Hi, welcome back to history and philosophy of science and medicine. I'm Matt Brown. Today we're going to talk a little bit about trust in science so Let's let's think about what it what it means for To use science and decision-making Public policy or just personal medical decision-making for example It requires number one that you know what the science says, right? You have to have the scientific information Available to you and you have to understand it, right? Okay number two You have to see that that You have to you have to trust That scientific information you have to see that the that there are good reasons to believe The information that you have and the advice that it's based on and number three you have to accept some connection between the information and Some some form of action, right? So it's not enough for example for scientists to tell us that That that our release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is causing global warming We also need to know that that's a bad thing and that there's we should do something to stop that, right? If that information is true, which it is So we we we need to we need to be able to connect those things together, right? So when the scientists recommend for example that we we get vaccinated For measles mumps and rubella or for COVID-19 Number one we need to know What they're telling us right when they tell us that it's safe and effective and the the risks are this and that and They're minimal in this in that way, right? and we need to to trust that they're they're telling us the truth and that the they're Sort of they're giving us the right advice and then we need to Accept the value judgments and other factors that might connect the advice to action, right? now When when we have controversies like vaccine hesitancy or climate change denial Where there seems to be a disconnect between the science and the prescribed actions This there's all these are these are all these different ways that Things could be falling apart. We could not understand what the scientists are saying, right? We could be misinformed in some way We could believe that the that really scientists don't know what's going on with global warming or with vaccine safety We could Have full knowledge of what the scientific consensus is and just not trust it, right? Or we could not believe that we could not believe that The recommended action coheres with our with our values, right? So we might for example, believe that the climate is changing due to our actions and we might say well, you know five degrees warmer and massive biodiversity loss and ocean rising that sounds nice, right? I mean, hopefully we don't think that but but it's not logically incoherent, right? Now in terms of these disconnects by and large when the scientific community and and those who advocate for Science-based policies and scientific science-based decision-making tend to hone in on this first question of misinformation. They tend to think the public is ignorant scientifically illiterate and incapable of Processing the information they've been given or even misled by hostile actors preying on their ignorance and They have focused a lot of attention on that problem how to better inform the public how to create better public understanding of science through You know different ways of presenting the information Sort of infotainment to activities and other kinds of things of that sort Now I'm not gonna sit here and say that there is not information there's not misinformation out there. There aren't you know People who misunderstand the science but that in itself is not the sole situation and actually Public misunderstanding of science is is less bad than you might think right if you look at some of the data out there Now Maya Goldenberg in the case of Vaccines has argued that this is really missed the mark It's not so much that people don't understand what the scientists are telling them don't understand the science There's some of that but but not wholly the problem is is that they don't trust the scientists because Scientists typically are taking a public health perspective. They're looking at risk in the aggregate and benefit in the aggregate and Making decisions in that way and presenting information in that way, but What many parents as as decision-makers about childhood vaccinations in particular are worried about is Individual risk to their child and whether the risk-benefit calculation for their particular child is correct and There's there's a host of reasons why you might be worried about that And if you want to find out more information about that often what you're met with is this is this Answer that assumes you're just ignorant right assumes you don't understand what's going on assumes that you can't make educated decisions about risk but You know as as Goldenberg points out, right? You know, why do you want to put your child at risk, right? That that seems like bad parenting right you want to you know, okay, maybe the benefits outweigh the risks But who can who can explain that to me? How can we weigh those things? that's the kind of information that parents feel that they're not getting and so they seek it elsewhere and That's you know, how they become open to a certain kind of misinformation You might think about it and you know, we could we could we could go back and ask fire oven. Should we trust science, right? Fire oven might say look no you shouldn't trust science, right? Why because trust makes you kind of dependent and You know Dependent on the sort of interest of the scientists What you should do is you should be a critical thinker and you should try to understand the science for yourself and make your own judgments Well as Heather Douglas argues That's really that's a that's a lot to ask, right? In fact, we are kind of dependent on the experts in a lot of cases to Help us understand things that are quite technical So what what we might instead be What we might instead focus on is Being critical trusters, right? That is thinking critically about whether scientists or the scientific or medical establishment is trustworthy, right and You know, one of the things that focusing on trust centers are thinking on is You know that it's that it's not just about information. It's not a purely epistemic question, right? Trust involves not just believing that The person you're trusting or in this case the group that you're trusting or the institution that you're trusting is honest It's going to deal truthfully, right? But also that They're they're they're going to act with integrity and that that, you know, they're going to Respond to your dependence upon them with the appropriate level of of care and concern You know, you might say that if you try, you know, if I trust someone to To to dogs it for me to watch my dogs, right? I not only have to believe that they're competent, you know, they know how to take care of a dog I also have to believe that they have the end my interests and the interests of my dogs at heart, right? and that's a that's an ethical kind of relationship that's an ethical commitment and If if they are if I think, you know, they know what to do But they're, you know, going to be distracted or they're not going to be focused on my My particular dogs, maybe they're focused on the the welfare of dogs in general And not the welfare of my particular dogs I might pick someone else the dog set, right? Because I want a dog sitter who's going to take care of my dogs, right? And I think it's similar. It's a similar worry With some parents and vaccines, right? And so What if Goldenberg is right about that then Concerns about the public understanding of science really need to be retooled in the direction of Fostering public trust of science and that's a two-way street, right? It's not just about better communication strategies to suggest trust but also it's a it's about Making sure that the activities and institutions of science have the right relationship to the public so that they are trustworthy In some cases, especially with with modern medicine, there are real work. There are real reasons to worry About that about say the role of financial conflicts of interest and the relationship between public health and individual decision-making So that's what we're talking about today. I hope that gives you a good Sense of what's at stake with these issues and I look forward to hearing what you think on Discord or in the comments of the video or in our live class Otherwise, I'll see you next time


Hi everyone, Shawn with jaspyscasebreaks.com here doing the team random randomizer for court kings pick your team number one eight box half case break. So this sells out court kings number one you're guaranteed a team in the team random 14 spots will randomize all 14 customers names then match them up next to this list below whatever team you match up with is what team you get from the Hornets down to the Raptors. You can see on the spreadsheet we've copied that exact list right there. So we're going to randomize this customer list here which is Michael May down to Jack by his margin with last spot mojo this many times six and a four ten times and then we're going to copy the results over to that spreadsheet whatever team you're next to is what you get so six and a four ten times on the customers. Tenth and final time from Joshua Idlitz down to Scott Blackwell so you can see ten times in the randomizer ten times on the dice and there you go. So Joshua Idlitz with the Hornets Scott McCrank with the Timberwolves Joshua Idlitz with the Warriors Lakers Hawks and Thunders Ellen Higa Joe with the Spurs Joshua Idlitz with the Wizards Jack by his margin with the Nuggets Joshua Idlitz with the Heat and the Magic Michael May with the Cavs Joshua Idlitz with the Jazz and Scott Blackwell with the Raptors and there you go that's the team random randomizer for court kings pick your team number one. I'm Sean Jasper's case breaks dot com the break itself coming up next.


Y Benihai Côr has adonnedd y case of alleged conspiracy, kidnapping and murder of Soni Eici, the Ocaegili of Kulukulu community against Chief John Tyn Aselege, the EAS area of Wari Kingdom, and 11 others to 26 May 2021 for further hearing. Council to the First Defendants, CEO O' Keke had told the court that he received the call from the correctional centre that the accused person was ill. He later informed the court that the accused had called to complain that the prison staff left him behind while taking the other accused persons to court. Speaking to newsmen after the sitting, council to the family of late Soni Eici, Barrister Matthew Edagasi said the matter was slated for continuation. But the correctional centre did not produce one of the defendants and trial could not go on in the absence of the defendants in line with the provision of the law. They did not produce one of the defendants and trial cannot go on in the absence of one of the defendants. That is the position of the law.  So that was what's told the hearing for today. That is a very, very worrisome development. The correctional centre are very aware of today's date and it is their duty under the constitution to convey image to and fro the court for trial, on trial dates. So if for any reason for their own do I say negligence or inefficiency and they allow matter to drag on because they fail to do what they ought to have done, it is unfortunate and we do not think that we help the smooth administration of criminal justice and again we are saying they should wake up to their responsibility. Flimsy excuses will no longer avail them as an excuse for them to delay justice unnecessarily. We are condemning that and we are vehemently opposed to that attitude.


So, there is a huge trend of these videos on why you should wake up at 5am. Like this. Like this. And like this. But here's the thing.  And here's why. What's up guys? Alex Hine, author of this book, Mestels et Des. Now listen. The thing with waking up at 5am. The big thing is that it's not when you do your work. It's not about your sleep. It's about what you do while you're awake. It doesn't matter if you work at 2am, 5am, 9pm, 1pm, if you're doing your work at your job. The thing people miss is that it's not about the time. It's about what you get done during the day. You know you look at the average person spending 2-5 hours a day on their computer or on social media. And they're sitting there thinking that waking up at 5am is going to help them magically create their best life. No. You know what will help? They love goddamn Instagram for 4 hours looking at these naked girls hanging out of their Ferraris. It's not about getting up at 5, 7, 9. Some of the best creatives and the most world-renowned people worked from midnight until 5am. And then they slept until noon or 2pm and then they smoked cigarettes and drank wine and then worked again in the evenings. It's a matter of figuring out, am I being productive during the hours I'm awake? If that's 5am for you, great. Then do that. Even if it's 9pm, great, then just do that. Now the second idea here is that it's about energy management and not just time management. I've talked about this a lot here and look, maybe you want to get fit. Maybe you want to write a book. Maybe you want to start a business. Maybe you want to travel the world. And it's like, look, I wanted to do all those things too. And guess what? For me building my company, I did it every night for 3 years and 3 months before I could quit my job. 10 hours of the day job. 1 hour in the gym, 3 hours a night, 7 days a week, 3 years, 3 months. It didn't matter if, like for me getting up at 5am would have been exhausting. I would have hated it. And in fact I've done it and it sucked and it never got easier for me. But it's a matter of thinking, if those truly are your most productive hours, then make that your work hours. But don't think that it's going to magically solve your problems because it's a magical golden hour. If it's the only quiet time you get, then great. But if it's 9, do it at 9. If you're working half time and you can't find a job, just do it in the afternoon in a cafe. But it's more about being deliberate with your energy and figuring out, okay, what is my one goal I'm working on the most? And what time of the day do I feel the best? Can I do that? Maybe it's right after work, like me for the gym, because you know as soon as you sit on that couch, nothing's going to happen. Or maybe you know that in the morning it takes you so long to wake up that you're not going to get anything creative done. And maybe like waking up at 5 or 6 is great for the gym for you, but you know you can't get anything work-wise done. And really what we're talking about here is being more productive. People usually talk about waking up at 5 a.m. because you have this golden beautiful peaceful time before the world is up where you can work uninterrupted. And look, that's great. You should have that. You should absolutely have that. But you figure out what works best for you. So to me, the essence of productivity is not about time. It is more about energy. It's not about when you do it. It's more about working on the right things. So if I'm here on Instagram or using the TV three hours a day, like forget waking up early. How about shaving off an hour of watching TV and dedicated towards building a better life? And I think this is one of those traps where we think like I have to be productive. I have to do this to do this. I have to work on so many things. And I need to figure out the best tactic to get this done. But instead when we ask what is just the one or two things that are the most important to help me reach this goal?  Or maybe you're in a coffee shop or a library and you're dedicating yourself one hour a day towards living a better life. That will be just as effective as many of you as getting up at 5 a.m. So what do I propose instead of getting up at 5 a.m.? I propose being weird clearly, but also dedicating one hour a day towards living a better life. I've shared this in a video that I heard in Earl Nightingale's talk, The Essence of Success or maybe Lead the Field, where he passed a bunch of seal workers and it was during the Great Depression.  I don't know what else to do, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he was saying, you have all this leisure time, you're not working 15 hours a day. All these leisure hours in even one hour a day over the last 20 years, you could have learned to become an open heart surgeon. So what are you doing with your time? And I really took this lesson to heart and anything I've wanted to improve my life. I just dedicate one hour a day to living a better life and building some kind of vision in my head into a reality. So my advice for you would be, if you want to wake up at 5, great, then do it. But before you do that, or maybe while you do it, why not instead dedicate one perfectly time blocked, focused, no electronics hour towards your major goal that's going to improve your life in a game changing way. Try that for 90 days and you tell me how your life changes. So now that we're friends again, why don't you leave a comment there below? Let me know for you. Did you try the 5am wake up challenge? Did it help? Did it suck? Let me know there. And so I hope that helped bring a little bit of a paradigm shift into your life. Now the best way to stay in touch is to grab my free personal development and weight loss challenge, modernhealthmonk.com forward slash YouTube and check out my last two videos right here, right here. And I will see you soon like this creepy little dude right here.


Two years ago and three months I had a stroke and I was only 42 so I was very devastated at the time and the reason I was 42 I don't know my family doesn't have a stroke in it I don't know what happened to me and my doctor says he doesn't know why I had a stroke so as you can see I'm sort of paralysed in one hand and paralysed in one leg if I don't have my ABO on so after rehab and I can't say rehabilitation for 12 weeks in the hospital I went home before that I found out I'd no longer have my license and that was devastating for me because one thing I knew was in my years of driving I haven't had drink driving I hadn't had anything wrong and that was really really hard for me to do so by the end of the year I thought I have to go for my license again so by the end of the year so in between the year I have lots of rehab as well and I can't stop it and all other stuff so in my car I have Fiona who come along and she assess my license and she said no you'll be fine you can have your license so I say yay I have my license but I then I realized that I didn't really have my license because now I have to get all the stuff on the left hand side so I have to get a steering knob on the left hand side I can't just have a normal car I have to have brake and accelerator on the left hand side not the right hand side I no longer to could have a manual car I had to have an automatic and so that was a bit of a shock for me as well because I had a manual car so I gave it to my daughter then I had to go to VicRoads again to get my license done again because although they had a good license on the back they had to go on what I had to do to have my license so I had to have a manual automatic car I had to have these and that blah blah blah so so also alright so I'll get someone else to drive me up to VicRoads and get my license get done again then I felt like I needed a new car not my second-hand car so I've went up to Ford and tried out Ford Focus the reason I had Ford Focus not a Fiesta because it's too small to fit my sorry wheelchair in thank you Peter to fit my wheelchair in as well so I have to go up one size and get that then I had to go to sweeps in and see if they can update there and get all that stuff in it it nearly cost four thousand dollars to get all updated to that so that was pretty sad for me because now I know that if one of you said to me oh come on and you drive my car I said no I can't because I won't have all the stuff I need so that was a bit disappointing about oh well that that will have to do so when I finally got it from Ford Ford when I finally got it from Ford then I had to go to the mechanic to get it fixed so finally on the 1st of July last year yay I've got my license I've got I can I can freedom anything I want with my car I can't help I can't tell you what that freedom means to have this aid to get in my car and go where I want when I want hooray so I could take my daughter to work I could go and visit my parents instead them coming to visit me I could go for you set friends etc so it's just amazing but two months later having drive in my car I went up to the QE and I did my swimming and then I did my speech therapy and then I had one I had one more thing I had to do was to get to Centrelink and get the form in and then I could go home and relax for the rest of the day well in Centrelink I said I waited for half an hour just to get this form in and half an hour of standing at Centrelink was not a very good idea no one came and asked me would I like to see somewhere so I just waited waited waited for half an hour so one o'clock I said hooray now I'm going home but unfortunately I will put it in reverse and I well I hoped I backed out I don't know what I did then because next thing I know I was in an ambulance so I don't know how long I was there I don't know anything so then I come up here to the base hospital the policemen came and saw me and he said you have to have six months of driving six months I nearly died then I saw the neurologist at the base and she said no you have to have six months of driving then I went and saw my local GP and he said no you have to have six months off driving I said one two three so I'm devastated I have to have six months of driving so now what does not driving mean to me for two years now I haven't had my license apart from that two months I have not have my license every day I wake up and I look out the front window at my car and it's just sitting there and every morning I say I miss you car I'm gonna come back to you one day but it's not today I have the loss of independence again it was terrible to think I now had to rely on my mom or dad or my daughter or my friend Peter or otherwise a taxi so it's not very nice it means the loss of my independence I didn't I couldn't go out anywhere and I didn't want to go out anywhere I was very frustrated because to think I have my license now and now I don't have it for six months I was very angry as well because yeah I missed I missed that independence as well it's very hard to for me to say to you most of you I imagine would have your license I end up on depression because I couldn't rely on my parents every day to come and see me which is fine and plus who wants to see their parents every day my children I've changed the thing because my children live in Geelong so it's only once in a while they get up to see me in Balorat and even though they come and see me they also have 21st to go to and things like that so I have to ask for help occasionally so I have to ask my mom can you please get my shopping for me I have to ask my friends if they want to can we go out for a coffee but I'm sorry can you pick me up I have to get a taxi I fortunately I have a half price but it's still a lot of money when you're going somewhere and always in a taxi so I try not to get taxi every day except for the QE and back I wanted a scooter like so I can drive myself around I asked for one 15 months ago I still haven't got it so in terms of that I can't really go into the shops and all that because my leg won't take me all that way so it's very hard as well each December my doctor has to say yes or no if I can still drive so that's another point so now I'm into seven months of waiting for my license back and I still don't have it back so it's nearly four weeks over due and there's no news so is if there is a doctor in this house come and see me later and I'll talk you about it thank you very much


I like to tell you about my coaching program or some people call it my mentoring program. And this is my highest level of service that I'm offering in my business right now. As you might know, I sell online courses and I create free content that's available for everyone. My online courses are paid so people buy specific topics to learn from me. But then I have a way to work with students slash clients slash mentees in an ongoing way. And the program has traditionally been called the Master Heart Authentic Business Mentoring Group. It's a mouthful. And this year, I'm actually separating the program into two different tiers and I want to tell you about that. So if you're interested in maybe joining my ongoing mentoring or coaching group, then this is a video that I think will be helpful to you. Okay, so basically, this is the way for me to provide you support in a structured way over the course of a whole year. So it's a year long engagement with me. At this recording, I no longer provide one-on-one coaching ongoingly. So this is the way to work with me ongoingly. And in the program, because I do so many Q&A, I do three Q&A calls, not per month, but per week. So it really is a lot of access to me. Besides the three live Q&A calls with me per week, you also get access to a private forum just for the members where I show up and answer questions several times a week. If I can quickly answer something, I will record an answer for you on one of the three Q&A calls per week. And the reason for the three Q&A calls is, well, I want you to get as much access as possible. But secondly, in fact, I can tell you when the three Q&A calls are in case you're wondering about maybe signing up for it. So as of the 2023 group, the three Q&A call times are every Monday at, and by the way, these are all optional calls. And even if you cannot attend, you could still submit questions and I will record my answer for you. And then we could do back and forth in that way where you can email me back or reply back with some more nuance or some more follow-up and I'll record another answer for you or reply to you in the forum. So if you cannot attend by any means, you can still make use of it. But if you can attend, obviously, the more you can attend, the more we get to interact with each other. So it's every Monday at 9 a.m. Pacific, which is 12 p.m. Eastern Americas, and 5 p.m. GMT, UK GMT Europe time, so you can calculate that for your own time zone. So every Monday at 9 a.m. Pacific, 12 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. GMT, as well as, and I'm going to give an Australian time zone soon, so don't worry. So every Monday and Thursday, so Monday and Thursdays are the same time, 9 a.m. Pacific, 12 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. GMT. Thursday has an additional call for Australia slash Asia, which is 6 p.m. Pacific, doable for some people, 9 p.m. Eastern, which is quite late for the Eastern folks, and yet it's daytime in Australia and Asia. So it depends on the time of the year when it is, but it's always 6 p.m. Pacific on Thursdays for this time zone. For example, part of the year, it'll be Singapore at 10 a.m. Sydney at 1 p.m., and then it shifts over the year to 9 a.m. Singapore, 12 p.m. Sydney, and then sometimes 11 a.m. Sydney. So you could look at the, it's always going to be 6 p.m. Pacific or California time on Thursdays for that Australia-Asia time zone. Of course, those of you in the Americas or if a time zone works for you, if you're in Europe and like to get up in the middle of the night, you can always get up and join us for that too. But anyway, so three hours of Q&A every week where you get to ask me anything and everything, you get to ask me feedback about your sales pages, your videos, you want me to watch your videos and give you feedback on that. You want me to read your article and give you feedback on it. You want me to give you feedback on the strategy of your business, your next steps, maybe we could look at both your overall business plan and what your vision is, what your strategy is toward the vision, as well as, okay, George, what do I do tomorrow? Given my strategy, what's the most effective way that you know how to get to the vision of it? What do you recommend that I do this afternoon or tomorrow? And what should I do every Tuesday at 10 a.m.? We could look at your calendar. We could look at as big picture as you're going to ask me philosophical questions or as small picture as, okay, let's look at what actually happens in a given week and what if I were living your life, what might I tweak to make your calendar and your ongoing actions more productive? Or if you have a calendar and you're having a hard time actually following it, because George, I've got really idealistic and I scheduled all these things I wanted to do and I'm not doing any of it or I'm not doing 80% of it, what do you recommend, what should I tweak so that I actually stay in integrity with my plans and still move forward in a very productive way, still maintaining enough self-care and balance in my life in the other areas? Okay, so the Q&As are a big portion of, a big reason why people sign up because they want my ongoing coaching. And you might say, George, are there so many people in the program that we get one minute with you every month? No, I'll tell you actual historical stats and I'm going to pull up, I'm going to actually pull this up right now. I track the attendance of my Q&A calls so that I know how many people are showing up on a regular basis and then this is the actual numbers right now, okay? For the past three months, no, let's let me go back, I'm recording this right now in November. I'm going to keep going back all the way to the average stats all the way until the past six months, okay, no, all the way till March, okay? Just FYI, the Q&A calls are always very well attended in January, February, and part of March and then it drops down. And it's not that people leave the program, people still say in the program, they still seem to be quite happy because the program has many components which I'm going to explain to you. They're small teams, so not only is it a larger group of people that you can get feedback from and ask questions and get lots of feedback and resources from all the collective wisdom of other authentic solopreneurs, other authentic business owners, but you also get to be part of a small team of people that I pay the facilitator to facilitate your small team so that you can get to know others who are at a similar level as you and you could really peer mastermind in teams of between four and seven people. You can decide what size of team you want to join. So again, I pay the facilitators to facilitate these small teams within the program. There's no additional cost to you, you just pay the usual fee and you can decide to join a team if you want to or not. And it's based on stage of business and based on the pathway that you're taking within the program. And let me, oh, I was going to tell you the numbers. Okay, so since late March, the numbers of people who have attended the Q&As have been between two people and 10 people. And it averages because I have a spreadsheet here so I can give you the actual average of numbers attending. The average attendance per call is six to seven people. Let me say this again. And this is out of a group of 70 people. So out of a group of 70 people, 10% attendance. And that's not unusual because I've run this program since 2016. So I've seen the numbers about the same. In 2023, the maximum numbers of people will be 100 total members maximum. And so you can expect that the attendance will be about 10 people per hour long call. Now, the hour long call is split up in this way. I do 10 minutes of training in the beginning on either Facebook ads or Instagram ads or on net caring. So I have specific topics that I train in the first 10 minutes. You don't have to show up for that. I record those so you have access to those as a member. But then the final 50 minutes are Q&A. And the 50 minutes are broken up into, I'm sorry. Let me just double check the actual, yeah. So I think, yeah, that's right. So 10 minutes of Q&A, sorry, 10 minutes of training and then 50 minutes. I realized in my document I wrote it wrong. 50 minutes of Q&A for split up between 25 minutes and 25 minutes. So 25 minutes will be for one tier of the program and 25 minutes will be for the second tier of the program. So there's two tiers of the program. Long story short, there's 50 minutes of Q&A per hour long meeting during these three hours per week that you can attend or not attend. It's up to you. And so imagine 10 people, 50 minutes. So everybody, if everybody literally asked a question, they'd get on average five minutes, not everybody asked questions. 10 people might attend and there might be three people who have questions. So I might spend 10 to 20 minutes per person three times a week. And so times four weeks in a month. But I usually take off one week every four to five weeks. So every month there's about one week usually where we don't do calls. So at least three times, so at least nine calls per month like this, right? Plenty of Q&A support. And you might say, well, George, maybe there are a lot more attendance now every single year. I mean, this is true for any group program. If you've ever been part of a group program or run one, you know what I'm talking about. 10% attendance on a call is not unusual. It's pretty typical. So OK, so what else is part of the program? All right, so you get the Q&A calls. You also get several courses that come with the program. So let me explain. Everybody gets access to four courses without any additional fee. Four courses are joyful productivity, because that's the foundation, in my opinion, the foundation of an authentic business is the ability and not just the ability, but the joy of working productively on a consistent basis. And productive means you are doing the most effective things towards the vision of your business, which we need to explore what those actions are. Whether you're using your life energy in the most effective way possible towards the vision and values that you hold dear, right? So joyful productivity is a suite of skills that allows you to actually show up in a consistent way day after day, week after week, in a balanced way as well. Working lightly, being super organized, knowing how to declutter everything, all the information, how to organize all your information, your time, et cetera. OK, so joyful productivity, all the members get that without additional charge. Second one is all the members get my core program for content distribution, which is Facebook ads and Instagram ads, not the Instagram course. So I have I have a Facebook ads course that covers Instagram ads, but not how to use Instagram and use Instagram normally. So the Instagram course is separate. You can buy that separately. But but those of you who are already using Instagram will benefit from this. And of course, those of you using Facebook will benefit a lot from learning how to use ads, even if you just spend $30 a month on ads. That's all I'd recommend for people to start with. Yeah, not thousands a month or hundreds a month, $30 a month for your business.  But at least $30 a month on advertising, paid ads, get your business in front of way more people, $30 just to give you a sense of it. $30 a month can get your business in front of three thousand of the right people, of the people who are likely to be right for your content and your and your offers. That's such a good deal. That's what Facebook and Instagram ads gives us. It's about $10 per thousand people reached. So that's why I find it so important to give this as a course that foundational course for everyone, because I spend hundreds of dollars a month, sometimes thousands of dollars a month on Facebook ads, Instagram ads and LinkedIn ads. I don't the LinkedIn ads is a separate thing. But the foundation here when I'm giving you is the Facebook Instagram ads. OK, so that's the second course you get. The third course you get as a foundation is net caring and authentic collaborations. What does this mean? It's a foundational way of growing an audience and getting clients. Because essentially there are I'll just say keep it simple here. There are three ways of growing your business, of growing an audience and getting more clients, getting more customers, students, readers, attendees of your events, three ways. OK, there's either organic, viral traffic, which means you post a bunch of content out there and some of those content just really blossom and a lot of times you don't know why. It's just somehow in in alignment with the current culture. Timing is right or whatever. So one way is you post a bunch of content and sometimes it just goes wild. Some of the things just gets shared a lot more than all your other pieces of content. So organic, viral traffic, it just happens if you get consistent with posting authentic content, it will eventually happen for you. OK, organic, viral traffic. Second way of growing your business paid ads.  You could start today by getting your content in front of thousands of the right people by learning how to use paid ads. Like I said, $30 a month on paid ads is a great start. And then as you see traction, you could spend more if you wish to. Doesn't you don't have to. But yeah, OK, so paid ads. And a third way of growing your business is net carrying and collaborations. In other words, other people who find your content or your presence so helpful, meaningful, engaged, entertaining, whatever, that they're willing to share your thing with their audience in a very structured way, meaning, hey, why don't you teach a webinar for my for my email list for my audience? Or hey, maybe we can interview each other or hey, maybe I can help you sell your course or your service or your, you know, and maybe you pay them a commission if it's appropriate to do so. So net carrying and authentic collaborations is a foundation for how we grow our business. That's how I've grown my business. Like I've grown my business in these three ways that I told you. And that's why I teach these three ways, because I know from grounded experience they work super well. There are other ways like search engine optimization or, you know, press releases or, you know, people say, well, what about word of mouth? Word of mouth is simply organic viral traffic. That's what I mean. It just happens for everybody eventually. And some of the others, that's all I get my clients right now. It's all through word of mouth. No, that's to be clear, all of us get clients to word of mouth. That's not even a way that I talk about. That's just normal. That's that should be normalized. Everybody should get it's that's normal.  It's like the normal rhythm of a heartbeat. But business that's everyone, everyone has that. If the business is alive, it gets some word of mouth. That's normal. I don't have to teach that. That's just but if you use one of these three ways, the word of mouth happens way more ample. It's way more amplified. You see what I mean? OK, so that's why you get these three courses and then you get a fourth course as part of the membership, which is the authentic business planning 2023 course. So that's basically you get the newest version of that for being part of the part of the group. You actually get the course in advance of the year starting. You get the newest version because I teach it at the end of at the end of each year. So you kind of get that you can move into the group with a with a more clear plan. So that's so you get the Q&A calls I've already talked about. You get these these these core four courses that we that we talked about. You also get credits to buy other courses of mine that have already that are already on my website or new ones that I create in 2023. So let me explain. There are two tiers of this program. OK, one tier is called Master Heart. That's the most that's the highest tier, the most engagement with me, the most expensive tier. And then there's ABC tier, which is a second tier actually current as of this recording that the second tier is not even on my website. It's just something you find out later as you're in the application process. You find out there's a second tier I can apply for. So the most expensive Master Heart tier the price is really expensive. So hold on to your seats. OK. You know how some coaching programs are one hundred thousand dollars a year? Yes, some coaching programs are ten thousand dollars a month. I've seen several of those. Other coaching programs are, you know, it's not unusual for a program like this to be twenty thousand a year. It's really not a big deal. Twenty five thousand a year. It's about two thousand a month is not a it's normal for this kind of thing. And then you get coaching programs that are about a thousand a month. That's not unusual or five hundred dollars a month. Master Heart, my premium most expensive program is two hundred and twenty two dollars a month. That's the most expensive thing I sell. There's nothing else to buy from me. Like once you buy Master Heart, you get more than you need in any given year. Because what you get is not only those four foundational courses in Master Heart. You also get ten more course credits during the year. Like, do you really need that? But if you want to, you get it.  Oh, you want to learn LinkedIn ads also? Oh, you want to learn Instagram organic traffic also? Great. Oh, you want to learn how to make videos also? Oh, you want to learn how to, you know, what else do I teach? How to write a write and self-publish a book? Oh, you want to learn? I'm forgetting what else I teach. But all the other I have, I think 17 courses right now. So for them, come, come with the program and you can buy another ten with the credits that I give you as part of your normal $222 a month membership. So it's basically everything. You don't need to buy anything else for me once you sign up for the 222 a month. Everything else is given to you. Now, if you cannot afford the 222 or you don't want to spend that much right now, you want a lighter touch with me, then the ABC tier, the lower tier program is one 11 a month. So it's half of that. And you literally get half of everything that the Mastermind members are getting. So you get five credits, five additional credits a year instead. So you still get the four foundational courses I described, lest you get five additional credits per year, which is probably enough for most of you to to integrate, to really integrate and to implement. OK, so now what what other differences are there between the MasterHeart and the ABC program? So so a couple of the key differences. MasterHeart is much smaller. So MasterHeart program. So like I said, there's 100 total members, 100 total members. 75 of them are ABC members at the lower tier, 75 of them. 25 of them are the MasterHeart members at the higher tier. And on every Q&A call, I split up the Q&A time between ABC and MasterHeart. Do you see where I'm going with this? So I start the call, I do some teaching, and then I answer I answer ABC member questions for 25 minutes. And then the final 25 minutes are MasterHeart questions. OK, so MasterHeart questions, meaning there's only 25 people in MasterHeart. So probably three to four people are going to attend each time on a Q&A call and they get 25 minutes with me. So it's a lot more time. But ABC members, even though there's 75 people based on historical statistics, probably seven people are going to attend. Seven to eight people, seven or eight will attend and get the 25 minutes with me each time. So anyway, so the other thing is I mentioned that I don't do one on one coaching anymore, except for people in MasterHeart and ABC can still sign up for additional one on one with me. Private one on one call with me. No one else is there and it's not recorded unless you want to record it. That's fine. So ABC members can sign up for one on one with me. My calls are always 30 minutes each. So 30 minute one on one calls, 30 minute one on one calls. And I set aside time every week to meet with members who want to pay the additional fee for the one on one. So the one on one with me, you go on to one on one. It's $120, 120 for the 30 minute meeting for ABC members. MasterHeart members can get the 30 minutes with me for $60. So like I said, everything is double or half with MasterHeart versus ABC. So and by the way, there's a link below to give you access to seeing all of these all of these written out. And I will be sure to put that link below. OK, so what else is important? Let's see here. There are teams, I should mention the pathways. I should mention that briefly before before I end this super long video. The pathways are a really key part of this program. I basically have designed three different pathways. And actually, as of this recording, I'm still working on the final designs of the pathway so I can't describe them perfectly. I'm not going to describe. But essentially, the pathways are three different stages that I've noticed people are in. And each stage will take that particular pathway. So for example, someone who is beginning in their business and you might say, George, what what level of business should I be in to sign up for this kind of program? Well, I've designed three pathways. So essentially, beginner, middle, beginner, intermediate and advanced. Advanced would be someone like me who was already, you know, had quite a stable business and just want to expand it or expand the impact or streamline it to be more productive and more efficient and more joyful. That's the advanced beginner is the opposite of that. Hey, I'm just trying to figure out what I should offer. Now, there's an application process for for these programs. So I don't accept everyone who applies. So we'll see. But but I do accept some beginners in the program who are very dedicated to working with the strategies that I teach. And beginners will basically be clarifying what they should be offering. So what is the service, the product, the program, the events they should be offering? What is their content focus? If so, and if you've watched my videos, you know that I believe in experimenting a lot before the sighting, before niching down. If you ever niche down, experiment a lot is important. OK, so one, the beginner pathway is to clarify your offerings and your content focuses and kind of get going with consistent content, consistent offer creation and some net carrying, etc. The intermediates are working more. They're already they've already got offers. You know, the immediate people have already sold some things. They've already gotten some clients, some students, some customers, etc. And now they're wanting to further refine the offer so that it's it's even, you know, the intermediates are basically wanting to double or triple their business. So they're they're like, OK, let me make the offer much more palatable to people and much more saleable. And so let me let me do that. And then I also want to use ads to dramatically increase the size of my audience. So so the intermediates are in a big expansions phase, whereas the advanced people are more in a streamlining phase. They're quite happy with where they are with their business, but they want to streamline, make more efficient with my coaching and also to, yeah, to expand some, but in a more streamlined and less labor intensive way is where the advanced people are. So beginner, intermediate, advanced three pathways. You will be you will be choosing a pathway with my coaching. I mean, January is when we're going to do a lot of Q&A just to help people choose which pathway to take for the rest of the year. And then each pathway comes with a certain prescription of OK, if you're taking the beginner pathway, I recommend these four to six courses that you should take during the year using your credits. You have enough credits to take those courses that I recommend and immediately take these ones, advanced people take these ones. OK, so the pathways all are also part of teams. So when you choose a pathway, you get to then join a team of people who are also on that pathway so that you each get to take the courses step by step together to say, all right, January, you know, February, March, we're taking this one together. We're going to make sure we do module one by February 10th, module two by February 18th, whatever it is that you're the schedule that you create together as a team. So then that way you have the accountability on a team to go through the courses step by step to talk to each other about the questions and the challenges and the implementation of things. And then, of course, to come to the Q&A to get any clarity. So those are that's why this program. I'm quite proud of it because it, you know, instead of like taking my courses randomly here and there and then it ends and then you don't have any accountability, it's a year long accountability process to make sure you are implementing. It's kind of like your business is these systems that you're placing in your business, this foundational system. OK, got that? All right. Now that's you're ready for this foundational system above that and then this foundational system and then this system and this system so that you kind of build this cake style business that is eventually when you're at the advanced level, it kind of runs a lot of it runs on autopilot, which is my business, as you know, I'm a solopreneur. I do have a couple of very, very part-time assistants and very part-time.  But most of my business runs on autopilot. You know, it's a lot of it's automated and I just show up mostly for my content. I show up to answer some questions for my assistants. I show up for my group Q&A calls. I create my content. I create my offers. I prepare my courses. Of course, that's me preparing. You know, so that's the vision for how you can kind of like streamline everything and build and then streamline so that you're you're just really showing up for the for the highest value. Presence, that's really like you need to eliminate as much as possible, automate as much as possible, delegate whatever you can't automate. And then the final things that you can't delegate or automate, you appreciate and show up with your with your with your presence and with your spirit and with your joy. So anyway, last let's see if there's anything else I want to say before we get going. I think I've described the program pretty well. I put the link below. So I forgot to mention a key part of the program is net caring with other members. And so I facilitate a net caring call every single week in twice a week, one for each time zone. And that's on again, this is optional. If you can't attend, I think you can still make great use of the program, even if you can't attend the net caring calls. But if you can, that's great. So the net caring calls are half an hour each. Every Monday at 8 30 a.m. Pacific, which is 11 30 a.m. Eastern, which is 4 30 p.m. GMT. That's every Monday, 8 30 a.m. Pacific or 4 30 p.m. GMT. And also every Monday at 5 30 p.m. Pacific, which is for the Australia Asia time zone. You could look at the document to find out what that is. But it's basically something around 8 30 or 9 30 a.m. Singapore 11 30 or 12 30 p.m. Sydney. So it's daytime. And on those net caring calls, we do breakout pairs. It's going to be a really cool way. I have a way of well, sometimes you randomized pairs and sometimes we'll have a way to choose or select what kind of person you want to connect with so that you can be more aligned with either a topic or a particular stage of business or a particular time zone. Or we'll have different ways of. So you get to meet a lot of people over the course of the year on these net caring calls so you can find mutual support, collaboration and things like that. So I'm excited for that. That's actually new to the program. We never we used to do a little bit of net caring, but now we're it's instituted every single week. There's a rhythm for that. And finally, there's a forum. Of course, I should there's a private forum. It's going to be hosted on my course platform, Simplero, and the forum will have places where you can share your progress and learnings and learn from so many people's actual progress during the year and what they're learning, how business works really well. You'll get to exchange gifts, meaning, hey, you get my course for free. I want to get access to your course or your program for free. So you a lot of gift exchange happens. Feedback about your website, sales pages, articles, videos, blah, blah, blah, each people will give feedback to each other. You can request support to promote your offers. Upcoming event, you're requesting some more to promote support to promote these things to other people's audiences. Emotional support, of course, is going to be sectioned. People are ups and downs of business. Lots of emotional support is helpful. You can share resources. You know, people always are finding new resources, new tools, new ways of doing business in our forum. And of course, any questions you have about business, marketing, productivity, anything like that. Anyway, I think that's enough. So if you're interested, you can click on the link below to read more of the details of what I just said. And then there's the application form at the end of that document that you read. Yes, I make you hunt for it because I want you to read everything. And at the end of the document, there's the application link if you want to apply for it. I do the application process does take just so you know. This is actually a question in the application form. How long did it take you to fill out the form? And the average right now is about 45 minutes. Yeah, it's a thoughtful application because not everyone gets in. And just by filling out the application, it also helps you to set your intentions for 2023. So part of the application also helps you to it's part of the application.  You know, if you're not sure, like you if you're not sure, you shouldn't apply. OK, but if you're like, oh, my gosh, I would love to be part of this program. And I think I probably am a good fit based on what's written there based on the commitments. Then I invite you to apply because, you know, you'll probably have a good chance of getting it, especially the sooner you apply. This the sooner you might get in as of this recording, about 70 percent of the program is already filled for 2023. I'm recording this in early November. We don't start until January and already 70 percent has already been accounted for. They've already been accepted into the program. So they're essentially about 30 30 percent spots left, 30 spots. It's 100 people, 30 spots left. So if you're watching this, especially November, December, ish time zone, early December, likely spots left for you. And I welcome you to apply. So thank you so much. If you have any questions or comments, I welcome you to see to comment below. And I look forward to possibly engaging with you in a much more in depth way in the coming years to help you put those systems in place so that your business can move towards the streamlined and streamlined business that allows you to show up much more fully in your authenticity, in your authentic power. So that's what I look forward to for you. All right, thank you so much for watching this. I really appreciate your attention and I look forward to seeing your comments below. Thank you so much.


The online courses from TU Delft allow working professionals from anywhere in the world to advance their career in a flexible way. Our courses are 100% online. Give you 24-7 access to course material and allow you to interact with your lecturer and fellow learner easily. Courses are typically divided into learning units. Each unit represents a learning activity through which you master a certain topic. You will gain access to a variety of resources. Video lectures, articles, quizzes and assignments based on real-world problems to help you apply what you learned in your workplace. The discussion forums reinforce your learning process. They include discussions of the course content, allow you to ask your own questions and learn from the experience of your fellow learners. Need help in staying on track and planning your time? You will be regularly informed about deadlines, new course materials and all the other information you need.  Occasionally you will also have the opportunity to engage in live sessions with the lecturer and other learners to discuss the topics covered.  Take a look at some of what's on offer for you.


Excellent. First, let me say thank you for this event that is the telecast, the broadcast, the vitally important piece of information to our state, to children, to educational institutions, as well as a whole of who we are as a people, people as this one global human family. So thank you for that. Thank you both for joining us, because the work that two of you have done, Roy and Shirley, have been so important for our community for so long. So thank you. Thank you. That's 30 plus years in Vermont. Shirley and I came here in the late 80s with the thought that we'd be here for a very short period, short being maximum of four years. There's something good about the Vermont water that's kept us here, I guess, it's in the air. So we're still here having lived in Burlington and Essex Junction and now Franklin County in general and Fairfax in particular. And Roy, just remind us what you came here to do. Okay, I'll back into that by saying people ask me, Roy, how did you get or why did you come to Vermont? And I say, I don't know, it was a God thing. It was a spiritual journey part of more specifically for those who don't buy into spiritual journeys. I came, University of Vermont offered me the directorship as director of corporate and foundation relations. And I came accordingly with the carrot being that at that time, if you could find time, you also could in apply for graduate school, I was accepted into the doctoral program and working and being an academic or a student, that was a little too much. So I disbanded the idea, table the idea, even though I'm in a doctoral program at the moment on another level. Also at that time, Chaplain College offered me an adjunct position in the psychology department. I had been an adjunct outside of Washington. When I came here, had been in Washington for some 10 years in the institutional advancement field, and which of course was a longstanding profession, you might say, having worked at Dartmouth and Brown and Washington University. So it was to help the institution by educating people about the importance of investing in institutions, investing in our students, by making financial contributions. And Shirley, what was your work during this time when you came to Vermont? Wife. Yeah, and you were also community activist. If I remember correctly, we've known each other that long. Yeah, a little bit. But I'm retired. Now you're retired. Yeah, and you started doing public access television very early in the process. Yes. Tell us about your show, your program. I don't remember half of it. I used to just find people to interview and talk to them about their interests and their activities. That was a great, great series. Both of you did that program. Thank you for reminding us and your audience of that. I must say, Shirley is being unusually short. She usually has a lot to say, just as she always had a lot to do. As you may remember, she would organize fundraisers for nonprofits. She was the first person to bring both the police department and the fire department together to engage in athletic competition with proceeds going to help nonprofit young people in particular. She was also one of the charter members of the gospel fest and a charter member that went for years there at the Flynn Theater. And of course, she also was a charter, is a charter member of New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church. You know, there's still people and some people in Vermont who don't recognize that New Alpha Missionary Baptist Church is the only Baptist church in Vermont that worships in an African American tradition right there in Burlington. So Shirley writes poetry. She continues to do that. And when we moved to Franklin County, she did temper her outreach a bit. Maybe that's the reason she isn't as talkative as she can be and singing. You know, I forgot that there she also is a gospel singer. The fact is, I forget which one of the presidents at the University of Vermont asked her to sing at one of those special occasions. And because she is, I forget what the term is, but she works across the aisle politically. Governor Douglas recommended her to President Barack Obama to sing as part of the reception that was organized for President Barack Obama when President Barack Obama visited Vermont. I'm very interested to learn about the New Alpha Baptist Church and when it was started and why it was started. That founding story. Can you say something about that, either of you? Absolutely. I'm not going to talk for Shirley. I dare not do that. She might change the keys on the door, you know. But the answer you. We were both working at the University year or two after I came aboard at the University. Rodney Patterson came as an administrative tour to start organizing the program on the Redstone campus. I forget the initial name, but it has evolved and is now located that student multicultural, multi-ethnic, et cetera, programs now located in the Living Learning Center directed by an executive director Colson, Beverly Colson, I believe is her full name. However, to be more specific and direct. So he came and his question was was a black church that wasn't one. And he was an ordained minister coming out of Chicago in terms of his ordination. He came here directly from a university in Michigan. And so he started the church right there. He called the London meeting one day and said, look, I think this would be value added to the campus and to the community. And I'm going to start the church. And he asked us to be part of the team. That is the founders, if we were interested and everybody raised a hand in the room. And that was the beginning for a few years. We met had full house of students, non-students at every service. And out of that, of course, we grew gospel fast. And shortly thereafter, we moved to the chapel adjacent to the first congregational church on Winnowski in downtown Burlington that opened up the doors. Because even today, there are some people in the community who themselves erect a wall between the community and the campus. We felt that that might prevent some people who otherwise would come to service. And sure enough, when Rodney Patterson moved to working with Bob Lee, who was the senior minister there at First Congo and a person of vision, the walls every day were every Sunday, were bursting for room because people came from, oh, my goodness, as far away as the northern border here in Vermont, as well as south of Montpelier to the services. And so it became a place where it looked like the United Nations in terms of the people in the audience participating and singing in the choir, et cetera. So that was the kickoff, you might say, as the spirit led. Shirley, would you like to add anything to that founding story? No. No, I'm okay. I think he did a good job. Okay. It sounds like this was, the New Alpha Baptist Church is a very important cultural institution. As you said, it was like a United Nations where people from different backgrounds could come together. And it sounds like a very unusual kind of organization for Vermont at that time. Oh, absolutely. For example, one afar and one near. When that occurred, it being historic in every aspect, the story went around the world. New York Times, Wall Street Articles, Johnson Publications out of Chicago. And then secondly, when Burlington had its first woman police chief, she came here from, I forget her name at the moment, she came from, I think, Duke University. And I recall us having a meeting and she said, where's the Black Church? She says the church is integral to vibrant communities, the church that worships in an African American tradition in particular. And that was her first interest. She was kind of like Reverend Rodney Patterson. Where's the Black Church? It's rich. You don't have that for many, many reasons. You know, it's kind of like New England, when New England villages started, there was always a place for the church in the circle there in the town. And so that, as you indicated, brought a new dimension and richness to a place that was the widest state at that time among the 50 states. Can you describe what the African American church experiences like and why it's different and why it's so important? Let me try to do that from my perspective, that is, and my experience. Its education is self-haven. If we look at slavery or enslavement, the one thing that Massa, or the white plantation owner, made room for is that of Blacks going to church. And that Bible became the encyclopedia of learning. That's where Blacks learn to read and write. That's why the preacher himself was all inclusive in so many different ways, speaking to the spiritual soul and in some instances healing, physical healing, because many of the white ministers, quite schismic plantation owners, were so brutal. You had members of church who, because it was an outlaw, it was a crime for African Americans to learn to read and write, you had a number of people who would hold school between midnight and 1 or 2 a.m. And they would blacken out the windows so that the light would not shine. And it was the Bible that was used to teach, et cetera. Fast forward, a part of the tradition and the spirit, if you will, is that you can be expressive, and many people are expressive in different kinds of ways, to share one story. There's a member of College Street Congregational Church there next door to the Fletcher Street Library in Burlington who visited for the first time an African American worship service. And she and her white colleagues were sitting in the audience, and she was very nervous throughout the audience, throughout the service. So she said, she was upset because they kept talking to the minister. And, well, that call and response is part of the tradition. It is orchestrated in a manner that brings about deeper understanding.    You're looking for a release, and that's what the psychological catharsis happens. And you feel after the word heard and the faith factor that said God is still in control, and there is a better day ahead. And as scripture says, we're overcomers, we the people in the congregation, then you're empowered. You can go back to Monday through Friday and you can deal with the onslaught of that injustice and oppression. Do you feel that the Black Church tradition serves that purpose today, that same purpose? Church in general serves that purpose. Now, when you, so yes, is a response to your question. The editorial, if you will, is that it's perhaps more needed where you have the oppress. The scripture is very clear, you know, that Jesus and God Almighty and the Holy Spirit came for those who were oppressed, came for the widows. It came for those who are marginalized, etc. So as we look at our society, that's still a fact. I mean, you know, on one hand of the spectrum, 30% of American adults are illiterate. So you have people whose only gospel of reality is the boob tube, excuse me, and some of the television programming is ugly and untrue. On the other hand, if you go to church here again, you know, there's hope, there's a semblance that's a teaching that is the role principally of a pastor to lead, to help, to discern. And finally, there are so many unchurched people, not only unchurched people and illiterate, but you have some in the pulpit who use that pulpit in an abusive manner. So you have to rely on, unfortunately, there's a long list, especially of growing young people who are bringing intelligence to the mantle and saying, this is what it is. And put it before people in allowing the people to, in their own prayer closet, in their own way to find their way as opposed to be beat up by a person who himself or herself are mortals. They are not perfect. Yeah. You know, I founded a program for one of the non-profits in Vermont in Burlington. It was called Faith in Youth Development for the Future. And one of the staff members in the organization came by and said, he sat there and talked to me for about an hour. It was supposed to be an introductory, you know, five minutes. Okay. And at the end, she says, I've never heard an approach to either the church, spirituality, or the Bible in the manner in which you put it on the table for me to consider. She says, I even stopped going to church because of that. So that's what I had reference to when I say, you know, some people in the pulpit, unfortunately, use it kind of like their presidency and their ego gets in the way and they forget, you know, hey man, hey woman, you're marching from the womb to the tomb. Okay. You're not permanent and you're not God. So make a positive contribution or get out of the way. I wonder what your view is on this period where so many people across the country are coming out to support Black lives and to oppose the, I think safe to say, structural racism that infects our country. I see the sea change. When, for example, I see the sea change, when people are faced with things such as love, truth, respect, righteousness, and they've been doing the opposite and not only doing the opposite, but getting away with it, being applauded for doing it. And you say, stop. You know, that arouses anger and guilt. And essentially that's what's happening within our country itself. Wherever you want to start, you know, let's start with the presidency, the office of the presidency. The third president of the United States is applauded for quote, his goodness. On the other hand, the public that applaud him for that goodness overlooks the fact that he impregnated and enslaved teenager. That was wrong. And he knew better. Jefferson. We're talking about Jefferson? Yes. We're talking about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemons. That was wrong. And he knew it was wrong. But he was applauded for that fact. There's a monument to him in Washington, D.C. at the moment. Fast forward. You look at Jackson, Andrew Jackson, I think it's his name, a maverick of a sort. People applaud him for apparently balancing the budgets on and so forth. But he came to this land and a land that belonged to Native Americans. And he's responsible for thousands of deaths of men, women and children. God's people who happen to be Native Americans, but folk applaud him. The 45th president has a bust of him in his office and considers Jackson one of his idols. And, you know, when Strong Thurman, U.S. Senator out of South Carolina, Dr. Newt Ginrich's mentor ran for the president. Thurman ran for the president on the segregationist ticket. Yet when the lights went out, he went home to his black mistress. And his their black daughter or biracial daughter died in 2013. So I'm saying that hiding the truth on one hand, facing the exposure of that truth on the other diminishes the myth of white supremacy or the myth of three-fifths or four-fifths of a person if you're black. You have no humanity. And so the reckoning of the moment says you have to be honest. Butler's book, The Half Has Never Been Told talks about the enslavement or slaves establishing the financial foundation of our country. We the people of color, African Americans, we never received reparations for that, as we never received credit for sustaining the plantations, etc. So when that is brought to the table, there's tremendous pushback for the beneficiaries, who themselves are either immediate immigrants or descendants of immigrants who've come and taken the land. So part of that change is happening as more and more youngsters and more and more people appealing back the onions of ignorance, which has suppressed that truth as we move and see when we look at it domestically, and then we see what's happening internationally with the richness of Africa as it now stands. There are more millionaires in South Africa than what one can, quote, shake a stick at. And we look at India and the fast population growth, education and technology and a number of Asian countries as well. And folks are saying, wait a minute, and you've been feeding us this garbage all along and we aren't going to settle for that anymore. And those who have been exploited are saying, wait a minute, we can do better. And collectively, we're going to do better. So at the moment, that is what's happening. This is why this holiday on Friday, the 19th, Juneteenth is gaining a lot of attention because it is emblematic of so much of the tension that you're talking about and the injustice that you're talking about. So I wonder if you could give us a little background or history into the Juneteenth holiday. Okay, let's look at it from two perspectives. One, getting back to post Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. He signed that legislation and plantation owners in general and those who had enslaved people in Texas, in particular, gathered in Texas. They had such a strong pro enslavement. Fort, you might say, that it was one of the states where slavery continued to thrive until two and a half years after the emancipation signing by President Lincoln. And we had enough vaccination and enough willpower and military power to go into Texas and liberate that remnant of enslavement. And when that happened, it was a glorious moment. So people just celebrated and the celebration went across the country. You know, we still have the grapevine, if you will, but they may have taken the, what was it, smoke signaled away from the Native Americans, so they couldn't communicate. Well, we still had the grapevine in the Underground Railroad, all right, and figuratively speaking there. And so the word went forth and people celebrated and systematically over the years, one state after another has adopted and celebrated that happening state by state until at the very moment, 47 of the 50 states have a Juneteenth recognition or Juneteenth holiday. Not only domestically does that take place, but it also takes place, that is a celebration or holiday in foreign countries, including Japan and China, but back to Vermont. So when this took place as history is traveling throughout, the national leader, Dr. Ron, and said, Vermont seems to be right in terms of its history to consider having a holiday. So he appointed us as Vermont Juneteenth people in various communities, including, you know, people like, oh gee, there are so many, Larson out of, Mark Larson out of Burlington, Brooks out of Montpelier, Driscoll of Burlington as well, Kiss, Burlington, and I think there was the Rogers of Calislton and Shaffer of Colchester. And the thought after deliberations and education and advocacy by Shirley was that they would go forth. And then we had to join House of Resolution. Peter Clavel had a Juneteenth day. And I think it was a whole week there in 2001. And of course, Governor Douglas signed the legislation that have made Vermont officially the 29th state to have a Juneteenth holiday. And what year was this again, Roy? Well, we're looking at 2008-2009 during Governor Douglas's day. The House of Joint Resolution took place on June 4th, 2001. And Peter Clavel's June 9th through I think June 17th, 2001. That was when he signed the proclamation for Juneteenth in the city of Burlington. And what do you do on Juneteenth? It varies across the country. There are elaborate celebrations. And then there are small speakouts. And there are educational forums with a speaker, for example, Shirley and I organized the first Juneteenth conference here. It was hosted by St. Michael's College. And we had governors and governors. We don't discriminate. So we had a Republican and a Democratic governor to speak. Dr. Ron Myers flew in and spoke. It's a demon. He of himself is an interesting story.  Also a musician, trumpet and piano are his specialties. And finally, he is an ordained Baptist minister. So many of the people, he works in some of the poorest counties in the state of Mississippi. And even though Juneteenth happened back in the 1800s, he's still facing discrimination. His clients are black and white and a number of them pay him with poetry, with pygmy, with eggs, with chickens, etc. And he has a burning just to help people. But that's an aside. Sorry, let me go on. So when we look at the sessions, their educational sessions, their history in many respects, because we still have schools in pockets where there are erected walls that deny the truth. So Juneteenth is a celebratory in many ways in terms of the escape of the imprisonment there in the police state of Texas. But many of us as a people still have incarcerated minds.  And as a result of that ignorance that sin, if you will, we're helping to tear down those walls to make a difference. You know, if you are a veteran, and I won't go off on that soapbox, but you can go forth and fight for this country as many African Americans did in the Vietnam War and World War Two and World War One.  My uncle, for example, fought in the war and when he boarded the trains, German soldiers set up front. These are German soldiers who had been captured.  Okay. So I'm saying that we're still educating in many ways. When we arrived in Vermont, after my interview with the University of Vermont, I wanted to talk to the person who held the job previously. So they referred me to Barbara Snallings. At that time, she had started her own business. So I found her, we had luncheon. And she said after, you know, the interrogation, which was course appropriate, she wanted to know who I was, et cetera. And she stopped.  And I hope you'll come to the University of Vermont, but I'm going to be straight up with you, Roy. They are going to push you.  Did she tell the truth? And we won't go there. At the same time, Shirley had visited me one day during the week. And she was leaving the Fletcher Free Library. And this white guy, who by every means exude a level of sophistication in terms of his outward appearance, high-end automobile, he was driving.  Of course, Shirley's never shy. So she educated him very quickly. And he ran the red light. You know, he just blew through the light. But I'm saying that we can fool ourselves and hide under these little bubbles.  What do you want this time? Et cetera. Well, that's part of the denial because many people who ask questions like that know right from wrong. But there is a refusal to acknowledge yet. You know, there's a professor at the University, excuse me, Middlebury. And at Middlebury, I think his name is Professor James Sanchez. And he was giving a lecture at the Clemens Farm. And he was talking about whiteness and the fact that if you look at the legal profession in America, many of the decisions are framed according to adjudications, are framed according to white precedence. These are templates that they apply to every situation. And as a result, you see that many African Americans are very much ruled against. Too small example. I think it's Supreme Court Jayne. Jayne was his name at the moment.  No rights which a white person is bound to respect. You know, any Google or other search in bring up the full text. Here in Vermont, 2018, the Vermont Supreme Court supported the KKK in a decision regarding harassment and so forth. The KKK is an American terrorist organization. They came together to terrorize, to induce fear, etc. They are the people who marched against my grandfather in an attempt to kill him after the Supreme Court 1954 decision was made. They want to send a Tennessee message to African Americans that they had not attempt to integrate any school or even dream of coming to the school. My mom, years before that, she was in high school. And she and her classmates saw the clan in kind. These were local business professionals.  You can pick, even if it's midnight, you know what the voice is, you know, because you're in and out of their stores and you have black folk who are domestics, etc. So even though they came at night, she and her classmates knew who the people were by their voices. Well, they came and they grabbed the dean and they killed him. And they sent the message, well, he was the only black man in Haywood County, Tennessee, with the, at that time with the college degree. And they wanted to send the message to black people, especially those on the plantation, that there would be no NAACP branch brought to Haywood County, Tennessee. And they thought if they grabbed him, killed him, and of course, you know, the habitual castrations and all of that after the kill, that that was in the message. So I'm saying there's an awokeness going on in our country at the moment that's saying we may be large globally, but we're communicating as a family more and more. And we see the injustices and we see the 1% and plus who are taking advantage, taking advantage, you know, and so it's a hard road to toe, you might say quote unquote, but it's necessary for that, for education and celebration to take part. We're celebrating the goodness because goodness is there, it just needs to raise its pride, the neck, the knee off of the neck and educate.  And well, if we are, why is it we're not in the power seats? But is that feeling that my skin says, you know, this is my affirmative action pass. And you over there who are just fighting to get in the door still are taking my position. Wait a minute. 30% of you are illiterate. So I'm saying that there are bigger human issues for us to address. And we can do that. If we get the plank out of our eye and attacking other people and shooting other people, knowing that we can get away with the kill, knowing that we can get away with the murder. And, you know, finally, you know, I hear people say, yes, but yes, we've hired an executive first in the history of Vermont. Look how great we are in doing that. She is going or he is going to address all of the inequities. And we're going to bring about inclusion. Our legislature has said our Vermont legislature has said that there are racial disparities across all of the state agencies as Act 54. Okay, we hear that.  You're the governor and you have commissioners. You have a cabinet of people. You have budgets. You can call for accountability. Yet you brought one person here. You've given them no staff. You've given them no budget. She does not have power to bring about accountability.   Modern day legislature stand up when someone like Claya Morris is hounded into stopping her reelection campaign. You have the power to do that. And you don't. But you're saying you're some kind of card-carrying Christian. Stop it. Do the right thing. So Juneteenth is there to celebrate the goodness and encourage the kind of positive change that further is that further and that furthers win, win for all concern. I want to ask you a personal question and you don't have to answer it. But what's it? I just would find it very difficult to live in this country as a body person, given the history, given the day to day injustice. And I wonder how do you do it? Like how do you keep going? Well, there are recognitions and charges. I'll start with the charge. Well, I'll start with the recognition is that God is God. God is still in charge. When we do all this dirt in spite of the fact that we as human do all of this dirt, we're going to leave here. And God's world will still be here. God's planet earth is still here. God's love is so great. God's mercy is so great that God continues to give us another chance. Continues to give us another chance. Us who are made biblically speaking in the image and likeness of God. So that reality and faith says go forth. I said previous, or as we started, how did I get here?  If it was a Roy thing, there's no way I would have come to this cold place.  I had a brother I invited up here, two people. One, he came and he left and he said it took him six months to get wet, to get warm again. And another one said, you're going where? And I said, Vermont, he says, next time I'll see you, it will not be until you leave Vermont. So it had to be a God thing. And that's fundamental. Secondly, I think God says here's an opportunity where my word, my presence is important. And just by being you, you can be a role model that to whatever degree, you can help make a positive difference. So Shirley and I attempted to do that by reaching out, lifting and helping to empower others. When we look at the big picture, it's a miracle that more black men haven't been shot, haven't been lynched. He asked the lynching to place in 1800s, right? Well, last weekend, two more black men were lynched. The lynching took place in 1800s, right? Yeah, but when Sandra Bland went to Texas on her way to school, she ended up in jail. The public story was that she committed suicide. The grapevine says she was raped and lynched in jail. So here we see the necessity of, here we see the power that sustains people, the power that sustains African American men. We see the dirt, we see the oppression, we see the injustice. But there's a God that continues to carry us on. Shirley and I were among the group who were selected to meet President Barack Obama when he came to visit Vermont after he was elected. I was talking to one of his security people and the person said, President and Mrs. Obama had received more death threats than any other president in the history of the U.S. presidency. So that sin factor that's there in and of itself says that we're kind of like walking miracles, we black men.  In the last X number years of the current presidency, USA, I've seen more meaning, more meaningful things done than ever in the history. Here in Fairfax, I've seen more people, men and women, white men and women drive up to the store with their Confederate flags, either on their license plate or shirts that wearing paraphernalia that they have on. If you are smart enough to know what you're wearing, then you know what it stands for. If you are a resident citizen of the United States, then you know that Native Americans or the indigenous people are still the rightful owners of this land that you have taken and that you occupy. You know also the contributions that they have made. Oh, you should know.  There's a difference between being intelligent and being smart. If you're just intelligent, you basically have inculcated what's on the page and you regurgitate what's on the page. Life is about more than what's on the page. Smart people know that. They take the intelligence they incorporated in life because that's where you live.  We can do that, but there's a 1%, there's a 10%. Whomever who have stolen from the Native Americans, the African Americans, the Chinese Americans, the Japanese Americans, other countries and hoarded it until themselves with the foolish notion that that's the way it should be. Can you imagine across the country, if all the people with the hyphenated whatever, one day just stopped and said, I'm not going to go to work, whether it's in the field or whether it is in the corporate boardroom, what would happen to the stock exchange, what would happen to the folk who underpay the people to take the nannies, the people to take care of their children, the maids, to turn on the washing machine because they don't know how, they're too busy keeping up with the Joneses. I'm saying that we are one family. Together we can realize that together we can make a win-win difference. So Juneteenth directly and indirectly speaks to those variables. Even though I have no guarantee other than God that when I leave in the morning, I can come back to my condo in the evening without a buzz in my back or somebody's knee on my throat. This meanness is also contagious because you and I as taxpayers among others pay the salaries of these professors at the colleges, at the universities, and some of them when in spite of us paying their six-figure salaries, etc, have put themselves under a bubble. Even in the African-American community, they've been carcaded some of the hatred and the self-hatred is there that prevents kind of progress that can go forth. I'm better than they so on and so forth. Well, those alphabets behind your name didn't stop the bullet that killed Dr. King. That alphabet behind your name didn't save the lives of many, many boys and girls of color. And when you walk off that campus, you look just like them. So there's no room for self-hate. There's no room for ongoing oppression.  I'm an optimist. So an optimist plus God, I believe, is a majority. Let's pray that that happens. Thank you so much.