a tank full of Signal. The famous Go Farther gasoline. You've scheme plotted many things but the thought of murder had never occurred to you before had it harried. Then suddenly it was there as you stood over the sleeping Jeff Lancaster in the cabin of his small fishing boat. In a moment of swift decision you found the solution to your problem and it was all so simple. As you watched Jeff's boat move smoothly into the far disappeared you knew exactly what would happen. It would move straight out to sea for several miles. Then caught in the racing current it would swerve, drift into the devil's grotto five miles down the coast. Then it would crack to pieces on the rocks lining the shore. With Jeff dead nothing could stand between you and Jeff. You wait anxiously in the days that follow for news of the tragedy to reach the village. On the street, in your store, in a starfish cafe the talk is all about Jeff. Say Mr. Cummings I understand you were the last one to see Jeff that night. I tried. Yes I was. Tried to talk him out of sailing but he'd been drinking. Wouldn't listen. You find yourself repeating a lie over and over and they believe you don't they have yeah you're harry cumming solid citizens well liked respected well I shouldn't they believe you and then early on the morning of the fourth day the news finally comes Jeff's boat has been found and you've found Jeff. Yes Harry I've heard about a few minutes ago here since I he and some of his men were headed to the grotto I wanted to go but oh no no it's too much for you Sarah but Jeff's alive. Look let me go for you I'll start right now you stay home and rest I'll do all I can.  There are several men standing around the battered picture among them Sheriff Hammond you make your way down over the jagged rocks and approach the sober faith school. Hello Sheriff boy. Good morning Harry well you came down the hard way easier path just north of here. Well Sarah Mrs. Lancaster asked me to check naturally it's not feeling well. Uh Jeff did you find. Nope he's not around. More silverboard I guess. Oh I see. Funny thing though the way the wheel is set in place with a block of wood. Oh quite a few fishermen use that trick Sheriff. Close the rudder in place while I work with a line. That's right Jeff used to take it that way at the most steady shelf through the bay made sort of a game of it. Well it looks like he played his last game. I wouldn't be too sure about that. That's all the rubber life raft is missing. You know Jeff could be on that. What. No I don't think so. Coach guards when I look out they don't found him. Maybe. But he could have been picked up by another boat you know. It's days later and they still haven't found the body have they have. It bothered you doesn't it. But you have other things to think of. Yeah. Things like the accusations made by Frankie Tobias to the sheriff. Frenchy here has been doing some crazy talking Harry. I figured he ought to say it straight out to you. We could clear it up quick. Exactly Sheriff. Go ahead Frenchy. Well when I left the boat that night Jeff was awfully drunk. He set the wheel with a chunk of wood just like it was when the port was wrecked. Mr Cummings here heard him say that the boat could go out all by itself. Yes I believe I did.  Exactly how it would be if no one touched the wheel. So I think that you put the boat in gear Mr Cummings. Gotta loosen let it go. I think maybe Jeff passed out or you hit him on the head with something. I think. Now you understand Harry. Frenchy has lost his best friend he's not thinking straight. Yes I understand Sheriff. Look Frenchy you realize of course I had no reason to murder Jeff Lancaster. You used to be in love with his wife. Yes that's true but everyone knows that. I still think a great deal of terror but to say I murdered a husband that well it's simply fantastic that's all. That's my feelings too Harry. Frenchy is going to have to take the loss of his friend like a man he feels fancy to himself. I figured no one would even listen to me. You'd be believed if you had any proof but you can't just say I think. I believe and be heard. Don't you see. Yes I see that ever since I was a kid and checked around by my people I never had a chance to Jeff took me in. Jeff certainly had a good point. He gave me a job treating me human. I hate this town if I had the money I'd leave. Now cut that stuff out. Easy Sheriff like you said he lost a friend the good one. We must understand he needs help and I'm willing to lend a hand. Frenchy look I'm buying a fishing boat. You're not only going to work on it you're running it. You're making fun of me. No I mean. Harry is making you a most generous offer Frenchy. Well I guess so. Yeah Oh why am I always so wrong now. How about it. Are we partner. Well I I guess so. Sure. Well you might thank him. But thanks. I thanks Mr. Cummings very much. I'll see you later. It was uncomfortably close wasn't it Harry. And now you have to buy a second hand fishing boat and turn it over to Frenchy. But it's worth it isn't it. Because you can stop worrying about him. Your action not only turns his anger into gratitude it makes you a generous man in the admiring eyes of the town. Frenchy came in with his third load of tuna today Harry. Yeah I watched him on loads. Say he's the proud of himself and that boat that he hasn't even hired a helper. Does all the work himself. He'll turn out fine Sheriff you'll say. Sure thanks to you Harry. It's been three weeks since Jep's broken boat was found in Devil's Grotto. You gambled with murder Harry. And now that Sarah's working for you at the store you feel as you wanted. You decided it's time to start forming Sarah's thoughts your way. You've been very patient with her up to now haven't you. Very patient. Then one evening as you call on her at her house you know that Sarah seems disturbed. Nothing really Harry. I'm well jumpy I guess. Frenchy stopped me on my way home from work. He said you're working for Harry Cummings now. I said yes and he said don't ever forget Jep may still be alive so he could have been afloat in a life raft and then picked up by a friend and taken to a far port. Then he just walked on. Harry do you think that might have happened. That Jep may still be alive somewhere. Yeah. Highly unlikely sir. I wouldn't listen to Frenchy. Well try not to Harry.  I just won't feel right till I do. I wish you wouldn't work so hard though. Well you work harder than anyone else in the store. Good for me. Make me forget things. I could make you forget everything Sarah if you'd only let me. Look Sarah. Oh I know. Please Harry. I'm just waiting. Wait Harry. Wait. The word becomes one that you detest doesn't it. And as days pass into weeks and weeks and a month it's still the same. Wait. Wait Sarah. How long must we wait to start living. In six months. Oh why don't you marry me now. Oh it's still too soon. People would say really hard there is another reason it's a thought that Jep may still be alive somewhere. As Frenchy says. As Frenchy says. Sarah you'd have heard from Jep by now. Oh I tell myself Jep. Every time Frenchy sees me he stops and talks about Jep. Why only this evening you said it was Jep who taught him all he knew about Jep. Thank you. Very fond of Jep. I'll tell him to leave you alone. Please don't scold him. He doesn't mean any harm. He's harming you we worry Jep. I know he doesn't. He reminds me of Jep. Yes. I suppose I'd think of him anyway. More coffee Harry. Frenchy's ruining everything isn't he Harry. Jep devoted friends and you can't stand it much longer. The waiting must stop. And walking home that night you know there's really only one way. It's been the answer before hasn't it Harry. You decide that it must serve you again.  And then quite suddenly you have it and it's simple isn't it. All you have to do is make sure of one thing. You do the very next day. Frenchy. Oh Frenchy. Yeah. Oh Mr. Cummings. Hello there. I was at the day. Oh sir. Judge Mr. Cummings but I came in early.  Right. I'd work a Frenchy. That's fisherman on the dock. Almost as good as Jeff Lancaster. Nobody's as good as Jeff Lancaster. He was a good teacher wasn't he. Jep. He's taught me all I know. Yeah sure he did. Say uh you use the same method don't you uh I mean even the block of wood on the wheel and all that. Oh that's a good idea. Man can run his boat and get some rest too. Yeah yeah I suppose so. And speaking of rest Frenchy you better get some for tonight. Why are we just going up to my room Mr. Cummings. Making sure the boat was ready for that shore. Well I'll see you later. Yeah sure Frenchy. Sure you will. The dock is deserted when you return that night. You've timed it so that you'll arrive a little before Frenchy does because you've something to take care of. It doesn't take long does it Harry. A few sturdy blows with a heavy wrench and you manage to loosen the sea cocks in the forward part of the boat. Not much. Just enough to let the water begin to deep into the hull. In an hour or so the sea will accomplish the rest. Frenchy will go down with the boat and the last threat to your happiness will be removed.  A few minutes later he comes on to the dock. Oh hello there. Somebody on board. Yeah it's me Frenchy. Oh Mr. Cummings. I want to see y'all on your trip. See me off. Oh now look Mr. Cummings you didn't have to do that. There's no difference than a dozen others I've made. You didn't have to come down. Oh you're on Frenchy I did have to come down. This trip is different. Mr. Cummings I don't understand. Well you will partner. Come on come aboard. We'll talk it over. The Whistler will return in just a moment with a strange ending to tonight's story. But now for just a moment suppose this were a quiz program. What would your answer be if you were asked the question what gasoline is famous as the go farther gasoline. Well of course everyone knows that signal is a famous go farther gasoline but suppose the next question was what makes signal gasoline give such good mileage. Well an engineer might answer that question by saying other things being equal gasoline mileage is in direct ratio to the efficiency of engine operation or translated into simpler language today's signal gasoline gives you such good mileage because it helps your engine run more efficiently that's the important answer to remember because when your engine runs more efficiently you also enjoy faster pickup and smoother power more of the things that make driving more fun that's why whether you're a driver who wants economy or one who demands performance the answer is the same you find both in signal the famous go farther gasoline it's almost over harry you have the monkey wrench in readiness the same one you use to not just be caught loose and you know that at this moment water is already seeping into the forward hold you're both in the cabin now and you have only to knock frenchie out and send the little boat out to sea anyway in an hour or less there will be enough seawater in the hold of sinker sinker deep and then suddenly frenchie has something to say something that surprises you i don't know how you found out mr comings you seem to figure these things anyway you're right this was to be a different trip what do you mean thank you well i planned to run away deal the boat oh no i'd have sent it back somehow but i wanted to leave this town mr comings get away go places where i'm not always reminded of just your good friend yeah you've been a friend too only i haven't been very grateful i guess you've been all right frenchie anyway it doesn't matter yes it does you were trying to help me now all the time i hated you thought things about you i'll never mind that now friend but i do mine jeff at mine too he wants so to be happy with you or somebody so i'm i'm going away now wait a minute sure i know you want to stop me because you're kind and good well you're not going to stop me mr comings forgive me for this but i'm not going to ruin your happiness anymore forgive you for what frenchie i i did this i'm sorry mr comings uh honest i am i didn't want to knock you out much less tie you up but i knew you'd talk me out of leaving if i didn't that's the way you are always trying to help somebody and i'm not worth helping you stay here on the boat it's really yours anyway by the time you wake up i'll be gone and out of your way goodbye mr comings i hope i hope you and sir i'll be very happy together let that whistle be your signal for the signal oil program the whistler we sunday night at the same time brought to you by the signal oil company marketers of signal gasoline and motor oil and fine quality automotive accessories signal has asked me to remind you to get the most driving pleasure drive its sensible speed be courteous and obey traffic regulations it may save a life possibly your own featured in tonight's story where joseph kerr and sarah selby and ross forester the whistler was produced and directed by george w allen with story by leona surly music by wilbur hatch and was transmitted to our troops overseas by the armed forces radio service the whistler is entirely fictional and all characters portrayed on the whistler are also fictional any similarity of names or resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental remember at the same time next sunday another strange tale by the whistler marvin miller speaking this is cbs the columbia broadcasting system