AwareNow: Issue 38: 'The Divergent Edition'

AWARENOW

THE AWARENESS TIES™ OFFICIAL MAGAZINE FOR CAUSES

TAL ANDERSON

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ‘FLIPPING THE SCRIPT’

MARK RAYMOND JR. ‘A SPLIT SECOND’

HÜLYA MARQUARDT ‘ON DECK’

EDDIE DONALDSON ‘OUTSIDE INFLUENCE’

YASMINE AKER ‘LIONESS’

PAUL DE LIVRON ‘OUT OF THE WOODS’

LAURA SHARPE ‘LOVE YOUR BODY’

MARC GUTIERREZ ‘LEARNING OUT OF ORDER’

BEN LEE & IONE SKYE

‘WEIRDER TOGETHER’ W/RAIN PHOENIX

THE DiVERGENT EDITION AN ATYPICAL STATE OF MIND

THE DiVERGENT EDITION

AwareNow™ is a monthly publication produced by Awareness Ties™ in partnership with Issuu™. Awareness Ties™ is the ‘Official Symbol of Support for Causes’. Our mission is to support causes by elevating awareness and providing sustainable resources for positive social impact. Through our AwareNow Magazine, Podcast & Talk Show, we raise awareness for causes and support for nonprofits one story at a time.

THE SHIP, THE BUBBLE & THE WIND MAXIM JAGO

EDDIE DONALDSON

WE ARE ALL GIVERS ELIZABETH BLAKE-THOMAS

LEARNING OUT OF ORDER MARC GUTIERREZ W/SONJA MONTIEL LEGEND

DON’T LET THE CRISIS HIT LEX GILLETTE

PARENTING WITH INTENTION KATHERINE WINTER W/AALIA LANIUS

VIRTUOUS

You matter outside the lines. You colored me beautiful in a black and white world.

I was so blind before I knew you. You taught me how to hold the brush, while you held the canvas. We changed the scenery to our liking. Without you, these lines would still hold me inside.

I’ve always known I wanted to change the world. As a little boy growing up in Flint, Michigan, I dreamt of so many fantastic ways I would right all the wrongs of the world. Who was I to know that the wrongs of the world weren’t the same for every person? I've heard that the things that pull us together are sometimes the same things that pull us apart. This statement weighs heavy on my heart. How do you change a world with so many different views? We educate and let people know it’s ok to be different. It’s ok to be and believe what you want. What we need now more than ever is unity, standing behind what makes each of us uniquely different. Thats the beauty of humanity. And the reason for Awareness Ties.

Despite all our difference, I stand behind you and beside you. I will no longer ask for permission to change the world. There are invisible lines that need to be crossed. Cross them with me. Stand with us in this movement to wake people up one story at a time. Change the world with us.

You inspire me.

Allié started her career in performance poetry, then switched gears to wine where she made a name for herself as an online wine personality and content producer. She then focused on content production under her own label The Allié Way™ before marrying the love of her life, Jack, and switching gears yet again to a pursue a higher calling to raise awareness and funds for causes with Awareness Ties™.

Jack got his start in the Navy before his acting and modeling career. Jack then got into hospitality, focusing on excellence in service and efficiency in operations and management. After establishing himself with years of experience in the F&B industry, he sought to establish something different… something that would allow him to serve others in a greater way. With his wife, Allié, Awareness Ties™ was born.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in AwareNow are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Awareness Ties. Any content provided by our columnists or interviewees is of their opinion and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, political group, organization, company, or individual. In fact, its intent is not to vilify anyone or anything. Its intent is to make you think.

www.IamAwareNow.com

SKATE ON AN AMPUTEE WITH AUTHENTICITY, THE WORLD IS HER SKATEPARK

Hülya Marquardt was born with deformed hands and legs. By the age of six, Hülya had gone through 21 surgeries. At the age of 18, she had both her legs amputated after developing sepsis. While some amputees prefer prosthetics, Hülya prefers her skateboard. A fashion boutique owner, mother, wife and lover of travel, the world is her skatepark.

ALLIÉ: With so much to say about Hülya, from how she gets around to how she sees the world and herself, Dennis, in your opinion as her husband, what is the most important thing to say?

DENNIS: I think the most important thing is to say… Do everything for a practical purpose, and I don't care what anyone says. And so, yeah, the world is her skatepark somehow... Today. But tomorrow it might be her rolling board park, and the day afterwards she might walk on her hands and then she uses prosthetic legs. It's just being adaptable. It's just been true to yourself and not caring with other think. And through that, if you do that, you do develop something like a sense of your own body. And you do realize that... "You know, I can walk in a sexy walking kind of style like women do on a catwalk on my stumps... And it looks all right, you know. I feel good." And that's what happened with her in the last one or two years. She's not just ignoring everything and does it. And this sounds kind of stupid... But she likes her body now, and she likes the way she moves. She thinks it looks nice, and I think it looks nice. And it comes also from this confidence she has, you know.

It’s all about your confidence really.

DENNIS MARQUARDT HÜLYA’S HUSBAND, PHOTOGRAPHER

DENNIS: (continued) People often expect people with these scars and kinds of amputations and dis figurements and whatever she has... and all those scars... to be maybe shy about it and whatever. And she used to be like that years ago, but now she's just at that stage where she isn't. And I think that makes it kind of sexy, you know, that somebody's so confident in something like that and just doesn't care. <laugh> She doesn't care about the haters and whatever. And she brings that across.

If she wants to wear a dress, she puts on her prosthetic legs and gets herself a wheelchair. If she wants to be miss skater boy today, then she's gonna put her specially tailored little jeans on and that's that. She can be like a comedian, and she joys that. She enjoys being those different kinds of Hülya. Because if she's done up and if she's making her hair on her makeup and she puts that dress on, she comes across really ladylike, you know, like this kind of sixties Hollywood kind of person with black hair. But she can also be like a little kid, a little girl.

And well... You probably hear it, but I still really love her <laugh>. And I do like talking about her, because I think she's just amazing.

ALLIÉ: She is amazing. I remember finding Hülya on Instagram. Your photos posted of her are phenomenal. You both have such busy lives with full-time jobs and your little one. Why is it important to find time to post?

DENNIS: I think I need to show the world how great she is. And I do know it helps others. We've had so many people writing to us... There was the aspect like having a child. I know of three women in the world, one's in South Africa, one's in Argentina, and one's in the United States, who basically followed the pregnancy and kept asking questions and whatever.

After a year or so they wrote to us and said, "I'm gonna try too. I showed my boyfriend, my husband, all this. We were never sure, but we were looking at your videos and I think we can do all that." And they're having a kid now. And I said, if it is only one person in the whole world... you know, stuff all the other hundred thousand followers, but if this is one person who has a child because they looked at you, that's just worth everything. That's just so great.

Then we have lots of followers also from the Muslim world. And I think this is also the reason. Because we just post pictures and little videos. We don't talk in different languages and this and that... It's just accessible for everybody. And we have our followership, it's not all German. We just have like, I think, 13% German. The majority comes from the United States, but we have Africans a lot... South Americans, we have a lot. Because those pictures just speak to everyone and those videos... There is no language barrier, and you can just see what's happening and that it's all possible.

“There is no language barrier, and you can just see what’s happening and that it’s all possible.”

From most of the world, we get a lot of this... "I thought I'm not worth anything... No man is interested in me..." It is mainly female -- our followers. And they find just... they get a lot of encouragement, just seeing a woman being open about it and not just being open about it like, "Oh, look at me." Being con fident about it, and just standing there and saying, "Do you know what? I might be just 98 centimeters tall, but I'm all the woman, you will ever need." <laugh> And that's kind of what she brings across sometimes, you know, in some of the pictures. And they just love that. They just think it's just incredible. And they want be like that. They wanna feel like this. And so it kind of helps people.

If she would be talking now to you, she would tell you… Well, I don't know if she would tell you, but <laugh> she would... She's pretty honest. There are many times she's not that person she's portraying in the internet. She is fragile... not about her disability, but in general she's kind of emotional and fragile. She can have weak moments, and everybody can have them, you know. And that's something we're trying to put across too, that this is all fine, you know. It's all fine.

ALLIÉ: It is fine, and it's beautiful. What beautiful words of advice from you and Hülya would you like to share today?

DENNIS: Just be true to yourself. Believe that you are good enough. You can be attractive and sexy... whatever. You can be. It's all about your confidence really. It's all about what you want, what you want to do, and who you are really within yourself. ∎

“I might be just 98 centimeters tall, but I’m all the woman, you will ever need.”

PERFECT OPPORTUNITY WHEN IT COMES TO DISABILITIES, JUST ASK

Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day came and went…

Like it does, year after year, it came and it went. And, guess what? We didn’t love this kid any more than we already do. We didn’t celebrate him any more than we already do. We didn’t see him in any way different.

Only love for this boy…

Every. Day. Only. Love.

As for Cerebral Palsy…

It’s a love/hate kinda thing. A real life telenovela. Some days we praise it and other days we curse it. But one thing’s for sure, it’s here to stay. So if I could offer some ways you can help raise CP awareness that goes further than wearing green:

Help support and raise funds for more research. Help fundraise/sponsor a family who’s saving up for an intensive or piece of equipment.

Get to know our kids on a deeper level. Reach out to a parent who’s child has CP, to say hello and see how they’re doing. Cook them a meal. Take them coffee. Let them know that you’re thinking of them and find ways to take something off their plate. Show up!

Teach your kids about disabilities. Find books. Find shows. Don’t know which ones? Perfect opportunity, ask!

Learn from the disability community. See how representation matters. Find ways to be more inclusive. Don’t use ableist language… Don’t know what that is? Perfect opportunity, ask!

Don’t know what questions are appropriate to ask? Perfect, make mistakes and learn from them.

Be genuine.

Be kind.

Be helpful.

Be a friend.

Be an ally.

Don’t know how? Perfect opportunity, ask!

And, for the love of all things holy… WALK YOUR SHOPPING CARTS BACK AND STOP PARKING IN ACCESSIBLE PARKING UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ACCESSIBLE PARKING PLACARD!

Thanks for listening. ∎

Learn more about Cori and follow her on Instagram: @a.rabbits.tale

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT A NEW NARRATIVE FOR NEURODIVERSITY

Actor, model and advocate, Tal Anderson is an autistic artist using her position to advocate for disability rights in the workplace and inclusivity in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood. Tal hopes for a day when inclusion and representation isn’t something you have to fight for, but instead something that has become the norm. She believes everyone deserves to turn on the TV and see themselves represented on screen, especially children as they grow into their own.

ALLIÉ: At the age of 15 when you struggled with social interaction, your mom signed you up for acting classes. Your curiosity about filmmaking set the course for what would become a lifelong career. Of the many roles you’ve played, Tal, what was your very first? And what to date has been your very favorite?

TAL: My first professional theatrical role was playing Sid on the Netflix series ‘Atypical’. So, really I’m just starting out my professional career as an actor, and even with the pandemic, I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to work on 6 or 7 major productions since 2019 when I started acting in Los Angeles.

TAL: (continued) I enjoy every role I play, and I love working on set, but I think I’ll always compare any future work with my experience on ‘Atypical’ playing Sid, because I have so many great memories, and have made so many lasting connections with cast and crew.

But also, I recently shot a guest star role for ‘Magnum P.I.’ that airs on April 16th, on NBC, and that was a pretty awesome experience overall. I mean, it was my first time being flown out to a location for a role, and I got to go to Hawaii. So, come on!!! It was so great!

ALLIÉ: You’ve shared before how your professional life mirrored your personal life. I’m speaking speci fically about scripts. In a previous feature in AwareNow, ‘My Relationship With Scripts’, you talked about how you established different versions of yourself each with their own script to use in various social situations. You said, “I would walk in and out of these characters like I was walking through a door to another room.” Has using scripts personally helped you develop professionally? Both in front of the camera as an actress and behind the camera as a writer?

TAL: Yes, I think they have been helpful. Even when I’m not thinking about it consciously, I think I’m always drawing from scripts in my brain, to be honest. Either I’m pulling from past experiences in certain situations, or from scripts I’ve pre-written in my head, knowing that I was going into an unfamiliar situation.

I think I do this mainly to make for confidence, and to help me just get through that new situation. It sort of feels like practicing in my head, and by doing that, I can minimize the things that can possibly go wrong.

It’s also my processing disorder. In the past, I’ve been in public situations where my brain just freezes and I just can’t organize my brain fast enough for words to come out of my mouth. It happens sometimes in interviews also, and just the fear of that happening is sometimes enough to make it come true.

As far as writing, it comes to me a lot easier than talking does. I think it’s really the organization of my thoughts that might be the issue, but the actual processing of a thought from my brain to my mouth is not fast, and sometimes doesn’t happen at all. Writing in general helps me to organize my thoughts more. I can get thoughts out a lot faster and more completely while I’m typing, versus speaking.

ALLIÉ: On the subject of ‘scripts’, what helps you feel more comfortable going off-script in your personal life?

TAL: Actually, nothing. I do it because I have to or when I need to, but basically it’s always awkward and uncomfortable. I’m not shy. I like people, and I like to have fun, etc… but I guess I also just like knowing how something is going to go, and I don’t like not being in control of what I’m doing.

So, for instance, let’s say I am going to some social thing and someone else drives. I would feel anxious about being stuck in the situation even before I get out of the car, but if I know that the event is from 7-9, that tells me that at the most, I’m at the event for 2 hours max and I’m good with it. But, if the person driving breaks the plan, then it’s like a huge issue for me. Basically, when 9 comes around, all I can think about is leaving, and it’s very hard to shut off.

“Even when I’m not thinking about it consciously, I think I’m always drawing from scripts in my brain, to be honest.”

I don’t like not being in control of what I’m doing.

“My brain wants to know what I will be doing before I do them.”

TAL: (continued) In general, I’m always uncomfortable when I don’t know what’s going to happen, or what’s expected of me. My brain wants to know what I will be doing before I do them. So when don’t get that information in advance, my brain is stressed out and that’s why I am pretty much awkward all of the time.

To specifically answer your question though, I guess it helps just to be prepared as much as I can be for any situation. The more prepared, or the more I think through possible situations ahead of time, the better. It lessens my anxiety, and adds to the imaginary file cabinet I keep in my brain that holds experiences and tools to help me deal with situations I’ve never encountered before.

And that’s pretty much for any situation in life. I just like to be prepared.

ALLIÉ: In your acting career, Tal, can you share two stories regarding your autism from two sides of the spectrumone where you felt accepted and one where you did not?

TAL: Well, in every case where I played a neurodivergent character, I felt accepted because they knew who I was already and were already open to accommodate any needs I might have.

My experience on ‘Atypical’ was above and beyond that because I really felt appreciated as a professional. I’m so proud to be associated with the kind of show that treated everyone on set with respect, and I’m very grateful for that.

A specific example recently was on the ‘Magnum P.I.’ set. In my wardrobe fitting, along with all of the normal costume look options, they also had multiple options of each look for me to try on. I assumed it was for them to decide fit, length, texture, or whatever, but it turns out it was for me, just in case I had a sensory issue and wanted to choose which felt the most comfortable. They were all basically pajamas, so they were comfortable anyway, but of course I chose the softest most comfy ones! Even though I personally don’t have sensory issues, a lot of autistic people actually do. I appreciated how considerate that was.

The most common example of not feeling accepted on set with my differences is on a commercial set, where I am not there because of my autism or disability.

For example, on one commercial, I was on set for a computer company. They wanted to use me as a hand model. I was young, but I was over 18, and my mom was on set with me. Even though casting knew that she needed to come with me and had okayed it, the director wanted her off set. She flat out refused and explained that she was there as support because I was autistic and that she would be out of the way unless she was needed. The director wasn’t happy and he rolled his eyes.

When we were doing the shot, they handed me the tablet and put it in my left hand, and put the stylus in my right hand, and then told me what to do with both hands. At one point the director was super frustrated because I was holding the stylus wrong. Finally, my mom came over and said, “You know she’s left-handed, right?” He was shocked and said, “Oh… No. I don’t.”

He asked me, “Why didn’t you tell me?” to which I said, “You didn’t ask me. You put the stuff very speci fically into my hands the way you wanted it, so I thought that’s how it had to be done.”

Just because something or someone is different, doesn’t mean that they need to be fixed.

of neurodiverse characters,

TAL: (continued) He got kind of angry and told my mom to stay on set, not because he realized that he needed her help to communicate with me because he was clueless about working with a neurodivergent actor, but I think it was more because he was angry that the casting director had hired a neurodivergent actor. So from that point on, he directed my mom instead of talking to me directly, assuming I couldn’t understand.

I don’t think he ever once considered that he was the one who was lacking skills, not me. Something like this is not just nonacceptance. It’s also just disrespect.

ALLIÉ: Let’s talk terms. It has been reported that 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent, and yet so many are not familiar with this term. For those unaware, Tal, in words of your own please define ‘neurodivergent’.

TAL: Being neurodivergent means that my brain works, but differently than most people’s brains. I know that to a lot of people that means there is something wrong with my brain, and that means that they should try to fix it, but I disagree. The term neurodivergent just means neurologically different, and just because something or someone is different, doesn’t mean that they need to be fixed.

ALLIÉ: With an understanding of the term ‘neuro-divergent’, we now can talk ‘neurodiversity’, which embraces differences in brain function and behavior as a natural manifestation of humanity's variety, rather than viewing them as wrong or problematic. What does the film industry need to do to better support neurodiversity?

TAL: With so many neurodiverse people in the world, I think they need to work towards putting more neurodiverse stories on screen. That means they would need to start including neurodiverse experiences and perspectives in more productions. To do that, I think they need to provide access for more neurodiverse writers to get into writers’ rooms in general -- not just on productions about neurodiversity.

I also think that when these stories are written, producers need to make an effort to provide access to neurodiverse talent to audition for these roles. I don’t want to say that in every case, a neurodiverse actor should play the neurodiverse character, but they definitely should be given the opportunity to audition for those roles.

Outside of neurodiverse characters, the idea that neurotypical actors are the only ones who can handle complex and difficult roles is totally wrong. If people are still making the assumption that an autistic actor can’t handle a major onscreen role, it needs to change. This viewpoint is very outdated and is unacceptable.

I really just would like to be able to watch a movie or a show 100% of the time where the people onscreen look and behave like people do in real life, and for all people of all kinds to be represented on screen, so that viewers in the audience can feel seen. I really don’t understand why that seems to be so hard to do.

“Outside

the idea that neurotypical actors are the only ones who can handle complex and difficult roles is totally wrong. ”

ALLIÉ: If we were to flip it and reverse it to better support neurodiversity, acknowledgement and acceptance is not enough. Appreciation is required. What unique talents can we find and appreciate specifically with a neurodivergent mind in front of the camera? And behind the camera?

TAL: Wow. You’re really giving me the hard questions! First of all…. I think we should acknowledge, accept, and appreciate everyone (in general I mean). The idea that any one person has to always be proving themselves worthy to everyone else seems wrong and unreasonable. Why can’t we just accept people for who they are regardless of whether or not they’re different, or whether or not they behave or think differently than we do?

As far as some things that maybe neurodivergent people can offer that are unique? Speci fic things, I am honestly not sure about because every neurodivergent person is totally different and has different challenges and abilities. A few things I think that a lot of autistic people may be able to offer though, for example, could be a high attention to detail, and a good eye for continuity. At least for me, I think my brain for whatever reason, is trained to pick up on things that shouldn’t be there. It also seems like a lot of neurodivergent people are very creative, and they see everything from a unique perspective. I think those things can be extremely bene ficial in the entertainment industry both behind and in front of the camera.

ALLIÉ: “You have to see it to believe it.” This is a phrase we’re all familiar with, recognizing that as a society the more something is seen and heard the more it is accepted. That said, film is a powerful force. The more something is seen on screen, the more it’s accepted in society. This is why representation is so important. Please name a few of your favorite films or shows that are raising the bar, representing those that have gone unseen and unheard.

TAL: Unfortunately, that list is very short -- a lot shorter than it should be. I think the best example is a TV series called ‘SPECIAL’, which had a 2-season run on Netflix. It was really great, but it got cancelled. It was written by Ryan O’Connell, who also stars in it. It’s a semi-autobiographical story about a gay man with cerebral palsy who basically had been telling people his condition happened because of an accident and a brain injury. He lied because he felt it was easier for people to accept him and his disability. Then, he decides to own up to that lie and tell people the truth about his disability, so he can start living the life he had always imagined. In the series, he does. It’s so honest, and funny and great.

Also, the Netflix series ‘Ozark’ handles disability the right way. In Season 4, Ali Stroker plays a character named Charles Ann, who is a friend of Ruth’s mother. Ali happens to use a wheelchair, so because of that, the character also uses a wheelchair. It’s great because for once, it’s not the other way around, which is how a disabled actor is usually cast in a disabled role. I just think that Ali, who is a talented actor, playing a great role in an amazing show is how disability representation should be done. In this case, it didn’t matter to the character or the story that she uses a wheelchair.

There’s also a new show called ‘Lucky Hank’, which is on AMC Plus, that I’m super excited to watch. Shannon Devido is a funny and talented writer and actor who is a series regular, and she also happens to be disabled.

ALLIÉ: Let’s finish up with your personal favorites in the form of ‘Tal’s Top Picks’.

We know you love horror movies, rock music & film of course. Let’s begin. Tal, of all the horror films you’ve seen, what are your top 3 picks?

TAL: I’m going to cheat, because I can’t pick only 3 films, so…

1) the entire ‘Nightmare On Elm Street’ franchise (minus the remake, because the remake was awful)

2) Rob Zombie’s ‘Firefly Family’ trilogy, (specifically the ‘Devil’s Rejects’)

3) Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ (which is a random pick because all his movies are great but that one is definitely good)

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT

ALLIÉ: If you could only listen to 3 rock songs for the rest of your life, what would they be?

TAL: I just want to preface this by saying having only to pick 3 is very unfair. Also, I’m a rock nerd, so my choices are probably not going to be cool… But I like what I like!

1) ‘In The End’ by Linkin Park

2) ‘Hit Me with Your Best Shot’ by Pat Benetar

3) ‘Heaven Knows’ by The Pretty Reckless

ALLIÉ: When it comes to stage and screen, what 3 actors have impressed you the most?

TAL: That’s so hard, because I look up to so many actors. Right now, at the top of my mind, I’m watching ‘The Last of Us’, and its mind-blowingly good, but Pedro Pascal’s performance is VERY impressive, and he’s fantastic in the Mandalorian also. Another actor who is crazy talented and one of my favorites, is Tom Hiddleston, especially on-stage. I actually got a chance to see him perform during Broadway previews of the Harold Pinter Play ‘Betrayal’, and it was so good. He’s an amazing actor. The third actor is Tina Fey, which may seem like an odd choice, but she’s impressive for so many reasons. First of all, she is an amazing writer, and she’s so funny and entertaining onscreen. All of these things are goals to strive for, but it’s also so impressive that she does so much! She does movies, TV, and Broadway. She acts, does standup, writes, and produces. So, basically she does everything and is really good at all of it.

ALLIÉ: To all those who turn on the TV and don’t see themselves represented and don’t feel there is a place for them, what would you like to say, Tal?

TAL: I guess I’d like to say that change takes time. I would encourage you to do everything you can to make people see you. That means doing things like expressing your opinion when people tell you to sit and not make a scene and demanding that things change even when people tell you to just deal with it. It means that you need to find ways to put yourself into the spotlight when everyone is shoving you in the corner. Growing up I thought that nobody wanted to hear my opinion and that nobody saw me. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that to be seen and acknowledged by others, you have to first learn to see yourself. To do that, you first have to acknowledge yourself and accept yourself. Sometimes it can be hard to even like yourself when you feel different and are made to feel invisible, but if you can figure out a way to appreciate your own uniqueness, then I think the people you meet will appreciate you and your honesty, and most of them will support you. ∎

You dance for everything that is holy in your life.

‘JUST BURT STORIES’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY BURT KEMPNER

YOU DANCE

There is nothing like the feeling in the pit of your stomach when you discover someone you trusted is profoundly unworthy of it. You survey the wreckage of your dreams and do a quick body count: over 2-1/2 years of unpaid labor and tens of thousands of dollars from your retirement account gone. Your credibility is shot. You no longer feel any more zest for a career that has lasted over 40 years and taken you around the globe and into the heart of the world’s joy and pain. There’s a distinct taste of ashes in your mouth that won't go away.

You ponder your next moves. You want to build a veritable Wailing Wall in your backyard to mourn or rage, but instead all you can think about is the closing scene of Zorba the Greek (https://awarenow.us/zorba-the-greek).

Alan Bates and Anthony Quinn stand on a sandy shore, the debris of their rickety timber transport system strewn across the beach. All that time and effort for naught, the future cruelly snatched away. But what they do next is transforming. They don’t weep, they don’t shake their fists at the heavens and they don’t look for someone else to blame. They dance -- a wild, uninhibited dance from the very depths of their souls, a dance that leaves them and the viewer breathless and exhilarated.

So you pick yourself up and dust yourself off. And though you’re reluctant at first and then you’re not, you dance for everything that is holy in your life. You dance. ∎

www.awarenessties.us/burt-kempner

BURT KEMPNER is a writer-producer who has worked professionally in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Florida. His work has won numerous major awards, and has been seen by groups ranging in size from a national television audience in the United States to a half-dozen Maori chieftains in New Zealand. Spurred by his love for inspiring young people, he started writing children's books in 2015. Learn more about Burt and his books at his website: www.burtkempner.com.

I think every crisis is an opportunity.

A SPLIT SECOND FINDING AND BECOMING THE LIGHT

Sometimes change comes over centuries. Other times, it comes in a split second. Mark Raymond Jr. became a C-5 quadriplegic after breaking his neck jumping off a boat. To raise awareness and advocate for individuals impacted by disability, Mark started the non-profit Split Second Foundation and opened the first inclusive gym in Louisiana, Split Second Fitness, that is accessible for people with disabilities.

ALLIÉ: Let's get right into it here. The fact of the matter is, in a split second, a person's life can change forever. Mark, please tell us about the split second that changed your life.

MARK: Well, on July 4th, 2016, I was out boating with a bunch of friends and not paying attention to my surroundings later on in the day. And when the tide went out the water got lower and I took a chance, took two steps and dove off the back of the boat into what I thought was gonna be three or four feet of water and was actually a foot or two of water. And I hit my forehead on the sandy bottom and shattered the fifth vertebrae in my neck, causing paralysis from a spinal cord injury. That tick of the tock has given my life a different direction, but a lot of purpose and passion. Quite

ALLIÉ: So, will you take me then, from where you were at that split second to where you are now? How far have you come and what's been required to get here?

MARK: We are about six and a half years into this new journey for me. Going to the day that I woke up in the hospital, which was about two and a half weeks after the accident to hear and learn of my situation, I actually drowned and had to be resuscitated several times while in transit to the hospital. And then I developed pneumonia within the first day or two because of the water that was in my lungs, and they had to put me in an induced coma which is why I woke up two and a half weeks later. It was very disturbing for me. And quite frankly, I was in denial when I'm listening to the doctor saying, "You know, you're paralyzed. You might never walk again." I was on a ventilator at the time and I couldn't talk. And they were like, "You might be on a vent.”

The first thing your brain does in processing this is like, "No way... I'm gonna heal. There's no way what you're telling me is right. You're giving me the worst case scenario." And as I began to traverse through the healthcare system and my situation wasn't improving in the way that my brain wanted it to, right? My expectation was that I was going to heal. My body was going to heal. It couldn't be that bad. And the situation really wasn't changing. I began to accept it, and deal with those symptoms of grief and guilt. It was very challenging. Then to add, while you're in the healthcare system, you have access to doctors, nurses, therapists, case managers, mental health professionals. When I was discharged from inpatient therapy, I lost access to all of that. And the onus of my care became my family's responsibility. And that was another really big jump and big isolating situation for someone who was newly injured and new to this world and life. At the time there was no real community where people who had gone through similar experiences were coming together. It was a real struggle that first year. Let me say that. There weren't mental health professionals that I trusted that really came from a trauma-informed background. I dealt with a lot of depression and suicidal ideation. You know, just not wanting to live this life, not wanting to accept it, not seeing a path forward. And quite honestly, not seeing a light in that darkness that I was living in.

“I found a sense of purpose, and I wanted to bring that same light and energy back to New Orleans.”

ALLIÉ: So, will you take me then, from where you were at that split second to where you are now? How far have you come and what's been required to get here?

MARK: (continued) Around one year after we left New Orleans to go visit this fitness facility for people with spinal cord injuries in Sacramento, California, I remember traveling there thinking, me and mom are only gonna be there for like a week, maybe two. And the first day we rolled through the doors, everybody in the room spoke to us. It was like this big hello and welcomed feeling.

As was sitting in the waiting room, I noticed that the exterior of the room was surrounded by empty wheelchairs because everybody was walking or working out or doing stuff that doctors told me that I would never do, quite honestly. I just remember having this really hopeful feeling about this place, and then I'm met the staff. After day one, I think I looked at mom and I was like, "We gonna be here for a while.”

I accredit that place for being the place where I found my light. I found a sense of purpose, and I wanted to bring that same light and energy back to New Orleans. So, we spent about maybe a little less than three months there, going to this facility, two hours a day, five days a week. And not only did I feel physically stronger, I was emotionally stronger and more stable. I was spiritually stronger and mentally in a better head space and ready to come tackle some of the bigger issues that I think I was facing in New Orleans with the isolation. It was where I got the idea to start Split Second Foundation.

When we came back I had no idea how to start an organization or whether I wanted to do a for-pro fit LLC or a nonprofit. All of that kind of worked itself out over the course of October 2017 until April of 2018 when we founded the organization with a mission to break barriers for people with disabilities, whether that was a physical, societal or research barrier.

Some of the larger issues that I was running into were the huge lack of awareness around the disabled community, the lack of accessible spaces, the lack of infrastructure that made life easier... Because now every time I roll onto a block, I gotta look to the end of that block to make sure I can get down. And a lot of times the streets just weren't accessible. Hotel rooms weren't accessible, apartment rooms... Under ADA regulations we learned that only 5% of these spaces had to be accessible by law. And so that was a huge part of the awareness that we wanted to bring to this space.

Over the course of the last five years now, cause we make five years old in a couple weeks here, we've been able to really blow up all of the work that we've done from an awareness perspective about these barriers and these issues, while also standing up programs and providing resources to the community such as Split Second Fitness, which is the first intentional fitness facility in the Gulf South for people with different abilities, and specifically targeting people who've had some type of paralysis, whether that's from a stroke or neurological condition or an amputation... and even the elderly population now.

ALLIÉ: Right. This leads me to my next question. The fact is that you found your way through the dark, but that was not enough for you. You felt called, you felt a passion, a purpose I suppose, for sharing that light with others. What do you think inspired that? Because some people say, "Okay, I gotta fix me and work on me." What was it that made you want to share that? When did you hear that calling specifically to share it with others?

MARK: That first year, I don't think I was just feeling my pain. I was feeling everybody's pain. Going to physical therapy and seeing other people living the same experience that I was living, but also not having that community again... that sense of belonging and that sense of purpose. Seeing that and how it was thriving from a fitness facility in California. I mean, this place was just focused on fitness, right? But the larger impact that they were doing was bringing people together.

I've always been an outgoing, charismatic person that just enjoyed people. I guess I'm like your stereotypical extrovert, right? I gotta be outside. I gotta be by people. I gotta make sure my people are good. I like to entertain. And so it all kind of fit very neatly together for me, as we launched this organization and started to fundraise by throwing events. A large part of awareness is bringing people together for the right purpose and the right cause. I already knew how to bring people together from my prior life. It was easy for me to translate those life skills into my new purpose and passion for really bringing solutions to the whole community and building community quite honestly.

“A large part of awareness is bringing people together for the right purpose and the right cause.”

A SPLIT SECOND

ALLIÉ: You mentioned there a moment ago, when you went out to California, they were focused speci fically on the physical rehabilitation. I think we can all agree that the mind and the body generally work as one. So, when it comes to ambulatory disability, beyond resources for physical health, to your point, resources are needed for mental health as well. I guess my question is, in addition to the physical hurdles, are there speci fic mental barriers that you face or that other people face that just really need to be addressed that maybe people aren't aware of?

MARK: The darkness. I think anybody that has experienced some level of adversity, when you hit that wall that just makes you want to quit. And typically, from what I've seen with people having strokes or spinal cord injuries, it's like that literal 'wtf' moment, and you get stuck in it. What those guys were doing just from the physical side and bringing people together helped to bring light and to give people a vision from the perspective of being around others who have been in the situation of what life could actually look like. Because you can't envision it when you're in it. It's like being too close to an elephant, right? You can't see it. But when you step back and you see how others have grown and thrived, whether they've been in this situation for 5 years or 10 years, then you get to lean on their experience and learn and grow and see a path forward to what a good quality of life could look like. How can I get a job? Or, you know, love, right? Because it's all the things that you think you no longer can do that you just have to learn how to do differently. And that was the big thing definitely mentally that I know personally I had to grapple with. Now, seeing other people that look at me as the guy who's been in this a little bit longer and can help guide them, they look at me like, "Okay, it is gonna be okay. He's a great example. If Mark can do it, we're good.”

ALLIÉ: A final question for you today, Mark. You took a personal moment, a personal incident in your life, and that fueled this public movement, this public service for accessibility, for inclusivity. For those who are struggling, like you say, who feel very much in the dark and who can't find the light, what advice do you have?

MARK: Don't stop looking for it, because it's there... Don't be afraid to lean on people around you because that's what they're there for, right? Find that support system. Find those friends that push you, but that also challenge you to want to be the light. Want to accept that you can go further than the darkness that you're sitting in. It's gonna be okay. But you gotta also take a step back and begin to take things one step at a time, one day at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time. And as you continue to just keep taking steps one foot in front of the other, you'll notice how much further you've gotten from that initial position. And a lot of times, like even on this journey, I'll still run into roadblocks. Sometimes, I can't get over them. I can't get around them. I can't get underneath them. I just gotta go through them. And even in those moments, I constantly remind myself that it's gonna be okay. I'm gonna get through this just like I got through all the other roadblocks, right? And there's still light on the other side of this roadblock. That would be my encouragement. There's always light there. ∎

JONATHAN KOHANSKI

OPEN WATER SWIMMER, PHOTOGRAPHER & MS WARRIOR

If we are so focused on where we want to be, we may miss where we are.

AIRPORT INSPIRATION MAKING ROOM FOR THE MOMENT

I sat at the San Diego airport for an ungodly amount of time yesterday, something like 10 hours. Sitting idle for any length of time has never been my strong suit, maybe it’s a lost skill or art, or maybe I am just conjuring up some nebulous excuse in an effort to justify the fact that I’m not actually doing anything considered to be productive.

Perhaps observation is akin to active listening, that instead of looking for what we want to see, we observe the world as it is, with its infinite happenings, complexities, and subtleties. In any case, the San Diego airport has at one of its terminal entrances, Delta in my case, nestled up against a window and being bathed in sunlight, a piano with a sign encouraging anyone to play.

There was the occasional child, or adult, that would depress a single key out of curiosity, and then there were others who would play — one gentleman hammering out an enjoyable rendition of "Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. On their way in and out of the airport people strolled past the piano, which now lay silent, after its previous custodian went on his way.

Walking alone, with a white guide cane, and donning a simple backpack, a man nonchalantly stopped at the piano, placing his cane on the floor beside it, and his backpack in close proximity. He sat down, pulled the duet bench forward, and in a fluid, second nature type of movement, placed his hands on the keys and started playing. For a beautiful, 20-minute interval the lobby of the terminal entrance was filled with the beautiful music emanating from his fingers.

While watching him play, I simply sat in awe, appreciating that he was not on a similarly fast paced, laser focused, mission like everybody else. I am paraphrasing here, but it’s about the journey and not the destination and sitting across the airport lobby from me was the embodiment of that. Maybe this situation was also playing out within myself. While simply waiting and observing, not contemplating the myriad of worries that constantly fill my brain, I took in the moment. Ultimately, I end inspired to do what I do and pursue my own passion, taking photographs, all from somebody else’s gifts. Other folks just passed by, focused on their destination, rather than what was in front of them right now.

Life is a journey and if we are so focused on where we want to be, we may miss where we are. The entirety of the situation, the light, the sound, the music, I disregarded my own self-conscious feelings about how bizarre I was about to look lugging out a rather sizable camera with an equally substantial lens and taking photos in an airport. While doing so, I was subconsciously mulling over my explanation for when security approaches to ask what I was doing before whisking me away to some clandestine room, but alas, I was never questioned. It was a quick reminder of my own capacity to catastrophize my fears, even in the most basic of situations and that those outcomes rarely materialize into anything more than intrusive thoughts. When finished playing, he simply picked up his bag and cane, and continued on his travels.

‘FELLOW TRAVELERS’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY LAURA SHARPE

LOVE YOUR BODY AN EVENT TO ELEVATE

& EMPOWER WOMEN OF ALL ABILITIES

Love Your Body, created by Karen Michelle, is about self-esteem and empowerment of women and girls of all ages, shapes and backgrounds. AFT was founded by Laura Sharpe and inspired by her personal journey to recovery in which she connected with the world of art as a source of healing from the near-mortal wounds she sustained in a tragic helicopter accident. Together, Karen Michelle and Laura Sharpe’s goal is to lead the way in all-inclusive, female empowering events. This year, the Love Your Body Event was held at the Luxe Hotel on Sunset Boulevard on Sunday, March 26th.

To those who attended, your presence at the event made it an incredible success, and we are so grateful to have had you there! We hope you enjoyed the stunning fashion show, walked the red carpet, visited our incredible vendors, indulged in some guilt-free shopping, and everything we had to offer. It was an amazing day of celebrating women and girls, and we couldn't have done it without your support.

It was an honor to celebrate and present the 2023 Karen Michelle Heart Award to prestigious recipients, Dr. Andrea Feinberg (Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care), Dr. Genise Fraiman (Founder & Physician of Ascending Medicine) and Dr. Hengamah Monsef (Internist of Ascending Medicine), congratulations! The Karen Michelle Humanitarian Heart Award is presented to people and organizations that strive to make the world a better place for all. Recipients give of themselves regardless of compensation, respect and embrace human diversity, and improve the lives of those in need through selfless, courageous, creative, and compassionate acts. We are inspired by their achievements and the significant change in the community at large.

We thank the 2023 Artists In The Garden for sharing their talent and time to elevate others. This year we were honored to feature: Shepard Fairey, Beth Bowen, Tommy Hollenstein, Cassandra Tang, Aliza Marton, Lilian Raven, Pablo Damas, Living Art by Ilana and LOVE CREW

Sincerely,

Artists For Trauma Founder & CEO, Trauma Survivor & Artist

www.awarenessties.us/laura-sharpe

LAURA SHARPE contributes to AwareNow with her exclusive column, ‘Fellow Travelers’. Trauma, tragedy and miracle are all part of the life process. They do not discriminate nor are they fairly distributed. Simultaneously they occur across all diverse cultures, countries, colors, ethnicities, genders, religious beliefs, and dimensions of time and thought on planet Earth. In this process of life, birth and re-birth; decay and destruction are integral to creating new life. As fellow travelers, we are mindful, compassionate, and intentional through our attitude and actions to one another. We share our authentic personal story of survival or service to offer relatability, respect and hope to others who are navigating intense physical, mental and emotional life impact. Uncomfortably or joyfully, we share the range of human emotions related to our personal trauma or miracle. In the end or the new beginning, we learn we are all fellow travelers.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH YASMINE AKER

LIONESS SUMMONING STRENGTH WITHIN

Yasmine Aker is an Iranian-American artist, filmmaker, actor, teacher, and grassroots activist who is passionate about women’s and human rights, the environment, and mental health advocacy. As a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, she is an example of resilience. Yasmine's story is one of purpose and strength.

ALLIÉ: I love your Instagram bio where you define yourself as ‘an actor artist weirdo who loves to sing, eat, and cook’. Let’s start to get to know you by way of what you love. Favorite food to eat? Favorite food to cook?

YASMINE: Korean food… any Korean food. I know that sounds crazy because I'm Persian, and you would think I would say, “Oh yeah, Persian food.” Although my mom has taught me to make a lot of Persian food, it's Korean food that gets me. I love it. I will eat it any day, any time, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I love every type of Korean food. I don't know when and how I got so obsessed with it, but I did. It's a hyperfixation that has never ended. Anyone who even knows me remotely knows that I'm obsessed with noodles. Ramen noodles with some tteokbokki and some kimchi is the bomb. Yeah, anything from any part of the Asiatic world, especially if it has rice or noodles. And what do I love to make? I will make anything. When I taste or smell a food, I can tell what spices are in it. So, I like to recreate foods without a recipe to see just how close I can get it. I also like to make a lot of Persian-Korean fusion. I will make stew

I wasn’t serving anything that was meant for me.

ALLIÉ: On the topic of favorites, what is your absolute favorite song to sing?

YASMINE: ‘Eyes Off You’ by PrettyMuch. I don't know what it is about that song. The thing is, I'll be honest, I'm one of those people that every six months my favorite songs are completely changing. My favorite artist is changing. I've never been one of those people who's obsessed about one artist who sticks with that artist forever… Right now, I'm really obsessed with ‘Homage’. It's the prettiest song. If you haven't heard it, you should go hear it. It's by Mild High Club, and it's like heaven in your ears. I also really love ‘Engravings’, which is that huge TikTok hit that happened a while back. But I just think those are good ones for the season, for the now.

ALLIÉ: You, Yasmine, are an ‘actorvist’. Both an actor and an activist, you use your talent to not only bring characters to life, but also to bring causes into the light. You accomplish both in your award winning short film ‘Okay’ about mental health. Please tell us the story behind this story.

YASMINE: I feel that as an actor and an artist, I have a responsibility not just to be a mirror, but to also be a hammer. Sometimes you have to break things or fix things rather than just point out what's happening. So, a lot of it is tied with some messages. And of course it's very personal because when I used to be a singer, I used to sing about what was happening to me. Naturally, as an actor and a filmmaker, the same applies.

This was a very personal story. I wrote this short film right after my own divorce. It has a lot of my own divorce experience and my own healing journey baked into the story. That was right around the time where I really didn't know what was going on with me. I was showing all of these signs of particular behaviors where I wasn't sure what it was. And when I wrote it, I still wasn't sure what it was. I was like, “Is this OCD?” It was autism. It was not OCD. So, it deals with those kinds of things. The character is going through what looks to be like OCD, with a lot of repetitive planning, organizing, keeping things super ordered and super controlled. And of course, when we feel out of control, we like to put things into control. So there's that element.

The film is also a poem about the word, ‘okay’. It's an exploration of the word. Because the more and more we say ‘okay’ to other people when they request things and it's not coming from an authentic place where we truly, genuinely want to do it, we are going to be not okay ourselves. You say, ‘okay’ to this person and to that person and to this and to that, but then in the end, you end up not feeling okay yourself. And that was my experience after my own divorce. I was doing so much people-pleasing. In the end, I was never serving my own authentic desires. I wasn't serving anything that was meant for me. I was just at service to everyone else to a degree that was harmful. You know what they say, empathy without limits is like self-inflicted abuse. You can be super empathetic toward other people's causes, other people's things, other people's needs, other people's dreams, and none of it ever relates to your own truth. Then you end up feeling burned out, resentful, hurt, unheard and unseen.

This short film was an exploration of all these little nuances of that time in my life and what it felt like to finally say ‘no’ to people and to say, “No, I don't want to do that.” The character goes through the discovery that until you learn to powerfully say ‘no’ to the things that aren't serving you, you can't really powerfully say ‘yes’ to the things that are serving you.

“Until you learn to powerfully say ‘no’ to the things that aren’t serving you, you can’t really powerfully say ‘yes’ to the things that are serving you.”

My goal has been to humanize Iranians.

ALLIÉ: Another short film you star in is what inspired the title of this interview, ‘Lioness’. In this freedom project for Iran, as a viewer you are brought to tears by a reality so powerfully portrayed in 4 minutes and 44 seconds. I can’t imagine what this film was like for you as an Iranian-American actress. What did you personally take away from ‘Lioness’? What is it that you hope others take away from the film?

YASMINE: First off, thank you for watching, and a huge thank you goes to Arrad the filmmaker and director who contacted me to participate in the short film. I think for every single one of us who participated, for all of us Iranians, it meant so much to be able to explain and reflect to the Western world what it feels like palpably. For myself, it was very connecting. It felt very much like honoring the women of Iran, honoring my own family members who have passed away, from my own aunt to friends of family and community members, members of the Baháʼí community, and women all around the world who face so much injustice.

I think the thing that I really have been wanting to impact in the last six months is that when the revolution in Iran first began, when Mahsa (Jina) Amini was killed, the media has portrayed people in the Middle East. All across the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, you name it, the list goes on and on, we're dehumanized. So when people from the West see children, women, people being brutally killed and brutally violated, it doesn't really elicit the same effect that it elicited, for example, when the people of Ukraine first were being murdered by the Russian government.

That is something that's very painful for all people of color to witness – to see that color difference. It’s upsetting and awful when anyone around the world is going through war, being unjustly treated, or being murdered in the streets. It’s awful. And yet the public's response to people who are very fair skin is quite drastically different from the response to people who are from the Middle East, anywhere from the Middle East. My goal has been to humanize Iranians and in a broader sense, to begin humanizing all people from the Middle East and people of color, so that when someone who is not Iranian, when someone who is from the West, when someone who does have white skin, fair skin, and a European sense of history and roots, that they truly can relate. I want people to empathize from a place of… “Oh, that woman is just like me. That child could have been my child.” And it's unfortunate that it has been decades of propaganda and media misinformation and dehumanization that is done speci fically to make Middle Easterners look less than worthy of life that has caused this. I think that it's something that we need to correct. It's something that we can correct.

We’re designed

empathize.

“It humanizes the Iranian experience and the Iranian women so that anyone who’s watching feels empathetic rather than apathetic.”

YASMINE: (continued) I think that humans have mirror neurons in their brains for a reason. We're designed to empathize. We want to empathize. We don't actually see color when we're children. We make friends with kids of every color. And I think when we're adults, we can do the same. In this regard, I think that ‘Lioness’ is a beautiful short film that does exactly that. It humanizes the Iranian experience and the Iranian women so that anyone who's watching feels empathetic rather than apathetic.

ALLIÉ: A survivor of sexual and physical abuse, your strength gives others strength and hope for healing. You went nearly your entire adult life without knowing you were on the autism spectrum, ignoring an early diagnosis of ADHD. Now, however, your life has been transformed after a six-year journey healing and honoring your body, mind and soul. What was your tipping point? What happened to make you stop hiding from your past traumas and begin healing?

YASMINE: Someone once told me a quote from a journal of a doctor from back in the 1800s. And in his journal it said, “When a patient doth not cry, the body doth cry elsewhere.” And I was so far removed from my emotional reality. I was so far removed from my mental health wellness. I was so in denial of what had happened to me and what was happening to me that my body had started to show physical signs of illness. And it took a bunch of really intense things that happened all in succession that forced me to face it.

My marriage was failing. My father passed away. My marriage ended, and I had a nervous breakdown. The nanny who had raised me as a child, who I hadn't been able to find or see since I was nine, I was told had passed away. And these all happened year, after year, after year... And I was left with so many physical things that were manifesting. I had neuropathy in my legs. I was misdiagnosed with MS. I had weird things that were going on with my vision, migraines and so many gastrointestinal things happening. There was just so much going on, and really it was my nervous system shutting down. And my body was just like, “You need to address what has happened. You need to heal what has happened.” But I wasn't even able to see it.

I was feeling a sense of dread. I was feeling a sense of what we would call now a panic. But at that time, I was so far removed from myself that I wasn't even realizing that's what it was. And so I was sensing a sense of dread, feeling shortness of breath and all these things going on in my physical body. I was able to see that there were physical sensations happening in my body, and I was convinced that it must be carbon monoxide poisoning. I thought that in the house there was a leak. That's what I thought because I looked it up online and it said ‘carbon monoxide poisoning’. These are the symptoms. I'm like, “Well, these are my symptoms. I must have carbon monoxide poisoning.” So, I called the city. They sent the gas company. They came, they looked, and they're like, “There's no carbon monoxide here. We suggest you go to the emergency room because something's going on.” We go to the emergency room, and I tell them, “I think I'm having carbon monoxide poisoning, but they can't find carbon monoxide in my house.” I spell out the symptoms, and they're like, “It sounds like you're having a nervous breakdown… What we're going to prescribe for you is to go to therapy.” And so I went to the therapist and she asked if I was stressed. And I'm like, “No. No, I'm not stressed.” <laugh> She asked me to tell her what’s happened. I'm like, “Well, you know, my dad died. I had a divorce and all these things have happened, but I'm really doing quite well… I'm just smoking all the time. And I don't know what's going on. My heart's beating really fast.” <laugh> And so the therapist said, “Well, what you're talking about sounds very traumatic. It sounds like a lot of traumatic things have happened in your

YASMINE: (continued) childhood, in your teenage life, and right now. In an acute amount of time, it sounds like some really drastic things are happening. But you're telling me that you're okay.” And I kept saying, “Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm not stressed. Not at all depressed. I'm not stressed. It's just… something's going on with my body.” <laugh>. And so she was like, “I think it's time for you to start feeling your feelings. It sounds like you're disassociated. It sounds like you don't know how to associate with your feelings.” And as you know, or maybe you don't know, people on the autism spectrum all just naturally have a pretty hard time putting their finger on what their emotion is. And so I had to start my journey. I had to begin to feel my feelings. Now I actually have an emotion wheel. Sometimes I'm confused. What emotion is this? Is this sadness or is this disempowerment? Is this boredom? What is this feeling? Why are you feeling this? And then what happened that caused you to feel like this? How can you empower yourself to do something to come out of this feeling or to work through this feeling? So, you get to the other side of the feeling. Once I figured all these things out, I learned them. And I'm naturally a teacher. I've taught my whole life. I was a kindergarten teacher's aide. I've taught Sunday school. I did this program for the United Way where I taught underprivileged children. I taught choir. So, teaching comes very naturally to me. If I learn something, I can very easily distill it into its most simple parts and teach it. And once I learned how to heal… Once I found what to heal with me, went on this journey, and learned all these various things, I just thought, well, I have to tell everybody. <laugh> I have to tell them so that if someone else is feeling this way, they know there are solutions out there. If someone else is suffering, here's what helped me. Maybe this can help you suffer less as well.

ALLIÉ: You have said, “My suffering is a gift from where I have been able to learn how to help others with their suffering.” When was it that you first felt called to help others heal from trauma?

YASMINE: I think once I started putting the pieces together a couple of years ago, before the pandemic started, I knew I had to share. I had completed a music healing internship. I'd done so many different therapies, even shamanic therapies. I’d done both scientific and spiritual interventions. I had sat with Buddhist monks; sitting in a Zen Buddhist temple where you're not allowed to talk. You can stay for a week, three months, a year. However long you want to stay with the monks, you can. My first visit, I had been there for a week during the first Christmas after my divorce. I was having a hard time not knowing what to do for Christmas. I didn't want to be surrounded by things that were going to make me sad. So, I ended up at a monastery <laugh> just by happenstance. I thought they wouldn’t celebrate Christmas. It wouldn't trigger me. <laugh> And in turn, they taught me how to meditate. I had to sit with my thoughts a lot, and I would sing a song in my head while I was there, because this children's movie came to life in my mind’s eye of this little girl who was finding her zen. And the theme song went “Don't clinging to anything, just let it move through you...” So, I realized if this is the emotion, don't run away. Don't cling. Just let it move through you. If you need to work through this emotion, sit and just let it work its way through you. In the end, you'll transmutate it into something. However long it takes is however long it takes.

Once all of this was happening, I was discovering things through meditation, through self-development courses, through psilocybin ceremonies and ayahuasca ceremonies. And once I was able to get the, in the spiritual community they say ‘downloads’. You shouldn't keep downloading, you should try to integrate it. So, once I had integrated everything, I felt, especially with the way that my brain works, with my autism side, that I was able to start writing and compiling the information. I sat down for a week straight and wrote down everything that I had learned and categorized it. And once I did that, I saw that it was a course. This was a super easy course. I decided I’m just gonna offer it at my house. I'm just gonna offer it. I'm gonna teach people TRE, which is ‘tension releasing exercises’ to release trauma. It's super easy. Anyone can learn it. And it was all the things that I'd learned that were the easiest to learn, the easiest to teach. And things from vipassana meditation, things from zen meditation, things from psychology, things from behavioral therapy... all these things that all connected in some way. I put it all together and thought, all right, I will use my voice through singing, keep it fun and bring people in, teach them small tools, and hopefully they can take these tools and it can help them on their journey. I would have these courses at my house. I did some of these courses at different retreats for other camps. There are these adult summer camps that they have here in Southern California, which are really awesome. I did them there and at different yoga studios. When the pandemic hit, I just started doing teaching on IG Live. I would jump on IG Live and say, “I'm gonna teach this thing. If you wanna learn how to do TRE, we're doing TRE right now. So, grab a yoga mat, grab a pillow, and we're doing TRE. It's great for trauma. I'm sure you're scared, and this will help.” I wasn't charging anything, I was just teaching what I had learned.

YASMINE: (continued) When the revolution happened in Iran, here in Los Angeles there are a lot of Iranians. I just knew, people were feeling acute trauma. And this is a moment where I needed to bring together all the things I'd learned and also bring other therapists and other people and other healers and other musicians into the fold so that we could start creating these events for the Iranian public so they could have some tools in their back pocket to be able to help them deal with some of the trauma that they were experiencing. It's all happened for a reason. I think that had I not experienced the childhood that I did experience, had I not experienced the sexual abuse that I experienced as a child and as a teenager, had I not experienced those things and had I not had the opportunity to heal from those things, I wouldn't have the understanding that I have now. To have this understanding and to be able to connect with people and help them, I had to experience those things. The suffering was the gift. It was actually bestowed on me so that I could transmute it and help other people with theirs.

ALLIÉ: For those seeking strength to face their traumas, what advice do you have for finding it?

YASMINE: There are so many modalities out there. There are so many ways to heal. I'm a huge believer in leaving no stone unturned. So, I believe in medicine… I believe in traditional medicine. I believe in eastern medicine. I believe in meditation. I believe in psychology. I believe in therapy. I believe in all of this because there are so many things we can do that can help heal our nervous system… Who am I to say what will and won't work for each person for where they are and what they need. However, what I can say that applies to every single human being (and it should be the very first thing you do) is, no matter what, change your soil. You're a flower; change your soil. Flowers don't grow in cement. They don't grow in sand that has no nutrients. You are a flower. And for you to be able to bloom to the best fragrance and color that is only your expression, you need the absolute best soil. That means you need safe people who are your friends, safe people in your environment. You need to surround yourself with people who inspire you, people who respect you, people who celebrate you, and people who feel very safe. Because we only heal once we feel safe. When we're not safe, we're still in survival mode. If we're in survival mode, our fight or flight response is triggered, and we can't really heal very well. That's why you have to calm your nervous system. Feel safe. There's so many things you can do to calm your nervous system, but change your soil. Change the people around you. If you need to get rid of people, get rid of them. Add new people in. You should be able to look up to them, not constantly have to drag people from trouble. You do not always have to be helping people and serving the ones beneath you. Of course, help people that are at the same level as you or below you, but put your own life jacket on first. Collect friends that you can look up to. Collect people who really, truly can be your mentors. It's no easy task, but it's the one thing that makes the biggest change in our lives because the five people that are closest to you have the most impact on your life. So, if you're surrounded by naysayers, people who don't really believe in you, people who don't feel safe, people who are toxic, people who are abusive, get rid of them. If they're your family and you can't get rid of them, find other people. Find safe people and start spending more time with those safe people. If you can't discard them, don't. But you have to surround yourself with people who are really nutrient dense for the soil that you are in. ∎

Learn more about Yasmine & follow her on Instagram: @iamyasi

‘

LAUNCHLEFT’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY RAIN

WEIRDER TOGETHER

BEN LEE & IONE SKYE LAUNCH EMILY WURRAMARA

Ben Lee and Skye Lee join this episode of LaunchLeft. They discuss how a couple can work together and thrive, activism, and quantifying success. Later in the show, Ben and Skye launch Emily Wurramara, an Australian songwriter who composes her music in English and her native indigenous language. She performs her song “Stay the F*ck Away from Me” acoustic to close the conversation.

Artist,

www.launchleft.com

RAIN PHOENIX is the Founder of LaunchLeft, an alliance of artists who break from the norm and lean in to the unique. We enlist famed creatives to launch emerging artists. The LaunchLeft ecosystem currently includes a podcast, live production arm, record label and web3 gallery. We work to grow and nurture collaborative projects from production through distribution. Artists span artistic disciplines, but share a commitment to integrity in process, execution and vision. LaunchLeft aspires to inspire a new model for art that places people over profit. We are committed to growing our left-of-center community and highlighting unconventional and underrepresented artists who champion culture change.

Some people say that when you don’t have legs, you have to develop your wings.

PAUL DE LIVRON DESIGNER & MANUFACTURER OF WOODEN WHEELCHAIRS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PAUL DE LIVRON

OUT OF THE WOODS ARTISTIC FORM

MEETS AMBULATORY FUNCTION

Out of the woods, literally, and into the light, comes a new design for wheelchairs crafted with wood by Paul de Livron, making style and sustainability ambulatory options. Elegant and efficient, his design is both mechanically cunning and aesthetically stunning. According to Paul, to feel good about yourself, you must first feel good about your chair. Living and working just outside of Paris, he shares the story behind his chair.

ALLIÉ: Pairing your mechanical engineering background with your love of woodworking, you thought about a better design and became passionate in a short time. I’d love to hear about your journey from conception to production. When and where did this all start?

PAUL: I had been thinking for a while to stop buying expensive wheelchairs that didn't satisfy me completely and to make them myself instead. But I wasn't necessarily thinking of making them out of wood because with this material I couldn't see how to make something that could compete with metal in terms of performance.

PAUL: (continued) At the same time, the period I was going through was very difficult for several personal reasons and so I put myself into the design of a first model on my computer, that's my skills as an engineer, and then I went on with the manufacturing, that's my skills as a wood lover. I finished this first prototype in June 2022 and I started to use it, without thinking at that time that I had just started a great adventure.

ALLIÉ: Let’s explore your product and your process. Regarding materials, what kind of wood do you use and where does it come from?

PAUL: I use wood in the form of panels. It can be different types of panels, for example raw wood panels, OSB, chipboard. But for my first chairs I chose to work with what seemed to me the simplest to start with: plywood. I like to work with birch plywood, it's a tree that we have in France, or with okoume plywood. Okoumé is an exotic wood that comes in my case from Gabon. But in order to move towards an increasingly eco-responsible product, I will soon explore other local species to replace okoumé. Ash, beech and poplar in particular.

ALLIÉ: When it comes to process, you put your engineering experience to work in order to create a simpli fied manufacturing process compared to the traditional process used for conventional wheelchairs? Please share what you developed.

PAUL: Conventional metal wheelchairs require very precise bending of tubes, cutting, notching at the ends of the tubes to be welded together, and welding with special and expensive welding machines when it comes to aluminum or titanium. Then when you have finished the construction of the frame, you have to make the nylon seat covers. These are many different steps that require a lot of know-how and equipment that is not cheap. My way of making wooden wheelchairs is to cut out strata from wood panels from a given plan, then glue them together, and finally smooth it all out by sanding. That's all there is to it.

ALLIÉ: One more question about manufacturing. Where does the magic happen and who helps you? Do you have a workshop with assistants?

PAUL: The magic moment is the beginning of the sanding! Suddenly, what is only austerely stacked pieces of wood glued together become rounded reveals, studied shapes, softened to become more beautiful! I really like this step. For the moment I still work entirely alone. I share a workshop and my tools with my brother who is a bricklayer in the South-West of France, and I have a corner in my apartment in the suburbs of Paris. It's not much of a luxury, I hope I'll have a better setup soon!

“I finished this first prototype in June 2022 and I started to use it, without thinking at that time that I had just started a great adventure.”

ALLIÉ: Your attention to detail in design, from product to process, makes your wheelchairs special, but there is another hidden detail that makes your chairs extra special. And people won’t see unless they seek it out. Please tell us about your angels.

PAUL: My angels! Indeed, for my last prototype I wanted to make the footrest of the chair in carbon fiber. In the footrest plate, which was very solid because of this particularly resistant material, I wanted to make some lightening recesses and while I was at it, to make them beautiful. For this reason I cut a stylized angel in this plate. Why did I do this? I believe that our society is suffering from the disappearance of spirituality, in France certainly more than in the United States. This angel is a discreet but real testimony: I am a Christian and my faith is the driving force behind my actions, including the development of wooden wheelchairs. This angel is also a thank you to my guardian angel who saved me from dying 10 years ago when I had the accident that caused me to lose the use of my legs. Finally, some people say that when you don't have legs, you have to develop your wings... That's taking the angels as examples!

ALLIÉ: In your words, Paul, you shared, “I sometimes take a certain pleasure in using this wheelchair, a bit like a surfer on a beautiful wave.” What is it about your chair that gives you this feeling?

PAUL: When you have a good, light, perfectly sized wheelchair with a well-placed center of gravity, and you're rolling through a station concourse that's as smooth as a billiard table or on smooth asphalt, it's an extremely pleasant feeling. Under these conditions you can drive fast, without making any noise, and the chair reacts to the slightest movement of the pelvis. These are very good sensations, which I compare to what I think a surfer feels.

“This angel is also a thank you to my guardian angel who saved me from dying 10 years ago when I had the accident that caused me to lose the use of my legs.”

UPCYCLING DESIGNER & ECO ENTREPRENEUR

It’s easy to lose our balance.

UNDERVALUED THE GIFTS OF GAIA

When we start exploring the world around us, watching the bugs, flowers, the leaves on a tree, it connects our soul with Gaia Mother and we immediately feel connected, peaceful.

It’s easy to lose our balance in modern society, dealing day by day with modern life’s problems, the news of the financial and political world. Spending more time in nature and changing our daily habits brings us calmness and joy.

In nature, we connect with the divine energy and we truly feel that we belong to the planet. Spending time outdoors and leaving the cities builds awareness about the beauty of our world. Sometimes we forget how wonderful it is – the bird chirping, the ant’s world of extreme co-working structures and empire building skills, the whole magic of the bee’s flower pollination... Everywhere we look is just simply magical.

All these things are so undervalued and forgotten.

Create a new lifestyle. Spend more time connecting with Gaia Mother. Explore the supernatural forces and divine creation around us.

We belong to nature. ∎

Upcycling

www.awarenessties.us/laura-zabo

LAURA ZABO strives to create a cleaner world by collecting and upcycling scrap tires into chic statement accessories. Laura creates striking belts, jewellery and even sandals for urban and ethically conscious men and women who believe in a brighter future for our planet. Her work has been spotlighted in various magazines promoting design and sustainable fashion and continues to gain exposure through social media platforms. Laura’s upcycling journey began in 2015 whilst exploring the beautiful landscapes of Tanzania. The inspiration for a sustainable fashion brand came when she stumbled across a brightly painted pair of sandals made from scrap car tire at a local maasai market. This moment planted the seed for her company, highlighting that beautiful clothing and accessories don’t have to be made by mass produced material but can be crafted by recycled objects instead. Now, six years later, Laura collects and repurposes thousands of bicycle and car tires, making not just fashion statements but promoting progression towards a healthier planet.

We all belong to nature and universal energy connects all of us. Everything is energy and through this energy network we all belong to the same source.

MAXIM JAGO

FUTURIST, FILMMAKER & FOUNDER OF THE CREATIVITY CONFERENCE

Love is a better guide.

THE SHIP, THE BUBBLE & THE WIND METAPHORS FOR DISENGAGING WITHOUT ENGAGING

Briefly, everyone loves to be loved, everyone is afraid of fear, everyone needs their love to be accepted just as much as they need to receive love.

I adore meeting new people, having new experiences, and learning new moves in this great bewildering dance of life. With this said, I find there are some aspects of human interaction that can be wearing. For example, some people are more energetic than others. In fact, I would go so far as to say that some people’s energy can be a little overwhelming.

For a proud old stage-hand bard like me, energetic companions can be uplifting but for many people it can be exhausting. Buffeted by the emotional ‘electricity’ presented by people nearby, one can feel like hiding in a hole or at least shutting down socially. Conversely, some people seem to draw energy away – as if they were the antithesis of a wellspring, forever reducing the life force for everyone around them, leaving all who dare engage them feeling exhausted and ready for a nap.

Yet others may be determined to drive through their point of view, their outlook, their explanation for life’s great mysteries. Some people are so determined to be right they perhaps forget to check if they are wrong. Importantly, some people might forget to check if you are listening, and embattled by the intensity of their feelings you may feel yourself recoiling into yourself, less able to engage with the world and, once again, ready for a little nap.

How can we navigate these complex momentary relationships? There is rarely a pre-amble… No-one will warn you, saying ‘Just so you know, I’m going to overwhelm you with the force of my character now’. This is, of course, partly because everyone is living in their own universe – their own narrative, in which they are both the author and the main protagonist, and in which all of the other characters are exactly as they perceive them to be. For example, if you perceive someone as aggressive, then for all intents and purposes they ARE aggressive as far as your universe is concerned.

We often forget to check if our subjective truth aligns well with objective truth (I believe these are two markedly different kinds of truth). Of course, knowing that you don’t know is a great place to start – but perhaps too few people are aware enough that they don’t know…

In any case, I have learned that there are enough people in the world who do not know that they do not know who are forceful enough with their views, their narrative, and their energy that it is helpful to have a way to disengage without engaging (that is, to disengage without conflict). After years of practicing these techniques, I have come to describe them as The Ship, The Bubble and The Wind. Here’s how they work:

Imagine a situation in which you feel surrounded by people who are dynamic, lively, energised, challenging, and overwhelming. The temptation is to rise up to the challenge and face all that energy head-on – to be stronger than them, to resist, and to soak up all the energy they send your way. But this may not always be possible and the outcome is usually exhaustion. Instead, you can simply not engage using a visual metaphor to guide your thinking.

My work takes me around the world, meeting people from many cultures and in all sorts of walks of life. No matter who I meet, and what the circumstance, I find there are familiar patterns in people’s lives that begin to give a sense of the universality of the human condition.

For sure, you’ll feel yourself rocked by the inclement waves and wind but you’ll be safe and dry on the inside.

MAXIM JAGO

FUTURIST, FILMMAKER & FOUNDER OF THE CREATIVITY CONFERENCE

“There is no need for conflict – in fact the ship survives the storm best by simply going with the flow…”

There are three metaphors I have found useful, and it’s helpful to learn to use these in order of subtlety and impact. Let’s explore The Ship first:

Imagine you are a ship on the ocean, travelling at speed, floating across the waters comfortably and enjoying the view. In this story, you are the ship – not the captain or a member of the crew. You feel the water and the wind as it brushes your skin (your hull) and the open port holes and hatches allow the clear sea air to flow in and out of your interior.

Then, you come to stormy weather and naturally you batten down the hatches and close the port holes. You create a seal between the weather outside and the interior of your ship so that the part of you that is interior simply doesn’t feel what is going on outside. For sure, you’ll feel yourself rocked by the inclement waves and wind but you’ll be safe and dry on the inside.

This is what you do when encountering someone you find challenging. Imagine you are that ship, and simply close the hatches, close the port holes, and feel safe and sound inside. There is no need for con flict – in fact the ship survives the storm best by simply going with the flow…

When the storm passes, that is, when the challenging person has gone, you can open up the hatches and port holes and allow the world in again. This solution is effortless because, in a sense, the skin of the boat becomes armour that is impenetrable, known, safe, and secure. You feel the inside of the armour and cannot be touched by those pesky angry waves outside.

And then there is The Bubble… Once you feel comfortable closing up the skin of the ship and opening it again (opening back up is very important too), then you can take this idea a step further.

The key benefit of closing the hatches on the ship is that it creates a seal that is effortless to maintain. It’s a kind of armour that protects you without there being any conflict. You can create another kind of barrier of this kind that is lighter and even more effortless…

Imagine you can effortlessly create a bubble that is a perfect sphere and completely encompasses you. The bubble is clear, thin, and absolutely nothing can penetrate it. You can see though it and it gleams beautifully. The bubble moves with you wherever you go and any amount of energy simply bounces off it – you don’t even feel it. The bubble is light, and magically protects you without feeling like you are carrying any extra weight. You can interact with your world normally – talk to people, relax and explore, and only the ‘good stuff’ will move through the bubble to reach you.

Whenever you encounter anyone who is projecting more energy than you are comfortable with, there is no need for tension. Visualise the bubble and relax, comfortable in the knowledge that nothing unwanted or unwholesome will reach you. Naturally, this is a psychological effect and I am not intending to suggest anything ‘woowoo’ (or is it ‘wuwu’?). Perhaps there is some genuinely energetic factor here but it’s not necessary to adopt that paradigm to benefit from the visual metaphor. Just visualise the bubble and let it do its work, releasing you from the requirement to engage, to enter into conflict, or even to process the ‘stuff’ coming from those around you. Allow it all to ‘bounce off’ of the bubble, enjoy the moment, and go on your way.

Over time, as you feel more and more confident using the bubble, you can begin to shrink it, allowing the skin of the bubble to come closer and closer to your own skin (in your mind’s eye) until it is just raised from the surface. The bubble can move and flex as a perfect second skin, never quite touching your own skin but nonetheless close enough that, if someone were able to see into your mind’s eye, they would see you almost shimmer with the bubble’s skin close to your own surface.

The bubble feels weightless now, does not restrict movement in any way, and yet continues to provide the same perfect, flawless, absolute protection from anything unwanted. Soon, it begins to feel that ‘wearing the bubble’ is like not wearing the bubble. When you ‘switch it on’ or ‘switch it off’, it feels natural – as if your skin had always had this special kind of extra layer that could effortlessly prevent you coming into contact with feelings, pressures, even energies you’d feel healthier avoiding.

It's key, at this moment, for me to mention that the goal here is to live a healthy happy life – not to avoid anything at all but rather to be able to navigate it comfortably. The feeling of safety this visual metaphor provides makes it easier to navigate challenging situations and, therefore, to see clearly what is happening (not avoiding your reality but embracing it) so that you can make better decisions that are based on what is real. Lucidity helps us navigate our lives.

Once you feel comfortable navigating the world using the visual metaphor of a self-shaped protective bubble that you can ‘switch on or off’, you might want to explore The Wind

Imagine a scenario where you are faced with a person who you find particularly challenging. Perhaps they are being aggressive and soliciting conflict or perhaps they are drawing away your energy – a psychic vampire. Science tells us that we are mostly ‘not here’. Our atoms are mostly (apparently) empty space, with tiny subatomic particles interacting and forming the shape of being that is ‘you’.

With so much empty space in us, it would be easy for the challenging experiences we have to pass straight through us if we would only allow them to. And so the concept of The Wind is fairly simple: Imagine all that energy simply passing through you because you are not there. Like a breeze, what you are faced with simply moves through you without ever touching you – because you are not there. You allow the conflict to be no conflict because you present nothing to be in conflict with. You can be aware of what the other person is presenting and acknowledge it without participating or engaging. In a sense, you don’t even directly experience the other person’s actions, you only witness them.

The concept of The Wind allows you to witness another person’s actions, hear their words, observe their non-verbal signals and pick up their ‘vibe’ without any of it actually touching you – again, because you are not there. In a sense, you can switch on your presence in the moment and switch it off again.

Mystics speak of the importance of ‘being here now’ and fully experiencing the present moment. As Zen philosophers say it, this moment is the only one in which you are truly having an experience and the only moment in which you can do anything. The past is part remembered and the future is approximately imagined. Understandably, philosophers find a lot of value in learning to be more present.

“Like a breeze, what you are faced with simply moves through you without ever touching you – because you are not there.”

THE SHIP, THE BUBBLE & THE WIND

But… There is value, I believe, in choosing when you are present and when you are not. Being able to choose is key –and it isn’t always necessary to be actively engaged and participating in events going on around you. It isn’t necessary to express an opinion every single time – or to change what is happening. Sometimes, you can simply witness what is happening, acknowledge it, even think thoughts about it, and move on.

This form of allowing is made easier if you use the visual metaphor of The Wind. You present no opportunity for conflict. You live only in your own narrative, your own perceptions, your own sense of self and - at least for a moment – do not allow others to instruct you in your narrative, to tell you what you are perceiving, or to tell you what or who you are.

To be is to take action and to live out the consequences – the outcomes – of that action. Some actions involve moving your body while others involve moving your thoughts.

I have found The Ship, The Bubble, and The Wind to be helpful visual metaphors when navigating a complex world full of new experiences and individuals who may or may not have peace and love in their hearts.

Still, always remember that there are MANY people who absolutely have benign intentions. Don’t block yourself off from good experiences for fear of having bad experiences. Fear is a very poor guide and, for us, is always rooted in the unknown.

The more you know yourself and learn to trust your judgement, the more you will find you can trust – when the moment comes – that you will navigate every challenge well. This self-knowledge and self-trust allows you to take risks in amongst unknown elements like strangers, strange places, and strange practices.

Love is a better guide. ∎

It is exciting that an artist and activist with Shepard Fairey’s reputation will bring national and international attention to Louisville’s Public Art Program.

OUTSIDE INFLUENCE

UNPRECEDENTED ARTISTIC EXPERIENCE BRINGS INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED ARTISTS & LOUISVILLE ICONS TOGETHER

‘Outside Influence’ is an artistic experience created by Louisville native Eddie Donaldson (also known as the artist GuerillaOne) and Artists for Trauma. The multi-faceted event is in celebration of artist Shepard Fairey's journey to Louisville to paint a mural in honor of global humanitarian and heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.

Fairey is best known for creating the iconic “Hope” poster for the Barack Obama campaign, as well as his “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” street art campaign. Fairey will begin work April 22nd on the mural, which is based on a photo by Howard L. Bingham, who’s primarily known for his work with Ali as well as Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, Nelson Mandela, Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, James Brown and others.

The mural will cover seven stories on the East wall of the historic Chestnut Street Family YMCA - just two blocks from Ali’s alma mater, Central High School. Facing Louisville’s downtown, the huge mural will transform the city’s view of the Russell Neighborhood and all of West Louisville, a predominantly African American area that’s been economically disadvantaged for decades.

“It is exciting that an artist and activist with Shepard Fairey’s reputation will bring national and international attention to Louisville’s Public Art Program,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. “And it’s equally as important that this project is creating an opportunity for the YMCA Black Achievers and Louisville artists to be part of the creative process.”

While work is underway on the mural, Fairey’s work from past and present will also form the centerpiece of the ‘Outside Influence’ art show at Common Gallery, part of the PORTAL arts venue in Louisville’s Portland Neighborhood. Donaldson describes the multi-artist show as focusing on, "discovery of artistic expression that lives outside of our normal day to day experiences and ethos.”

Also headlining the show will be "Ride the Thunder: The Artistic Legacy of Hunter S. Thompson, Ralph Steadman, Gonzo” collection. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience the power of Thompson and Steadman's collaboration up close, with a stunning array of original artwork, including some of their most iconic pieces. From the twisted and psychedelic images of Steadman to the searing and unforgettable prose of Thompson, the show captures the raw energy of their artistic partnership. As a special highlight, the exhibition includes a breathtaking portrait of Jack Harlow, the Louisville-born rapper whose music embodies the same rebellious spirit as Thompson and Steadman. The portrait, rendered in vibrant colors and bold lines, captures the essence of Harlow's persona and music.

“The Gonzo style is all about being unconventional and intentionally rebellious,” said Brad White, co-owner of the Common Art Gallery and PORTAL. “That’s what makes our venue such a perfect fit for all the artists in this show.”

Outside Influence will also feature photography of pivotal moments in American history from Bingham and Earnest C. Withers, whose subjects include Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights Movement, the Emmett Till murder trail, Stax Records and Negro League baseball.

Every spring, the world shows up in Louisville, Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby. This year, some of the biggest names in the art world are getting the party started early.

‘THE WRITING ON THE WALL’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY EDDIE DONALDSON

To complete the experience, Donaldson has selected a group of urban contemporary artists from around the world, including Estevan Oriol, Amanda Lynn, King Saladeen, Dr. Dax, Stormie Mills, Slick, Jim Evans aka TAZ, Saber, Tristan Eaton, Brandon Boyd, The London Police, actor David Arquette, Plastic Jesus, Beth Bowen, Francis Thomasovich and others.

The range of artists and experiences included in 'Outside In fluence’ is unprecedented for Louisville, and was only possible with the support of numerous supporters, including Kroger, the City of Louisville, Artists for Trauma, Danny Wimmer Presents, Phocus Water, Range, Stance, Adidas, and Spinelli’s Pizza. ∎

Learn more about ‘Outside Influence’ and follow Artists For Trauma on Instagram:

EDDIE DONALDSON

GuerillaOne x The Seventh Letter

www.awarenessties.us/eddie-donaldson

Louisville, Kentucky native Eddie Donaldson moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and became involved with the graffiti movement as an alternative to the turbulent gang activity of his generation. Immersed first as an artist amongst diverse L.A. crews like TCF, AWR, and The Seventh Letter, Donaldson had the vision to develop their homegrown graffiti movement into something beyond the streets. His loyalty and business sensibility transformed the graffiti scene and he evolved into the point person for producing art events and exhibitions that inspire and spread the stylistic of southern California art into the world.

PICTURE IN PICTURE DEDICATED TO MY BROTHER GRIFF

This story is loosely based on my brother, who is also autistic. We’re only a year apart, and we see and experience the world in very different ways. He’s super creative and smart, and as a kid he would spend way more time living in the world created inside his mind, than he would engaged with the world around him.

I was different. Where he could completely disappear into those worlds, I didn’t. I lived in the world around me, and recorded the stories I experienced, and made up in scripts I’d write, and movies I’d make on my little flip camera.

The world for the most part views autism as a condition, not a state of being, so I wanted to write a story that could present that in a little different way to help people understand neurodiversity.

I believe you can change a person’s life with kindness, patience, and persistence. In fact, my brother and I would have lived very different lives, if we hadn’t received those things from family, friends, and the community. We were fortunate to receive support, guidance, and patience from all of the people and professionals in our lives, and because of it, we responded, and we grew. We weren’t ‘cured’. We just thrived in our own way, and as adults we are both confident in who we are, even though we’ll always struggle with certain things, and always need support and accommodations in life.

I hope my story, “Picture-in-Picture,” illustrates how a little acceptance and appreciation for who people are, along with a little patience and persistence, can change someone’s life.

INT. CAR — DAY

SOPHIE (45) drives her children in the backseat along a country road.

APRIL (12), sits behind Sophie, a smart, pretty, and kind child; the kind of kid who stands up for the underdog, and helps open doors for senior citizens. MAX (8), a handsome, quiet boy with blue green eyes that shine like a planet, sits beside April.

A giant field of white sheep pass by through the car windows. Sophie stops the car at a stop sign and puts on her right blinker. A lone black sheep stands in the field of white sheep. April looks out the window on Max’s side of the car while Max stares straight ahead miming actions with his hands and MUTTERING.

APRIL Look! Sheep!

SOPHIE Yeah. Lots and lots of sheep here. Isn’t that great? Max, do you see the sheep?

April nudges Max, leans toward him and points across him out the window.

APRIL Max, look! Sheep.

MAX Pew! Pew! Noooo... I got you now, Eggman!

Max makes gun movements. Judith turns the car right and continues driving, passing more white sheep.

SOPHIE

Don’t be worried, April. You guys will love living here, and you’ll meet lots of new friends at school. Just wait... you’ll see.

The car pulls into a small one-story brick Elementary school drive. Sophie enters the morning drop-off line, then passes the car in front of her and turns left into the parking lot.

APRIL

Where are we going? Everyone’s getting out over there, Mom.

CONTINUED:

SOPHIE

I know. But I have to park so I can walk Max in.

APRIL Okay. Hey Max... School.

Sophie parks the car and turns the key. April takes off her seat belt, grabs her backpack, opens her door and gets out. Max remains sitting in the backseat MUTTERING. Through the window arms moving, Max covers his head and ducks. Unintelligible DIALOGUE is heard through the window. April opens Max’s door.

APRIL Max! School! Let’s go!

April grabs his backpack and hands it to Sophie, then helps Max get out of the car.

APRIL Let’s go.

MAX

I don’t wanna go to school. No school.

APRIL

We have to go, now come on.

SOPHIE

Max, it’s okay. You’ll like it here. It will be better than the last school. It’s smaller, and I just know you’re gonna meet some nice friends here.

MAX Let’s go home.

SOPHIE

Sorry, buddy. Gotta try this first.

MAX Sheep. I wanna see the sheep.

CONTINUED:

APRIL

Too bad, Max. I tried to point them out to you, but you weren’t listening.

SOPHIE

He saw them.

APRIL

He wasn’t even paying attention!

SOPHIE

That’s just Max. He sees and hears everything even though he’s doing something else. Isn’t that right, Max?

MAX No school.

INT. SCHOOL CAFETERIA — AFTERNOON

CUT TO:

The cafeteria is LOUD and busy. Kids crowd tables TALKING and LAUGHING. A table in the corner is empty except for Max who is TALKING to himself, his Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich is open on the table in front of him. GINA (8), in ponytails, walks up holding a lunch bag. Then sits.

GINA

Hi. I’m Gina. Mind if I sit here?

MAX (sotto) Noooo... I got you now! You can’t escape.

GINA

What’s that? Oh. Are you listening to something? Can I listen too?

Max picks up his sandwich and takes a bite.

GINA

Ooh... PB&J. I have tuna. Wanna switch?

LAUGHING Its ok. Nobody ever wants to switch.

CONTINUED:

GINA

Ooh... PB&J. I have tuna. Wanna switch? LAUGHING Its ok. Nobody ever wants to switch.

Gina takes a bite, and puts the straw in her juice box as a boy, JIMMY (10) walks by.

JIMMY

He doesn’t talk, Gina. Come sit with us. He’s a weirdo.

GINA Shut up. He talks. We were just talking, right?

Gina looks at Max, then Max slams his free hand on the table, softly, tapping with his palm. Max takes another bite. Gina picks up her sandwich.

GINA

Leave us alone, Jimmy. We’re trying to eat lunch.

JIMMY

Whatever.

Jimmy walks away. Gina takes a bite out of her sandwich and then takes a long sip from her juice box.

GINA

Don’t worry about him, he’s a jerk. Anyway, welcome to Povis Elementary. I gotta go with my class. We have play practice. See ya!

Gina gets up with what’s left of her lunch and walks away. Max pounds both hands on the table like bongos.

INT. LIVING ROOM — EVENING

Max and April sit on the couch watching TV. Sophie is in the kitchen, seen through the pass-through window. Max is making explosion sounds and jumping up and falling onto the couch.

CONTINUED:

APRIL Max, stop. I’m trying to watch.

MAX Ahhhh....

APRIL Max! Say, “Sorry, April.”

MAX Sorry, April.

Sophie comes in and sits in a chair opposite April.

SOPHIE You know, Max appreciates how kind you are to him.

APRIL No he doesn’t. He doesn’t even hear me.

SOPHIE Yes, he does.

Mom grabs the remote. Another small screen appears on the TV in the bottom right corner.

APRIL Cool! What’s that?

SOPHIE

It’s called the picture-in-picture feature. It’s so you can watch two things at once on multiple channels all on one screen.

APRIL

That’s neat, but why? How are you supposed to listen to two shows at the same time?

SOPHIE Max does this in his brain every day.

APRIL

What’do you mean?

SOPHIE

Okay, look. See? For the TV, the big screen is the important thing you’re watching, like a movie... and... this little screen comes on so you won’t miss something. Like… you’re waiting for the news to come on, or a basketball game or something you don’t have to watch constantly but just need to keep updated on.

APRIL Okay... but…

SOPHIE

But... Max switches it around in his head. He lives inside his head where the important thing is, so that’s the big screen. The little picture to Max, is what’s happening around him in real life.

APRIL Why does he switch it?

SOPHIE

Because what’s in his head is more important to him, or more interesting.

APRIL Oh. So he’s ignoring us because he’s bored?

SOPHIE No(LAUGHING), its not that. Max just needs to learn to balance it more and get the frames to switch. We don’t want him to stop creating stuff in his brain. That creativity is part of who he is. We just want him to spend more time with us out here.

CONTINUED:

April turns and watches Max. (POV Max)The TV continues to play picturein-picture while Max continues to jump and fall onto the couch.

CUT TO:

INT. CAFETERIA - DAY

Max sits alone at his table eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Gina walks up with her paper lunch bag and sits down.

GINA

What’s up, Max? Yeah, you didn’t tell me your name, so I asked your teacher. Can I sit here again?

Max puts down his sandwich. He makes explosion sounds. Gina unwraps her tuna sandwich.

GINA Yep. Tuna, again. The offer to switch is always open by the way.

MAX Jump, Yoshi, Jump!

GINA

Hey! Do you think your parents would let you come over to my house? I have a pool, and a trampoline. We could jump!

MAX

Ahhhhh... over there! Go, Now! Gina takes a bite of her sandwich and chews.

GINA Or maybe we could play XBox. I’m terrible, but you can help me.

Max takes a bite out of his sandwich. The BELL goes off, and Gina gathers up her lunch. Max finishes his sandwich.

GINA (CONT’D)

Well, hopefully you can hang out sometime. Let me know. Gotta go back to class. See ya!

CONTINUED:

Gina gets up and starts to walk away.

MAX

I don’t like tuna fish.

Gina, surprised, turns back to Max and slowly smiles a giant grin.

GINA

(excitedly) Don’t worry. I’ll tell my mom you only eat PB&J. Maybe she’ll start making them for me too!

Max smiles and Gina turns and leaves.

CUT TO: Credits roll. In the background, Sophie and April sit in the front of the car. Max and Gina sit in the back seat. Everyone in the car is smiling and laughing at something Gina says. Seen through the window are fields filled with sheep. The sheep are equally black and white.

FADE OUT.

The world can only be a better place when we give selflessly with our hearts.

ELIZABETH BLAKE-THOMAS STORYTELLER, PHILANTHROPIST & OFFICIAL AMBASSADOR FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING AWARENESS

WE ARE ALL GIVERS BECOMING GROUNDED IN GIVING

Giving implies putting something out into the world. Receiving implies obtaining something in. As a society we often give, but most of the time it comes with the expectation of receiving something in return. Even if that’s simple recognition of a pat on the back. We enjoy feeling needed. But this common mindset creates a misguided intention behind giving and often snowballs into a toxic giving mindset. That is not to say that we won’t get anything from giving. The natural benefits of giving can vary between making us feel happy, being good for our health, and/or evoking gratitude. Science shows that giving activates the part of the brain that makes us feel pleasure. Upon giving, our oxytocin levels are raised. The higher our levels, the more we’re likely to give. John Bunyan said, “You have not lived today unless you have done something for someone who cannot repay you.” Most people naturally feel good after giving. It is the additional outcomes that many come to expect to receive from giving that create a muddled selfishness behind the otherwise selfless act.

Imagine if we all gave selflessly. What would that look like?

Social media has enhanced the giving mentality in both a positive and negative way. Through different platforms, we might learn about charities we may not have heard about. It’s a way of getting a wide reach of people to be aware of situations that might need help. 55% of people who learn about an organization on social media end up taking action in some way. But social media has also revealed the negative sides of giving. Do people give now just to put it online and receive exterior validation? To get a “thank you” from a person they help? If your giving looks like $1 a month donating to a charity, or giving your time every 6 months to help at a soup kitchen, don’t discount your giving as less than. Any act of selfless giving is still giving. If you can’t find a cause and still feel lost, take a look around. You’re sure to see someone else giving when you open your eyes and this could be the inspiration you need to spark your giving. It’s very important to give back, whether another human, an animal, or a cause. But be sure to give with positive intentions. If when you look at your act of giving and the first reason for doing it is for something for you, then you are selfishly giving. This extends to, “I’m giving because it makes me happy”. Let’s just change the mindset, truly sel fless giving would be “I give to help _____, and an additional benefit is that doing so makes me feel good or happy.”

How can we be more successful at giving? Sometimes in order to give sel flessly, we need to give to ourselves first to make sure we are in the right mindset. Maybe that means we take a nap, quieten our phone, ask for help, or just look after ourselves. We can give even more when we feel grounded. Giving does not always mean financial resources or huge amounts of time either. Here are a few quick and free things we can give that still have the ability to create a huge impact:

‣ Giving a smile

‣ Giving a kind word or encouragement

‣ Giving good thoughts or prayers

The world can only be a better place when we give selflessly with our hearts.

ELIZABETH BLAKE-THOMAS

Storyteller, Philanthropist & Official Ambassador for Human Trafficking Awareness

www.awarenessties.us/elizabethblakethomas

Elizabeth Blake-Thomas is a British award-winning storyteller and philanthropist based in Los Angeles. She is the founder and resident director of entertainment company Mother & Daughter Entertainment, whose motto is “Making Content That Matters”, putting focus on each project starting a conversation amongst viewers. She is also the creator of the healing methodology Medicine with Words which is designed to help “spring clean” your mind and help free yourself from unnecessary noise so that you can live a more purposeful, peaceful life. She is the author of Filmmaking Without Fear which is a multi-medium resource curated for indie filmmakers. Her FWF podcast is available on all streaming platforms, and the book of the same name is available on Amazon. She is a regular on panels at Sundance, Cannes and Toronto International Film Festival, Elizabeth mentors wherever possible, ensuring she sends the elevator back down to all other female storytellers.

“Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.” - Jim Rohn

‘MEDICINE WITH WORDS’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY ELIZABETH BLAKE-THOMAS

You gotta take on what scares you to be happy.

LEARNING OUT OF ORDER FEATURING

Deciding that you are someone that learns from curiosity and joy is personal. Even as a child who is sent off to school, no matter the classroom, materials and lessons, that child will decide what to take in as meaningful learning experiences. Otherwise, they can go about their school days getting by playing the role as student and nothing more.

When Marc Gutierrez was in high school, his education wasn’t important to him. What he recalls from high school were good times with friends and experiences like prom and grad night. Other than that, learning wasn’t a priority. He just wanted to be young.

At home, Marc spent a lot of time watching TV shows and movies. As he watched cool characters on the screen, he wondered if he could be an actor. He quickly dismissed the idea since he never saw an indigenous native, like him. He shared, “I did not see the color of my skin on TV. This made me believe that actors were for other people who were not me.”

Shortly after high school, Marc decided to follow his interest in theater. He enrolled in a couple of classes at city college and met one teacher, who was an indigenous native and a successful actor. He said to Marc, “You are enough. You just have to take the steps to work at it.”

Marc heard many teachers say similar things to him, but there was something different about it this time. He said, “When the teacher spoke to me, the way he looked at me, I felt something impactful. I received his message fully. I felt seen, and I believed him.”

Truly feeling his calling to become an actor, Marc began auditioning and working on projects. He also decided to look for people that shared his passion and commitment for acting. He shared, “I had to let go of people who didn’t believe in me. I had to let those negative messages go because they took away from the energy and time that I needed to build up my confidence and skills.” With his new community, it was helpful for Marc to share similar struggles as well as begin the network of people in the industry. Going through the journey together, Marc felt a deep sense of belonging.

Beyond having a strong belief and commitment to do well as an actor, Marc discovered that there was an endurance required to go through the learning process. He shared, “Acting is not a four-year degree; it’s a lifelong degree. People kept telling me when I was young that there was a structure and timeline to life. I had to graduate high school at this time, go to college at this time, get married at this time, have kids at this time, have a house at this time. That structure is not in the acting world.” For Marc, he found his courage to find his own life timeline that fueled his happiness.

I asked Marc what advice he would give to those trying to find their own life path, especially in the arts. He said that when he was in his twenties, he wished he had more mentors telling him that being himself was his most precious gift for others. Marc said, “Other adults don’t make your life for you. Young people need to decide what stories to keep, which to let go, and which to create for yourself.”

“Just as people live life out of order, they go through transitions out of order. While some people experience these phases sequentially, others experience them in reverse; others start in the middle and work their way out.”

- Bruce Feiler, Life is in the Transitions

‘THE DECIDED HEART EFFECT’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY SONJA MONTIEL

MARC GUTIERREZ

Acting is not a four-year degree; it’s a lifelong degree.

MARC GUTIERREZ ACTOR

AwareNow Podcast LEARNING OUT OF ORDER

Marc’s biological father wasn’t in his life much. They met just a handful of times. When his father passed away in 2017, Marc realized that his father left nothing behind to remember him by. He shares, “I couldn’t carry on any stories or wisdom that this person had. To me, that was a loss.” Marc referenced author David Eagleman’s quote, in the book Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, that solidified Marc’s commitment of leaving something behind for others when he leaves this world.

“There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.”

When it comes to living and learning today, Marc strives to de fine his own happiness. He has learned that “you gotta take on what scares you to be happy. Happiness doesn’t arrive without you.” Marc’s story is about resilience, grit, dedication, and passion. It is one where a person decided to become a lifelong learner, rooted in joy and curiosity, along with a sense of responsibility to the impact Marc will leave way beyond his life. ∎

About Marc Gutierrez

Marc Gutierrez is an actor, an indigenous native to California born in West Covina CA., and grew up in La Puente CA., but now lives in Los Angeles CA. Known for music Video I Prevail band featuring Joyner Lucas DOA (2020), movie short Bandana (2019), movie short Darling (2021), known as Philippe on The Neighborhood with George Lopez season 3 episode 15 (2021). also has a credit in a movie for videographer for movie short Uncharted for drone footage.

For more information about Marc:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12046377

https://instagram.com/themarcgutierrez

https://www.facebook.com/therealmarcgutierrez

SONJA

Co-Founder of The Decided Heart Effect

www.awarenessties.us/sonja-montiel

SONJA MONTIEL has served more than twenty-one years in the college admissions profession, having extensive experience in the areas of freshman, transfer, and international admissions. During her time working with thousands of teens and young adults worldwide, she began to witness many societies creating an unhealthy college-bound culture that misguides our young people in their pursuit of living a life of ful fillment. In 2021, Sonja met Hilary Bilbrey to begin something amazing. They created The DH Effect – The Decided Heart Effect with a mission to guide individuals, schools, and organizations to build high-trust relationships and belonging through self-discovery and personal accountability.

I dedicate this holiday to the 40 million victims of the Taliban regime.

FORMER U.S. ARMY STAFF SERGENT, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST & EVACUATION SPECIALIST

LEGEND DAY A DAY IN HONOR OF AN AFGHAN-AMERICAN HUMANITARIAN

In America’s safest city, one U.S. Army combat veteran is making big waves around the world. His callsign is ‘Legend’, and he’s the only Afghan-American to be awarded his own holiday in the United States.

At 3:30 PM PST, Mayor Farah Khan of Irvine, California, proclaimed March 21, 2023 #LegendDay on behalf of the Irvine City Council. She was joined by former Mayor Christina Shae, current City Council Member Larry Agran, as well as U.S. Military veterans and members of the Afghan and Iranian communities of Irvine. "Thank you for your brave leadership in this humanitarian crisis," Agran said to Legend. "I stand with you to do whatever we can for the Afghan people."

Legend Group Spokesperson Jazz Cannon received the award on Legend's behalf. "By proclaiming March 21, 2023 #LegendDay," Cannon said, "Irvine is sending a powerful message of unity and solidarity to the world with the occupied people of Afghanistan."

Legend was deeply moved by the gesture. "I want everyone, whether friend or enemy, to remember this honor given to a person from Afghanistan the next time you hear the harsh words that Americans have abandoned Afghanistan," Legend said upon hearing about the proclamation. "This holiday is proof that the American people stand with the freedom- loving people of Afghanistan. I dedicate this holiday to the 40 million victims of the Taliban regime.” Legend continued, ”I dedicate this to the 800,000 American veterans of the Afghanistan War, and our vocal supporter United States Congressman Mike Waltz. I dedicate this to the Afghan soldiers who are continuing the war against terrorism. And I dedicate this proclamation and this honor to my brother Commander Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, who is fighting against our common enemy."

It all started on Aug. 15th, 2021, when Legend, a retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, single-handedly went behind enemy lines to rescue American citizens, Afghan allies, and religious minorities from the clutches of the Taliban.

For him, it's personal: he escaped the Taliban days before 9/11, and served his new nation honorably in the U.S. Army, deploying with former CENTCOM Commander General Joseph Votel to his former homeland during the War on Terror. Legend frequently returns to Afghanistan to continue helping those left behind.

Today, Legend Group's extensive on-the-ground team provides evacuations, medical support, prenatal care, food, safe houses, and counter-human trafficking support for at-risk Afghan allies and their families in need. ∎

About Legend Group

Legend Group (www.legend.ngo) is a humanitarian NGO focusing on evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, and providing food, medical support, prenatal care, safe houses and counter-human traf ficking support to refugees left behind in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, all humans can act as both good and evil.

‘THE INSPIRE PROJECT’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY DR. TODD BROWN STILL NOT LISTENING TO SCOTT TORRENS PART 2

As a refresher of part one of this two-part series, Scott Torrens was a chef that died in 2014 of a nighttime seizure while sleeping (1). The following February 2015, the Welsh Professional Association Football Club decided to have a minute of silence before their match against the Chester Football Club. Within seconds, a single fan of the opposing Chester team screamed, "Scotty's in a box," meaning that Scott was in a coffin. Seconds later, several other Chester fans joined in. They began to chant, "Scotty's in a box! Scotty's in a box," leading to complete chaos (2). Because of a single person, others followed. In a recent publication, according to the theologian and philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "the stupid person is often more dangerous than the evil one" (3). The article states, “in life, we have obvious villains — the dictators who violate human rights or serial killers and violent criminals. As evil as these people are, they are not the biggest threat since they are known” (3). While I agree with Bonhoeffer’s postulation regarding stupid people (exhibit A: the people that joined in the chant at the soccer match), I’m not convinced that villains such as dictators and serial killers are ‘obvious villains.’

The dictator and serial killer labels are retrospective or after the fact. Society does not recognize these people before an atrocity or series thereof is committed. There are plenty of intelligent people who have not only committed atrocities but blindly followed others that have. Unfortunately, all humans can act as both good and evil. After all, credit Al Capone with starting one of the first soup kitchens (4). Instead of acting as though evil is so obvious, we should take a step back and examine the categories of evil to understand and recognize the propensity in others and ourselves to be evil. As Dr. Philip Zimbardo states, “good people can be induced, seduced, and initiated into behaving in evil ways. They can also be led to act in irrational, stupid, self-destructive, antisocial, and mindless ways when they are immersed in 'total situations' that impact human nature in ways that challenge our sense of the stability and consistency of individual personality, of character, and of morality."(5). Initially, taking a bird’s eye view of evil, there are seven steps in the social process that grease "the slippery slope of evil" (6). These steps are:

1. Mindlessly taking the first small step

2. Dehumanization of others

3. De-individuation of self (anonymity)

4. Diffusion of personal responsibility

5. Blind obedience to authority

6. Uncritical conformity to group norms

7. Passive tolerance of evil through inaction or indifference

Within these steps, there are opportunities for recognition of one’s actions to reverse course, but as an individual progresses, that becomes more difficult. We probably have encountered in fictional and nonfictional readings and viewings individuals that have taken these steps, descending into horribleness. But these steps are just a piece of a highly complex issue, especially on a personal level. Is the person genuinely evil, or were they coerced into evil actions? What about people that are not evil or coerced? Do we have culpability in evil acts if we do not take part? We will examine three types of evil: dispositional, situational, and bystander. First is dispositional evil. Dispositional evil refers to the person at fault. They are the bad apple, the terrible person. To identify the dispositionally evil people, we must answer the 'who' questions such as (7):

1. Who is responsible?

2. Who caused it?

3. Who gets the blame?

Maintaining silence at the scene of evil doings makes the gray line between good and evil even fuzzier.

These people take pleasure in other people’s pain and suffering. Sadism, narcissism, and egotism are among the personality traits that define these individuals. Like the previous quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, they are easier to identify in our daily lives. When we move away from dispositional evil, things become murkier.

Next, we have situational evil. Situational evil is a product of an environment or situation that alters judgment, behavior, and decision-making. Potentially, “normal or good people that suddenly shift in their behaviors due to their surroundings” (5). These people can be identified by 'what' questions to understand the causes of unusual behaviors.

1. What conditions could be contributing to specific reactions?

2. What circumstances might be involved in generating behavior?

3. What was the situation like from the perspective of the actors?

4. To what extent can an individual's actions be traced to factors outside the actor, situational variables, and environmental processes unique to a given setting?

To drive the point home on a personal level, think of it this way. We know ourselves based on familiar experiences involving rules, laws, and policies constraining us, like work, school, and gatherings. We go through our ho-hum of life paying our bills and doing what we need to do. But how do we behave when exposed to an unfamiliar setting where our everyday behavior and habits do not suffice?

For instance, how do you act if you were to go on a blind date, maybe begin a different job, get arrested, or become a cult member? The ‘normal’ you may not be able to fit in, so you may alter who you are to fit into the new rule format or your surroundings. This is a simple example of how a reasonable person in a bad environment may succumb to situational evil. But what if you are not dispositionally evil or in a new environment? Can a good person in a familiar environment lead to evil? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

The third type of evil is bystander evil, which is the failure to act when we know something is wrong. Bystander evil is one of the most critical, least acknowledged contributors to evil, going beyond the perpetrator or perpetrators. Maintaining silence at the scene of evil doings makes the gray line between good and evil even fuzzier.

For example, in 1964, in Queens, New York, 38 witnesses stood by for more than 30 minutes while a woman was stabbed during three separate attacks. The killer was frightened off multiple times by voices and lights turning on in the area, only to return and stab the victim again and again. No one called the police until a witness phoned after the woman died.

“We go through our ho-hum of life paying our bills and doing what we need to do. But how do we behave when exposed to an unfamiliar setting where our everyday behavior and habits do not suffice?”

So, the question is, can we understand evil enough to flip it on its head and create heroes instead of villains?

Research conducted on this case produced a counterintuitive conclusion: the more people witnessing an emergency, the less likely they will intervene to help (5). Wait, what? How does that make any sense? Think about it. If we are part of a larger group of passive witnesses, we have a stronger tendency to think someone else will attend or report the emergency. There is less pressure to initiate action than if you or I were alone or with another observer. "The mere presence of others diffuses the sense of personal responsibility of any individual to get involved. Participant personality tests showed no significant relationship between any particular personality characteristics and the speed or likelihood of intervening in staged emergencies" (5).

So, the question is, can we understand evil enough to flip it on its head and create heroes instead of villains? It turns out the answer is yes, but with a slight caveat. Heroism requires social support. The framing of a hero needs to shift from a celebration of a heroic deed by an individual to a community-based willingness to get involved, speak out, and follow through against evil, even if it means that we, on an individual level, must suffer for the common good. This does not mean that we all need to be Nelson Mandela. Being heroic can be seeded individually by picking up trash on the street. Simply taking the necessary steps required during a public health emergency. Spreading small acts of heroism through personal examples. Making small deeds a social attribute makes people more likely to join in. Instead of situational evil, we can create situational heroism by being dispositional heroes. We must build a social consensus that doing good is the expectation, not the exception. Instead of knowing better and doing worse, let’s know worse and do better. ∎

References

1. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/scott-torrens-talented-wrexham-chef-6887452

2. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scott-torrens-chester-football-hooligans-5154231

3. https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil/

4. https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/al-capones-soup-kitchen-great-depression-chicago-1931/

#:~:text=Al%20Capone%20started%20one%20of,that%20some%20unemployed%20Americans%20had.

5. https://www.lucifereffect.com/

6. The psychology of evil | "Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of evil YouTube.” November 2015

7. Ratnasar, Romesh (2011). "The Menace Within.” Stanford Alumni Magazine. Retrieved July 12, 2018

DR. TODD BROWN

Awareness Ties Columnist

www.awarenessties.us/todd-brown

Brown is a winner of multiple education awards, including the U.S. Congressional Teacher of the Year Award, U.S. Henry Ford Innovator Award, Education Foundation Innovator of the Year, and Air Force Association STEM Teacher of the Year. Dr. Brown is the creator and founder of the Inspire Project and cocreator of Operation Outbreak, which was named the Reimagine Education Award for Best Hybrid Program in the world. He is also an Education Ambassador for the United Nations and an Educational Ambassador of the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

I can tell you that, although my brain is injured, my mind has never been.

PAUL S. ROGERS TRANSFORMATION EXPERT, AWARENESS HELLRAISER & PUBLIC SPEAKER

THE GENIE’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN

THE MIND MADE REAL ENTRENCHED IN EVERYDAY LANGUAGE

Release the Genie Fact: A Genie can kill two stones with one bird.

State of mind. is so very important when facing challenges. If you asked people where their mind is located, most people would mistakenly point to their head. From personal experience, I can tell you that, although my brain is injured, my mind has never been. It is and continues to be responsible for my recovery to date.

What is totally amazing is that the mind is completely invisible, but still ever present. Let’s put the theory to the test.

We love to create a personality, or persona, for the MIND. We even give it physical features like the Mind's Eye! What can't be physically seen is Out of Sight Out of Mind

It can be really smart or take on role of the boss as a MasterMind. If it needs help, it can call its friends to help by having the Best Minds Working On It.

It is physically able to look after things. Who's minding the store? We like to make sure that it is physically fit by Keeping the Mind Active. We prepare it for the races. Are you ready? Mind, set, go!

It is physically very strong and can carry huge amounts of weight. We are forever recognising that it has a lot on its Mind. It can exceed our physical limitations and get through tough times with its mantra of Mind over Matter.

However, at some point, if we do not heed the warnings that it has had enough, it will break down. Its symptoms manifest in the physical body by showing pain, exhaustion and other ailments. At that stage it is no longer all in the mind. It’s usually only at that point that we seek help. By that time, the mind is completely exhausted.

When it does eventually rest, voluntarily or involuntarily, it takes a Load Off Its Mind. One of the best ways to rest is to Take Your Mind Off things and practice mindfulness by being fully present in the here and now. This will put your Mind at Ease and leads to the ultimate goal that is Peace of Mind

It can be very polite and well-mannered. It asks questions such “Do You Mind?” and responds to others by saying “I Don't Mind” or “I Wouldn’t Mind”. Sometimes, it has to be reminded of its inappropriate language and told to Mind Its Language.

It has a tendency to become very focused and can be accused of having a One Track Mind.

There is like a tv screen in the mind, which sometimes doesn't work. It cuts out right in the middle of doing something really important. Suddenly the Mind Goes Blank.

When it has to juggle lots of tasks, sometimes they can become quite slippery. They become hard to hold onto and may Slip Your Mind

THE MIND MADE REAL

It likes to sometimes go out and escape from itself. Free Your Mind. No one really knows where it escapes to. The usual circumstances for this happening is when someone may be frightened, doing something crazy, being very worried or really kicking back and indulging. Commonly referred to as being Out Of Their Minds.

It's quite common to Make Up Your Mind. This does not mean using cosmetics to make it look pretty! It means it has made a decision. It then usually broadcasts very proudly to whoever may listen that its Mind Is Made Up, even if it hasn't considered all the options. This stubbornness is usually referred to as being Closed-Minded and can be really frustrating to others. But, with the right encouragement and development of habits, it can be very reasonable and Open-Minded.

It has one favourite characteristic and feature. It can be very unpredictable/indecisive and holds a complete veto to a time and place, and change its mind completely.

It determines our response or reaction to external events by using its perception or interpretation of events. For example, it may be told to Mind Its Own Business. One response would be to remember and Keep It In Mind. It can then reMind you in the future of how to deal with a similar person or situation.

A possible reaction would be to give them a Piece Of Its Mind. If written, this would appear to be a great physical gift! Sadly, it is the execution which lets this gift down. It acts as a great warning device by telling you and others to Mind Out. If you need a bit of muscle, it can also hire a Minder to protect you.

As you can see, the MIND is totally entrenched in our everyday language and thinking. If you think differently, its all good, NeverMind! ∎

www.awarenessties.us/paul-rogers

PAUL S. ROGERS is a keynote public speaking coach, “Adversity to hope, opportunity and prosperity. “ Transformation expert, awareness Hellraiser, life coach, Trauma TBI, CPTSD mentor, train crash and cancer survivor, public speaking coach, Podcast host “Release the Genie” & Best-selling author. His journey has taken him from from corporate leader to kitesurfer to teacher on first nations reserve to today. Paul’s goal is to inspire others to find their true purpose and passion.

Understanding

the difference between true consideration and compliance, and which one we are fostering in our children, is one of the cornerstones of conscious parenting.

KATHERINE WINTER-SELLERY FOUNDER OF THE CONSCIOUS PARENTING REVOLUTION

PARENTING’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY

WINTER-SELLERY COMPLIANCE OR CONSIDERATION THE DANGEROUS TRUTH ABOUT OBEDIENCE

For many parents, the thing they wish for most is the ability to control their kids, ideally with a remote control! They are tired of every request turning into a shouting match, and just want the room cleaned, or the dishes done.

When I guide parents through the world of conscious parenting for the first time, many parents are often unsure or hesitant about the idea of abandoning rewards and punishments with their children. They feel that if they don’t reward the behaviors they want more of then they won’t happen again and that if they don’t punish their children when they misbehave they will keep doing the wrong thing and that they are being permissive, that their kids will not learn right from wrong, and by indulging bad behavior their children will fail to grow up and be good citizens. My question to them is, “Why do you want to teach your children to be obedient and reward them for doing as they are told?”

The intent behind my question is to help parents realise that what they really want are children who are considerate of other people's feelings and needs rather than obedient and compliant. Dr Marshall Rosenberg said two questions that reveal the limitations of punishment are:(1) What do I want this person to do? (2) What do I want this person’s reasons to be for doing it? Punishment and reward interfere with people’s ability to do the things motivated by the reasons we would like them to have.

‘CONSCIOUS

Children who are taught compliance will only clean their rooms when you ask and likely with resentment or possibly they have learned to be a people pleaser. However, children who are taught consideration are able to recognise when their room is getting messy, understand how important having a clean home is (if not to them to you), and clean it without you having to ask! In essence, children who are raised with consideration have the ability to think about the effect of their actions on others, and choose behaviors sometimes because they have adopted the value themselves and at other times out of consideration for others values.

Understanding the difference between true consideration and compliance, and which one we are fostering in our children, is one of the cornerstones of conscious parenting. Traditional, behaviourist parenting models propose that children should be quiet and subservient to the adult. In fact, as a society, we are so conditioned to believe that children should just behave that we don’t stop to think about the rami fications of those teachings. Do we want children to learn to blindly obey individuals they perceive to have authority over them?

Dr. Louise Porter wrote, “Throughout human history, children have always been considered the property of their parents, to do with as they wished. Therefore, child abuse has long been a feature of all societies, with the killing of children, child sacrifice, mutilation, enslavement and sexual abuse all socially condoned in Western societies until the 4th century CE and still practised in many industrialising societies today. Infanticide was widely practised; once it began to be discouraged, abandonment became common. The result was that more European children died from abandonment than from the combined plague epidemics. This history still casts its shadow on modern life.”

Types of Abuse

Child maltreatment comprises neglect of children’s physical or emotional needs, and physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Of these types, neglect constitutes more reported cases than the other forms in total, although emotional abuse is probably the most pervasive but more difficult to quantify and thus report. Many children suffer from multiple forms of abuse simultaneously which complicates calculation of the rate of child abuse with estimates varying. Researchers propose anywhere from 20% to over 50% of children aged 2-17 experienced two or more varieties of victimisation. These types spanned physical assault, peer or sibling victimisation, property victimisation, witnessing another being victimised, sexual assault and physical maltreatment.

Sexual abuse involves the exploitation and coercion of children by someone more powerful than them. Most childhood abuse is perpetrated by someone familiar to the victim. In many cases, this is a parent or another close friend or relative, such as older siblings or their adolescent friends.

The first measure for supporting children is to remember: “I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it” and realise it is rare that children will disclose directly that they are being abused, instead they may give vague hints or display some signs that we don’t want to ignore as doing so increases the chances of the abuse recurring to this child and others in the perpetrators life.

If you see unusual injuries ask how it happened and do not believe implausible explanations. Let children know that if someone told them not to tell anyone, let them know it is wrong for anyone to tell them to keep a secret forever and they can talk to you about anything. Encourage them to talk but do not force them.

Reassure children that help is available, but never promise to keep the abuse a secret or suggest that they should forget about what has happened. Their trust has been violated and they need protection from a recurrence.

Abused children will need emotional support to surmount the adversity and injustice they have endured. Children who have been maltreated tend to withdraw, with the result that they are often overlooked or ignored in educational or care settings. Alternatively some behave disruptively or with aggression. By school age, perhaps 70% of children experiencing behavioral problems have suffered abuse or neglect. In response, their interactions with teachers often comprise coercive discipline such as punishment for “bad” behavior. This adds yet another layer to the abuse they have already endured. Therefore, it will be important to ensure that you do not respond to their provocative behavior with controlling discipline. Some guidance measures include the following:

‣ Listen to and validate their feelings, this will affirm they are valued.

‣ Allow them to be assertive about meeting their needs.

‣ Avoid all praise and other rewards that cultivate an external locus of causality, that is low self-efficacy

‣ Deliver no punishment when children behave disruptively or aggresively, but instead help them regain command of their emotions by them time away from the setting, doing something soothing, thereby teaching them to practise handling emotional arousal. ∎

KATHERINE WINTER-SELLERY Founder of the Conscious Parenting Revolution

www.awarenessties.us/katherine-winter-sellery

For over 20 years, Katherine has taught and coached thousands of parents, educators, social workers, and medical professionals in half a dozen countries through her popular workshops and coaching programs. Katherine is a 3x TEDx Speaker, and Amazon best selling author of “7 Strategies to Keep Your Relationship With Your Kids from Hitting the Boiling Point” as well as her workbook A Guidance Approach to Parenting. She has been featured on local television shows across the US and a guest on over 40 podcasts. In addition, she is also a trained mediator, is certificated in different trauma models, teaches a breathing meditation modality with the Art of Living Foundation, ran her own commodities-trading business in Hong Kong for 30 years, and is on the Board of Directors for the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). IAHV has held special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 2002, and contributes to the 17 Strategic Development Goals of the UN.

Barrett was unique.

IT STARTED WITH A SONG AN AUTISM DIAGNOSIS FROM AN AUDITORY CLUE

Barrett has always been a boy on his own time.

Even when he was in my belly, he came into this world at the last possible moment. He started walking when he wanted to, just to keep up with his sister.

Barrett was unique. He showed his uniqueness in little quirks. Many moms can relate to some of these… walking on his tippy toes, hand flapping, remaining non-verbal. But the most concerning ones were self harm (head pounding) and non-responsiveness to his surroundings.

Barrett would not respond to his name or any noise. No matter how loud, he wouldn’t respond. We were scared that he was hard of hearing or even deaf. Other parents suggested “It’s a phase.” They said, “He will speak when he is ready… His dad didn’t start talking until he was 4 years old.” No matter what anyone said I felt my mommy instinct. I felt there was more to these quirks.

We took Barrett to the University of Michigan ENT Department. We needed to get some answers. We didn’t know if he could hear us or not.

He failed his hearing test below a certain pitch. My heart sunk. He was hard of hearing, and there was so much still unknown. But then the tech had an idea. She asked if Barrett had a favorite show or song. With an eye roll, I told her ‘Baby Shark’. As many parents know, once that song is played, it’s destined to be on repeat for hours. The tech then played the Baby Shark song. She played it on the lowest pitch, the same one he failed earlier. He didn’t verbally respond to the sound, but he did respond. He did the baby shark thing with his index finger and thumb ever so slightly. We knew then that he could hear and he was listening, but not interacting in the way we framed as ‘normal’.

That’s how we started our Autism adventure with our Barrett. ∎

Sports anime is for entertainment purposes only. Real athletes shouldn’t be taking these kinds of risks with their bodies.

ANNA LINDWASSER WRITER, TEACHER & LIFELONG ANIME FAN

FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY

DON'T USE SPORTS ANIME AS A SAFETY GUIDELINE

Sports anime is a genre of anime that focuses on either a sports team or an individual athlete. Often, the athletes are high school students who are on school-sponsored teams. Occasionally, they’re professional athletes. Some offer a well-researched look at the game in question, while others are just kind of winging it. They tend to be very emotional, with characters placing a huge amount of value in the outcome of the game and their relationships with their teammates.

What they don’t always place a lot of value on is physical safety.

Let’s take Sk8 the Infinity. This anime is about an illegal underground skateboarding competition called S, where skaters ride on rickety, unsafe equipment and don’t wear helmets because apparently, they slow them down. Some of the characters who participate in S are adults who can make their own choices, but the two protagonists are teenagers whose parents would probably lose their minds if they knew what their kids were sneaking off to do.

Because it’s Youth Sports Safety Month, I want to talk about sports anime and how incredibly unsafe it can sometimes be.

‘ANIME AWARENESS’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY ANNA LINDWASSER

A less egregious but still notable example is Yowamushi Pedal. This series follows Sohoku, a team of cyclists from Chiba. Typically, the characters do wear helmets, but they don’t usually wear other safety gear like knee pads and elbow pads. But this is a non-issue compared to how many of the students bike.

Yusuke Makishima is known for slamming his bike from side to side in order to build up momentum. Yukinari Kuroda has a “switch” that makes him bike faster than involves scratching himself until he bleeds. Akira Midousuji bikes while leaning so far over his handlebars that his face is practically scraping the ground. Since he’s the villain of the series, he also does things like intentionally slamming into other people while riding or having his creepy lackey try to destabilize others by touching them suddenly.

Nearly every character bikes until they’re so exhausted that they pass out or collapse on the ground while riding, sometimes in the middle of the road.

Run With The Wind follows a college relay racing team. The team captain, Haiji Kiyose, has a knee injury that he’s told he shouldn’t run on. He knows that if he does, he’s probably going to worsen the injury to the point where running will be impossible, but he’s determined to run the Hakone Ekiden, damn the costs. There’s another character, Takashi Sugiyama aka Shindou, who runs his part of the relay despite having the flu.

A lesser-known series is Backflip!! In this series, safety is taken fairly seriously - only to be tossed aside at the end. The series follows a middle school boy’s rhythmic gymnastics team. Their coach, Shusaku Shida was once a gymnast himself, but a severe injury forced him to retire. When a newbie named Shoutarou Futaba hurts his ankle, Coach Shida tries to ban him from competing in order to avoid a permanent disability. But in the end, he relents and lets him participate anyway, albeit to a limited extent. Luckily, he isn’t seriously hurt, but the risk was taken.

Sports anime is for entertainment purposes only. Real athletes shouldn’t be taking these kinds of risks with their bodies. There are different safety tips depending on the sport, but here are some general guidelines from the New York State of Health. Obviously, the characters in these shows should realistically be adhering to guidelines from Okinawa, Chiba, Hakone, or wherever else in Japan they hail from - but the human body is the same no matter where you are, so the guidelines this writer can read and access are probably not that different.

‣ Stay hydrated before, during, and after participating in sports.

‣ Warm up beforehand to decrease the chance of injury.

‣ Wear recommended safety gear such as: helmets, mouthguards, body padding, mouth guards, appropriate footwear, shatterproof eyeglasses if needed, and more. Different safety gear is needed for different sports.

‣ Don’t practice more than five days per week. Take at least two or three months off from training during the year.

‣ Avoid reckless or dangerous behavior such as body checking.

‣ Get a yearly physical to ensure that it’s safe to play. ∎

Freelance Writer, Teacher & Lifelong Anime Fan

www.awarenessties.us/anna-lindwasser

Anna Lindwasser is a freelance writer and middle school test prep teacher living in Brooklyn, New York. She writes and publishes short stories, and is working on a novel. Many of her articles focus on anime. As a lifelong anime fan, she's seen how the medium has the power to bring awareness to important causes.

‘NO NEED FOR SIGHT WHEN YOU HAVE VISION’

DON’T LET CRISIS HIT A CALL TO CHANGE NOW

I’m young. I’m healthy.

I can eat these two quarter pounders with cheese and large fries. I’m in great health. Nothing is going to happen.

I have plenty of time to complete this project. I can spend the next few hours playing my PS5.

I’ll give my grandma a call tomorrow. One of my friends is getting ready to call to drop some “major tea” on me.

I can remember back in 2012 and my mom had given me a call. My grandfather, her dad, had gotten into a car accident. He sustained some pretty serious injuries, and although it was serious, it sounded like things would turn out for the best.

I was preparing for the upcoming Paralympics in London so I didn’t have the opportunity to go home immediately but I did get a chance to speak with my grandfather for a few minutes a day or so after the accident.

As the days went on, I told myself, you need to take a little bit of time and call granddaddy. Call him. Check in on him.

One day passed.

And another…

I was lying in my bed at the Olympic Training Center one evening when Wesley walked in. I heard him say something but I was so tired and out of it. You ever been so sleepy that you hear someone speaking and you think you’re dreaming? That’s how tired I was. Training had really hit me that day.

I heard him again.

And I regained consciousness fully when I realized what he had said.

“Bro…” he said with a soft yet solemn voice.

“Your mom called me and said that your grandfather passed away.” Wait…

“Huh?!” I responded. I heard him, but I didn’t want it to be true.

I often wonder why some people allow disaster to strike before they make the decision to change. The world would be a better place if we all had an appetite to change long before the crisis hit.

“Now, I would never hear his voice again. I should have called when I thought about it.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry man,” he said as his hand touched my back.

I was stunned… and heart broken.

My mind circled back to my intentions to pick up the phone and give him a call, and I didn’t. Now, I would never hear his voice again. I should’ve called when I thought about it.

This is pretty extreme and we won’t always experience events of this magnitude in this way, but the point is, don’t allow crisis to occur before acting on something. Take the opportunity to get it done while your mind is on it. Don’t wait. Anything can happen.

The goal should be to mitigate risk, reduce it, eliminate it. Also understand that stressors and challenges are inevitable. We’ll all experience rough times in life, but we can take the necessary steps to reduce or avoid the impact that specific challenge could create.

So don’t wait to respond. Be proactive. Procrastinating might dig a much deeper emotional hole that you may have a difficult time getting out of.

Don’t wait for the crisis to hit.

Change now.

You’ll be better off in the long run. ∎

LEX GILLETTE

x Paralympic Medalist, 4x World Champion & Keynote Speaker www.awarenessties.us/lex-gillette

LEX GILLETTE has quickly become one of the most sought after keynote speakers on the market. Losing his sight at the age of eight was painful to say the least, but life happens. Things don’t always go your way. You can either stay stuck in frustration because the old way doesn’t work anymore, or you can create a new vision for your life, even if you can’t see how it will happen just yet. His sight was lost, but Lex acquired a renewed vision, a vision that has seen him become the best totally blind long and triple jumper Team USA has ever witnessed.

I just fell in love with this whole world of raising children to be considerate and conscious.

PARENTING WITH INTENTION A CONVERSATION WITH KATHERINE WINTER-SELLERY

In this episode, Aalia is joined by Katherine Winter-Sellery, founder of the Conscious Parenting Revolution, and together they discuss what it means to parent with emotional intelligence! They highlight that conscious parenting is about being present and aware in your interactions with your children, rather than being reactive or distracted. It’s a must-listen of UNSUGARCOATED with

Stay connected with Aalia Lanius on IG: @aalia_unsugarcoated

And follow Katherine Winter-Sellery: @katherinewintersellery

www.awarenessties.us/aalialanius

AALIA LANIUS is an International Multiple-Award Winning Novelist, Executive Producer, Publisher and host of the award-nominated globally top-rated social good show, UNSUGARCOATED with Aalia. As founder of UNSUGARCOATED Media, a 501(c)(3) media enterprise, Lanius is creating social impact through storytelling while building community, providing education, and ending isolation for trauma survivors. Aalia's role extends to leadership as a creative, and she is considered a thought-leader in approaches to media, believing that artists are pioneers of the human mind with great potential and responsibility to positively in fluence society through proper representation and accountability.

‘UNSUGARCOATED’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY AALIA LANIUS

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JENNIFER PRINCIPE VIRTUOUS VANITY IN SERVICE WITH STYLE

At first glance, fashion may seem to be the furthest from philanthropic, but what if style was used to help people step fully into themselves. Founded by Jennifer Principe, here enters ‘The Phoenix Effect’. Bringing beauty from the ashes to help trauma victims and those living with debilitating diseases rise like the phoenix, Jennifer Principe is a top stylist, author and mother who is in service with style.

ALLIÉ: It’s been said that style is timeless, while fashion is timely. Jennifer, at what time in your life did you find your calling as a stylist?

JENNIFER: I have always had a unique connection to clothing and believe I was destined to become a stylist. As a child I learned that we can shift our reality simply by playing dress up and since I wanted to escape my own reality, clothing became an important part of my life. I used clothes to escape, de fine and ultimately heal myself and others at different phases in my life.

When I became a stylist over a decade ago, at first, it was just a way to express my creativity and talent. But, when I birthed my non-profit “The Phoenix Effect” where I curate personalized photoshoot experiences for those suffering from life debilitating diseases and trauma, I understood that it was more than a job, it was my assignment.

ALLIÉ: Your quote, Jennifer, “Fashion is a manifestation of self-expression.” Love for you to share your thoughts regarding what is seen on the outside and felt on the inside regarding ‘metaphysical matching’.

JENNIFER: Dress for success is not just a feel good aphorism, its science. The term ‘enclothed cognition’ is the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes. Meaning, it’s not just about what your clothes are saying about you, it’s what clothes are saying to you. What we were intentionally or unintentionally is powerful and is one simple tool that can be used to shift our vibration. The goal is to wear what makes you feel good so that your insides and outsides metaphorically match.

ALLIÉ: While ‘chicken soup for the soul’ is good, let’s talk about ‘fashion for the soul’ and the book you wrote entitled, ‘A Common Thread’. Here you share an unexpected journey from wardrobe to wisdom. In the stories you share, there is much to be learned. If you had to choose just three of your favorite lessons from your book, what would those be?

JENNIFER: “A Common Thread” is a self-help memoir disguised as a fashion book. While there's plenty of fashion tips and advice, it’s the unique stories and life lessons that I hope will inspire others to recognize the common threads in their own lives. But, if I had to choose three they would be: Trauma is not a destination and that we can overcome hard things. Second, how to recognize the synchrony or what I like to call the “god shots' ' in our own lives. Lastly, to rethink our wardrobe choices

LIFESAVER REGISTER TODAY, SAVE A LIFE TOMORROW

Unfortunately, what should just be a simple search of the international donor database to find a matching donor often comes up empty. Why? Because there aren’t enough people registering as potential donors. In fact, less than 3% of the United States population has registered as a potential donor with a donor center, like DKMS.

There are many factors out there that contribute to this. Many people hold misconceptions about blood stem cell and bone marrow donation, they think that it’s dangerous, or excruciatingly painful, or that it costs money. Others worry about the time commitment of donation. And many are fearful of the medical system in general. These are all valid concerns, but rest assured, representatives from DKMS are always happy to talk them through with anyone who is interested in becoming a potential donor.

Thankfully, despite all the concerns and misconceptions, thousands of people every year still make the decision to register as blood stem cell or bone marrow donors to potentially save the life of someone in need. And every day, 21 donors around the world go on to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow through DKMS to save the life of a complete stranger.

So, who are these donors? They are individuals, just like you and I, who signed up at donor drives on their college campuses or at their local community centers or churches, or by requesting a kit online at dkms.org. Sometimes they registered because they had a family member or friend facing cancer, or because they were motivated by someone in their community who needed a match, others signed up because they just wanted to help others.

When they registered, there was never a guarantee that they would be found to be a match and asked to donate. Some donors were called three months after they registered, for others it was fifteen years. But the common thread is that when they got the call from DKMS that they were a potential match and asked if they would be willing to donate, they said yes. They re-arranged their schedules, they may have even have had to find childcare or take time off work, and they did all this to help a complete stranger whose name they may never know.

While stats say a lot, stories say more. Here's one from DKMS stem cell donor Ron: “My mindset is that if I have something someone else needs then I will do what I can to share whatever that may be.” In 2017, Ron was walking around Western Colorado University when he came across a DKMS donor drive. Having lost a close family friend to Leukemia, registering as a donor was a no-brainer for Ron. Three years later, the now father-of-two got the call from DKMS that he was a match and immediately agreed to donate. With the support of his wife and community, Ron donated his stem cells in 2021 to Maggie, a mother-of-two who was battling Leukemia. Ron’s donation worked, Maggie is now healthy and able to continue to live life with her husband and children. And in 2022, the two actually had the chance to meet up and hug, through tears Maggie thanked Ron for his donation and he responded simply, “I would do it again.”

Each year in the United States, 15,000 new people facing blood cancers and other disorders will be told by their medical providers that they need to receive a blood stem cell or bone marrow transplant from a complete stranger in order to survive.

Donation is a commitment. It is a commitment to give your time. It is a commitment to give a part of yourself to someone you do not know with no guarantee that you’ll get anything out of it. And yet, one of the most common phrases we hear from donors is, “thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

Donors are thankful for the chance to be part of something bigger than themselves. They are thankful that they have the opportunity to have such a big impact on someone else’s life. And at DKMS, we are thankful that however many years or months ago, they stopped by a registration drive, or went online and requested a swab kit and took the first step of registering to eventually become a lifesaver.

If this sounds like you, if you are able to see beyond the immediate to the real long-term impact of being a donor, and if you want the chance to become a real-life lifesaver, take the first step and register today. Request a free swab kit online at dkms.org/register. You’ll fill out some basic information online and then DKMS will mail you a free swab kit. Once it arrives, just swab your cheeks with the three swabs included in the packet, mail it back to us, and that’s it! Once we get it back, you’re on your way to becoming a lifesaver. ∎

You can learn more about becoming a donor and the importance of registering on the DKMS website www.dkms.org. Stem cell transplants can be used to treat over 70 different illnesses, including blood cancers like Leukemia and blood disorders like Sickle Cell Anemia. DKMS covers all costs related to registration and donation if you are found to be a donor, including but not limited to transportation, lodging, meals, and even lost wages.

DKMS is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the fight against blood cancers and other bloodrelated illnesses by inspiring people around the world to register as blood stem cell donors. The donor journey begins with a simple swab of the cheek which can be the action that leads to a second chance at life for a patient in need. Additionally, DKMS works closely with patients and their families, from diagnosis to transplant and beyond. Originally founded in Germany in 1991 by Dr. Peter Harf, DKMS has entities in South Africa, Poland, Chile, the United Kingdom, the United States, and India. The U.S. office was started in 2004. Globally, DKMS has registered over 11.5 million people and facilitated over 100,000 transplants. To join the fight against blood cancer or for more information, please go to dkms.org.

“If you want the chance to become a real-life lifesaver, take the first step and register today.”

The biggest risk that I have taken is the responsibility of telling the truth.

MOWLL

MENTAL HEALTH TALK’ EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY

THE GREY WALL A SAFE SPACE FOR MEN TO SPEAK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH

Kauri Mowll is the Founder of The Grey Wall®, providing men with safe spaces to examine their own wellness and open up about their mental health needs. Mental illness among men is a public health concern that begs attention. The Grey Wall is dedicated to improving social norms around mental health among men. The first step in addressing these issues is enhancing education surrounding men’s mental health and wellness. The Grey Wall was founded to provide extensive education and programs dedicated to men who are often overlooked in the space of mental health access programs.

As a certified professional life coach, Kauri’s greatest passion is empowering others to live life on their terms, fulfill their potential, and embrace their greater purpose. He has a gift of facilitating change by helping his clients break their cycles of ineffective behavior, establishing rapport by communicating in a way that establishes trust and providing clients with a proven method of converting their goals into measurable results. Kauri teaches many that recognizing and learning how to heighten their awareness and improve their understanding of emotions, when they are appropriate and how to change them when they are not leads to a more fulfilled life.

MEAGAN: Kauri, can you tell the audience about the meaning being your mental health company, “The Grey Wall”?

KAURI: The Grey Wall® seeks to build men up in unity, with no divisions or breaches between them. The name is very symbolic. Grey is the color of intellect and of compromise. It’s a diplomatic color, negotiating all the distance between black and white. Gray is the perfect neutral. Gray is the most important color of all. Gray is absent of judgment and represents balance. The wall represents protection and security of physical, social, and economic well-being. It also represents a place of shelter, forming a sense of belonging. The building of the wall brings a community together.

MEAGAN: Tell us about your educational and/or professional training, and current area of expertise related to mental health and wellness?

KAURI: I am a senior Certified Project Manager Professional and certified professional life and relationship coach. Additionally, I am a certified master emotional intelligence practitioner, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Practitioner, motivational speaker, mental health expert, men’s mental health advocate, author, speaker, development coach, mentor, corporate consultant, and wellness facilitator. I am a US Army Veteran and have a passion for building relationships. I am committed to empowering and equipping men globally with the tools to courageously share their unique voice, their story, and their subject matter expertise.

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MEAGAN: How do you promote change and well-being for men around the world?

KAURI: I don't just talk about it... I do it. I go there! I speak to the people. I give them hope through showing up and saying the truth using my finished experiences. The mental condition is a lack of knowledge, understanding, and hope. I provide truth by defining what is truly causing their suffering and work on a plan to fix it.

MEAGAN: What are some ways that you promote mental health and wellness through your area of expertise?

KAURI: I help people through a project management approach to achieve the highest levels of success and sustainability, with the intent that the individual has continuity of care through perpetual healing based on egoreconciliation.

MEAGAN: How can we encourage more men to seek mental health treatment?

KAURI: We can encourage more men to seek mental health treatment by being an example and bring digestible knowledge to people.

MEAGAN: What can potential clients expect during an initial session? Follow-up sessions?

KAURI: In my initial session I have my clients tell me their desire and the motive of what they come to me for. The follow-up sessions work to create the desire or realize the desire was never really wanted. Instead, there was something else that was really needed.

MEAGAN: What wellness strategies should be given more attention to men regarding their mental health?

KAURI: More attention on ego reconciliation is needed because it will help get to the core of most issues.

MEAGAN: Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken and what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

KAURI: The biggest risk that I have taken is the responsibility of telling the truth. Getting out of the addiction to lying was a task. I had been taught from childhood to lie so I wouldn’t get beat as a child. I was misinformed that this was the way to get out of trouble and trauma, but I was wrong. When I finally decided to be truthful, my risk was other people seeing me without my mask on and I have been driving for the truth since then.

MEAGAN: We often hear about learning lessons but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

KAURI: One of the biggest lessons that I had to learn in life, was to reprogram my bad behavior and program in good behavior. During my time in technology school, I learned a lot about the reprogramming of computers, as well as the

“More attention on ego reconciliation is needed because it will help get to the core of most issues.”

unlearn bad behavior and the way I did this was to understand how to reprogram myself.”

KAURI: (continued) various operating systems that functioned within computer systems. In dealing with technology, computers tend to slow down in their lifetime due to viruses. In comparison to my life, I was beginning to slow down. I had to unlearn bad behavior and the way I did this was to understand how to reprogram myself. Once I realized that computers have the ability to be reprogrammed in a way to which they are able to function in a different state, I also have the ability to reprogram my mind. In reprogramming my mind, I had to stop doing certain things, such as eating late at night, which causes weight gain. I was staying up late and not being productive the next day and I had to reprogram my mindset toward that as well. I was spending idle time watching movies and not doing anything to accomplish the goals I had set for myself. I knew I need to pursue things that allowed me to pursue my purpose in life and I was not doing these things. It is very important to be prepared for your purpose. I was giving my job and others extensive time and was not giving time to myself. Once I reprogrammed myself to gain knowledge during those idle times, I was able to be more functional and life became so much better for me. I had to start programming in healthy things for my life, such as waking up an hour earlier to make sure to work out and plan my day. I also programmed myself to clean up my emails before I got to work and realized that “he who owns their emails, controls their life”. I don’t have to worry about discipline, only self-control. I realized that programming all these things into my life, turned into discipline. I had to increase the knowledge and moral capability of my memory and stay consistent in it.

MEAGAN: Why should men work with The Grey Wall?

KAURI: The Grey Wall team is passionate about mental health and have experienced real life, lived experiences regarding their mental health. The Grey Wall team consist of counselors, therapists, coaches, and experts that are dedicated to addressing the stigma associated with men’s mental health. The team has won numerous awards and has been recognized as international & keynote speakers, best-selling authors, podcast hosts, and writers. Partnering with The Grey Wall gives men the unique opportunity to be a part of The Grey Wall family as we share with them our passion for mental health and addressing the stigma regarding men’s mental health. ∎

Learn more about Kauri and follow him on Instagram: @kauris_corner_

www.awarenessties.us/meagan-copelin

MEAGAN COPELIN is an international speaker, author, empowerment coach, blogger, contributing writer and podcaster. She is the founder of Mental Rich, a mental health company & brand, dedicated to helping young girls and women who suffer from mental illnesses, steaming from abuse, abandonment, and rejection. Meagan’s passion is to become a trailblazing voice for young girls and women worldwide. Drawing on her own experiences of mental illness due to abuse, rejection, and abandonment, Meagan uses her words to encourage others to build a home within themselves; to love, live, and create fearlessly. Her tremendous projects and efforts have helped her to be featured on several platforms for the purpose of empowering women to tell their story from struggle to success and live up to their full potential.

“I had to

When you’re lucky enough, random encounters give you amazing bonds.

LUDMILA LABEEBA STUDENT

BENEATH THE SURFACE

SOMETHING ABOUT MY FRIEND MURSHID

I don’t know Murshidul Alam Bhuiyan. I don’t know him. Yes, I’ve read articles and seen his face in the newspaper but I don't know the man. I don't know Murshidul Alam Bhuiyan, the Diana Award recipient, or the 9th coolest person in South Asia. I don't even find him cool. He is a lot of things. An overachiever, an amazing son, a great colleague. But to me, he is just Murshid. A friend I can turn to no matter what the situation is.

An individual has so many roles to play in his life. From family to friends to work life to random social settings. People around us have an impact. Even the people we walk by can change our day. When you're lucky enough, random encounters give you amazing bonds. I am lucky enough to have one story like that of my own. I believe it was sheer luck that I got introduced to Murshid. We met through a mutual friend (Nijhum) and the rest is history.

It's hard to believe that we have grown so close within such a short time. But I believe the world puts in place the blessings meant for you and thus I bumped into this guy. The oldest saying in the world is that opposites attract. But for us, we bonded because we are similar. We are just too similar not to understand each other and con fide in each other. Even though I would call Murshid my twin, I'd have to say that he's the better twin. People like him are hard to come by. I haven’t witnessed anyone who would go out of their way to remember the smallest little details. Someone who would bring knick-knacks every time they see you. Knick-knacks that all tell speci fic and meaningful stories. It's not about materialistic things. It's about the stories behind them. The fact that there's someone out there who listens with the utmost sincerity when you speak and cares enough to remember the smallest little details that you can't even remember. These types of people are hard to come by. His utmost care and sincerity in everything he does, make him stand out.

I'm confident that everyone who knows Murshid, the friend, will agree with me. You can count on him to be there if you're having a bad day. You can count on him to listen to you rant for hours. You can also count on him to send you well wishes and check on you before exams, presentations, or any big days of your lives. I honestly do not know anyone else who actually takes the time to call for such silly occasions. There are so many things that set him apart. It's not possible to mention it all. My words will fall short if I try to pen down how grateful I am to call him my friend. There's more to Murshidul Alam Bhuiyan other than his achievements. I hope the world gets the privilege to witness more of this version of Murshidul. Because honestly the world is being deprived of so much goodness right now. ∎

About Ludmila Labeeba

Ludmila is a full-time “Twenty One Pilots” stan who would sell her soul for the emo trinity as well. She loves movies and music and has a knack for languages. In her free time, she goes to university, where she is a third-year undergraduate student struggling to complete her degree.

OUTSIDE INFLUENCE

April 26 - May 8

PORTAL @ fifteenTWELVE

1512 Portland Avenue, Louisville, KY

Featuring Shepard Fairey

Hunter S. Thompson

Ralph Steadman

David Arquette

Richard Bell

Rolland Berry

Howard L. Bingham

Beth Bowen

Brandon Boyd

Dr. Dax

Tristan Eaton

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Jim ‘TAZ’ Evans

Michael Kirst

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The London Police

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Dante Marshall

Stormie Mills

Estevan Oriol

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Plastic Jesus

Saber

King Saladeen

Shwalami

Slick

Francis Thomasovich

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