poetry and prose and the art at the Kent exhibit back story just down the road. We're Jacobson and even though she doesn't want me to say it, my co-organizer is Allison Evans, who is that lovely lady in white when he walked in with the programs. We're so grateful to be here at the Old West Church and incredibly thankful for her team of caretakers. Last week at the meeting the steeple was down on the ground, cradled in scaffolding, having spent the entire summer there, being worked on by professional expert steeple restorers and this Wednesday it was lifted up by crane and is now back home sweet home on top of the church. And how much it cost when any of you had to repair your 1823 meeting house steeple but it cost a pretty penny and so if you would like to help out in any way give a donation as you leave in a basket or if you would like to write a check later there are envelopes and an address to contribute to the ongoing repairs that we needed to keep the steeple in top shape and this building as beautiful and long lasting as it is. For close to 200 years this building has remained pretty much unchanged with no electricity so there is no microphone despite what you think. I often thank authors for coming all the way they have to share their work but really when I say that I don't just mean traveling all the way from towns like Middlesex and Bristol I mean coming all the way to poetry. First reader today is George Longenekker his book Star Root is a kind of time capsule a time capsule in which he has placed events and observations from history from family before him from moments in his own time and these stretch from early childhood to boyhood to adolescence through to maturity from a boys daydreams involving superheroes to a love of impulsive adventure a passion for nature a devotion to long and abiding love. Reading the poems in this collection we come across reflections rising from his and our collective place on earth a mere dot on the timeline. As well as among other realms space the planets stars George Longenekker's time capsule is not a skewed sampling of life his writing is sincere and he looks in every corner he touches on pain as well as pleasure the ugly as well as the beautiful sadness and humor our briefs along with our gifts. In one poem I don't know if he's going to read it today but it's a very complex favorite of mine from Diptych he writes sanity demands we forget and also but humanity demands we remember. Star root is one man's time capsule of poems addressing humanity. Please welcome George Longenekker. Thank you Mary for that introduction and thank you Allison and all of the volunteers and thank you for the steeple so honored to put it back for our reading. Mary's introductions are little poems in themselves and I'm honored also thank you Carla who will be following me in a few minutes. I was at one of these readings a couple of years ago and if you look through the windows there are the old wavy glass and I had to write this poem that reminded me of my own house house where I used to live in Marshfield. Distorted glass where we lived then some of the old window panes were rippled we looked through blue green water and lilacs and cosmos in winter we looked through ice everything white gray and frozen we had a baby then some days winter sun low in the south made rainbows on wide warm floorboards our daughter crawled to catch colors then there were dark days ice upon ice we looked at each other from either side distorted glass neither one really seeing the other it was dark by four as windows leaked cold air on windy nights thumb latches rattled answering mice in the walls some things have to be fixed if you want to survive winter not hide with your child of the quilts it took us three years but we replaced the windows clear glass with no icy grass sometimes I wish I kept one of the window panes in the morning I look at fragments of iris their purple scattered scattered here and there or an icy rain or even a view in a different light not that I really want to go back except maybe to see our child crawling after rainbows on the floor air or lake just three lights shine on the opposite shore at ten the waxing moon is only a dim sliver skies still too bright to see stars white pelicans flying low over water wings beating slowly so close I hear their feathers against air as I fall asleep they're still flying all night the milky way brightens the sky from Idaho south to Utah a plain blinks red a single satellite moves east to west all the rest is stars in desert sky shine stars light years old youngs from now somebody may be watching our star by then we'll probably be gone maybe we'll blow ourselves away it's hardly important to the milky way whether our star shines or not twilight comes by 4am across the light a porch light blinks on already the milky way is floating into dawn already one white pelican flies low or barely all the rest is stars down will come baby back when the world was half lava half ice I descended to earth already a religious boy landed in Salem but I was not a witch or a curin just a child born in a hospital I know I heard music from my black bassinet Frank Sinatra, Pimp Basie, Doris Day, the doxology, mother goose lullabies but these words I can't get out of my head when the bow breaks the cradle will fall and down will come baby cradle and all it takes a boy a long time to grow young I learned to dance before I walked waited for my fall year by year I lost the wisdom of youth I climbed a tall supermarket to escape my parents who dragged me to our fort locked me in the maxi and drove me to church where I learned my fall was coming after school I climbed that tree's topmost branches her shop was the plastic b-57 bombers and live hamsters from low words after all I was a religious boy who knew my fall was coming so what the hell I should do something religious I we sit on the stern of a sailfish on the beach one boat in a row of rentals whose mass pierced the dusk the moon has sliced the sea ships lights float on the horizon from down the beach a fisherman's headland cuts the dark as he climbs up the beach hauling a cart with his rods and catch 15 fish sorry about the light he said I'm not sorry about the light or anything tonight sitting here on a beach sailing skiff with 15 fish pulled in moonlight from the sea Florida moonlight pulls us in back to salt water from which we came but we couldn't breathe under sea any more than those fish could use gills on land there will come a night when I'll no longer breathe next to you but not tonight but sit on the sailboat stern until the moon touches her mass fragmented childhood I watched Laurel and Harvey say goodbye again and again in a perfect day waving and waving in black and white but never able to get on the road nights I couldn't sleep because I was afraid of huge black birds lurking outside my window at school we hunched under our desks for air raid drills and in a comic blast we were told our classroom windows would blow inward I couldn't finish my spelling book after the drill all I saw was fire and glass my parents my parents fed me well but I needed somebody to take me somewhere anywhere I don't know why I wanted to leave but walking away seemed safer oh I wanted to say goodbye I escaped into my stamp collection Montenegro and Gola with its elephants and girats San Marino with its castles and turrets I wondered with wolves and bears as I read Nomads of the North then I ran away in my pocket's tree books 50 cents my six favorite marbles I walked and walked until it snowed wet flakes on pines where I hid under grouping vows so cold that I finally gave up and walked home maybe I didn't want to say goodbye maybe I only wanted someone to look for me I returned to my stamps and Superman comics content to fly off to my tropos or San Marino maybe I was just looking for a little white award one day the next spring I lit a grassy field with a fire yard sale a house can be haunted by those who were never there Lewis McNeese under an awning away furnishings exposed and alone without the house which had been emptied of the maple table where the first sun shone each day on coffee cups and warm silver spoons empty a low four-posted bed where for 50 years two people loved and awoke each day imagine a bureau whose drawers held socks and underwear a house is empty of the cradle where children of first slept empty of carpets chairs knives spoons and forks mops and flocks window panes reflect bare floors signs advertise the sale furnishings sit while two curious crows swoop overhead while the empty house waits the clocks tell no time card orb slam as the yard sale begins crows call once twice circle over suing the oak bureau making table bed cradle and clocks are gone all that was there is gone inside the house is too quiet too bright next to I thought it would be history soon but unfortunately they're still in the current events category salt and sorrow a kitchen and a residence in Aleppo Syria damaged sunday and fighting narsisco contrasts photos the new york times walls are blackened there's a refrigerator with rust at its bottom stickers of yellow butterflies and black birds on its door a dish towel hand hangs on the door handle and a top sits a vase of purple paper flowers on shallow jars of spices still stand upright we can't see what's upright on the rest of the home if its power is on earth walls and windows are intact charge ceiling plaster covers the floor no mortar shells or shrapnel though a jar of beans lies unbroken and a tiny drawer maybe for salt but we don't know we know nobody can live without salt or sorrow no matter where on a lower shelf rest three small pairs of sneakers we can't see the children the parents or the photographer they must all be somewhere outside but outside is not in the picture we can't hear if there are explosions and artillery fire on the wall hanging hands a strainer and measuring spoons why do some things fall and not others all the utensils are blackened but we can't tell whether some cooking or just war in a dish strainer cut dry they'll need to be washed again if the family returns if they live their blackened kitchen sent naked around the world nest rack me in your wings hide me high in a white pine weave me a nest with your beak lying with downing feathers sew it with fine threads of nettle twine it with silk of milkweed cushion it with pussywell owls braid it with milk of moonlight let me feel warm breath from your beak let me feel your heart beat against my breast it's not sent yet he's been my my wife for over 30 years she was living down here on the bliss pond road and and at that time instead of having just road numbers for rural mail the contract routes were called star routes bus she looked on the star route bliss pond road her dented rural mailbox one of two on the corner by a sugar maple let me kiss you she said i missed my term and drove all the way to libra november stars flared between black branches somewhere between bliss pond and orion i turned and followed the right star home let me kiss you she said and i stayed longer some nights we still spread our wings and fly west past orion wings tip to tip levered pysies along the star route up over the pleiades blue stardust sparks in her eyes let me kiss you she says and we swoop so low over the pond that our feathers touch stars in the water this next one really requires three short dedications it's title rain tax it's a tribute to the journal rain tax which is a beautiful review of books out of Minnesota check them out online and and the epigraph is a line from the fuzz Ed Sanders was the lead singer of the fuzz in 50 years ago he's still around he's one of the kind of sick people my age not fuzz fans here gave him five of the line all the line and he's one of the most enduring musicians of poets half half a century as a poet historian of music and poetry and it's also dedicated to the late poet George Mayfong like dear friend and collaborator to pass on last year rain taxi soft music down a woody street worn smooth by light years of frustration and traffic the fuzz two red oak leaves stuck to the side window of an old checker cab headlights reflected in dark puddles the old Hancock towers weather like glow red for rain and from a higher building a beacon revolved in the night horns and boats in the harbor echoed through streets where waters flashed up from gutters ran down the sidewalks there on the corner I thought I saw you was your bag of poetry books pens first drafts a stoplight glowed red in a puddle and when my cab finally moved ahead you were gone of course I should have known it couldn't be you we wouldn't write any more poems together I'd seen you die on the first day of spring I forgot where I was going and all this rain I didn't know why the streets were so wet why this cab was so old I forgot what you had been raining about the last time we were together the rain taxi crossed rivers of street lights it doesn't matter much on the jupiter you wake me to see jupiter so bright aligned with four more planets Saturn Mars Venus and Mercury like the moon sets those other worlds glow all night barra now is called back and forth from palms and pines breeze off the everglades brushes our skin like moth wings carries scented mud from mangrove swamps so far to Jupiter yet the planets tonight are as close as our bodies on this blanket where we lie three feet above sea level palm fronds tick in the wind for a while owls still call this clouds turn pink it doesn't matter much on jupiter the earth's polar ice melts or flowers slips under sea plants and stars fall to the horizon a storm blows on jupiter older than all of our history love I hope we can survive for one more night thank you she has brought with her today her grand spanking new chat book that she's going to among other things read from it's called fragments from the lost book of the bird spirit and it's really fresh react harla van fleet moves between visual and literary arts in her books which I didn't bring up here but she'll show you she has paintings and poems and they're kind of in conversation with one another um which made me think about conversation and spaces between when we're in conversation with others ever notice how you say something and someone might say I hear you I hear you and what they mean is I'm connecting with their feelings and sometimes when we're leaving we say keep in touch and we mean let's stay connected even when we're apart in much of carla's work she moves between what we can touch and what we can't between the tangible and the intangible all while staying connected I was thinking of this metaphor before I found this line and the line is my cello body resonates my cello body resonates when a string player uses her bow to make moving contact with the strings on a violin or a bass or viola or a cello you've may have seen this before we hear the sounds and when the bow is not touching the strings what we hear is silence or is it sometimes the musician will finish with a pull of the bow across the strings just before lifting it carefully her bow caused in midair as her body language signals that we too are to pause it says don't clap yet the strings are still reverberating the music now living somewhere between full sound and complete quiet what sings to us then is something in between it may not be melody but it is not silence it resonates it's another energy in one of her work that I read carla van liet sounds like the careful listener who notices the spirit residing between sound and quiet please welcome carla van liet hi my name is carla van liet I really enjoyed hearing your poems George I just want to thank the Kent Museum and all of those who all put together words out loud also I want to thank all of you who support poetry in Vermont by coming to readings by sometimes buying books and also letting poetry touch your hearts I think the job of poems I'm going to read a few poems for my first two books and then showcase my new poem length chapter and then I'm going to end with a couple of new poems I just say that I don't know to give you all a map to give myself a map for this reading can you all hear me okay try to find that duper place here iris open irises open their tight blue hearts in a day this is how I remember it the dark of birth and bolts like thunder clouds or starlings breaking into air this is how the heart breaks not into pieces but into blue tongues a kind of grace in this disregarding world blue tongues and at their center a yellow star first bird I laid the moon and the darkness of my hand my body is the mystery take what you will it is an offering the waters psalm the the damp earth bored into this is the way to find me listen the first bird has called out I am here I am here there is nothing new light will soon open the east love love love there is still time in hands this is the way it goes bird rising through rain the sigh of wind-bent grass look here your touch on my reaching hand this too can be love rain falling the earth catching it like an oh this book from the book of remembrance is a collection of there's a there's a painting on one side and a poem on the other the poems are called posts post something all from maybe a post from a time space feeling something like that and I'm going to read two of these post from my kitchen it is dinner time and I am cooking in my kitchen I imagine you come up behind me I think to say the moon is but a sliver and holds the sky like your hand on my hip of course you do not hear me you at your own stove two states away I think the sand hill cranes have come back again four summers now I think of their wings held to a shape of a crescent I think if I were a crane I would leave these burgers to burn I would fly east toward your long wooden table my wings like two napkins flapping the sound they'd make like smacking lips post from the book of remembrance storms brink the trees are dusk lit and rustle and the expectant storm birds fly low across the lawn their shadows rising and falling along the grass like stitches I stand at the door watch the clouds gather over the lake roll across the valley the sutures of trepidation cinch the air at first I hear just a rumble a far off train or a truck coming down the road or fireworks out at basin harbour but then as if insisting itself the air splits ripping echoes off the mountain at my back this is how it feels to love you the sharp edge of need cutting the air a fierce slitting I have written a thousand love poems to you but never have I let you this close I'm standing in the whipping wind you may have noticed I write a lot about birds they just slide in there this is my new book length chapbook which is just out from folded word press like the first of october so pre just out it's called fragments from the lost book of the bird spirit I wrote it in the form of fragmented ancient text similar to an erasure poem and there's a play between text and silence I love what you said Mary about that that and in this in this poem in this book I play a lot with it part of that is the meaning that is created out of what's just left on the page so within the book there are eight books and I'll read the titles of the books as I go through you'll get the hang of it the book of tribulation wind swept over the waters in the body of a heron all was quiet but for the wings beat like breath each lift and cast devotion born on my tongue I was of one body the water and it was separate from yours in the space between us my first prayer my longing song how eerie the sound that rose to fill the void heartbroken amatory I only wanted who am I crying out like a mockingbird this way and that will this song bring you back this song I don't know without you I am an empty wood I do not know my own the book of bewilderment still the air what rusty trill unsettles from the tree I am listening for the direction of your next call my whole body devout the river's water a glass of sky rounding the bend I know you are the shy bird reluctant to sight I know your sounding sifts through my emptied branches furtive beating echoes the kingfisher's pitched flight the book of hazards I heard you first a risen from the far pond a low lift and drop of honking within memory asserted loss your fine goose body's long necked across the sky here I called out after you take me please and lost all sense I unburied the body of a hummingbird its iridescent form turned parado I ground the stone to dust and spread it over my tongue my words spring wings and flew away I dug another body out and this time caught my words little clamoring lungs with a butterfly net I hung a bamboo cage in my window and left those flapping urgencies to sing all night I bled a vein of cruelty the book of suffering let me die this anguish I mean it this pain that rises like a storm of black bodies crows filling the sky I am pitched toward darkness let out like a slapping flag at half mast such wind the lamenting flock having landed in the hilltop trees humbles them bends them to submission my submission to this grief this one grief lying on the edge of the cornfield above all is oblivion endless and nothing from somewhere beyond I hear the thwacking of leaf on stock time out of time five or is it six turkey buzzards glide circles in their tottering flight spelling a quietest to flesh my bones turn white under the sun raven raven your hefty darkness tethered to the pyre spirit oh spirit lift to sky deepened blue the drum sounds wing beats flame the cry of smoke carried on breath on song on ca ca ca into the night dream into the other world ablaze go up in tinder lit the body cindered coal the body ash iridescent feather tied conscripted flight pouched bones made relic bound the book of salvation I became the rain I became the rain this too is the loon song swallows all beat and lead and bank their fervent bodies spelling the air what speech what tongue grace like a knife cutting god's voice into you cutting the sky with swift shapes I stand pain and love the same cerulean blue above me I am walking the road that splits the fields sun streams through cloud struck sky in the after rain all gleams brilliant birdock in chicory cluttering the ditch an apple tree some days you have to count your blessings you have to wring out your sorrows and hang them in the gentle breeze today the air all dirt and wetness smells like hope on the wire bluebirds the book of summons russet rustling in the meadow little woodcock in the sinning grounds day is drawn to evening shade of dusky blue I stand sorrow hitched in my throat what marvel diligent foraging set aside to exalted flight sky bound flash who who sings into dawn that question we all ask in the end who who will love me oh morning dove oh soft body in the hand little beating the book of orientation in the snow I see the body's impression breast wings I kneel touch the outline the feather the feathered imprint so quiet here in this expansive field this narrow valley edged by hawkback and monkton ridge I look up to sky the blue like held breath waiting then clear the bunting song over the bray my own heartbeat meets in the cold snow falls flickering red body cardinal in the wild rose you called and called from the leafless maple yes I came out of the house my breath a cloud in the stillness and looked until I saw the red tipped branch your blood body like a prayer against all that threatens to harden tenderness faithful flame I am grateful for the reminder now beyond the window the rose hip the rustling of your mate joining you in the branches the book of restoration I heard you speak in the language of your people like water from the sky inside the apple orchard shook awake opened its branches to you bright blaze Oreo like blossoms harbinger of fruit the kindle of your song through the cedars the rattle of a sand hill crane just these rare two taking the ancient road north through the eastern mountains I know what it is to follow a visceral path worn into breath each draw each deeply rooted I tell myself it is a brave act a radical trust to heed the summons in my dream I am your body red tailed and riding the fierce air of a droning fiddle under my wings sharp eyed I seek across the land what rustles in the reeds sewn in the wind source of devotion sheer abandoned desire the unhindered is this not my delight nothing separates this body from the thermal or land or from allegiance this golden thread braided okay so I'm going to read two pretty new poems the first one is called what was needed here's another bird for you what was needed when we talk about the river we should talk about the heron whose long wings lay shadow across the sandy bank how the bird's hefty body rides air above the water how like grief wings spread what hope is it to bury bodies cradled in a swan's wing what did the bereaved imagine 6 000 years ago when they laid out the infant and mother a chariot of feathers to lift their spirits or for the wing to fold the dead ones close I came to this river like I was coming home and the river sat with me all day and night isn't it true that each of our hearts is broken in its own way my needed the water's flow the bird's fine feather and hollow bone um this last poem it's it's kind of an um an honor uh in honor to the tent museum because last year when I came to the fall show I was um I was really taken by the beauty of the art and by a particular point of painting called smoke by Stephen Lloyd and this poem is an acrostic piece a piece written out of my response to that painting it's called coveness covetous heart covetous heart the morning arose from my bed to wander through the fields tall grasses as if you were a fox flash of red fur or cardigan I watched from the window and considered how the lifting fog caressed your skin yes I stood at the curtain window and the fox of desire darted into the heavy forest of my bones I must admit my lips craved the curve of your arm your hip you rose from my bed it was early morning and I was not done with you the woods that line the meadow stitched the sky to ground your sleeves red like a blush the sun's accent when you turned to wave a gesture in dawn light you wandered out of my bed your feet bare in the dew wet grass left a trail I could see from the window like an etching of your presence the flame of your body and all around the mist rising you rose from my bed drawn by early morning's light and the mist that swirled in the breeze a gesture beckoning and you followed which of course is the flame of you I want to swallow the very part of you that rises to the beckoning the fox of you stepping into what is just awakening your turn to see me watching and your gesture for me to follow thank you very much and thank you Karla for coming all the way to poetry I hope some of you or all of you can join us down at the Kent for some refreshments and take in the backstory exhibit which is running through October 7th and also check out the website for Art at the Kent there's lots of wonderful events coming up and next week if you can come back for two really great personalities we'd love to have you again thank you and have a great afternoon


In this study, we proposed and evaluated deep neural network, DNN, based load forecasting models for individual customer electricity consumption data. We found that DNNs outperformed other forecasting models such as a shallow neural network, SNN, the double-seasonal Holt Winters, DSHW, model, and an autoregressive integrated moving average, AREMA, model. Specifically, our DNN models achieved lower mean absolute percentage errors, MAPE, and relative root mean squared errors, RRMA-C, than the other models. This suggests that DNNs can be used to accurately predict electricity consumption at the individual level. This article was authored by Sung Hyun Ryul, Jaekun Oh, and Hongseek Kim.


And welcome to the Creative Life, a collaborative production between Think Tech Hawaii and the American Creativity Association. I'm Darlene Boyd, your host, and joining me today as our guest from Rancho Mission Viejo is Kelly Otto. And Kelly is going to continue to talk with us today about international education and some things that are very personal to her in terms of the risk taking that she has taken in this field. We like to start out by clarifying some of the concepts we're going to talk about and on the creative life. We attempt to bring you stories about people that are creative living creatively in their lives, and also what create creativity means to our guests and to the world in general. So there are many definitions of creativity and the one that fits us best today is is one that is not often referred to but one that many of us in the American Creativity Association refer to us too often. And that is that many people in dealing with creativity make the assumption that the idea just comes out of somewhere and it's that aha moment. Well, that's not always the case. There are many researchers that would tell us that we're accruing ideas and input for those ideas since the moment that we're born and, in fact, Mara Stein refers to them Kelly is endoseps and then as we accrue them we we form an idea. So when we take the concept in this in this definition that we enjoy in creativity. It doesn't. It means that we will look at something that already exists and break it down in relative parts, and then bring it together by reconceptual Reconceptualizing that idea and its parts into a new idea. And that's what we'll be talking about when we talk to Kelly and start out by asking you Kelly. You were working in international education for many years you're recognized as an expert in your field and in addition to your expertise you're also very trustworthy. But in addition to that, you have taken on the role as CEO of your own company unit us tell us what that means tell us a little bit about unit us and why you selected that is the title for your company. Well, thank you darling it's really a pleasure to be here with you. I worked for 25 years in international education. California Irvine. Specifically, the division of continuing education, building the certificate programs, internships, and customizing training and creativity to me and the reason why I started unit and where I got that name. Now, many folks may say, Johnny, you know, I have some football friends that said Johnny, you know, you named your company after Johnny, you know, I said, No, no, no, no, no, not Johnny, you need us. And we need us means oneness or unity. And especially in this day and age with with all of the unrest going on in this world. I thought we need us would be a perfect name for my company. I started when you test international education consultants in April, 2021. And I've worked on and off for many, many years with very creative, innovative teachers in various fields, like teaching English, entrepreneurship, finance, accounting. Now, you may not think that accounting is that creative, but obviously it can be to some folks. And so, creativity and in pulling these amazing people together is, is really what is about and how I can bring education, higher education, more specifically to the world. Thank you for that explanation. And I hadn't thought about Johnny Unitas until you brought that up. Clearly it's not, not someone that I often think about, but perhaps others have that thought as you as you brought it to our attention. But there's something else that you just said in the in that overview, and it triggered a thought in my mind to take us back to the mid fifties, when President Eisenhower put together a people to people initiative. And so that was international programs brought about in the mid fifties. And if I remember correctly, the purpose, his purpose was, it was post Holocaust. And it was causing us and he thought that having a people to people type exchange would help fight the war against bigotry, hate, misunderstanding and unnecessary conflict. And sadly, I think I correct. I don't hold me to the year, but I believe the people to people initiative has ended in around 2018. So Kelly, the reason I say that you triggered that thought because we know right now, we're, we're in a societal situation where we're dealing with bigotry and hate and misunderstanding. What's very controversial with international education right now is the threat, perhaps, are those that are interested trustworthy, or are they here to steal ideas, or are we going somewhere to adopt or adapt ideas what are your thoughts on international education, possibly being similar to Eisenhower's goal and mission. Well, there's no doubt that there's a concern with intellectual property, especially at university. Most universities are very cautious and careful when they sign partnerships with other universities. There's a lot of vetting that goes on behind the scenes. There's risk management lawyers that look into these partnerships. But one thing I do want to say, and I think that this really brings it home. International education is not just what we think of automatically study abroad. Well, let's send my son or daughter abroad for a semester or a year. It's inbound students. There's researchers, teachers, faculty exchanges, staff exchanges. It's quite extensive international education when we throw around that term so easily. It's quite all-encompassing. And when I mentioned study abroad, back in the 1990s, 30 years ago, when you think about it, there were only 70,000 U.S. students that studied abroad. Today, right before the pandemic, there were about 347,000 students study abroad. Now in 2020, it went down to 162,000. But when you consider the fact that there's probably 19 million college students, 347,000 is a drop in a bucket. And vice versa, when we talk about international students inbound, there's also the concern that we're admitting many students, overseas students or out-of-state students, because they are higher tuition fee. There's only 400,000. There were only 400,000 students that studied in the 1990s in the U.S. And today, it's just a little over one million. So again, when you think about the millions of students to study abroad or inbound here in the U.S., it's very, very... And so I encourage study abroad or welcoming international students. It changes the dynamic in the classroom, inside and outside of the classroom, let alone bringing thousands of dollars to the community, actually millions of dollars to the local economy. And you may not think about it in that sense, but when you do think about one student renting an apartment, living for a year or two years, and really integrating into the economy, that's quite a bit of revenue coming in to our local economies. Interesting figures that you've shared with us. We always play around with the titles of shows, and we added to this show cultural capital in the title. And cultural capital was chosen because it takes us back to our limited work, at least for me, limited work in sociology. But the cultural capital takes the looks towards the social assets within an individual, and then promotes the social, those assets can work and be developed and enhanced. That will promote the social mobility in some kind of stratified society. So as you're talking about international students, and if we think about third world countries, if there is an opportunity, and that's what the Eisenhower People to People program did, it was all encompassing, not just an unfunded opportunities for people. How do you feel about cultural capital? Do you think international edge, do you hold that international education can really enhance someone's cultural capital? Almost definitely. I'll give you an example. Some of our certificate programs, they were designed specifically for international audience. Perhaps you and I would take a certificate program, not full time, it would take us maybe a year to complete. But we offered these programs in three months, and up to 200 hours of classroom time. And so it's pretty intensive. And when you think about it, we are bringing in students from all over the world. So I may have a cohort of students that may be 40, and there's 20 countries represented. Imagine, it's truly the mini-UN in the classroom, because these students are learning in the United States, in English, but with students from throughout the world. How better of an opportunity can you be exposed to so many different cultures from South America to Europe, Asia, Indonesia, Africa, North Africa? It's amazing what students learn. And it's the very first days to see the students all very nervous and very, very quiet. You don't, you stare at somebody in the classroom, who is this person I'm going to be with for the next three months. But in a matter of weeks, they are the best of friends traveling all over the U.S., not just enjoying their time in our beautiful country, but really learning from one another and how similar that we are. And of course, I'll say this is a funnier side, but there are many students that have gotten married out of our programs. And I think, oh my goodness, and I see them on Facebook now. Hope you have children in your living lives. It's amazing what our programs are, or what international education can actually do. For domestic students, I say welcome international students into the classroom, because if you do not have an opportunity to study abroad, there are so many that can't afford it. I believe that there's, the facts are, the predominantly study abroad is funded through families, your family, and working. So, clearly, there's many students that cannot afford to study. It's too expensive. It takes too much time to do it. So, I say welcome international students into your classroom, because right there and then, as I mentioned with our other international students learning from one another, you've been getting so much in terms of cultural competency. And it goes beyond the funny things that we all laugh about at certain countries, people don't come on time, whereas other countries, people come exactly when class starts at two o'clock, they're there 10 minutes before, and they have a certain expectation. So those are the funny things that we all laugh about. But when you do talk about these things in a classroom, and it just brings about a much more openness, a better understanding. And so, for international students, I say welcome them into your classroom. Kelly, your passion comes across in the few minutes that we've been talking. And I just addressed that or highlight that because passion is an important dimension of creativity, the creative process, especially if you're going to hopefully succeed in selling your pitch for your idea or the process that you want to bring forward. So, with that being said, this idea of passion, clearly you must have had a passion to stick your neck out and take the risk of going on your own. Did the pandemic contribute to that in some way? And also, perhaps I'm not the best risk taker if it involves a salary or survival. I don't know if I would have been on the edge there during a pandemic to step towards and move ahead, but you did. So talk a little bit about that. Well, talk about your stress, Kelly. In the last two years, I've really thought about it, nighttime, and I'm thinking, watching TV, thinking, how did I get here? And I'll go back to when I was a child and my mom is a great cook and she had some great ideas. I'm going to make sushi and I'm going to sell sushi. I was talking back in the 1970s and there was virtually, I would say no such thing in California. People would look at it and go, you're eating raw fish. What is that? And now look at the revolution in sushi. But it starts with your childhood and what you brought up with. And I remember thinking, I'm a good cook. I want to own my own restaurant.  It doesn't work. But it got me to think, how did I start this? Well, I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit and trying to think outside of the box. And in academia, there's so many times where we think only very rigid inside the box. Researchers don't play because where you get great inventions, but in a higher ed, you're bound by the degree programs. And that's not me. And that's why I think I strived in continuing education because I could pick up an idea. And I created a certificate program in business continuity planning for local professionals right when the pandemic hit. And I thought, I really need to help businesses. Or, who need us came because, to be honest with you, I had a really tough boss at one point. And I realized he didn't have a clear understanding of international education. And he came to me one day and said, Kelly, you're a director today. But it'll be fine. You just need to create 10 international partnerships. And I just held my breath and thought, international partnerships are not easy. How many 50,000, 60,000 universities and colleges are there in this world and would all want something different? I don't think you understand that it takes relationship building, trust, understanding, flexibility. And flexibility in all forms. It's the education, what you can fit into this education, what they need. They may say that they want one thing, but really they can't afford it. The university, for example, may not be able to afford US prices. And so you have to be flexible and come up with some solutions. And so being told to develop 10 partnerships, it really spurred me to say, you know what, I'm willing to do this on my own. I've got some connections. I can help universities. It takes a long time and trust building. I can do that. And I can make it easier, let more cost efficient or effective for the universities than our partner. In our conversation this far, I've highlighted university and made some references to universities, but to me it would seem the most exciting part of your independence now is dealing with students from other countries that are adult students and also interested in being entrepreneurs themselves and learning as much as they can.  But what kinds of adult students does unitists attract? Really good question. There's all forms. I've just completed an online program. The University of Columbia engineering students, primarily masters degree students. And they are part of a leadership program and engineering management. And we created an online asynchronous and synchronous program in innovative product development. And so we have master's degree students, but I'm also designing some programs for a California State University for low working professionals. What do they need? They need a career or they need a career boost. I'm taking a look at the industries up in Northern California and trying to figure out what can we design that can quickly meet their needs. So it really runs the gamut from international students to working professionals. What countries are most interested in pursuing international education with you right now? Oh gosh, Spain, Brazil, Columbia, France, so quite a few. And again, many of those are through my longtime affiliations at my former position. But again, I think that demonstrates the fact that international education is really about building relationships, building that cultural competency, so to speak, and understanding what they really are seeking. Many times universities look and they look at me and they say, Kelly, we want universities on the west coast in Canada. And I say, okay, but what are you really looking for? Degree programs? What kind? You want vet medicine? Well, there are some federal regulations and laws that we have to take a look at before we do something like that. It's very diverse and you have to wear many different hats. And I'll say the word, we hear it so many times, but creative and innovative and see how you can. For me, this is a big part of creativity is how can you solve someone else's problem? You have a problem? How can I help solve it? Obviously, the international education programs are expensive. Do many of your folks that are your clients, do their companies pay for them? Or are they bearing the burden themselves personally? Yes. I think both. It really depends. So if I'm working with a group from Brazil that they are an executive MBA students, many of them, their companies are sponsoring their education. But there's other students that are working and paying for it or the university as part of their academic credit will pay. Are you doing much by Zoom at this time? Yes. Does that help with the cost for a client? Very much so. I'm very pleasantly surprised. I think what US universities have to understand is that education for many countries is expensive. And so when you give them a price of whatever a program is going to cost, many times they'll be shocked. Can't do this. And so that's where the creativity and you step in and say, okay, here's what we can do. And we somehow meet in the middle and whether it's financial or length of time, let's figure out how we can meet in the middle and provide an educational opportunity. The one thing that for me for all of these years and why I stayed in international education is really the joy that you see and the transformation that you see on your students faces. The very shy lack of confidence student may at the very end, it could be a two week in person session here. They are completely transformed, much more confident, able to survive. And I wish when I was younger, I was smart enough to study abroad. I was too scared. And now so for me, it's, it's that, I don't want to say motherly aspect of it, but it is nurturing and trying to push students. This is something you can do it should do. There, there's a list of, it's easy to find a list of benefits of international education. No, so we, we know when we probably would agree that international education transcends national borders very easily. We have heard that one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty can be international programming. And I suspect when you see that, that statement that probably implies that the skills and the knowledge base that is going to be gleaned from participating is going to make that student more mobile have upward mobility when they return. Would you agree. Yes, definitely. The interesting fact is that 70% of study abroad students from the US are quite another 10% Hispanic another 10% Asian and probably about 5% African American and it goes on from there. And, and you realize again when you start talking about they're doing it with their own finances or they're working. That means that those students that work and put themselves through college cannot or do not have the time or the money to study abroad. And so that is something that needs to change in this country where there's grants for support for students to study abroad. Again, I say welcome international students into your classroom to because there's history there we all have history. And, and, and when you understand where people are coming from. I think you have a much greater appreciation, but I truly believe that we're preparing students to be global citizens but much more so able to function in this world. And when we talk about so often the unrest and, and the borders being closed. That's not the answer is turn off everyone because we've all come doesn't matter if you are quite on the outside, we've all come we all come from different places. So, once you shut that down. You don't have the ability to learn from another and to be better, a stronger nation in the end. Kelly, it seems like we've just begun to to touch and skim just off the top of international education so there's so much more to be said but we are at the end of our time. And I thank you very much for for being with us today. Thank you for your research and your curiosity and your passion comes across and I hope we get to talk to you again and we wish you well. Thank you. So with that, you have been watching the creative life on think tech Hawaii, and plan to join us again in two weeks when we return with us some more stimulating interesting topics in the area of creativity and until then, Aloha. Thank you very much for watching think tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at think tech Hawaii.com. Mahalo.