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SWEETHEARTS & HEROES - WINTON BUDDINGTON · Aired Out

1:35
Speaker 1: Good morning, Welcome to the Aired Out podcast, seen and
1:39
Speaker 1: heard live from North Main Street in beautiful Berry, Vermont,
1:44
Speaker 1: where the sun is not shining this morning. We've got
1:49
Speaker 1: some clouds, maybe some more weather here coming in over
1:53
Speaker 1: the next day or so. Just realized that I haven't
1:58
Speaker 1: taken my Halloween decoration since out of the window yet.
2:01
Speaker 1: It's it has been a couple of busy days. When
2:06
Speaker 1: Dabie wins New York City probably the biggest headline this morning.
2:13
Speaker 1: It is, It's huge, it's huge here locally. We have,
2:20
Speaker 1: my understanding, is a couple of days to make sure
2:25
Speaker 1: that everything is counted and everything is accurate before we
2:32
Speaker 1: reveal results in some local decisions, mainly the bond voting
2:40
Speaker 1: on Sevenary Street right here in the Granite City, as
2:44
Speaker 1: well as the proposal for the new Central Vermont Career Center.
2:50
Speaker 1: With us on the line every Wednesday is dep Philips
2:54
Speaker 1: from the World Newspaper. Good morning, dep.
2:56
Speaker 2: How are you, Good morning, Jad doing great.
2:59
Speaker 1: Pleasure to have you on. What are we looking at
3:03
Speaker 1: in today's world? I know there's a lot of discussions
3:06
Speaker 1: these days about local politics and some big decisions made.
3:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, well we won't have much focus on that, but
3:16
Speaker 2: we will have. We have the Veterans Day Salute to
3:21
Speaker 2: Veterans that also has information about a parade and open houses.
3:27
Speaker 2: We have the congratulations page for the You thirty two
3:32
Speaker 2: boys cross country team won their state championship and they
3:37
Speaker 2: are for ten years in a row. And also included
3:40
Speaker 2: on that page is a You thirty two freshman Bubba Chamberlain.
3:46
Speaker 2: He got the medalist in golf.
3:50
Speaker 3: And yeah.
3:51
Speaker 2: So we also have the money saving coupons, which this
3:55
Speaker 2: time of year is really helpful because it's for oil
3:59
Speaker 2: changes and for tire changeovers, pool and autos. Doing something
4:04
Speaker 2: really special this year. You can get an oil change
4:08
Speaker 2: for twenty nine ninety nine if you bring in a
4:12
Speaker 2: food donation for the remant food bank.
4:16
Speaker 1: That's fantastic. We've had the Vermont Food Bank on the
4:19
Speaker 1: air over the last couple of days. A lot to
4:21
Speaker 1: talk about in that department, for sure, But thanks, thank
4:26
Speaker 1: you so much. Deb. You know I always look forward
4:28
Speaker 1: to getting it, and I know it's coming today. Chrys
4:30
Speaker 1: will bring it.
4:32
Speaker 3: Yep.
4:33
Speaker 2: Here they're they're getting them right now and starting to
4:35
Speaker 2: distribute them.
4:36
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Deb. We appreciate you. Always a
4:40
Speaker 1: safe bet to advertise with the World VT dashworld dot com.
4:45
Speaker 1: Get in touch with them four seven nine. What is
4:48
Speaker 1: it twenty five to eighty two over there, right, TEB.
4:50
Speaker 3: That's that's right. JD.
4:52
Speaker 1: All right, sales at VT dashworld dot com. If you
4:55
Speaker 1: want to send them an email. What's the deadline? Deb?
4:58
Speaker 1: If you want to post a anything in there? Thursdays, thursdays,
5:05
Speaker 1: get it done, all right, yes, yeah, all right, say
5:08
Speaker 1: hello to Gary.
5:10
Speaker 2: We'll do thanks Jad, all.
5:11
Speaker 1: Right, Deb, we'll talk to you soon. Deb. Phillips with
5:14
Speaker 1: the world on the phone with us joins us every
5:17
Speaker 1: single Wednesday. We appreciate their partnerships so much and their collaboration,
5:24
Speaker 1: of course, with the time Sargus. Some very very very
5:28
Speaker 1: busy people. Listen, there is so much chatter about politics
5:36
Speaker 1: right now. There is so much going on. The temperature
5:41
Speaker 1: is very high nationally. Take a deep breath today, Okay,
5:48
Speaker 1: just take a deep breath. We'll post up what we know,
5:52
Speaker 1: We'll post up what we have, and we will post
5:57
Speaker 1: up and discuss what we find out when we find
6:01
Speaker 1: out local decisions. Hey, just get a note here. River
6:06
Speaker 1: and Center Street is closed between George Street and forrit
6:11
Speaker 1: teeny Place. They've got some traffic detours set up this morning,
6:15
Speaker 1: so please obey the signage and be careful of if
6:20
Speaker 1: there's anyone that's part of the crew that's working in
6:23
Speaker 1: that area. All right, River and Center Street here in
6:26
Speaker 1: the Granite City between George Street and forretteeny Place is
6:30
Speaker 1: closed this morning, every single Wednesday for the last I
6:35
Speaker 1: don't even know how long we have been featuring Sweethearts
6:38
Speaker 1: and heroes on the air, and it has been with
6:42
Speaker 1: such great pleasure. They have brought some of the most
6:47
Speaker 1: profound and insightful and positive content ever to my program.
6:56
Speaker 1: And it is with great pleasure that Win and Buttonton
7:00
Speaker 1: is with us this morning. Went and good morning, buddy.
7:03
Speaker 3: How are you morning, j D. I'm great today. It's
7:06
Speaker 3: a beautiful day.
7:06
Speaker 1: Man. Josiah was not able to make it kind of
7:09
Speaker 1: the last minute. You're the pinch hitter this morning. Look
7:12
Speaker 1: at that shirt. I wonder if I'll ever get a
7:16
Speaker 1: chance to see a shirt like that up close and personal.
7:20
Speaker 3: I I hope, So I gotta get I gotta get
7:22
Speaker 3: there and have a chance to sit on your couch
7:24
Speaker 3: and see you in person some day.
7:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I that's that's right. I haven't met you yet,
7:29
Speaker 1: have I?
7:30
Speaker 3: No, just virtually.
7:33
Speaker 1: Well, you're a few hours away Rochester, New York, to
7:37
Speaker 1: be exact, right, that's correct, yep, man, what's what's going on?
7:42
Speaker 1: Are things? Are things red hot over there in Rochester too?
7:46
Speaker 1: With with with all of the uh you know, voting
7:50
Speaker 1: and discussions politically of what's happening over there.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's you know, it's I think it's everywhere, and
7:59
Speaker 3: it you know, the biggest thing on the ballot in
8:02
Speaker 3: New York. We had a proposition for the Adirondack Park
8:08
Speaker 3: to allow some development in the Adirondack Park for ski
8:12
Speaker 3: trails around Mount van Hobenberg and things. And as part
8:16
Speaker 3: of that though, they would make about twenty five acres
8:22
Speaker 3: natural forever wild. So it's kind of a trade off,
8:27
Speaker 3: and some of it is due because some work had
8:29
Speaker 3: already started. So that was the biggest proposition on the
8:33
Speaker 3: ballot in New York, and just the local elections and
8:37
Speaker 3: things going on. So it's we'll see how where we
8:41
Speaker 3: are when all the votes are counted.
8:44
Speaker 1: Listen. Of course we're going to talk about what the
8:47
Speaker 1: great things that you guys are are up to and
8:49
Speaker 1: what you're doing. But you know it, I'd be remiss
8:54
Speaker 1: if I didn't just say, and I just want to
8:58
Speaker 1: put this message out on the air this morning. You know,
9:01
Speaker 1: I always having a conversation with a friend. Just a
9:05
Speaker 1: few days ago, it was working on my truck and
9:09
Speaker 1: told me that he has lost a friend over some
9:15
Speaker 1: political differences that have been expressed on social media between
9:20
Speaker 1: the two. And I'm like, man, it's like, how unfortunate,
9:26
Speaker 1: how divided we are. I have friends who are on
9:30
Speaker 1: the total opposite end of the political spectrum than I am,
9:33
Speaker 1: but we're still friends at the end of the day. Man,
9:38
Speaker 1: It's like, if you don't share my belief system, is
9:47
Speaker 1: that really grounds for terminating a friendship? Man? It's like,
9:52
Speaker 1: is there not more to life? This is so many
9:57
Speaker 1: of these discussions and decisions that involve politics, that involve taxes,
10:08
Speaker 1: and I know, man, it's like there's a lot of
10:09
Speaker 1: stuff going on right now. Everybody's worked up. The government's
10:12
Speaker 1: still shut down, a historical event, and people are just
10:19
Speaker 1: getting like, like, it's become personal now. If if you
10:24
Speaker 1: don't share my belief system, you're you're you're hurting me,
10:28
Speaker 1: You're you're damaging me and my family. I mean, this
10:32
Speaker 1: is the temperature. The temperature is red hot, you know.
10:36
Speaker 3: That, yeah, and it's you know, it's one of the
10:39
Speaker 3: things that in our in the circle work that we do.
10:43
Speaker 3: It's one of the things we focus on, is the
10:47
Speaker 3: power of circle is listening to each other and listening
10:51
Speaker 3: to each other's thoughts and ideas and experiences to understand
10:57
Speaker 3: each other. Because we're all human, we all deserve dignity,
11:02
Speaker 3: and we can have different opinions and that's okay, and
11:07
Speaker 3: that we learn from each other. And there's times I've
11:10
Speaker 3: learned from people and my opinion on some things may
11:13
Speaker 3: have shifted because of those conversations.
11:16
Speaker 1: If you're yeah, yeah, yeah, go ahead.
11:19
Speaker 3: Well, and it's just you know, our we all have
11:23
Speaker 3: different experiences that lead to the perspectives that we have. Yeah,
11:27
Speaker 3: and when we we understand you know, just because somebody
11:31
Speaker 3: has a different perspective doesn't mean they're right or wrong.
11:34
Speaker 3: It's just different. And and that's to me, the beauty
11:39
Speaker 3: of our system of government is to enable those conversations
11:45
Speaker 3: about different perspectives to take place. And that's that's one
11:50
Speaker 3: of the things I think we need to get back to,
11:51
Speaker 3: is having some of those substance of conversations about about
11:57
Speaker 3: our whatever the topic is, whether it's health, care or
12:00
Speaker 3: anything else.
12:02
Speaker 1: Sure, So you know, you know what what we all
12:06
Speaker 1: need is we need not necessarily some of us need
12:13
Speaker 1: more friends, some of us need maybe fewer friends, but
12:17
Speaker 1: better friends. We just need to be able to, uh,
12:20
Speaker 1: to come together and have a conversation here, whether it's
12:24
Speaker 1: on social media or face to face. I mean, so
12:27
Speaker 1: many of us we hide behind our keyboards and it
12:31
Speaker 1: we just need to just take a freaking deep breath here. Man,
12:35
Speaker 1: you are if you're just joining us. Wint and Buddington
12:39
Speaker 1: is with Sweethearts and Heroes, which is the world's biggest
12:44
Speaker 1: greatest student empowerment advocacy group organization in the world. You
12:54
Speaker 1: guys have infiltrated yourselves into so many different schools all
12:59
Speaker 1: around the country, mostly here in New England, roots in Vermont.
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Speaker 1: This started with Tom Murphy and rick Yarish right here
13:12
Speaker 1: in Vermont, and it is spread immensely. It is so impressive.
13:19
Speaker 1: Now there's a huge team of you, there's a huge
13:23
Speaker 1: staff of you, and you're all busy every day trying
13:27
Speaker 1: to make a difference in the world. And you're starting
13:32
Speaker 1: with young lives, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and
13:38
Speaker 1: saying we may not be able to change the course
13:47
Speaker 1: of adults. Maybe we can, but the real answer lies
13:54
Speaker 1: with the foundation of our future, and it's getting children
14:00
Speaker 1: to be better versions of themselves. To learn. And you
14:05
Speaker 1: and I've had this discussion in the past. To learn. Yes,
14:07
Speaker 1: you go to school to learn, but also outside of
14:10
Speaker 1: the classroom and inside the classroom, just be a better person,
14:13
Speaker 1: have a different mindset, Understand what bullying looks like, Understand
14:18
Speaker 1: what it means to build character and have conviction and
14:24
Speaker 1: stand up for something when you when you know that
14:26
Speaker 1: something is not right, stand up and defend others, stand up,
14:31
Speaker 1: defend yourselves, and just be better at who you are.
14:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and the schools that we're in, the students
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Speaker 3: are just phenomenal. It's it's incredible watching students take step
14:49
Speaker 3: into leadership roles. We have older students working with younger
14:55
Speaker 3: students in our Brave program and it's just an incredible
14:59
Speaker 3: experience for sets a students, you know. And we've got
15:04
Speaker 3: a couple you know, talking about coming together and we
15:07
Speaker 3: need to come together to have some conversations. We've got
15:11
Speaker 3: a couple events coming up where your listeners can come
15:15
Speaker 3: together and they can they can meet rick Yarish, our
15:20
Speaker 3: Chevy sponsors have done a great job supporting us in
15:24
Speaker 3: schools this year. And if I can plug a couple events.
15:29
Speaker 3: On this Friday, November seventh, up in Burlington, Burlington at
15:35
Speaker 3: KIA Burlington, Rick's going to be doing a meet and
15:38
Speaker 3: greet and giving away some of his books from starting
15:42
Speaker 3: at three point thirty. And then on Veterans Day, November eleventh,
15:46
Speaker 3: he's going to be at Alderman Chevrolet in Rutland, Vermont
15:50
Speaker 3: from one to five. And that'd be a great time
15:52
Speaker 3: for folks to come out see Rick get a copy
15:56
Speaker 3: of his book A Bridge named Amos and and he
16:00
Speaker 3: celebrate a veteran that has just done incredible work for
16:04
Speaker 3: our country and now talking to over a million students
16:07
Speaker 3: in our schools, over.
16:09
Speaker 1: A million students. When that's a basing Man, Yeah, who
16:17
Speaker 1: would have thunk it? And then Monday, uh the tenth,
16:24
Speaker 1: What's happened happening over in Danville?
16:27
Speaker 3: Monday the tenth Domin Rick are presenting in Danville.
16:33
Speaker 1: And I think it's Little Chevrolet that's back in that one.
16:37
Speaker 3: Little Chevrolet is back in that one. Yep.
16:41
Speaker 1: So they're going to be in the in the elementary
16:43
Speaker 1: school there.
16:45
Speaker 3: They're going to be actually uh middle school, high school.
16:49
Speaker 1: Okay, man, I'm.
16:51
Speaker 3: Holding three through sick. Yeah, so yeah, we get everybody
16:55
Speaker 3: I am.
16:56
Speaker 1: I am so hoping to able to catch one of these.
17:01
Speaker 1: Maybe Friday in Burlington, meeting up with with Rick. Uh,
17:05
Speaker 1: such a great guy.
17:07
Speaker 3: Uh.
17:08
Speaker 1: Tom and Rick are both in Plattsburgh today, Mariah in
17:12
Speaker 1: New York. Later. I think you were you were saying.
17:15
Speaker 3: They're in They're in Mariah today. Tom was in Plattsburgh
17:18
Speaker 3: yesterday doing a circle training, and then they're going to
17:22
Speaker 3: be in South colin A, New York at lash and
17:24
Speaker 3: Kill Middle School tomorrow. So they've got a busy week.
17:29
Speaker 3: And then over the weekend, Tom is working with the
17:32
Speaker 3: lineman again, so he's he's not getting much much rest.
17:38
Speaker 1: What a what a conversation that we've had lately about
17:43
Speaker 1: that and mental mental health. And you know, the thing
17:48
Speaker 1: about you guys is you do go up forty thousand feet,
17:52
Speaker 1: but you really take your time getting down into the
17:56
Speaker 1: into the roots of things. And that is so impressive.
17:59
Speaker 1: Not every organization can do that. A lot of a
18:02
Speaker 1: lot of them just like to hang up, you know,
18:05
Speaker 1: up top and just kind of stay generic. You guys
18:10
Speaker 1: really really get your fingers into it. And and I
18:14
Speaker 1: know that that's that's just kind of part of Tom's personality.
18:18
Speaker 1: He just that's just who he is. He's like, we
18:22
Speaker 1: got we're getting to nuts and bolts here, man, We're
18:24
Speaker 1: getting into it well.
18:26
Speaker 3: And it really, you know, as we get into it,
18:29
Speaker 3: you it's a few people can really make a huge difference,
18:33
Speaker 3: whether it's for a school, whether it's for an organization
18:37
Speaker 3: like the Ligneman It. You know, you get a few
18:40
Speaker 3: students that empower, have a little bit of training, a
18:45
Speaker 3: little bit experience with us, and have the empowerment they
18:48
Speaker 3: can really change and shape the culture positively for their school. Yeah,
18:52
Speaker 3: and and that's really it takes getting down to digging
18:58
Speaker 3: in to do that. You can't just do it with
19:01
Speaker 3: a single presentation that that affects the individual. He make
19:05
Speaker 3: some individual changes students here Rick's story, and it really
19:10
Speaker 3: changes their perspective about their own problems and challenges. But
19:14
Speaker 3: that's an individual change. To really change the culture is
19:17
Speaker 3: when we empower students through the circle work and the
19:21
Speaker 3: other programs that we have to really start to take
19:24
Speaker 3: control of their school climate and culture.
19:27
Speaker 1: Rick's going to be in here next Wednesday, I believe
19:33
Speaker 1: I believe in the studio. He may be remote, not
19:36
Speaker 1: sure where he's going to be.
19:37
Speaker 3: I think he's going to be in the studio because
19:39
Speaker 3: he's coming awesome. He's at Alderman Chevrolet in Rutland on Tuesday,
19:45
Speaker 3: and then he's back in the Albany area at Academy
19:48
Speaker 3: of the Holy Names on Thursday. So I think he's
19:51
Speaker 3: going to plan it to come into the studio.
19:53
Speaker 1: Rick Yarish a veteran who almost died in Iraq when
19:58
Speaker 1: his badly was blown up a roadside bomb and he
20:04
Speaker 1: was uh. His whole body was covered in diesel fuel
20:09
Speaker 1: and burned alive, and for a very long time it
20:15
Speaker 1: was questionable whether or not he was going to make it.
20:20
Speaker 1: His whole body has been melted, his ears, his nose
20:26
Speaker 1: are gone, his his fingers, but he survived and he's
20:35
Speaker 1: you know, his his message has has always been.
20:41
Speaker 3: Man.
20:41
Speaker 1: Physically I was, I was damaged, but I still have
20:48
Speaker 1: my my heart and my soul, my passion not only
20:52
Speaker 1: to love, but to be loved and to persevere. We're
21:00
Speaker 1: regardless of what challenges lie ahead of us. And man,
21:04
Speaker 1: if you think that the ship is not going to
21:10
Speaker 1: hit the fan in your life, you're wrong, because it's
21:16
Speaker 1: it's going to and if it hasn't already, and if
21:19
Speaker 1: it has already, it's gonna again. And it's you have
21:23
Speaker 1: to expect this, and it's it's how to have the
21:26
Speaker 1: right mindset to know ahead of time that you're going
21:31
Speaker 1: to be okay.
21:33
Speaker 3: And and that part of that mindset that we talk
21:37
Speaker 3: to students and people about is what hope stands for
21:41
Speaker 3: for us, which is hold on possibilities exist there it is,
21:46
Speaker 3: you know, and that that is so I even in
21:49
Speaker 3: my own life as I faced challenges and things, you know,
21:53
Speaker 3: I don't I don't don't know what tomorrow is sure
21:56
Speaker 3: and tomorrow, but there are possibilities that exists in the future,
22:02
Speaker 3: you know. I when I was I was a middle
22:05
Speaker 3: school principal for fourteen years and decided to retire. I
22:09
Speaker 3: didn't have a plan to work with Sweethearts and heroes.
22:13
Speaker 3: That was something that just it was a possibility that
22:17
Speaker 3: happened after I had retired. Wow. And so you know,
22:21
Speaker 3: and when Tom called me up, it was I jumped
22:24
Speaker 3: at the chance because I had worked with him for
22:26
Speaker 3: about seven years in my building and saw the impact
22:29
Speaker 3: on our climate and culture. But it wasn't something. When
22:31
Speaker 3: I made the decision to retire. It wasn't like I
22:34
Speaker 3: was retiring to work with Sweethearts and Heroes. So there
22:37
Speaker 3: are possibilities out there in the future that we don't
22:40
Speaker 3: know what's going to align for us, right, we just
22:46
Speaker 3: have to know that those possibilities exist.
22:49
Speaker 1: Tom says that you were a middle school principal for
22:56
Speaker 1: the length of fourteen years, which is crazy, and that
22:59
Speaker 1: that that's mostly the reason why you've you've lost all
23:03
Speaker 1: your hair because you were just pulling it out by
23:05
Speaker 1: the by the clumpful. Is that true.
23:08
Speaker 3: No, I tend to run hot, so keeping the hair
23:12
Speaker 3: short is much more pooling for the I know it's
23:17
Speaker 3: time to get my haircut when I start getting a
23:20
Speaker 3: little warm or it gets too warm.
23:21
Speaker 1: Listen. One of Tom's techniques with Sweethearts and Heroes has been,
23:27
Speaker 1: as you were just saying a little while ago, to
23:31
Speaker 1: to bring students and faculty uh together and to sit
23:36
Speaker 1: down in a circle, which you don't even gonna have
23:40
Speaker 1: to say another word. So many of us just hear
23:44
Speaker 1: that alone, and we're like, WHOA, I do not want
23:48
Speaker 1: to do that. I don't want to sit down and
23:51
Speaker 1: talk and I definitely don't want to sit down in
23:57
Speaker 1: a circle where we can all see each other. Do
24:01
Speaker 1: I have to talk? Do you get that?
24:05
Speaker 3: Yeah? And one of our guidelines for circle is we
24:10
Speaker 3: need good listeners. You don't have to talk, you can pass,
24:14
Speaker 3: you don't have to respond to the question. And circle
24:17
Speaker 3: also it circles, not a dialogue that we have a
24:21
Speaker 3: talking piece. It goes in one direction around the circle.
24:24
Speaker 3: So if somebody says something, there's not a back and forth.
24:28
Speaker 3: It goes around. Talking piece can go around again if
24:32
Speaker 3: you want to comment on something somebody else said. But
24:35
Speaker 3: that process is designed to have people listen to what
24:40
Speaker 3: other people are saying and to think about what other
24:43
Speaker 3: people are saying. And in circle you go through a
24:46
Speaker 3: lot of self regulated thinking. You think of you're listening,
24:50
Speaker 3: you have a question, you're thinking about what you want
24:52
Speaker 3: to say, and you're thinking about how comfortable you are,
24:56
Speaker 3: how vulnerable you're willing to make yourself to share that
24:59
Speaker 3: information with it screw. The part of what we do
25:03
Speaker 3: in our circle practice is we do activators before we
25:06
Speaker 3: sit down to circle. And the activators are activities that
25:11
Speaker 3: just get people moving, have them connecting, and start having
25:17
Speaker 3: them be a little bit vulnerable. When you're having fun
25:20
Speaker 3: or laughing or making an awkward movement, you start making
25:25
Speaker 3: yourself a little bit vulnerable. And then when you sit
25:27
Speaker 3: down and circle, you're already at a place where you're
25:31
Speaker 3: a little bit more open to have some dial some
25:34
Speaker 3: of that conversation and sharing.
25:36
Speaker 1: Is this the wonder questioning technique that I've heard you
25:40
Speaker 1: guys talk about.
25:42
Speaker 3: Well, our wonder questioning technique is built off of the
25:45
Speaker 3: question formulation technique research and what it leads us. What
25:50
Speaker 3: we found is is we sat down in circle and
25:53
Speaker 3: started doing circles. We were coming up with questions, and
25:57
Speaker 3: as we were coming up with questions, we realized we
26:00
Speaker 3: were kind of going through a process for that, and
26:03
Speaker 3: we said, well we as schools. We worked with schools
26:07
Speaker 3: and trained teachers to run circle. They started working with
26:10
Speaker 3: kids on coming up with questions, and the two kind
26:13
Speaker 3: of merged together for us in our Wonder question technique,
26:17
Speaker 3: which is just expanding kids thinking, expanding people's thinking to
26:22
Speaker 3: just wonder and come up with thoughts and questions about
26:27
Speaker 3: a topic, an object, or something. So I know, in
26:30
Speaker 3: your studio, you've got a beautiful red couch and it's
26:35
Speaker 3: got some ornate would work around it. So the idea,
26:40
Speaker 3: like the wonder questioning technique, if that couch was what
26:43
Speaker 3: we were talking about, would be we'd start by just
26:45
Speaker 3: brainstorming as wonderstorming questions about the couch, you know, who
26:50
Speaker 3: carved it, who sat on it, what stories can it tell?
26:54
Speaker 3: All those kind of questions, and then we filter those
26:58
Speaker 3: down to say, which questions really interesting? Why? Why? Why
27:01
Speaker 3: did I ask that question? Why might I be curious
27:04
Speaker 3: about who carved all of that would on the couch?
27:09
Speaker 3: Maybe that's something that I'm I think interested in, Maybe
27:13
Speaker 3: I whittle and that's why I would think of that question.
27:17
Speaker 3: And then we it narrows down further to get to
27:19
Speaker 3: the apex questions about which questions are kind of those
27:23
Speaker 3: quick answer questions versus a broader question, and which questions
27:27
Speaker 3: really connect with the human experience across multiple people. And
27:34
Speaker 3: you get down to a question where, you know, what's
27:40
Speaker 3: the role of a couch? Could be a circle question?
27:45
Speaker 3: And so it really takes kids through that process and
27:49
Speaker 3: helps them develop questions for their own circles.
27:51
Speaker 1: It's it's a portal really into into some of these open,
27:56
Speaker 1: open questions. And I, you know, I experienced circle one
28:03
Speaker 1: time with Tom and a bunch of students up at
28:07
Speaker 1: Peru High School. And I was fascinated because the direction
28:14
Speaker 1: of the of the subject, of the conversations, of the
28:21
Speaker 1: thought processes are changing constantly, and it's the furthest thing
28:30
Speaker 1: from boring. It's absolutely fascinating. And for someone like Tom
28:36
Speaker 1: and I, both who are naturally inquisitive people, Yeah, we
28:43
Speaker 1: we have a lot of questions, We have a lot
28:45
Speaker 1: of follow up questions. That's that's that's what I do
28:48
Speaker 1: for a living. Was extremely, extremely difficult for me to
28:58
Speaker 1: sit and keep my mouth shut and I didn't really
29:02
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand the rules that when it's your
29:05
Speaker 1: turn to speak, it's your turn to speak, and if
29:10
Speaker 1: you're not speaking, you're listening, which is very hard to do,
29:15
Speaker 1: and it's very hard to do right now. It's hard
29:21
Speaker 1: to do at home with our husband and wife and children,
29:29
Speaker 1: but it's also difficult to do with our neighbors, our friends,
29:36
Speaker 1: folks that might be strangers that are on social media
29:41
Speaker 1: who have vastly different political views, in opinions about what
29:50
Speaker 1: is right and what is wrong and what's going to
29:53
Speaker 1: hurt us and what's going to be better for us? Wow,
29:56
Speaker 1: is it difficult to listen when holy crap.
30:00
Speaker 3: Yeah. And you know, we talk in our circle training about,
30:04
Speaker 3: you know, when do we teach kids to listen besides
30:07
Speaker 3: just saying, hey, listen to me, you know. And some
30:11
Speaker 3: of our best teachers where we're teaching kids to listen
30:15
Speaker 3: are in our music programs because they're teaching the clarinets
30:18
Speaker 3: to listen to the saxophones. They're teaching, you know, where
30:22
Speaker 3: when you come in are you are you on the
30:24
Speaker 3: same pitch as somebody else and they're explaining what they
30:27
Speaker 3: should be listening for. One of the techniques that Tom
30:31
Speaker 3: talks about in our circle training for listening is in
30:36
Speaker 3: your head, as someone else is talking, repeat the words
30:40
Speaker 3: that they're saying, yeah, and you'll and you'll find that
30:42
Speaker 3: you can't think because there's so oftentimes we're thinking of
30:46
Speaker 3: a response, we're thinking, there's so many things running through
30:48
Speaker 3: our head, we're not really focused and present fully with
30:51
Speaker 3: the person. But if you're repeating what they're saying in
30:54
Speaker 3: your head as they're saying it, you'll be much more focused.
30:58
Speaker 1: Thing about this thing about circle, that one experience that
31:02
Speaker 1: I had up at Peru High School with those students
31:05
Speaker 1: that was really difficult for me is I live with
31:12
Speaker 1: a pen and a piece of paper close by all
31:16
Speaker 1: the time. It's next to my bed where I sleep,
31:21
Speaker 1: it's in my car, it's here in the studio, it's
31:27
Speaker 1: everywhere I go. I've got a pad of paper and
31:31
Speaker 1: a pen, several pens in case one runs out of ink.
31:36
Speaker 1: And that's happened to me before, and it sends me
31:38
Speaker 1: into an absolute panic. But I didn't know what I
31:44
Speaker 1: was getting into when I sat down in that circle
31:47
Speaker 1: in Peru. My pad of paper and my pen were
31:53
Speaker 1: on a desk about thirty feet behind me, and I
31:58
Speaker 1: wanted to take notes on everything that I was hearing,
32:01
Speaker 1: everything that I was listening to. It's not easy, man,
32:06
Speaker 1: It's it's not easy.
32:09
Speaker 3: It takes practice. Circle. It's circle is a practice, and
32:15
Speaker 3: that's part of the you know, the the more you
32:20
Speaker 3: do circle, the more you it, the easier it becomes
32:25
Speaker 3: to follow that and be in that environment. And the
32:30
Speaker 3: more you're connections you're making.
32:32
Speaker 1: While you're there, you know, and and the students need
32:35
Speaker 1: to there's a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is biological.
32:42
Speaker 1: My wife keeps telling me that I have a huge
32:45
Speaker 1: hearing problem, but a listen. You know, listening issue is
32:54
Speaker 1: in my opinion, so much worse. Students need to listen
33:00
Speaker 1: to their teachers. They need to think not just about
33:04
Speaker 1: what their teachers are saying, but why they're saying it,
33:09
Speaker 1: that maybe there's a greater reason. Maybe they're not just
33:12
Speaker 1: picking on you or or bugging you, but maybe they
33:18
Speaker 1: have good reason behind it. But the adults, man, it's
33:23
Speaker 1: like the teachers, the administrators, they need to listen to
33:26
Speaker 1: the students too. That often there's a much bigger picture.
33:30
Speaker 1: There's something underlying, that's that's not in the forefront, that's
33:35
Speaker 1: that's being covered up. That's huge.
33:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and it's for for everybody. You know. As
33:42
Speaker 3: a principal, I really worked hard to listen to my teachers.
33:47
Speaker 1: And read and read between the lines.
33:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know what, you know, we also talk
33:54
Speaker 3: about behavior as a form of communication, and it's it's
33:58
Speaker 3: it's the non verbal form, right, So there's something going
34:02
Speaker 3: on and to figure that out, we need to listen
34:05
Speaker 3: and understand. If somebody says, no, I'm not gonna I
34:08
Speaker 3: don't want to do that, let's figure out what's behind that.
34:12
Speaker 3: And they might have a very valid reason why they
34:16
Speaker 3: shouldn't do that or you know why that shouldn't happen
34:20
Speaker 3: in a school or whatever. And if we're not listening,
34:23
Speaker 3: we don't understand that perspective and that that reason, and
34:28
Speaker 3: we're just moving forward with that kind of compliance authoritarian position.
34:35
Speaker 1: One of the amazing things about Tom and what you
34:38
Speaker 1: guys have have done with part of your your circle training,
34:42
Speaker 1: which I know is just one stem of what you
34:47
Speaker 1: guys do sweethearts and heroes in schools, but when you're
34:51
Speaker 1: bringing people into a circle that certain faces would never
34:58
Speaker 1: be sitting in the same circle with each other and
35:02
Speaker 1: looking across at each other for lots of different reasons.
35:07
Speaker 1: Maybe they just flat out don't like each other. Maybe
35:12
Speaker 1: one's a geek, maybe one's a jock, whoever whatever Emo Yeah,
35:20
Speaker 1: which my kid is still teaching me about. But it
35:25
Speaker 1: gets people to like get be uncomfortable for a little
35:29
Speaker 1: bit for a little while. Usually that kind of goes
35:31
Speaker 1: away soon though.
35:33
Speaker 3: Well, kids realize things that they haven't thought about, you know.
35:37
Speaker 3: So if we've got the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, if
35:42
Speaker 3: you're in circle and you're talking about what's a what's
35:46
Speaker 3: a tradition, what's a tradition something your family does at holiday? Time,
35:51
Speaker 3: whether it's Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever. And two or
35:54
Speaker 3: three of those students you're talking about talk about something
35:59
Speaker 3: at graham own Grandpa's house, and they may never have
36:03
Speaker 3: really consciously thought about that person that they don't like
36:08
Speaker 3: has a grandma and grandpa too, and that they have
36:10
Speaker 3: a tradition and maybe the tradition is the same, maybe
36:13
Speaker 3: they do the same thing or have the same you know,
36:17
Speaker 3: and that all of a sudden, their perspective about that
36:20
Speaker 3: person shifts just a little bit. It doesn't doesn't mean
36:25
Speaker 3: they're going to become best friends automatically, but there's a
36:28
Speaker 3: little bit more of a connection there that, hey, this
36:31
Speaker 3: person isn't that different from me than I thought they were.
36:35
Speaker 1: Sure. And not only that, but when the circle splits
36:45
Speaker 1: up and we go about our days in the days
36:52
Speaker 1: in the weeks that follow, that one student who sees
37:00
Speaker 1: another student passing the hallway will know something about that
37:06
Speaker 1: person reciprocal that they never knew and maybe think of
37:13
Speaker 1: them in a different way, or maybe even if they're
37:18
Speaker 1: not associated in several several different ways, but at least
37:21
Speaker 1: get eye contact and nod ahead, fist bump, whatever, some
37:27
Speaker 1: kind of connection.
37:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, and and even if you know, they see that
37:33
Speaker 3: person looking a little glom one day, right, they might
37:36
Speaker 3: they might say, hey, how you doing, because they've got
37:40
Speaker 3: that that connection, and that can make the world of
37:43
Speaker 3: difference for that student.
37:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, so so true. I want you to explain to
37:53
Speaker 1: folks a little bit in closing this morning what it
37:58
Speaker 1: is that you do with sweethearts and heroes. Maybe a
38:03
Speaker 1: little explanation of what Sweethearts and Heroes is and how
38:09
Speaker 1: schools can get involved. I mean, we're going to be
38:13
Speaker 1: Danville on Monday, which you guys have been to in
38:17
Speaker 1: the past. You've been to my daughter's school here in Fromont,
38:23
Speaker 1: You've been to so many different schools. But a little
38:27
Speaker 1: bit about who you are, what you do for sweethearts
38:30
Speaker 1: and heroes.
38:33
Speaker 3: So we bring our We're a student empathy empowerment group
38:39
Speaker 3: organization is how I describe it. Have we bring our
38:44
Speaker 3: message of hope, empathy, empowerment and bystander activation to schools
38:50
Speaker 3: and to students and staff. And we do that through
38:53
Speaker 3: our presentations, our circle work. We've got a Brave program
38:58
Speaker 3: that older kids are working with younger kids. Got a
39:01
Speaker 3: Step program where we're training high school students to deliver
39:04
Speaker 3: our K two and three five presentations. We do circle
39:08
Speaker 3: training for teachers and students. We have a community Ambassador
39:12
Speaker 3: program where we have one of our staff in a
39:15
Speaker 3: school on a regular basis helping with this work very frequent,
39:20
Speaker 3: whether weekly or every other week, monthly throughout the year.
39:25
Speaker 3: We have three leadership classes for high school that embed
39:29
Speaker 3: this work in a sustainable model for high school leadership
39:32
Speaker 3: courses so that after our school works with us for
39:35
Speaker 3: a period of time, they can continue this work without us.
39:41
Speaker 3: And our website is Sweethearts Andheroes dot com and if
39:44
Speaker 3: you go on the website you can see all the information.
39:47
Speaker 3: There's a contact form on there. If you're interested in
39:50
Speaker 3: having us come in or want to talk to us
39:53
Speaker 3: about the programs and services we offer, fill out the
39:56
Speaker 3: form and that's part of my job is to get
39:59
Speaker 3: in touch and follow up there. Tom will follow up
40:02
Speaker 3: with a school that submits a form and then I'll
40:04
Speaker 3: follow up and we talk about more in depth of
40:07
Speaker 3: the programs. And then the other part of my role
40:10
Speaker 3: is to help schools what does that look like, what's
40:14
Speaker 3: that implementation plan? And we have our Hope Classroom online
40:19
Speaker 3: resources on the Thriveway platform, which is a strength based
40:23
Speaker 3: social emotional platform that really let's helps with continuing the
40:30
Speaker 3: work once we're not there. We come in for a presentation,
40:33
Speaker 3: we know there's voltage drop. We know that was a
40:35
Speaker 3: great presentation. Everybody's excited, But when you get back to
40:38
Speaker 3: your regular routine, how do you keep that message going.
40:42
Speaker 3: That's where our hope classroom resources come in with our
40:44
Speaker 3: lessons and activities online that are the anticipatory set that
40:49
Speaker 3: leads into classroom conversations as well. So that whole package
40:54
Speaker 3: is what really we help schools with, and that's part
40:58
Speaker 3: of my job right now is a Director of Outreach
41:01
Speaker 3: and Logistics is my title, and it's to help people
41:04
Speaker 3: figure out what we have to offer and how we
41:08
Speaker 3: can integrate it with what they have going on in
41:10
Speaker 3: their school.
41:11
Speaker 1: What do you I always love to ask this question.
41:15
Speaker 1: What do you say to a parent or a teacher,
41:21
Speaker 1: an administrator anywhere that's listening this morning that hasn't yet
41:27
Speaker 1: discovered sweethearts and heroes and they haven't had them in
41:31
Speaker 1: the school yet.
41:34
Speaker 3: Let's talk, is what I say. You know what, Let's
41:37
Speaker 3: figure out how we can work with you and what
41:42
Speaker 3: your your school climate and culture needs and how we
41:48
Speaker 3: can help support that there's no harm in a conversation.
41:53
Speaker 3: And you know, we we're already booked up through getting
41:57
Speaker 3: booked up through February now, so our calendar's getting pretty
42:02
Speaker 3: full for this year. So as we have conversations starting now,
42:06
Speaker 3: we may be talking more about next year and some
42:09
Speaker 3: And it takes a little while to to locate financial
42:13
Speaker 3: resources and things for programs and services that we offer
42:16
Speaker 3: and through grants and things, so we're happy to work
42:19
Speaker 3: with people on that aspect as well. So what I
42:22
Speaker 3: would say is, let's have a conversation.
42:25
Speaker 1: Give our listeners to uh to close up this morning
42:29
Speaker 1: went and give our listeners heads up on what to
42:34
Speaker 1: expect next Wednesday. When Rickyrish comes in.
42:37
Speaker 3: Here, oh tune in. I mean it, Rick. I love
42:46
Speaker 3: just talking with Rick. He's he's funny, he's he's entertaining
42:52
Speaker 3: and incredible personality and just so inspiring with everything he's
42:58
Speaker 3: been through and and the effort he's put in and
43:04
Speaker 3: everything he's overcome to be a husband, a father, and
43:12
Speaker 3: motivational speaker. He works with tunnels to towers, just so
43:17
Speaker 3: many things that he does that he is one of
43:23
Speaker 3: my heroes. And just your audience is going to enjoy
43:30
Speaker 3: and be inspired by a great man.
43:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, understatement. He really is something else. Man. I can't
43:41
Speaker 1: wait when man, you bring the goods every time. Absolutely
43:49
Speaker 1: love Wednesdays and I love having you guys on here.
43:53
Speaker 1: You bring so much positivity to my airwaves and to
43:57
Speaker 1: the ears of my listeners, my followers here at aired
44:03
Speaker 1: out and I cannot thank you guys enough.
44:06
Speaker 3: Well, we appreciate it. And you know, while we're the
44:10
Speaker 3: work we do for schools, we know that the messages
44:14
Speaker 3: and the things we're talking about, like hope, standing for,
44:16
Speaker 3: hold on, possibilities exist, are good for everybody to hear
44:20
Speaker 3: adults as well, and we appreciate the opportunity to talk
44:24
Speaker 3: with you and share that our messages with your listeners.
44:29
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, my brother, have a fantastic christ
44:34
Speaker 1: of your day, Bud, Wynt and Buddington, Sweethearts and Heroes
44:39
Speaker 1: here live this morning. The rest of my day is well,
44:46
Speaker 1: it's going to be an interesting one, I'll tell you that.
44:50
Speaker 1: But I hope that some of what Wynton was saying
44:55
Speaker 1: this morning will resonate with you throughout the rest your
45:00
Speaker 1: day and the rest of your week and maybe beyond again.
45:04
Speaker 1: Hop On, Sweethearts Andheeroes, dot com today, I'm going to
45:08
Speaker 1: be heading over to Optical Expressions. I'm wearing my Optical
45:14
Speaker 1: Expressions studio glasses so that i can see what the
45:18
Speaker 1: hell's going on right now. Will put these together. He
45:23
Speaker 1: made these for me and they're wonderful. But they've got
45:26
Speaker 1: some deals going on right now in the month of
45:29
Speaker 1: November that I'm probably going to be taking them up on,
45:34
Speaker 1: maybe some progressive lenses. It's very difficult for me to
45:43
Speaker 1: say by folks. I cannot say byfocals. I won't say
45:46
Speaker 1: byfocals because if I do, then I sound like an
45:50
Speaker 1: old man. So I'm not going to say the word byfocal.
45:53
Speaker 1: I'll say progressive lenses. But anyway, I'll be over there
45:58
Speaker 1: at some point soon today. Look at some of the
46:00
Speaker 1: different they got frames right now for ninety nine bucks
46:03
Speaker 1: in a month in November. If you haven't been over
46:05
Speaker 1: to Optical Expressions, I also need to book an eye exam.
46:09
Speaker 1: You need to get over there Monday through Friday eight
46:11
Speaker 1: to six in their new location, the fourth floor of
46:14
Speaker 1: the Blanchard Block in Berrier. I say new location because
46:17
Speaker 1: they've been up at the Berlin Mall for a million years,
46:19
Speaker 1: but they've also been at the blanch block now for
46:23
Speaker 1: quite a while. So if you haven't yet explored, hop
46:26
Speaker 1: in the elevator press floor four and the door's open
46:31
Speaker 1: and you're right there in front of Optical Expressions two
46:34
Speaker 1: two three, twenty ninety to set up an exam today.
46:39
Speaker 1: One of our presenting sponsors, who we love so much, eyesight,
46:46
Speaker 1: talk about something that so many of us, if not
46:49
Speaker 1: all of us, take for granted right there, so you
46:54
Speaker 1: may see new pair of specs on this old feller
46:57
Speaker 1: at some point, I don't know. Once again, River and
47:04
Speaker 1: Center Street closed between George Street and Frettini Place this
47:13
Speaker 1: morning they've got traffic detours set up. River Street and
47:20
Speaker 1: Center Street closed between George Street and Frettini Place. Keep
47:27
Speaker 1: that in mind today on your travels. What's happening with
47:32
Speaker 1: the results of our local voting yesterday. We should get
47:41
Speaker 1: a better picture here very soon, I know, the the
47:47
Speaker 1: bond vote on the Central Fromont Career Center. We should
47:50
Speaker 1: have some results by Thursday. But there's a lot of
47:54
Speaker 1: work that needs to be done and some patients that
47:57
Speaker 1: we need to exercise in the meanwhile, So we'll be watching,
48:03
Speaker 1: we'll be listening, we'll be paying attention not only to
48:09
Speaker 1: that proposal of a new career center, but also the
48:14
Speaker 1: new city garage and the housing project on Seminary Street
48:21
Speaker 1: here in Barry. Paying attention, watching, listening, and yes, I
48:26
Speaker 1: will be in touch with Nicholas Starelli Castro, our city manager,
48:29
Speaker 1: to get some more information. Okay, listen, please deep breath today,
48:36
Speaker 1: stay well, take good care of yourself tomorrow. I know
48:43
Speaker 1: Bob Ross was in here last Thursday, caused it a
48:47
Speaker 1: lot of problems. Tomorrow Ge wants to do something that
48:56
Speaker 1: I'm not fully in support of frankly a little nervous about.
49:06
Speaker 1: But we're gonna have some fun and hopefully if we
49:12
Speaker 1: don't make you laugh tomorrow, if we don't make you
49:16
Speaker 1: laugh on Thursdays, maybe we can at least bring an
49:21
Speaker 1: internal smile to your soul or make you close your
49:26
Speaker 1: eyes and say, what a couple of jerks. That's our goal.
49:35
Speaker 1: We love Thursdays. We hope you do too. It's coming tomorrow.
49:39
Speaker 1: I can hardly wait, even though I'm slightly nervous. Have
49:42
Speaker 1: a fantastic rest of your day, everybody, all right, take
49:45
Speaker 1: good care, be kind. We'll get through the rest of
49:50
Speaker 1: this week together. Thanks for tuning in the school sy