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Dyslexia Research Is Delicious w/ Russell Van Brocklen · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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Have you ever known as a dyslexic kid, any time,
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who was writing randomly placed misspelled words
0:05
that you knew well? No, I don't recall. Okay.
0:11
So in this case, I'm going to use Sarah. Sarah
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was 10 years old at the time. She's writing randomly
0:15
placed misspelled words. She's in fifth grade.
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Her favorite thing in the world is swimming.
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She's on the swim team. She jumps in the pool
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every chance she can get. I'm going to show you
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how to correct this for Sarah. So the first thing
0:24
you're going to do to help teach Sarah is you're
0:26
going to pull out a laptop computer. Then you're
0:29
going to type out, hero plus sign, what are we
0:32
talking about? And she's going to copy it until
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it's correct. Then we're going to swap out hero
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for Sarah's name. So we got Sarah plus sign,
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what are we talking about? Then we're going to
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go to a list of 10 things that Sarah really,
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really, really likes and 10 things she really,
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really dislikes. And the first thing on the list
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she really, really likes is swimming. So we got
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Sarah plus sign. What are we talking about? We're
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going to swap out. What are we talking about
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for swimming? So we got Sarah plus sign swim.
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See how we got there. Hey, delicious. Grab a
1:02
plate and taste the delicious culture. I'm your
1:04
host, John Francois. I'm trying to scoot in so
1:06
the sunlight doesn't get through my face. Russell,
1:09
like I'm some kind of halo angel. But Russell
1:13
Van Brockland, Russell Van Brockland, is that
1:15
how you pronounce your name? Yes, it is. He is
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my guest this week. He is a New York State Senate.
1:23
We're gonna talk about delicious meals, pop cultures,
1:27
and lifestyles with him today. Russell, thank
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you for coming on. I love the hat. Is that a
1:32
fedora? Yes, it is. And just so you know why
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I do this, it came down to the fact that, like,
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how can I do something where people would just
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recognize me? And I'm a history guy. I teach
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most of the stuff that I teach my kids. is something
1:50
to do with history. So it's like, you know what,
1:52
why don't I put on a hat like a 1950s reporter?
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And it seems to stop because because people see
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the hat. They're like, hey, you're that guy with
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that weird hat that I see all over the place.
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And, you know, that's what I'm looking for. I
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love that 1950s reporter vibe. I have told my
2:07
wife that I could possibly rock a fedora. I think
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she gave me a mixed reception, but I'm going
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to prove it to her. I mean, like you can get
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it. Can you get those in any store like a JCPenney
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nowadays? I got it off Amazon. There you go.
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Are they expensive? I don't know how much they
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go for. It's 20, 25 bucks. I have a few because
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when I travel, I tend to put it on, but this
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is not the most comfortable thing to sit on a
2:32
plane with. So I end up putting it on my lap
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because if I put my luggage, you know what the
2:36
luggage is now. It means like you have to do
2:39
the little carry on thing and a little backpack
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and that's all you get. I swear, I go on a plane.
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It's like, you want me to pay 50, 60 bucks each
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way to check a bag? Like, I can just buy this.
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I'm like, I'm like, forget it. I'm not doing
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it. The last few times I've flown on a plane,
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I've been just by myself. And let me tell you,
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I am the most economical person when I fly. want
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to carry everything in a small backpack that
3:10
I could easily carry on into a plane. I do the
3:13
basic economy thing. I got to say RIP to Spirit
3:15
Airlines. Cause I think Spirit was like the last
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flight that I flew where I just had a small backpack
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that I could just kind of tug in under the seat.
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And that's it. Because once you get into the
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luggage and the checking in and the fees, it's
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like, it just becomes more complicated than it
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needs to be. Well, I know. So when I do it, um,
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I bought one of those little, uh, pieces of luggage
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that went on my big wheeler one and you know
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how you have the ones that just max out what
3:41
you can possibly carry on then you got a one
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that's a bit smaller yeah I got that one that's
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a bit smaller so I got that then I got a backpacked
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mellow bean And because I have a physical disability
3:52
that I'm not going into, but it allows me to
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be one of the first to board. I always get it.
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I always tell them because of the disability
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I have, I need an aisle seat and no, I'm not
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paying for it. It's under the Americans, whatever
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the disability act is. And so I make sure they
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all know that. So I get a window, I get an aisle
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seat. And then I get on, I put that one up there.
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And then my little backpack thing, yes, you can
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actually fit it under the seat. Yeah. So that's
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what I do. And that's what I carry with me. What
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I find is I see people try to get on first. They
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put on both their backpack and their carry on
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luggage. So when the last people come on, there's
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no place to put it and they have to check it.
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Selfish people. Exactly. so you know but with
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the with i'm sorry i'm sorry the aisle seat i
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get the aisle seat because that way i can just
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get up and walk around when i need to but yeah
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if you're flying now you got to be kidding me
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you want me to spend 100 110 bucks each way for
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a bag that i used to be able to check for free
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Yeah, uh, flights as with everything has gotten
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so expensive nowadays. I mean, that could be
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a whole nother episode that we have to do at
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some point in the future. Um, so why is the fedora
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hat uncomfortable on the plane? Is it because
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of like - Well, yeah, just look at the back part
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of it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Has that flippity
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uppity part in the back there. Yeah. So I tend
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to just put it on my lap when I travel because
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- Um, i've done almost 300 podcasts actually
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now counting the ones that yeah, i'm right around
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300 podcasts total now Congrats. So yeah when
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people see me they're like, oh, yeah, you're
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that guy with that like, uh 1950s hat i'm like,
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yeah, so that's how people remember me The fedora
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hat podcast guy. I love it. Um Yeah, no, so I
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would imagine like with a pillow even with a
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pillow the fedora hat is is not really. Oh, no
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No, I I just put it on my lap. Um, because i'm
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not gonna have a crush in the cabin And, uh,
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yeah, I tried putting it in the suitcase. Not
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a good idea. Um, yeah. So, so basically, and
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the other thing that I learned, if you want it,
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and as people know about podcast, there are all
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these crazy rich people who will go online and
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they will literally create avatars of themselves.
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So they can come up with a script with AI and
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just don't worry about taping or showing up.
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And when people find out, they freaking hate
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it. So if you look at my background, You see
6:15
the door. You see some little hairs here or there.
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You know this isn't perfect, so you know that's
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me, not some AI -generated whatever the heck
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it is. I was going to say, because it looks like
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this kind of light greenish is your favorite
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color because you seem to have a shirt and a
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wall that has like the exact same sort of light
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bleak greenish color. Am I wrong? Yeah, and people
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wonder why I do that. And how come I don't have
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the professional background and everything? These
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are subtle imperfections that I put in so you
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know that I'm not an avatar, so that you know
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that I'm not some AI -generated nonsense. Yeah,
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AI is insane. I mean, there are AI podcasts out
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there. There's an AI actress, Tilly Norwood,
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that literally was interviewed by the New York
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Times as if she's a real person. That was kind
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of bizarre to see on their website. So with the
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AI podcast, I was tempted for a second. I was
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just like, Oh, in addition to making my own real
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podcast, what if we would, what, what if I could
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just like, kind of be like a, a doctor in a laboratory
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and create something from scratch, because I
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just like creating things. And with AI, I saw
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it as like another semblance of creating things.
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Now, of course that's conflicting. Cause you
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know, we've seen all the stuff about what AI
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can do to the environment. But, um, what do you
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think about the AI podcasts that pop up out there?
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Do you think they're that? you ought to just
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take them and throw them in the trash. People
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don't want it. Why am I doing so many freaking
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podcasts? I'm doing three podcasts today. Why?
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Because to get what I want to do out there, this
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is how it's done. The podcasters are the gatekeepers.
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Now think about if you're an AI agent. And you
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want to know, well, what are people going to
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like? What is it? The traditional Google search
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algorithm and agents love podcasters because
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you have to personally vet people, have them
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come on, think it's good enough to put out there.
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And they know this isn't something that people
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can, like, how do we do search engine optimization?
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None of that stuff will work because you know
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this is real. And that's why I do so many of
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it. so many of them are you burned out because
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you say 300 podcasts and i'm like oh my god this
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guy is either having the time of his life or
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he's just burned out talking about himself maybe
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i'm not burned out it's it's just you have to
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do so many to cut through the noise so i want
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you to think about ever ever watch this uh this
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show called shark tank no no but i've heard of
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it okay half the sharks are dyslectic yeah okay
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And just to clarify for me and the audience,
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this is the show where like people pitch like
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these big business people like ideas. These are
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people that have gotten up to maybe a couple
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hundred grand in revenue, maybe a million. Okay.
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And they want to pitch there. Then they turn
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it into $1 ,500 ,000 ,000 businesses. Entrepreneurship.
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Yes. Okay, go ahead. Well, yes. So they go and
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they pitch there. Half of them are dyslectics
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make up less than 10 % of the population. It's
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Barbara Damian and Mr. Wonderful the bald guy.
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and those three are dyslectic. What they tell
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you is you gotta figure out social media. So
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how do people figure out social media? They try
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to get something that goes viral, which normally
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is something kind of ridiculous. It's a flash
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in the pan. Okay, I don't do that. I'm going
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the other way. I'm grinding it out, one podcast
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after another after another, you know, getting
9:44
a couple hundred views per one. Okay. I've been
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on some podcasts where the guy has like 1 .3
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million YouTube followers. Wow. Okay. And that
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gets seen by a ton of people. So the idea is
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just to keep going on and just grinding it out
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each day where I'm least doing one podcast. I
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try to do somewhere between five and 10 a week
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at least. And it just over time. It gets things
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out there and podcasters have a lot of influence
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with their audience. So it's just what I find
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to be a more high quality, sustainable, because
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when I do a podcast, it's going to be on your
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thing forever. Okay. I got to ask you a sort
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of shop talk question. Sorry, audience, but you
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and I just. be clear and discreet. We found each
10:27
other through the pod match service, which matches
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up hosts with guests who can come on their podcasts.
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So do I need to create an account as both a host
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and a podcast guest? Or can I like have that
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in one thing? Do you know? I really don't know.
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I know a lot of, I know, I know a lot of podcasts
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or a podcast host will also be guests. Yeah.
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Cause that's the problem that I struggle with.
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I could do a lot of producing. I could have you
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on a podcast. I have no problem getting, doing
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guest outreach and producing the podcast by myself.
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A goal that I've been trying to maintain this
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year. And I've had sprinkling of guest appearances
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on other podcasts, but I definitely could be
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doing a lot more guest appearances on other podcasts.
11:09
It's, it's tough because, you know, we're all
11:11
busy and we all have our own schedule. But, um,
11:14
if you're driven and it sounds like both you
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and I are. I think the time can be made to make
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that happen. Yeah, but it also depends on what
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your goal is. Because you have your own show,
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you're building up the credibility. You have
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a lot more control over it. For me, people tell
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me, well, you're just renting other people's
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audience for a time. And I say, yes, but I'm
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dyslexic. You have any idea how much, you know
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exactly how much effort it takes to go into being
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a podcaster. Yeah, it's a lot. I just show up.
11:44
Right. I do some research. Yeah, you don't know.
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I know. And, and, and I, you know, as someone
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who loves control, I, you know, I would think
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that, Oh, I don't like that. But in the recent
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podcast appearances that I've done, there is
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a very calming liberating feeling of just like,
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Oh, I don't have to be responsible for the editing,
12:04
the sound quality, the clips for this appearance.
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I just need to go in and just be my natural personality
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self and they'll take care of the rest. You know?
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Yes, exactly. So, um, And for me, as a dyslexic,
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there's no way I would do what you're doing.
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It's too much work. And this way I can go on.
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And what has helped me out tremendously is I
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have 258 five -star reviews. So now when I go
12:30
out there, I can say, hey, I have over 250 five
12:32
-star reviews. And what that tells people is
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what I'm doing is real and not some... Made up
12:43
such as how can you go on and do it that many
12:45
times people are shocked at how many of these
12:47
that I'm doing and it gives a tremendous amount
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of credibility And to bounce off of you had mentioned
12:58
a few times that you are dyslexic I am very curious
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Because I've heard of that term quite a lot throughout
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my life And I don't think I've ever actually
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searched the basic layman terms definition. Can
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you give that to us, the audience, and for myself
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primarily? What is dyslexia? How would you define
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it? Well, I don't need to define it. I can go
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and show you the science. This is the top book
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in my field, Overcoming Dyslexia by Dr. Sally
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Shaywitz from Yale. That's dyslexia. See how
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the back part of your brain has all this neuroactivity?
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Right. See how the back part of mine has next
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to nothing? Okay. And then you see how the front
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part of mine is about two and a half times overactive.
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Gotcha. All right. Okay. So we need to shift
13:44
from back here to up here. Now to understand
13:47
what this is, typically what I do is I don't
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give tips. I give solutions. So so just to clarify
13:54
for that anybody that may not be watching on
13:56
video you showed me a picture within the overcoming
14:00
dyslexia book and I believe the non dyslexic
14:04
brain is the one that was sort of gray colored
14:08
in and then yeah Let me let me give you some
14:11
some better explanations. Sure. Go ahead. So
14:13
so so in the normal brain The back part has massive
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neural activity. Okay But the back part of the
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dyslexic brain, almost nothing going on here.
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Nothing. That hole that I saw in the picture,
14:27
the whole dyslexic brain. Yeah. Yeah. But the
14:30
front part of the dyslexic brain is about two
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and a half times overactive. Got it. Okay. So
14:35
to understand what it is, I normally give you
14:38
a solution like how to because the biggest problems
14:40
parents come to me with is the kids are writing
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randomly placed misspelled words takes about
14:45
10 minutes. I can show you exactly how to fix
14:47
it. And at the end, you'll probably have an epiphany
14:49
know exactly what it means what it is. Would
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you like me to show you? Okay. So when we do
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just where everybody knows how far did you go
14:56
in your education? You're asking me or rhetorically?
14:59
Yes. Yeah, I'm asking you. Oh, so I got a bachelor's
15:02
degree. Okay. So do you think you know how to
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write a basic three reason sentence? I think
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I can. Yeah. Okay. Now I'm going to, in this
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process, I'm just going to let you know what's
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going to happen. I'm going to ask you two questions.
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It'll be the simplest questions you'll ever get
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asked. I asked these to seven year olds. These
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are not trick questions. If you follow them exactly,
15:23
and I mean exactly, this will work. If you don't,
15:26
you're going to get incredibly confused. and
15:29
then have an epiphany in what dyslexia really
15:31
is. Okay. So I just want to let you know that's
15:33
coming, okay? So in your life, have you ever
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known as a dyslectic kid, any time, who was writing
15:39
randomly placed misspelled words that you knew
15:41
well? No, I don't recall. No, not in my circle.
15:46
Okay. Okay. So in this case, I'm going to use
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Sarah. Sarah was 10 years old at the time. She's
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writing randomly placed misspelled words. She's
15:55
in fifth grade. Her favorite thing in the world
15:56
is swimming. She's on the swim team. She jumps
15:58
in the pool every chance she can get. I'm going
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to show you how to correct this for Sarah. My
16:02
competition can do this in a couple of months
16:04
of full -time study. We're going to do it in
16:06
less than 10 minutes. All right? So the first
16:09
thing you're going to do to help teach Sarah
16:10
is you're going to pull out a laptop computer,
16:12
not an iPad, not an iPhone, and certainly not
16:16
handwriting. And then you're going to type out,
16:19
hero. plus sign, what are we talking about? And
16:22
she's going to copy it until it's correct. Okay,
16:26
so far, then we're going to swap out hero for
16:28
Sarah's name. So we got Sarah plus sign, what
16:31
are we talking about? Then we're going to go
16:33
to a list of 10 things that Sarah really, really,
16:36
really likes and 10 things she really, really
16:39
dislikes. And the first thing on the list she
16:41
really, really likes is swimming. So we got Sarah
16:44
plus sign. What are we talking about? We're going
16:46
to swap out. What are we talking about for swimming?
16:49
So we got Sarah plus sign swimming. See how we
16:51
got there. Uh, please explain. Okay. But no,
16:56
but you see how we got there. Um, I, I think
17:00
I'm struggling to see how we got there. So, okay.
17:03
So let's start off. It's real simple. We start
17:05
off by having, we have hero plus sign. What are
17:08
we talking about? Right. Sarah copies that until
17:12
she got it down correct. Okay. Then we're going
17:15
to swap out hero for Sarah's name. So we got
17:18
Sarah plus sign. What are we talking about? So
17:21
now we're going to go to a list of what she really
17:24
likes. The first one is swimming. We got Sarah
17:26
plus sign. What are we talking about? We're going
17:28
to swap out. What are we talking about for swimming?
17:31
So we got Sarah plus sign swimming. I see. Okay.
17:34
Gotcha. Okay. So now I'm going to ask you those
17:36
two questions. These are two of the simplest
17:38
questions you've ever been asked. If you answer
17:40
them exactly, this will work. If not, you're
17:44
going to get incredibly confused and then have
17:46
an epiphany in what dyslexia really is. Do you
17:49
think I can fool you? You might. Just try to
17:53
be exact. All right. So we got Sarah plus sign
17:57
swimming. We need to swap out the plus sign for
18:00
a word. Here's my question. Does Sarah like or
18:04
dislike swimming? She likes swimming. But that's
18:06
not what I asked. Notice that sense of confusion.
18:14
Are you ready to try it again? Yeah. We got Sarah
18:19
plus sign swimming. Yeah. We need to swap out
18:22
the plus sign for a word. Here are your two choices.
18:26
Does Sarah like or dislike swimming? I've been
18:31
told that swimming is her favorite activity,
18:33
so I'll have to go again to like, but I guess
18:37
I'm wrong again. No, no. Like is exactly the
18:40
correct answer. Okay. Now I need you to give
18:44
me the three -word sentence. The three -word
18:47
sentence? Yes. Sarah likes swimming. That's not
18:51
what I asked. Now do I have you completely confused?
18:55
Yeah, is that kind of... How does that feel to
19:00
be this confused? It feels like I'm being played,
19:04
you know? Like it feels like... Wait, no, I could
19:07
have sworn I understood this but you're telling
19:09
me I didn't and so that's it I think it's just
19:15
confusion and irritation kind of wrapped up together.
19:17
That's okay. Now you're a full -grown man Yeah,
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and you're feeling this way Imagine if you were
19:23
an eight -year -old kid and that's permanent
19:25
in school day in day out. Yeah Yeah, are you
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ready to have your epiphany and what dyslexia
19:32
really is? Sure, please. Okay So I'm just going
19:35
to go back just so everybody can see again. Yeah.
19:38
If you're watching a video on YouTube. Yep. Yep.
19:41
Back part of the brain. Massive neural activity.
19:43
This is where you're doing. So you went through
19:46
and you did it here. Sarah's got nothing going
19:49
on back here. Okay. So here's what happened.
19:51
I asked, does Sarah like or dislike swimming?
19:55
And you do what almost every person does. You
19:59
automatically added the S. Sarah has nothing
20:02
going on back here. She doesn't know how to add
20:04
the S. You were correct that one time. I asked
20:07
if Sarah like or dislike. You said like. So it
20:09
should have been Sarah like swimming. Oh, okay.
20:14
Because you automatically added the S that made
20:17
it incorrect because Sarah doesn't know how to
20:19
add the S. She can't do it. Really? Wow. Okay.
20:23
Now let's look at, I want you to think back to
20:27
when you were a kid. And remember when the teacher
20:29
was describing a simple grammar rule, and some
20:32
kids, the teacher's saying it the fourth and
20:35
fifth time, and they're getting annoyed because
20:37
they didn't get it? Mm -hmm. Okay. Now, you could
20:41
tell Sarah that a thousand times. There's nothing
20:44
going on back here. She can't get it. So we have
20:48
to use the front part of the brain. Now, the
20:50
front part of the brain deals with word analysis.
20:52
So how we fix that is we'll just say, Sarah,
20:56
Read what you just wrote out loud. Sarah like
20:58
swimming. Okay, Sarah, read it out loud again
21:01
and answer this question. Does that sound generally
21:04
correct? She's going to say no. I'll say Sarah,
21:09
fix it. Sarah likes swimming. And then we practice
21:12
that for the other nine likes and 10 dislikes.
21:14
I wonder what's the success fail ratio of dyslexic
21:19
people that have to go through that. Is it, I
21:21
mean, I would imagine it must be complicated
21:24
to... get it right eventually, right? Well, yeah,
21:28
that's why we practice it like another 19 times.
21:31
Yeah. Yeah. It's just massive repetition. We
21:34
do that all the way through. I'll give you an
21:37
example of how far we go. One of my students
21:39
is not dyslectic in the least. And just to clarify,
21:43
what age level do you work with? You work with?
21:45
We work anywhere typically from eight or nine
21:47
up to... adults, PhD students. So just to give
21:51
you an example of how far we go, Grayson is not
21:54
dyslectic in the least. He's just your 99th percentile
21:57
student in math, 99th percentile student in science.
22:00
He wants to get his PhD worked for NASA to terraform
22:03
Mars. So he has to publish in a peer review journal,
22:07
getting past a desk rejection, and he will be
22:10
rejected by the reviewer. You miss a comma, you
22:12
get rejected. So we have to show him how to do
22:15
advanced body barographs using a more advanced
22:17
version of what I just showed you. And then,
22:19
how to come up with a unique problem statement
22:21
and a unique solution. All right? We're showing
22:24
him how to do all of that. How old do you think
22:28
Grayson is? He's a little on the young side.
22:32
Oh, I don't know. The age of 10 pops into my
22:34
mind. Well, that's exactly how old he is. Oh,
22:37
all right. We're looking to have him have that
22:39
rejection by 14 or 15. And then I met another
22:44
podcaster who's on the board of directors of
22:46
one of our top 10 technical universities. We'll
22:49
arrange to have Grayson go and speak to him and
22:51
say, I want to get published so I can do my PhD
22:54
thing. This is what I need help with. Can I work
22:56
with you on him? If it takes another couple of
22:59
years, who cares? Once he's published, excellent
23:01
chance of getting into his doctoral program,
23:03
then going to work for NASA. All right, so that's
23:05
how far we go. We go through that whole entire
23:08
process. It's not only for dyslectics, it works
23:10
great for advanced gen ed kids as well. How did
23:13
you, cause I guess I'm trying to put myself into
23:16
the place of someone with dyslexia and trying
23:19
to learn things that non -dyslexic people can
23:21
pick up easily. How did you get to that place?
23:26
where you became accepting of your dyslexia and
23:29
you used it to try to help others who are managing
23:33
the same thing throughout their lives because
23:36
I would imagine that there has to be a ton of
23:39
dyslexia students that you deal with that could
23:42
become easily irritated by not understanding
23:45
what most other people are able to easily understand.
23:49
How did I do this? Well, it's kind of an interesting
23:52
story. It was the late nineties. I wanted to
23:54
know how laws remain. That's what class I wanted
23:56
to know. So I signed up for the New York state
23:58
assembly internship program and I showed up.
24:02
I said, here's my neuropsychological evaluation.
24:05
I got a first grade reading and writing level,
24:07
so I couldn't do the internship or the way it
24:10
was designed. So the speaker of the assembly
24:14
at the time's name was Sheldon Silber. His people
24:16
said, I don't care what it takes, you're going
24:19
to accommodate the living daylights out of this
24:20
kid and you're going to make this work. I don't
24:22
care what it costs. And that's what that's exactly
24:24
what they did. And those accommodations were
24:26
so extraordinary that when I went back to the
24:30
State University of New York Center at Buffalo's
24:33
political science department, they looked at
24:34
those combinations as we don't like these. So
24:36
they're lowering my recommended grade from a
24:39
minus. for 15 credits to 15 credits of F. That
24:42
was 29 years ago. My reaction was I was going
24:45
to solve dyslexia. I asked my professors where
24:47
I could do that. They said, well, if you want
24:49
to force yourself to learn to read and write
24:51
in grad school, the best place to go is law school,
24:54
if you like politics. So that's where you read
24:56
and write more than anybody. So I showed up to
24:58
audit two law school classes. My second day in
25:00
contracts, the professor called on me. He tried
25:02
to squash me. They use a Socratic method. If
25:04
you don't know the answer, nobody does the first
25:06
week. They literally will ask you questions you
25:09
can't answer to embarrass you publicly until
25:11
you adapt. It didn't happen to me. He went after
25:14
me. I answer his questions. Then I went after
25:16
him, which kind of baffled him. And then we go
25:18
back and forth, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15
25:21
minutes. He throws up his arms and said, Russell,
25:23
you couldn't be any more correct. And the interests
25:25
of some have to move on in the next case. So
25:27
I learned to read within a month. I learned to
25:29
write within a couple of years. Then I went back
25:31
to the New York state Senate. I said, I found
25:33
a solution for dyslexia. I want you to fund my
25:35
dyslexia research program, which they don't do.
25:39
But my, my center was majority leader of the
25:42
state Senate. So he sent me here. Can I ask why
25:44
they don't do that? Were they just skeptical?
25:48
Well, you have to. Everybody and their uncle's
25:50
coming with a handout wanting money from the
25:52
state. So they typically, they make you go through
25:55
and make sure you deserve. These are, remember,
25:58
these are traditional Republicans. Right. So
26:01
what they like is better, faster, cheaper. And
26:03
they want to know from, mainly from the school
26:05
districts, but they also need the education department
26:08
and everybody else to support it before they'll
26:09
look at it. So I go over to the education department.
26:14
Remember, I'm coming from the majority leader's
26:16
office. So they have to take me seriously. They
26:17
said, where's this out of? I said, Buffalo. And
26:20
they said, okay, we want a, a New York state
26:23
SUNY distinguished professor in psychology. They're
26:26
top ranked that say there's really here. We,
26:28
uh, we should go forward. They said, you know,
26:31
you missed that you're done. So that can't be
26:33
that hard. I go out to Buffalo. There's two of
26:36
them. in the whole Western New York. One just
26:39
happened to be the professor, gave me the evaluation,
26:41
started this mess. Her name was Dr. Eileen Helichka,
26:43
20 hours of testing over three days from the
26:46
smartest woman I ever met. At the end, she said,
26:49
I tested this kid a couple of years ago. He has
26:53
confirmed first grade reading and writing ability.
26:55
He's going from the part of his brain that doesn't
26:57
work to one that does. When that happens, his
26:59
writing's at the 70th percentile of earning grad
27:01
students. It's an on -off switch. Here's what's
27:04
going on, five pages. Education department wasn't
27:07
looking for that. They're like, OK, now connect
27:09
it to a senior professor. There's one person
27:11
that makes sense in Western New York. I go back.
27:13
I was told it was going to take years. I didn't
27:15
under two weeks. Wow. Notice how I'm doing really
27:17
good in grad school. Then I enter a university
27:20
-wide competition, get $15 ,000 for a student
27:22
we work with. Her name is Michaela. She's a super
27:24
motivated, super intelligent high school junior
27:27
with writing at the eighth grade level. So we
27:29
give her a writing test for going into graduate
27:32
school, which she promptly scored in the zero
27:34
percentile. Five months later, she scored in
27:36
about the 50th percentile. So one more student
27:39
like that, similar results. We go into a public
27:42
school. We got the state funding, a multi -year
27:45
study, five students per year, six to the next.
27:48
They go from middle school level to average range
27:50
of entering grad students in a public school
27:53
by public school teacher. Cost in New York state
27:55
of under 900 bucks. Cost to, uh, compared to
27:58
my competition, we were three X as successful
28:00
for less than 1 % of the cost. That must make
28:03
you proud. Yeah. That was a starting point. Where
28:05
can people find out more? Like say there's a
28:08
dyslexic person that's watching and listening
28:11
and they want your assistance and, and, and better
28:14
understanding reading and writing and such. Like
28:16
is, is there a website? Yes. The best, the best
28:19
thing to do is we actually have a place where
28:22
parents can go. to just solve things, all right?
28:27
Our instructor's name is Angela. She is a certified
28:30
elementary school teacher from the state of Texas
28:32
with a two -year master's degree and 11 years
28:34
of experience, and she's a homeschooling mom.
28:36
She has taken both her homeschooling child August
28:38
through this, and she's also working with a much
28:41
more advanced gen ed kid, Alfred. He's a standard
28:44
STEM kid who's going to be doing brilliantly
28:46
in college. He's currently 12. So she's there
28:49
each week for an hour to answer your questions.
28:51
You just go to a learning platform called school
28:54
SKOL .com and then you type in dyslexia classes
28:58
and we have a parents course. Just sign up and
29:01
it will work. It'll work just fine. How about
29:05
a delicious meal that you've had lately? This
29:07
is, I'm on kind of a diabetic diet because I
29:09
had to lose weight from working so hard creating
29:11
all this stuff. So what I do is I, how do you
29:17
notice this? But a lot of the stores down there,
29:22
a lot of the restaurants will just get stuff
29:24
and just. Nuke it essentially. Yeah, essentially
29:28
you go to any other that's pretty much what they
29:30
do Yeah, so after looking into that I went down
29:34
yesterday to my local supermarket It's called
29:36
Hannaford and they had these really good center
29:38
cut pork chops. Where are you based? By the way,
29:41
because I have a hand right outside of Albany
29:43
New York our state capital. Oh cool I'm in Vermont.
29:45
So we have Hannaford's too. Yeah. Okay. Yeah,
29:48
so I just go down and they had these cus the
29:50
these I like how they They put all these spices
29:55
on them. So I just brought it back, put in this
29:57
glass container, this glass cooking thing, put
30:00
tin foil over it, toss it into the oven at 350
30:03
for an hour. Okay. I want to make sure it's cooked.
30:06
And then I take from Hanford, they got like that
30:09
$8 salad thing. And I got the big thing of cherry
30:11
tomatoes. I just put those together, throw on
30:14
a little bit of the zero fat. a zesty Italian
30:19
and shake it up with another bowl on top. And
30:22
then I got a bunch of that French bread and I
30:24
cut that into a sixth. And then I put a little
30:26
bit of healthy choice stuff on it. And that's
30:31
good, but that's typically what I eat. I eat
30:33
like a half of a... a quarter pound of the pork
30:38
chops and I put the rest away and I just nuke
30:40
it for the other three meals. That is very smart,
30:44
very delicious cooking that you did there. Oh
30:48
my God, that's great. Well, no, I mean, just
30:50
think about like going to the, if you go to a
30:53
chain, that's what they're doing. They used,
30:56
like near us, we have Schenectady County Community
30:58
College. They have a two year chef program. They
31:00
used to just couldn't hire enough. Now these
31:02
guys can't find a job because they'll take you
31:05
or me, train us in not that long and make us
31:08
chefs, okay? They're just taking stuff from Cisco
31:12
and I'm like, okay, the heck with it. So I go
31:13
down to Hannaford and I find the things that
31:17
the meat that they wrap up. I buy new ones each
31:19
day typically. And that's what I eat. And as
31:23
far as when I go out to a restaurant, I always
31:25
like a salad. Well, that's how I do the salad
31:27
thing. And I like the bread. Now I'm supposed
31:30
to be eating wheat bread, but I like the fresh
31:33
stuff. I just keep it within a smaller proportion.
31:37
And that's what I'm eating now. And that's helping
31:39
me lose a lot of weight. But I don't feel like
31:41
I'm being deprived because I'm eating the same
31:44
thing I would in a restaurant. I'm just eating
31:46
more reasonable portions. And when you say the
31:49
healthy choice stuff, are you talking about like
31:51
the healthy choice? Oh, I'm sorry. When it comes
31:53
to like the, I'm not doing margarine or butter,
31:56
you know, there's certain ones, I forget the
31:58
name of it, but it's much more healthy compared
32:01
to the other ones. And I just put a little bit
32:02
on. Right. Okay. And that's the same stuff I
32:06
would get eating out. Maybe not quite as good,
32:09
but it's close. And I'm spending a fraction of
32:12
what I would spend, you know, to eat out. I mean,
32:15
yes, groceries are expensive. Restaurant eating
32:17
is expensive, but if you had to choose between
32:19
groceries and restaurants, smart grocery shopping
32:24
and sort of meal management via going to your
32:27
grocery store like you have, that's the way to
32:30
go. So yeah, I mean, you, you could literally
32:33
teach a, a, a, a smart economy class based on
32:36
what you just said. So that's basically the ideas
32:39
I eat out. Much hardly ever eat out unless for
32:42
some social reason But this is not the cheapest
32:45
way of doing but compared like one of my friends
32:48
just went out and he got Went to Wendy's and
32:51
got a baconator. I said for what you got for
32:54
a baconator One meal I can eat for like three
32:58
or four. Yeah, there you go And once you do the
33:00
math that that's like a I feel like the last
33:03
time I ate out I was telling my wife this the
33:06
other day when I used to live alone and I cooked
33:08
every now and then but not as much as she's comfortable
33:11
doing. I must have gone to McDonald's like once
33:14
a week or once every two weeks. Because, you
33:16
know, when you live alone and you don't like
33:17
to cook, then yeah, you're going out to eat like
33:20
it's, like, whatever you do every, you know,
33:24
once a week or every two weeks. I'm not a cook.
33:27
Yeah. But think about what I'm, I used to get
33:30
the stuff and I used to get all the other stuff
33:33
and put things in the freezer. Now I don't do
33:36
that. I look like, for example, they have a roast
33:38
on for sale. pot roast things. Normally nine
33:42
bucks a pound, I won't buy it. This week it's
33:44
on sale for five. So what I do is I get one that's
33:47
around less than two pounds. And then I got the
33:50
marinade, the marinated sauce that is literally
33:53
Haniford brand, because I'm going to spend a
33:55
lot on this. I put that around it. I throw it
33:58
in the crock pot. I know you're not supposed
33:59
to do it, but the heck with it. I put it on low
34:02
and I just put it on there for a long time. Why
34:05
aren't you allowed to put it on low for a long
34:06
time? Well, they want you to put it on high for
34:08
at least an hour to kill all the bacteria, to
34:10
be sure. Gotcha. I just put it on low for a very
34:14
long time. And then I cut it up into about quarter,
34:18
third of a pound strips. Okay. And I put the
34:21
rest in them. And yes, I'm eating the same meal
34:24
for three, four, five meals in a row. Most people
34:28
can't take that. I can. All right. That's what
34:30
I eat breakfast and dinner. Yeah, and but I'm
34:35
not I'm not I find if you put it in the freezer
34:37
you're killing the taste So I I eat it when it's
34:40
on sale or I just buy the stuff like their chicken.
34:44
They just throw on The the seasoned chicken,
34:49
you know, that's 350 pound the pork chops are
34:51
550 instead of like, you know If I buy them on
34:54
sale, they're 150 I don't care because now I
34:57
just I literally just take it out I put it in
34:59
this little glass thing throw tin foil on throw
35:01
it in the oven for an hour There you go. It's
35:03
nothing. It's nothing. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean,
35:05
I'm just like you. I like to, you know, for example,
35:08
my wife will make a good pesto pasta like I just
35:11
ate right now. And I, you know, if that thing
35:14
is in the fridge for like a week or more. I'm
35:16
like, yeah, I'll eat it until it's done. My wife,
35:18
she will want to throw out food like two days
35:20
after she's cooked it. But for me, I'm more sustainable
35:23
that way. And yes, I know that that could be
35:26
debatable because, you know, the food could get
35:27
bad after a while. But I just had that, you know,
35:30
I keep a limit of three days. That's why I buy
35:32
the smaller things. And yes, I spend a lot more
35:35
on and a lot more than that. So I have the capital
35:38
one save your credit card and I get three percent
35:41
cash back. There you go. No annual fees so and
35:44
that helped out because I just looked at my balance
35:46
I got 200 bucks or yes I'm spending a lot of
35:49
freaking money on groceries and when I have guests
35:51
come over I do it the same way but We eat out
35:57
a lot less. I mean just look at you go out to
36:00
eat I mean you're talking you go to a sit -down
36:02
restaurant by the time you're done per person.
36:04
You're easy 35 40 bucks in yeah, it's insane
36:08
and You don't need me to tell you this. Probably
36:12
a lot of people have said this already, but like
36:15
making your own food versus eating out, you feel
36:17
better with the former versus the latter. Like
36:22
I could eat something from, again, McDonald's
36:25
and feel bloated. And then I spent way too much
36:28
that I... should have spent. And then the next
36:30
morning, I'm still kind of feeling horrible,
36:32
but I eat a nice home cooked meal. I'm saving
36:35
money and I'm feeling better in the process because
36:38
there's not as much artificial garbage as you
36:41
might find in a fast food restaurant. So, so
36:44
many benefits. I mean, I cannot believe I didn't
36:47
realize this until maybe like my late twenties,
36:49
early thirties. I'm 34 right now, but yeah, to,
36:53
to be able to take the time to make the food
36:56
at home and instead of like relying a lot on
36:59
going out to eat. It just makes such a big difference
37:02
on your mental and physical wealth and health
37:06
and certainly your savings. So. Yeah, but I don't,
37:10
but just so you can go to like Hannaford. I hate
37:13
cooking. So they will have pre -made like if
37:17
you want potato salad. Okay. Or especially those
37:21
roasted chickens, those full, you know, those.
37:25
I just, I literally go because it's only a little
37:28
over a mile from where I live. I literally go
37:31
every day or every other day and everything's
37:34
fresh there. And I just, there's certain things
37:37
that I tend to rotate. And if I want something
37:39
different, I go to what they make there and I
37:42
just buy it. And yes, that's a lot more expensive
37:46
than doing it from scratch, but I don't take
37:49
the time to do that stuff. So, I mean, literally
37:52
I'm one of those guys. It was my turn to do Thanksgiving,
37:58
so I went to Boston Market. How do you not know?
38:02
So you don't like to cook, but you offered to
38:04
host Thanksgiving. That must be a big thing.
38:05
No, it wasn't. It was my turn. Your turn. But
38:09
you went to Boston Market to buy the food. So
38:11
I went to Boston Market and I just spent the
38:13
money. Yeah. And then I went to some church women.
38:16
They were selling pies. They're $25. I gave them
38:19
$30 for each. These were homemade scratch pies.
38:23
people were expecting a disaster. And they show
38:27
up and they're like, oh, this is actually quite
38:29
good. And then one of them noticed in the trash,
38:33
the Boston market thing. They said, you didn't.
38:36
I said, you're damn right I did. Now, did they
38:40
already know that you didn't like to cook? Or
38:42
no, they just thought that - But they also knew
38:46
that when, like the way that I - do things with
38:49
Hanford how I just go down and buy their stuff.
38:52
They noticed that when they came over for dinner,
38:55
that what I cooked was better than most. And
38:59
they knew that I hated doing it. They didn't
39:01
really know how I did it. But when they found
39:04
out that I did Boston Market, people started
39:07
getting up. I said, hey, you said it was good.
39:12
I just didn't spend two to three days cooking.
39:15
I just bought it that morning. I'm curious. What
39:17
are all the Boston market dishes you bought and
39:19
how much was it all to do the Thanksgiving total?
39:22
Oh, it was a couple hundred bucks. That's not
39:24
bad. Like for how many people? It was 12. So
39:27
I went in. I got lots of potatoes. I got a lot
39:31
of stuff. I got everything that they eat. A lot
39:33
of turkey. I made sure it was all cut up. I had
39:36
them do it more than I normally would. They said,
39:38
well, that would be an extra charge. I said,
39:40
I don't care. So all I had to do is they had
39:44
it literally set up where warming it up wasn't
39:46
hard. And then the pies were already made. The
39:50
people said, oh, these are some of the best pies
39:51
I ever had. They're like... Wait, how did you
39:54
do this? I said church grandmothers. Yep. That's
39:58
the secret sauce. I love. Yeah. I'm definitely
40:02
with you on the pre -made meals. Um, because
40:04
when I got to a point where I was sick of like
40:06
ordering HelloFresh and making those meals, I'd
40:09
just be like, you know, let me just go to like
40:11
market 32. Let me go to Hannaford and, and get
40:14
myself a pre -made chicken, whatever thing. Um,
40:17
and, and yeah, I mean, you know, it could be
40:19
like 10 bucks a pop, but, uh, it's still better
40:21
than again, fast food. And so, so I know what
40:24
you mean. Yeah. So, so what I would do Like,
40:27
what I've done subsequently to that is I would
40:31
get a turkey breast, not a turkey, okay? And
40:35
I would cook that up and then I have Cutco knives,
40:39
the really good ones. And I'd chop that up. I've
40:42
learned that I could do mashed potatoes. I don't
40:47
peel the potatoes. I just chop them up and...
40:50
People like that. And then I noticed that I can
40:53
do a vegetable. I get frozen peas or frozen corn.
40:57
I'll mix that together. That tends to work out
40:59
well. I just boil that. Okay. So I have, I've
41:03
done some more, but it was like. potato salad,
41:05
I just go down to Hannaford and say, no, I need
41:08
like a lot of potato salad. Yeah. And I had like
41:13
the manager come over. He's like, what is this
41:15
for? And I told him, I said, yeah, can I get
41:17
a break on the price? Because I'm buying like
41:19
a lot of it. He said, sure, because I'm buying
41:21
like a huge, big thing of it. And I bring it
41:25
back. And is it good if I could made it on my
41:27
own? No, pretty close. And I'm saving all that
41:29
freaking time. There you go. I love that. I love
41:32
that. Yeah, I mean, I'm thinking of talking about
41:37
taking like ingredients and kind of making yourself
41:39
a meal that way from Hannaford. Probably one
41:42
of my favorites because I also used to live in
41:45
Albany, New York, like you are right now. I used
41:47
to take like plain pasta noodles and boil spinach,
41:53
maybe, you know, carrots as well, and get one
41:57
of those like rotisserie chickens that are like,
41:59
I don't know, five, six dollars, those pre -made
42:01
rotisserie chickens. Oh, they're right now. They're
42:02
eight bucks now. And I'm thinking like, all right,
42:05
vegetables, I'm getting something from there,
42:06
I'm getting the protein from the chicken, I'm
42:08
getting... carbs from the pasta, boom, there's
42:10
a meal. I mean, it may not be a meal that most
42:13
people make, but like I, you know, that's the
42:15
type of stuff that I would do when, when I was
42:17
kind of desperate and didn't want to eat junk
42:20
from cooking. Well, what I would do is I'd go
42:22
by a farmer's market and the price there for
42:25
food is drastically higher. Oh yeah. And I would,
42:29
like, when I was having people over, I would
42:31
just go there and some kids would be coming over.
42:35
And these farmers are selling, like, fresh blueberries.
42:39
And I'm buying, like, 30 bucks of just the blueberries.
42:43
And I said, oh, the green beans. I just kept
42:46
putting them in. They're like, what? They're
42:48
like, what are you doing, feeding an army? I
42:49
said, no, I'm feeding guests coming over. So
42:52
they come over, you know, I dropped 100, 150
42:54
bucks at the farmer's market for this one meal.
42:56
And then I go down to Hannaford, and honestly,
43:00
what I got, I got the barbecue chicken, you know,
43:03
the chicken that they had. barbecued, I had the,
43:05
with the stuff on the seasoned pork chops. I
43:07
picked some of those, I got what people wanted.
43:10
All in, we got like 11 people over. I'm about
43:13
200 bucks in. People said it was absolutely fantastic.
43:19
And cause I said, let's come over to my place
43:21
instead of eating out. And they're like, wow,
43:23
where did you get this stuff? I said, well, no,
43:25
I got it from literally that. corn was on the
43:29
stock this morning. Right, right, right. And
43:31
they're like, oh, those markets are so expensive.
43:33
I said, yeah, really? This, we're running around,
43:36
what, 18, 19 bucks for this? And the kids, the
43:40
blueberries, I mean, I'm just telling them, they're
43:41
just dumping them in the mouth like this. They
43:43
freaking whooped. The carers are like, oh, those
43:45
are expensive. I said, don't worry about it.
43:47
I knew I bought them for them. Okay. And they're
43:50
just, and they said, that was great. They say
43:52
I spoiled their kids. No, they want it. I said,
43:55
well, kids, this was a special occasion. I'm
43:57
getting this all the time. Absolutely. Yep. Special
44:01
occasions are called special occasions for a
44:03
reason. Um, I want to know what a delicious piece
44:08
of pop culture you've been loving lately. This
44:10
could be a favorite TV show, movie, podcast,
44:13
book, play music. Like what in the culture are
44:16
you, are you loving? I finally finished up watching
44:20
The Crown. Ah, yeah, the Netflix series about
44:22
Queen Elizabeth and her growing up and everything.
44:24
Yeah. Oh, that's a fantastic show. Well, what
44:27
I loved about it is, and from that, I went and
44:32
I watched the next series they had on Queen Victoria.
44:36
Okay. I'm not too familiar with that one, though.
44:38
Well, Queen Victoria, before the last queen,
44:41
was the longest monarch in English history. And
44:45
she became queen at 18. And she grew into the
44:49
role. She became like the grandmother of Europe
44:51
because she had like nine kids that she had to
44:53
marry off and What I got out of it was it's a
44:58
very tough role to be but Queen Queen Victoria
45:05
taught Queen I forget her name Queen Queen not
45:11
another Queen who was like the Elizabeth grandmother.
45:18
Okay. And she showed her how to do this properly.
45:23
So Elizabeth did the whole thing properly her
45:25
entire life. And what I got from it was her son.
45:29
What a freaking disaster. All right. He's, I
45:32
know it was tough on, but this was the first
45:35
generation that broke with what you're supposed
45:37
to do. All right. He married somebody. He wanted
45:40
to marry this Parker Bowles lady. Yeah. But then
45:43
she married somebody else. So then he marries
45:45
this, you know what, who he married. And he kept
45:47
going back and having an affair with the Parker
45:49
Bowles woman. All right. It was just a... Prince
45:52
Charles you're talking about. Yes, Prince Charles.
45:55
Yeah. So at the end, what I think illustrated
45:58
the point, because after all, everything I've
46:01
read, everything, his eldest son got kind of
46:04
disgusted with what his father was acting. So
46:06
he went out and he married this fantastic woman.
46:10
Okay. Are you talking about William? William,
46:12
yes. Yes, Prince William. Catherine. Yeah, yeah,
46:14
yeah. Yeah, he married Catherine. You notice
46:17
that they're having a real serious family. They
46:19
have kids, everything. He's doing it just right.
46:23
The British people are spending all this taxpayer
46:25
money because they expect, like we expect our
46:27
president. Ha ha to represent the best among
46:31
us. I don't think that's happened With the baby
46:34
boomers, I think it worked good with the previous
46:37
world war two generation Yeah, and so Williams
46:39
doing it right and what I loved about the end
46:42
of the crown is they said the guy who played
46:46
her Elizabeth's husband said When we go, we're
46:51
doing it right, but the lot that follows us,
46:53
they're going to screw this up completely. And
46:56
they're right. The Queen Mother lived until she
46:59
was 102. I was hoping the Queen would have lived
47:02
that long. She unfortunately passed away at 95.
47:05
I think it would be better if Charles was still
47:08
the, you know, the Prince of Wales and not King.
47:11
What do you object as to, like, his role right
47:14
now? I object to there is, when you're born into
47:18
this and you decide to accept it, look at how
47:22
Queen Elizabeth acted, okay? It was beyond, above
47:26
reproach. It was what was expected. And now you
47:30
got him running around marrying this woman and...
47:33
Knowing he's going to be sleeping with somebody
47:36
else and then just causing a mess of things.
47:39
That's not what people are looking for. So I
47:43
just think it would be great if they could just
47:46
bypass him and go right to his son. So we'd have
47:49
somebody that actually knows what it's like to
47:52
do it properly. And people are just saying, well,
47:55
that's a really traditional way of looking at
47:57
it. I said, yes. It's the monarchy. It's the
47:59
definition of traditional. Right, right. So Prince
48:03
Charles, now King Charles, obviously had that
48:06
very tumultuous marriage with Princess Diana,
48:08
who you're mentioning. You had the affair with
48:11
Camille Parker Bowles. So your prime objection
48:15
with Charles is that he had the affair. Is there
48:18
anything else? He knew he was going to have this
48:21
affair going into it. I just want you to compare
48:24
it to his son. Have you heard of anything, of
48:27
any of that crap? And the answer is no. No. I
48:29
mean, you know, he probably saw what was, well,
48:32
I mean, later in life, I would say as he grew
48:33
up, he probably figured out what was going on
48:35
with his dad and mom. And I would like to think
48:37
that he had a pretty close relationship with
48:39
his mom, Princess Diana, and mourned her when
48:41
she died, you know? Yeah. Everything that...
48:46
Everything that I can understand following this
48:49
because yes, I read the I Read his brother's
48:52
book on it. I read these things just because
48:54
I find it interesting Yeah, he got this William
48:59
got disgusted at this at quite an early age And
49:02
just look at what he did. He took his time found
49:06
Katherine found the right woman. All right, he
49:09
was incredibly popular. She's even more popular
49:11
and They're exuding what is expected of them.
49:16
When you're taking untold zillions of dollars
49:20
from the taxpayer, they expect a role to be played,
49:23
and he's just doing that. He was raised, he's
49:27
doing what his mother taught him to do, and he's
49:29
doing what's being expected. But when you look
49:31
at Charles' generation, they got divorced. His
49:36
brother and sisters, they all got divorced. It
49:38
was a mess. Previous generations never did. Okay,
49:42
you don't see William looking like he's gonna
49:45
get divorced or play any of that stuff He's playing
49:48
his part of what's expected and he's doing it
49:51
I don't think out of just that sense of duty
49:53
that his grandmother had I think he's doing it
49:56
because he's disgusted with what his father has
49:59
done Interesting. I mean think about it. It was
50:01
literally they had there was a newspaper report
50:05
of When he was when she was still married about
50:08
how he liked the Somebody recorded them having
50:13
a, talking about some really sexual stuff. And
50:17
it got in the papers. Charles talking about sexual
50:19
stuff. With Camilla. That was recorded. I think
50:23
the Crown did cover a little bit of that, didn't
50:24
it? Yeah, I actually looked it up. It was true.
50:27
Now imagine you're William, often, I don't know,
50:30
eaten college, or is real college, and then having,
50:33
I mean, come on, who wants to hear that? Dr.
50:37
Parent. Um, now, now one could argue that maybe
50:41
there is a certain, uh, part of the British population.
50:43
Yes. I know you had mentioned that the taxpayers,
50:46
they're, they're paying for the royal family,
50:47
but maybe there's a part of the British population
50:50
that maybe gave grace to Charles's affair from
50:54
the standpoint. Oh, of course. But I'm talking
50:56
about the majority. Right, right. Because I would
50:59
think that you're looking at the royal family
51:01
as like an average British citizen, and maybe
51:03
there's like an intimidation to like this perfection
51:05
model that they present. And maybe there's. a
51:08
humanity to what Charles did with the affair
51:10
that people could relate to. And, and maybe they,
51:14
some might like that about him. I don't know.
51:17
Um, they may not be telling the affair directly,
51:19
but like, what I'm saying is like, oh, he's just
51:21
like us. He fucks up and, and she eats and is
51:24
human and makes mistakes. That's what I'm saying.
51:26
Yeah. But, but what I'm saying is that's a generational
51:29
problem with that generation. Right. With that
51:31
generation, maybe Boomer. Yes. Now. I'm just
51:36
saying, look at how William is doing his role.
51:39
And again, I don't think he's doing this out
51:42
of the sense of obligation that his grandmother
51:47
had. I think he's doing this because he grew
51:50
up with this pain. Literally, Charles had him,
51:54
had Harry. Then after Harry, the whole thing
51:56
went to hell because Diana gave her an heir and
51:59
a spare. Then after that, he was pretty much
52:02
done. I think he's just kind of a selfish guy.
52:04
I think he's just kind of, you know, he's just
52:08
exhibiting the things that a king shouldn't have,
52:11
and it should just bypass to his son. But it's
52:14
not going I just assume he's gonna live as long
52:16
of his dad if not longer. He'll be a king for
52:18
another 22 years William won't become king until
52:22
he's probably in his late 60s or 70s. Got it
52:24
So I'm guessing you don't have the kindest thoughts
52:26
about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving
52:28
the royal family the way that they did and I
52:32
Loved watching suits, but if you read if you
52:37
read their book and anything about she He went
52:42
after her and then she targeted him. I mean,
52:45
look at where she was going. Suits was winding
52:48
down. That was going to be the high point of
52:50
her acting career. Now she grabbed the brother
52:54
of the future king of England and she just pulled
52:57
him right out of that place and sent him off
52:59
to Los Angeles. What I find interesting about
53:02
them is she wanted to be like, you know, a billionaire.
53:05
but they're given just enough money so that they
53:08
can be the royal pets of billionaires. They're
53:10
not, they're never going to have any real money.
53:13
Okay. After what they earn, they have to spend,
53:16
you wouldn't believe what they got to spend on
53:17
security. That's all on them. All right. Right.
53:20
Well, yeah, I mean, those two are very interesting
53:23
because I know that they did not like the coverage
53:28
that came, the attention that came with becoming
53:30
the... royal couple or one of the royal couples.
53:35
But at the same time, ironically, you would have
53:37
their critics comment that like, oh, no, you
53:39
guys seem to be doing things that that attract
53:43
attention. So it's like you're you're kind of
53:46
you say you hate it, but You're, you kind of
53:50
love it. Like Megan doing her cooking show. I
53:53
know she had a show on Netflix where she invited
53:55
celebrities onto her home and made it seem like,
53:57
oh, this is a genuine home and I'm a genuine
54:00
human cook and this is natural, but it just seemed
54:03
all artificial according to her critics. Prince
54:06
Harry, I know he had critics about his book and
54:10
how he's exploiting his drama with the family.
54:15
So very interesting, very interesting how the
54:17
tabloids cover that couple and how they're perceived
54:23
nowadays. Oh yeah, well, she likes the attention
54:27
if she can control. I'll give you an example.
54:30
This is right from their book. I think before
54:34
they were married, right around that time, there
54:36
was a royal event. So to give you an example,
54:39
his aunt, Princess Margaret, the younger sister
54:43
of King Charles, she says, just send me anywhere.
54:47
She's done over 20 ,000 events, okay? So they
54:51
go to a event and it's something like, come and
54:54
meet the mayor of this little town, the head
54:57
butcher, whatever. So Megan shows up and she
55:00
wants to come in, hi, and out in 15 minutes.
55:03
And Harry's like, that's not how it works. We're
55:06
not out in 15 minutes. We're out in eight hours.
55:08
Wow. If we're lucky. A full day. And we're going
55:12
to go and meet all these, you know, this is the
55:16
local car dealer. OK, this is the kid who won
55:19
the local spelling bee or whatever. And it just
55:22
exasperated her. But then that was one of the
55:24
few times he was firm. He says, no, this is how
55:26
this works. Yeah. I'm curious as to what you
55:29
think about how the crown on Netflix portrayed.
55:33
sort of the emotional arc of Elizabeth as she
55:36
grows older, she goes from the child of the King
55:39
and then of course the King, her father, he dies,
55:43
I believe, was he a regular smoker and he died
55:45
of cancer related to that? Is that - Yeah, it
55:48
killed his lungs and she became Queen I think
55:51
at 25. Yeah. In case if anybody wants to know
55:54
an earlier one, I think it's the same actor,
55:57
it's called The King Speaks. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:59
I think with like Colin Firth or something like
56:00
that. Yeah. Yeah. So what your - I think what
56:04
it described is how she literally had to kill
56:08
her personality off to literally be queen. And
56:11
did you sympathize with that or did you look
56:13
at it from the perspective of, oh, she had to
56:15
do what she had to do and she did it gracefully?
56:17
I look at it as she was born into that role and
56:21
once you accept becoming queen, you know what
56:24
it entails. There's a lot of negatives with that
56:26
job and there's a lot of positives. You just
56:28
can't take the positive. And I think what her
56:32
grandmother taught her, which was taught to that
56:34
person by Queen Victoria, is this is what it
56:38
is. There's a lot of sacrifice that goes into
56:41
being this. And she accepted it. And she did
56:44
it. And I think, I don't know how much dramatized
56:47
this was, but I think it pretty much was who
56:49
this guy was. Her husband is her father, as it
56:53
portrays. She is the job. That's what you signed
56:56
up for. And I saw that they had rocky things,
56:59
but generally, especially as they got older,
57:00
they did the job. And Charles wanted all the
57:03
perks, but without all the problems that came
57:08
with it. And he decided to, he could have been
57:11
like his uncle and advocated to be with this
57:15
Parker Bowles woman. But he decided he wanted
57:18
both, which wasn't possible. in that time period.
57:22
And what I like finding is in a lot of families
57:26
that are dynamic. a lot of the kids rebel against
57:29
their parents and they end up acting a lot like
57:32
their grandparents. And I think William illustrates
57:35
that really, really well. I just think he's doing
57:39
it... He wanted to stay out of the spotlight
57:41
forever, but as he's growing into his 30s and
57:44
his early 40s, okay, he's accepting where he's
57:47
going. And I think he's doing it very maturely.
57:52
And that's... Again, the British people say,
57:56
yeah, we're flawed. but he's representing what
57:58
he's supposed to represent. Gotcha. I don't know.
58:01
I mean, with William and Catherine, they seem
58:04
like well -intentioned people, but I also get
58:07
the sense that... They really, really want to
58:10
let you know that they are polished and presentational.
58:13
I mean, Catherine, that controversy she attracted
58:16
when she wanted to like give people a photo update
58:19
of her. And it was a clearly photoshopped update.
58:23
This is like since her cancer diagnosis came
58:25
out. So she got a lot of flack for the clearly
58:29
photoshopped update that she gave. So. I don't
58:33
know. Personally, I tend to sympathize more with
58:38
the Prince Charles' and the Prince Harry's, these
58:42
people that, yes, they can make bad decisions.
58:45
We could certainly have a right to judge them
58:47
for that. I think just showing me that you have
58:51
flaws, that you have stuff to work on, that you're
58:55
a work in progress. I don't know, call me crazy.
58:59
I just like to see that in my royal family. I
59:02
mean, with Charles as depicted in the crown.
59:05
Uh, God, I mean, you know, his parents not being
59:08
emotionally present as they could have been.
59:12
Oh, his father sent him to this hellhole. Yeah.
59:15
Um, he would, this military school sort of buttoned
59:18
up military school to set him straight because
59:19
he was. Yeah. And that's not him. He's not somebody,
59:25
uh, now what I'll say for both of his sons, they
59:28
were helicopter pilots. Harry. is he can control
59:32
an Apache gunship, which is almost impossible
59:35
because you have the data coming in here and
59:39
then you got this normal eye. It's really hard.
59:42
William would go and rescue people in helicopters.
59:46
Charles was none of that. He was your typical
59:49
academic kid. And one thing to be noticed is
59:53
he did send both of his sons to Eaton. He didn't
59:57
send them to that hellhole. But it just comes
1:00:01
down to me, we're different generations. I'm
1:00:03
an ex or you're a millennial. Okay. We see things
1:00:06
differently. I see things in a much more traditional
1:00:09
end. And you were like, my parents were from
1:00:13
the silent generation. Yours were millennial.
1:00:15
I mean, we're the baby boomers. My dad was a
1:00:18
boomer and my mom is also a Gen Xer, actually.
1:00:20
Okay. All right. So you got kind of mixed between
1:00:23
the two. What they have in common, and this is
1:00:26
probably because they're patient immigrants,
1:00:28
immigrants definitely carry on a traditionalist
1:00:30
point of view, regardless of generations. But
1:00:32
they would have a similar view to what you're
1:00:34
talking about. Yeah. I just come from a very
1:00:37
traditional view of looking at things. But you
1:00:42
know what? That's absolutely fine. People can
1:00:44
look for different things. I just think William
1:00:49
and Catherine make what it's supposed to be.
1:00:54
I think the Crown got it wrong with they're going
1:00:58
to mess this up. They're not going to mess it
1:01:00
up. I think they're going to clean up the mess
1:01:02
that Charles is going to leave. Oh, you're saying
1:01:05
toward the... I didn't get that impression that
1:01:07
the Crown was saying that William and Catherine
1:01:09
was going to fuck it up. Is that...? No, no,
1:01:11
they said... The guy who played her husband came
1:01:13
back and was saying, the lot that follows us
1:01:16
will mess this up. Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
1:01:19
yeah. Elizabeth's husband. Yep. Yep, yep. Yeah,
1:01:22
I think that this... I think that William and
1:01:25
Catherine will clean this up when they've become
1:01:27
monarchs. But again, I just think that... And
1:01:31
you're right, he was raised in a screwed up situation,
1:01:34
but I just think generally his father's a pretty
1:01:37
selfish guy. And I just see, I have very little
1:01:42
sympathy when you got a 32 -year -old man marrying
1:01:46
an 18, 19 -year -old girl. And you go, you're
1:01:50
going in knowing you're gonna cheat on them.
1:01:53
Marriages fall apart, but he knew that going
1:01:55
in. Right. Um, yeah, you know what? Definitely
1:01:59
going into the marriage, I think deep down Charles
1:02:03
and maybe in some sense, Diana knew that they
1:02:05
weren't compatible. And yeah, I mean, you could.
1:02:10
actively stand up for yourself and say, I'm not
1:02:13
going to do this. But I think that Charles, he
1:02:16
felt the societal pressure like, oh shit, like
1:02:18
this is what I got to do as a royal. I have to
1:02:19
marry the, the, the ideal perfect future queen.
1:02:24
And, and that's, that's what he, that's what
1:02:27
he tried to do. I'm not making excuses for him.
1:02:29
I'm just saying that like, yeah, he must've,
1:02:30
he must've felt like shit. This is what I got
1:02:32
to do. And then the, the actual feelings of not
1:02:37
feeling for Diana the way he felt for Camille
1:02:39
Parker Bowles. caught up to him and then he had
1:02:41
that scandal. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just saying,
1:02:44
imagine you were to marry, like how old are you
1:02:46
now? I'm 34. Imagine you were going to marry
1:02:48
an 18 or 19 year old, knowing you were going
1:02:51
to cheat on her. Yeah. Okay. I mean, marriages
1:02:55
fall apart, people have affairs, but going into
1:02:59
it, I mean, you're, you're a full grown man.
1:03:02
When you're 18 or 19, I'm sorry, you're still
1:03:04
a child to me. You're still a girl. Right. Right.
1:03:09
A delicious thing that happened in your life
1:03:10
lately. Uh, I got to find out that one of my
1:03:13
kids, who was just one of the most severe cases
1:03:17
of dyslexia I ever saw, actually passed all his
1:03:21
end of year exams. Oh, wow. And... Actually passed
1:03:25
them in college. He was gonna flunk out. But
1:03:28
he just passed all his tests with B's and C's,
1:03:31
but he passed them all for the first time. Awesome.
1:03:33
How severe was the dyslexia, if I may ask? Well,
1:03:35
he was reading and writing at the fourth grade
1:03:37
level. And he's how old? 18. 18, gotcha. He started
1:03:42
going to college at 16 at the community college
1:03:44
and kept flunking. Yeah. So so that that that
1:03:49
time span of from being at the bottom of the
1:03:52
rung to Him passing all of his exams like that
1:03:56
about two years So he started he literally dropped
1:03:59
out of school went to the community college.
1:04:01
Yeah kept flunking He got a hold of me. We started
1:04:04
working late last fall. Yeah, he did horrible
1:04:06
last fall But now he passed all his classes with
1:04:09
B's and C's he must feel great. Oh, yeah Because
1:04:13
now he said I can go on and I said yes, then
1:04:15
you can go into a four -year college and you'll
1:04:17
be fine. Wow. And did he feel like at some point
1:04:19
that he wanted to give up? Did he feel hopeless
1:04:22
at one point? He always felt like he wanted to
1:04:23
give up. I said give it time, but he said the
1:04:26
landmark college would have taken years. His
1:04:29
parents couldn't afford it. He's at his local
1:04:31
community college so it didn't cost his parents
1:04:32
a heck of a lot. But now he can do it. There
1:04:35
you go. Wonderful. Very inspiring story, Russell.
1:04:38
Thank you. Keep on doing what you're doing and
1:04:40
remind people once again how they can find you
1:04:42
if they're interested in learning more and maybe
1:04:44
seeking your services. The best thing to do is
1:04:46
just go to a platform called schoolskoal .com,
1:04:50
type in dyslexia classes. And we have a program
1:04:54
there for parents. Just sign up and we can walk
1:04:56
you through how to take care of all this. Love
1:04:58
it. All right. Listen to The Delicious Culture
1:04:59
wherever you get your podcasts. Apple, Spotify,
1:05:01
iHer, Amazon, SiriusXM, etc. Spotify, leave us
1:05:04
a five -star review if you like us. Leave us
1:05:07
a written review on Apple Podcasts if you like
1:05:08
us. Email thedeliciousculture at gmail .com with
1:05:11
any feedback on this episode. And at The Delicious
1:05:14
Culture on Instagram and TikTok. Follow us at
1:05:17
The Delicious Culture. Russell, we got to do
1:05:19
this again. We definitely have more to talk about.
1:05:21
of the Crown and the Vorel family. Thank you
1:05:23
so much for being on the podcast. And I don't
1:05:25
want to make you wait for your doctor's appointment.
1:05:28
So for all of you listening and watching, let
1:05:30
deliciousness ring.