Mindset Connection Episode 47: Catherine Brienza

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Welcome to the Mindset Connection podcast and welcome back to episode 47.
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We are your hosts, Jennifer Clearwaters and Cindy O'Connell, and in every episode, we are showcasing amazing people who are doing amazing things in the field of mental health and wellness.
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And today we are welcoming our guest, Kathy Brianza.
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Thank you for being here with us.
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Thanks for having me.
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Yeah.
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And Cindy is going to jump in to the bio.
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Kathy is a native of Brooklyn, New York.
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She's the daughter of a fireman and a homemaker and a member of a close, mostly Italian American family.
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She is Summa Kum Laude, a graduate of St.
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John's University, and a graduate of St.
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John's University Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review.
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She practiced commercial real estate law at major law firms in New York and Boston after law school and did not have the passion for commercial enterprise.
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After becoming a mother, she practiced play therapy with children on the autistic spectrum, tutored underserved children in Newark.
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And in 2018, she founded an activist organization, Jolt USA, of which she is a president.
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Kathy has been recognized for her work in educating and empowering others to become informed and active citizens.
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She was the recipient of the Trailblazer Award in 2018 for Jolt Get the Void uh vote out.
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And through Jolt, she has raised a civic engagement in Bergen County through co-sponsoring rallies on issues such as gun control, immigration, biodiversity, and climate.
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She also is the proud wife of Dr.
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Patrick Roth, who was also a guest on our podcast, and the mother of two incredible children.
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One is a physicist and one is a doctor.
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And in her words, she unfortunately didn't raise a lawyer.
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But uh, you know, Jen and I do, we were discussing this with um Kathy before we started.
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And uh after Dr.
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Roth was on the podcast, we were out in the hallway and he said and we were like, Oh, you did such an amazing job.
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His words were wait, I have another guest for you.
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It's my wife.
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She's amazing.
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So the two of them uh have such a respect for each other, which I think is how long have you been married?
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Oh gosh.
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He remembers better than I do.
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I thirty a long time, a long time, four years, thirty-five years, thirty-five years who have such respect for each other, and I think it is just you know, so I just wanted to bring it to the audience's attention because you it's rare that you see that anymore.
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And that was his first thought was to say, like, oh, you need to have my wife on.
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And we said this was like six, seven months ago, and we've been trying ever since to get in touch with you.
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Well, let's jump in and talk about like first your law career.
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Like, how did you how did you find your way to law, the field of law?
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And then once you were in it, we hear this a lot actually a lot.
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Cindy and I used to do the we the mindfulness lounge at the New Jersey Bar Association, and we talked to a lot of young lawyers that would come in and then say, like, and old lawyers.
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And old lawyers, but but we would hear that from people that would come in and say to us, you know, I I'm in this job and I I don't think I can do this for the next 20 years.
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You know, how am I gonna manage it?
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It's not what I thought it was gonna be.
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Yeah.
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So interesting.
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Tell us your story.
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Yeah, I do think you're right.
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A lot of lawyers want to be something else.
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I mean, one of the things that I loved about uh practicing law in a big firm is these people were smart and funny, but who wanted to go write screenplays and who wanted to write books, and you know, a lot of lawyers want to be doing something else.
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That being said, I think the practice of law is amazing.
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I think um law school everybody should go to.
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Uh I think it it it teaches you critical thinking, um, you know, to question things, to reason.
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I I think it's really it was really great for that.
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You know, it's really weird.
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You're born the way you're born as a kid.
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I just always had an acute sense of justice.
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I have no idea why.
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I grew up in Brooklyn and they were uh all um, you know, they were it was Knicks in Brooklyn, it was Republican Brooklyn, and it was during the Vietnam War, and I would see these things on the screen, you know, they they started showing the bodies coming, et cetera, and kids marching.
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And I just was like, oh my god, I want to be in college now.
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And I was like 13 or 14.
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I got to college and Reagan was president, and everybody was wearing Lily Pulitzers, and you know, it was lacrosse shirts, and I didn't get to I didn't get to do my marching.
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But um, but I I uh my dad was a fireman.
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Uh he was a big man, he took up the room, and everybody looked up to him.
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Um, and he took care of the block and he spent his life taking care of everybody.
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And um I think he always helped people, and I think that was kind of innate.
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And um, so I thought I would help people, but also my mom was a homemaker, so and it like Italian American homemaker, and I'm like, well, you know, I my kids, I want to have kids and be with my kids.
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So anyway, I started going for my doctorate in school psych, which you said earlier.
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I didn't I didn't tell you that.
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Another fun fact that one more thing she's done.
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It was right after college, right after college.
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So I'm like, you know, 22.
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I still want to have fun and party, and I end up at this with 15 other people that I'm gonna spend four years with.
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And um, they were all age ranges, a lot of second careers, and a lot of people with their own like personal issues.
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And I was just not ready for it.
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I was too young, I wasn't ready.
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By the way, I was a special ed major first, and I know you guys did that.
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That was yeah, so so anyway, wanting to help people, yes, and and I always, well, this is the irony.
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So I always thought about law, but thought it would just be like too much.
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But then I'm in this doctoral program, I'm like, oh my god, this is seven years.
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I've got to write a dissertation.
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What am I crazy?
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So I applied to law school.
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I only applied to St.
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John's because I knew I'd get a scholarship and my dad was a fireman.
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I don't even think I realized that we wouldn't have the money for me to go to law school.
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I don't even think that was a mental process, but we wouldn't have.
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You know, I got out of college and law school with$3,000 of and that was it.
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And I've debt?
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That was it.
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Wow.
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Yeah, and my father managed to pay that.
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Yeah.
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So anyway, um, so I go to law school, I go on a scholarship, and to keep the scholarship, I have to make this thing called Laurie View.
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And I literally, nobody in my family's gone to college.
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I don't know what this is.
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And uh, but so I had to have a certain average, I had to do a writing competition, and I got on Laurie View.
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And um, then all of a sudden, it was like you if you go to a school like St.
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John's, you really want you have to come out on top.
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That's just the way it is to have if you want these big firm jobs or whatever.
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And all of a sudden, I'm being offered these jobs when I come out, and I'm thinking I want to do public interest work, but I'm being offered jobs in big firms that are more than my father ever made in his like whole life.
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So I'm like, okay, you know what?
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I'll do this for like a year or two.
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And yeah.
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And so I I go to this firm, and unfortunately, it well, in-law firms, a lot of the partners, I could get in a lot of trouble here, but a lot of them are jerks, right?
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When you get up there, they're I unfortunately the head partner, I was in commercial real estate, and the head partner was just phenomenal.
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He was this great guy, and he was the kind of guy that he said jump and you said how high.
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And and so before I knew it, like five years went by.
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And uh Pat, as you know, my husband, he's a neurosurgeon.
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He's in he's doing his residency now in Boston.
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And at that time it was a seven-year partnership track, and he's doing his residency in Boston, and um, we get married, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna come to Boston, and I go and and I'm gonna switch.
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I'm gonna do public interest work.
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And I go and tell the people I'm leaving, and of course they're like, Oh, you're on partnership track, which uh would be music to some people's ears.
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To me, it was like, no, I don't want that.
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And um so I interview all over Boston, and Boston is very uh nepotistic, it's a smaller community, and yeah, who knows who.
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Who knows who?
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And I get one offer in the public interest sector for um reviewing railway easements for the Department of Transportation.
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Oh, sounds interesting.
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And and the woman the right for$15,000 a year.
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And I have to tell you, at that point, at that point I was making$110 in New York.
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Yes.
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I supported Pat.
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Let's get that straight.
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Pat, I know you're listening to this.
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Um, but so anyway, I I was like, okay, I I didn't take that.
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I I kind of wish I had because you know, transportation is so important for the environment.
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Yeah.
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And if you could work on that, there would have been a a a way to do that.
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But instead, I had offers from big firms down there, went down the big firm path again.
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So yeah, never ever landed where I should have with law.
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Where you wanted it.
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Yeah.
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But you know, I I think that, you know, when Jen and I have uh often talked about this, every single thing that we've done has led us to this moment now.
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Yeah.
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And I feel like, you know, so you saw how people couldn't be evil at the top.
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Yeah.
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So you and you saw how I'm sure you saw a lot of politicians how they were because of working in the fields that you were working in.
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Actually, commercial real estate was more people like uh our current leader of the free world, and um nobody would do business with him then.
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So that's all.
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Okay.
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So so um, you know, my point being that had you not done that, I don't think you would have been as knowledgeable to have even started.
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Yeah, you know, it's just or or to know that, you know, I I gave it my best shot.
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I'm in law, I'm and I I don't feel like this is the best value for what I what I have to give.
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You know, like and then and then from there you were able to really see it and say, I definitely don't want to do this for the rest of my life.
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Well, you know what's interesting what you just said.
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I mean, I'd never really thought of it this way, but that's a really high pressure job.
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And I was the only woman in the room a lot of the time.
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Men were smoking cigars, you know, it was a very it was a different time and a different club.
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It was the men's club, and um, I do think that that made me much more confident because I had to be.
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You know, you have to stand up to anybody and talk to anybody.
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So I do think yeah, you are so I do think it had that benefit.
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But part of the reason I stopped was because of that it wasn't my passion, but it was that combined with the fact that Patrick comes up again, was working a hundred hours a week, literally, like seriously when I tell you 80 to 100 hours a week.
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So uh now you have kids, he's gone a hundred hours a week.
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My job was a job that you didn't have what time to do, you know, you you worked weekends, you didn't have freedom.
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Yeah, so somebody had to cry uncle, yeah, and I cried uncle.
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Yeah, yeah.
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And it was easier for me to do.
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Because like you can't, you you realize that like what kind of life am I gonna be having if er if we're all working these crazy hours?
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No, you can't have a family, enjoy your family.
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And what was the point?
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Yeah, that was my thing.
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What was the point?
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Yeah, so you were in so you left Boston, you stayed in Boston.
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We moved back because yes, you said I'm from a a Brooklyn Italian-American family, and I basically went like this to Pat.
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Okay, this is uh Brooklyn, and I'll go here.
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And I did a this is where we're moving.
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I did a circle, and I said, I'll go here because I was left alone a lot with a child, and and uh I was just like, no, I need help.
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Alone with no family, yes, and no friends.
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And I and I make friends.
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I'm I'm you know, I'm pretty extroverted when it comes to things like that.
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But you don't have your family close by people you could burden.
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Yeah.
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Right, exactly.
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All right, so now you are married, you have you decide that you're putting your career on hold, or and it sounds like you were happy to do that in some ways.
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It made sense at the time.
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It made sense at the time, yeah.
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That's probably more like it.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And you know, we often talk about balance.
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I'm like, balance?
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What is balance?
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There isn't a balance.
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There is no balance.
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Either this one.
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When I'm home, you know, we have children too, or one child, two children.
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When you're home, you were with your kids.
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When you're at work, you're at work.
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Yep.
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But if you're working a hundred hours a week, you're never home with your kids.
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No.
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Yes.
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So and in any event, you have to be good at compartmentalizing.
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Absolutely.
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In any event, I'm not sure I was so good at that.
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I'm I'm good at doing one thing well at a time.
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Um, we love that.
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Multitasking is a myth.
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Yeah, no, it it's true.
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Yeah.
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And I am the huge feminist.
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Uh, but unfortunately, I think that it's very hard for a woman to to win because you no matter what you're doing, you don't feel like you're doing it as well as you could, or you don't feel fulfilled.
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Like it's a you're always compromising.
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And it's still today, I think it's it's getting better, but I think it's still 100% the scale.
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Absolutely.
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That's hard.
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You are absolutely right.
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So now this kind of set you up to to you began because you were had a special ed focus underground.
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She neglected to tell us that.
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That's okay.
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We don't even know how to find out these little things people come on.
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Um, so you started tutoring children and you started to work with children on the autism spectrum.
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How did that come about?
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So I the tutoring was in Newark, the in the uh it was actually a uh the KIP or team charter schools.
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That was great because you really you get to see the economic disparity and how hard people are working.
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I mean, some of the kids that so these are parents who are were proactive enough to get their children into charter schools, but some of the kids' mothers were like, they were working in the back of Bed Bath and Beyond, uh, you know, eight-hour weeks, you know, and coming home.
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And they were so I would talk to them on the phone about their kids and you know how they were doing.
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And it just really made you see when people say, Oh, we're, you know, everybody can pull themselves up from their bootstraps, and it's equal, and we're all created equal.
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It's just a fiction, it's just not reality.
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No, it's not, it's it's a bubble.
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So I did that for a while.
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So I'm just gonna stop you for a second because you just said that you would talk, you're tutoring, but you're talking to the parents on the phone.
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Yeah.
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So there's her psychiatry, you know, she was gonna get a doctorate in psychiatry, but so you obviously are somebody that gives 150%.
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When you decide you're gonna do something, because was that part of the job to call the parents?
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Probably not.
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Yeah, I don't think so.
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There were a couple of things that yeah.
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So you were actually mentoring people.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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There was uh doing more than what you had a lot that happened there.
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That yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great.
00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.840
So uh, and then what about the kids?
00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:08.320
When I was in going for my doctorate school psych, one of the things I they did was we were working with autistic kids.
00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:11.840
Behavioral therapy had just come out and they were they were doing it there.
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:21.600
Um, and so then, you know, when the world opened up a little bit, it turns out that Alpine Learning Group is it was a a preeminent school for the kids.
00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:23.360
It still is a pre-eminent institution.
00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:27.360
It's more than just a school, and it's was down the road for me.
00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:46.639
And so, you know, I went over, I met with them and I volunteered and I really loved uh playing with the kids and playing with the kids in such a way that everything involved interaction, everything involved if we did a race, they had to go and get a partner because relationally they they they really you know weren't there and it was it was really fun.
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:56.559
Um, and I actually did that up until uh 2017, 2016, 2017, and that's what took away the time from doing that.
00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:06.799
But I will say Alpine Learning Group is um it's it's changed because the schools back it uh Bridget Taylor, I want to give a shout out to her.
00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:13.840
They started it from a garage, and it was with some p parents whose kids just weren't getting the services they needed.
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:33.360
And she did beh ABA, uh behave applied behavioral therapy, and she analysis, and um, so they did it from the garage, and she's she had actually I came across her in a remarkable book, Let Me Hear Your Voice, uh, written by a mother anonymously whose two children were they used to use the term recovered from autism.
00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:41.360
And um, so she's just a phenomenal therapist, and so she does this, they start this school so because people had nowhere to go.
00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:56.720
Since then, um, you know, a lot has changed, and the school districts themselves do a lot with the children with autism that are more capable of learning, more acting, not not intellectually challenged, you know, not as behaviorally challenged, right?
00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:03.120
So she right now the focus is more with these more behaviorally challenged uh children.
00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:10.960
And then they started an adult program and they started a business called uh Good Good Job, Good Box.
00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:11.920
Oh, I should have this.
00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:12.960
I wrote this down somewhere.
00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:14.640
But anyway, it you'll remember.
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:20.079
It yeah, and um it they you know, where they pack up snack boxes and sell them.
00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:27.680
So they actually have the adults work learning a learning skill that's actually productive and they actually get paid.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:37.680
Yeah, like that's now she's trying to start a residential center for them because you may know that at 21, you guys are in this field.
00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:39.599
These people age out, they have nowhere to go.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.039
They don't, they have nowhere to go.
00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:42.400
There's such a need here.
00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:44.720
So um I'm still on the board there.
00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:47.440
I was on the regular board, now I'm on the foundation board.
00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:54.079
Um, and uh she's just an amazing she's completely dedicated her life to this, and she does amazing work, they do amazing work.
00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:55.200
Um, yeah.
00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:58.799
So it is, it is, and we need more people like that.
00:17:58.960 --> 00:17:59.839
We need more people like that.
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:05.920
And every time I, you know, as you're talking, I'm thinking service, like your life.
00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:12.799
You saw that as a lawyer, you weren't fulfilling your life's purpose, which is service.
00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:19.200
Yeah, and helping people who wouldn't really have don't know where to go to find the help that they need.
00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:24.319
You know, and this is people are rewarded differently, and that's all there is to it.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.759
And I think that genetically, like what makes me happy and rewards me is really the connecting.
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:33.039
It's connecting, it's emotional connecting, it's it's yeah.
00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:34.960
Well, that's what's what's lacking today.
00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:36.319
We need connection.
00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:37.440
People need connections.
00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:43.119
And you know, when people are on their deathbed or whatever, they look back and they say, What did you, you know, what do you regret?
00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:49.279
I regret that I didn't have lasting, longer, more fulfilling relationships.
00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:50.559
And connecting with people.
00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:51.279
Connecting with people.
00:18:51.440 --> 00:18:55.759
Well, we need that, especially since so many people are working from home and they're not connecting.
00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:58.799
They're, you know, and connecting from a screen is not the same.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:18:59.839
No, it's not the same.
00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:01.039
I agree completely.
00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:12.880
I think uh yeah, remote work, uh, I think it's it's just I mean, I get it if you're you're a mother and or a father and you're working and managing children to do that part-time.
00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:17.920
But for these young people that are doing it, I'm afraid of what it's going to do to our society in the long run.
00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:24.880
I mean, it's dehumanizing kind of not interacting with people being well, it's affecting mental health 100%.
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.880
I mean, I this is what I say to my patients who are working remotely.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:31.039
Like, you we we need a different plan for you.
00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:38.160
Like you must leave your house because that's what will happen, is that they are working, and when they're done with work, they're so exhausted and they're not going out.
00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:39.039
Yes, exactly.
00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.359
And they're then so like that's really what I have to say.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:50.720
Like, all of my inpatient um or my patients who work remotely, I'm like, you need to come to your appointment in person, and then you need to have things to do after work that get you out of the house.
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:51.680
I think that was a 40%.
00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:52.960
It's very smart, impatient.
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:53.440
Impatient.
00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:55.759
They're impatient, they're stuck at the house.
00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:56.960
They're stuck at the house.
00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:58.160
It's no good.
00:19:58.319 --> 00:19:58.880
It's no good.
00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.119
But like, well, let's talk about Jolt.
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.519
So, how did you what was the idea behind actually starting that?
00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:07.039
How did that happen?
00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:14.720
Okay, so my dad, who I mentioned, passed away in November of 2016, right after the election.
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:20.960
Um, and um we the women's march happened in January of 2017.
00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:30.160
And I had always done fundraising or working for various candidates, but not for a party.
00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:38.079
So not for the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, but because what that candidate did or was saying spoke to me, right?
00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.119
So I kind of people knew me for that.
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:54.160
And um when uh uh Barack Obama was elected, right before he was elected, I just said, okay, I'm throwing a bar, I love this guy, and my husband loved this guy, so we're throwing a barbecue in the backyard for him.
00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:58.000
And I just sent out all these no affiliation with the party.
00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:04.720
I sent out these invitations, I called it a barbecue for Barack, and that was back then we raised$14,000 just like that.
00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.519
You know, there was a lot of enthusiasm behind him and all.
00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.160
And um anyway, so people knew that.
00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:12.079
That was one facet of this.
00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:18.160
And the other facet was my book group and I went to um book group was a bunch of ex-lawyers.
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:28.160
Um, we went on a march to to uh the women's march, and coming back, we found out that some woman in town was doing this postcarding thing.
00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.359
So we went to it and we were like, okay, um, you know, we should do this.
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:38.640
And simultaneously, people from the community reached out to me because they were like, what are we gonna do?
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:39.759
We have to do something.
00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.079
Uh now that's 2018.
00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.079
Women still had the right to choose, right?
00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:45.359
Just think about that.
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.279
So they still had the right to choose.
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:58.720
So we all got together, and you know, prior to this, when Obama was president, I had said to my friend, you know, uh, the problem is we need a thinking society.
00:21:58.880 --> 00:22:03.039
We we people People are we need to make sure voters are educated.
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:07.599
And because, like, you know, we could have gone to college, they don't teach history.
00:22:07.759 --> 00:22:11.599
You don't have to take government, you don't have to take our constitutional law.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:13.200
You should have to take these things.
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.119
You should have to take civics.
00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.799
Because you we need an educated population, an aware population.
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.480
And I think that's where it should start.
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:23.759
I mean, my kids went to Amherst and Wesleyan top schools.
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.359
They did not have to take these things.
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:29.519
Ironically, my son did, my daughter didn't, but they should have had to.
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:36.960
And that's and so we started to think, well, what about people that are like our age or out of college or this gap that they don't really understand the law?
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.759
And so we said, let's we should do something like that.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:43.680
So anyway, Jolt comes along and we're like, what's our mission going to be?
00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:52.000
And um, all these these various people came together, and um Jolt stands for join, organize, lead, and teach.
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.720
So it started off with an educational premise, right?
00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:05.119
And we started to get speakers to come and talk once a month on topics in a little more in depth so people would understand them.
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:17.279
So for example, we talked about gun safety laws, we talked about immigration laws, but we had people come in and tell us about net neutrality, you know, uh the internet and your privacy way back.
00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:20.240
So some like topics that could apply to everyone.
00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:23.680
Yes, yes, and not necessarily, you know, partisan, right?
00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:24.319
They're issue-based.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:25.839
They're issue-based, exactly.
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:29.680
Yeah, and we were approaching this very much from an issue-based perspective.
00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:37.839
Ironically or sadly, when we did the um, we had somebody coming from the Brennan Center for Justice, which is another fantastic organization.
00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:39.599
Um, it's out of NYU.
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:48.000
Um, and it's it's like the ACLU in a way, if it just brings all these legal challenges, but it also just is constantly educating the public, et cetera.
00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:57.279
So we had somebody, an expert on the gun laws, coming to speak at Jolt, and we had a nice attendance coming, and uh the Parkland shooting happened.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.240
And so these things were taking place out of my house.
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:00.880
We had a hundred.
00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.440
I'm just gonna ask you, where were you having these meetings?
00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.200
They're all my house is like we built, I it's loft-like.
00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:09.599
So um I saw pictures, that's your house.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:11.359
It's it's loft, it's all my house.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.359
What's going on in there is unbelievable.
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.200
I can tell you a funny story later.
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.960
But um, so uh there were, you know, like a hundred people there.
00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:23.680
The congressmen showed up, and um, you know, we sort of blew up from there.
00:24:23.920 --> 00:24:25.599
Very sad basis for that.
00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:41.119
And then we went on to sponsor the March for Our Lives, um, yeah, Black Lives Matter marches, immigration marches, uh, women's rights certainly marches, um, and uh vigils that we had a vigil for Charlottesville when that happened.
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.680
And uh we were just super, super active.
00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:52.480
But it kind of quickly segued into 2018, where August, September, October, November became a get out the vote part.
00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:56.160
Register voters, get voters to get voters out there.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:01.279
So we started doing phone banking, canvassing, texting, what else?
00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:03.119
Postcarding, all out of my house.
00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:08.480
So I would have like 70 people coming through my house who's on phone.
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:09.599
Stuff everywhere.
00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:10.640
Stuff everywhere.
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:12.880
And what we did is we took people, okay.
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:14.559
So I, oh, I'm too shy.
00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.000
I can only write postcards.
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.680
And we're like, okay, and then why don't you why don't you try making a phone call?
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:24.319
And then we took the phone callers and said, just like go out with somebody and try canvassing.
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:25.279
And that's what happened.
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:27.519
People started liking it and it grew.
00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:33.359
Um, and uh, we had a very big impact definitely in 2018, and so on and so on.
00:25:33.440 --> 00:25:36.960
And then COVID hit and we did it, we kept it up, did it by Zoom.
00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:38.160
So you still can do it.
00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:39.519
Yeah, we did it by Zoom.
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:53.200
We bought uh 2020, we went to Pennsylvania, we went to uh NJ11, um, NJ7, like we went out, we went out of our districts and uh yeah, did a lot of work there.
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:55.599
And um, it's still a battle, right?
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:59.359
We're still liking women's rights we talked about have gone backwards.
00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:03.039
Immigration, immigrants' rights backwards.
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:10.960
Uh, we have um, you know, ice on our streets not trained doing what they're doing, intimidating people.
00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:16.960
We are destroying national parks, we are ripping down trees, disability rights.
00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:18.400
Oh, that that's a heartbreak.
00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.000
I mean, what's happening is I I see it firsthand as one of the board members of Jolt.
00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:28.640
Her son is a high-functioning autistic child, and they relied on a lot of things that are just going away.
00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:31.279
So it's very, it can be very hard.
00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:33.759
There's a there's a a sense of like hopelessness.
00:26:34.079 --> 00:26:35.759
Yeah, and how do you keep people's morale?
00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:37.920
Well, two things.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:39.279
It's doing the work.
00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:44.480
If you feel disempowered, the hopelessness is gonna just get worse.
00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:47.519
So it's about you go out there and you do the work.
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:52.640
You you show up to learn, you show up for protest, you show up to write, you call.
00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:57.039
Do you know how easy it is to like contact your Congress or Senate person?
00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:05.839
Just go on Congress.gov or Senate.gov, put in your address, and you will find out who your representatives are.
00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:11.839
They have emails and you should email them, you know, like let them know how you feel all the time.
00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:12.640
Call.
00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:14.240
They count those calls.
00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:15.279
They count those calls.
00:27:15.599 --> 00:27:20.319
It's good for you to say that because sometimes you hear that on you know, the radio or wherever else.
00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.680
Call your congressman.
00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.279
And I know people have said, like, what's that gonna do?
00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:25.519
Yeah.
00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:27.599
Like, I'm gonna call, they're not gonna answer me.
00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:28.960
They don't care about me.
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:35.519
I've heard the same thing with voting, especially in one of our recent elections, even young people would say, like, well, I'm not gonna vote.
00:27:35.599 --> 00:27:37.119
Like, what's what's my vote gonna do?
00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:37.599
Yeah.
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.440
You know, they don't think that anyone's really there on the other end listening.
00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:44.880
It's it's like that's what people have to understand.
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:46.160
They have power.
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:51.119
It is the aggregation of everybody's power that makes things happen.
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:58.720
And so your little part, your little five-minute phone call is is important and it will change things.
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.880
And you know, we early on we had a part of it that was 15 minutes for change.
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:20.319
And it was basically like you spend, just spend 15 minutes of your day, and you don't even have to do that, you could spend five, but 15 minutes of your day, you know, calling your congresspeople, writing, whatever, texting, do just 15 minutes of your day uh dedicate to this, and it would make, you know, tremendous um change.
00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:22.400
But I'm gonna tell you something else.
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:32.000
So now you Google this, they'll give you a lot of them will just give you your email, the em where to email them, their addresses, so you can write to them, email them.
00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:42.240
Uh you can always get their offices by just putting in their name, like representative Josh Gottheimer, offices, and uh the off the numbers come up so you can call too.
00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:48.240
And 90% of the time you are gonna get uh a tape, you know, and you're just gonna leave a message.
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:48.960
Right.
00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:50.960
But they count that.
00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:52.319
That's good to know.
00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:54.880
It's good to know because I know so I I have a question.
00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:02.000
So you know, I I feel like we have so much um disparity in people's beliefs right now.
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:14.079
So, you know, one of the things that I don't know I think of is well, I have to sit and listen to why you think differently than I think.
00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:23.680
So is there something that you do when you do these learn, do you have like somebody, an opposing view, come and talk?
00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:25.599
I don't know, I'm just like throwing that out there.
00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:31.759
I'm just thinking what what we're doing is not from partisan perspective when we have speakers coming educational.
00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:40.319
So like if the Brennan Center for Justice comes and it talks about the Voting Rights Act or you know, th things like that so people understand what it is facts.
00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:40.880
Yeah, exactly.
00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:41.759
You're talking about facts.
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.400
So we actually have a t-shirt that says factivist.
00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.559
Uh we sell it because that's what it is.
00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:50.720
It's not we're not trying to convince you this or that, we're just giving you the facts of what this is.
00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:55.119
But the reality is the people that show up for us are the ones that think like you do.
00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:56.079
Think exactly.
00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:57.359
So yeah, it's so funny.
00:29:57.440 --> 00:30:03.759
Somebody on our board, the same person I mentioned earlier, her mother lives with her and has completely a polar opposite.
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:09.680
Uh and I don't know, look, we know it's destroyed families, uh relationships.
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.359
There's something very fundamental going on here that's beyond politics, right?
00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:19.519
There's a fundamental question of decency and honesty and and I think and morality.
00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:25.039
And I think that is why it's become so much more of an issue that than it has in the past.
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.960
So I I literally, I thank God I don't really have to deal with that.
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:31.119
And I don't know that I'd be very good at it.
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:32.160
I gotta be frank.
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:41.119
I I don't believe in false equivalencies, and I find that a lot of the times people say, Well, you know, I understand, and and you know, they do it too.
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:51.599
And like, wait a minute, there is a very big difference in a lot of things right now, and I'm not gonna stand there and make off and agree to some false equivalency to make things nice.
00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:55.759
But I've also learned uh who it's not worth engaging with.
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:56.559
I hate to say it.
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.400
Yes, because you're not gonna save everyone, yeah, and not everything is for everybody.
00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:01.440
Yes, yes.
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.000
So, where are you focused now?
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:08.960
Like, if somebody's listening to this and they're like, Joe, like, how can I get involved in this?
00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:11.359
And like, what kinds of things are they focusing on now?
00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:14.880
Well, to me, the big, big one right now is vote by mail.
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:17.680
I am extremely concerned what's going on.
00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:28.880
Um, I think that that is by far maybe the easiest way to interfere with the election because not that your vote by mail isn't safe, but they are making uh changes.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:34.640
For example, uh in New Jersey, you can drop off your vote on election day.
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:39.599
It's postmarked on election day, it counts even if it arrives after, correct?
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:43.599
But they've now consolidated the postmarking facilities.
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:48.880
So if you drop your thing off at your post office, it's not a postmark there anymore.
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:51.440
It's going to another facility.
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:53.680
It could be three days, that's what they said.
00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:56.000
The postmaster general saying one to three days.
00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:57.039
I don't believe that.
00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:58.720
I could it could get lost.
00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.079
Now it's now it's late.
00:32:00.640 --> 00:32:02.559
And now it's late and it doesn't count.
00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:07.200
And what concerns me is a certain population of people tend to vote by mail more.
00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:10.960
I mean, it's just like the expansion of voting from one day.
00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:14.240
When voting was one day, circle back to Newark.
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:19.519
But the kid's mother who's working 12 hours can't just take off and vote, right?
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:23.200
So yeah, voting for a week, they have more of a chance of voting.
00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:32.480
But for a lot of people, you know, in rural areas where they live two hours away from a voting booth or an hour away, no transportation, they have to vote by mail.
00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:40.640
So I'm extremely concerned that the public isn't being made as aware right now of this change in postmarking.
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:45.039
And I think it's gonna be a huge way to be able to discount a lot of people will lose their vote.
00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:46.960
Like a you know, they won't even know.
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:48.079
They'll think that they did it on time.
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:50.799
They threw in the mailbox and they did it on time.
00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.759
And then there are all sorts of other things that are happening.
00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:07.839
I mean, that this I'm not even sure where this went uh recently, but the proposed uh rule by the president that somehow the post office will go through voting lists and decide who should actually get the vote by mail.
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:11.279
Like they're supposed to check the legitimacy and the registration and all this stuff.
00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:14.880
They have absolutely no constitutional authority to do this.
00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:18.720
But the post office is not in charge of deciding who gets ballots.
00:33:19.359 --> 00:33:20.720
Who's allowed to vote by mail?
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:22.559
That's a proposed rule right now.
00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:29.920
So the the vote by mail is like uh I'm I'm very, very concerned about I'm concerned about ICE agents showing up at the poll polls.
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:31.599
Again, illegal.
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:32.640
They can't do that.
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:32.960
Right.
00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:36.400
You know, I'm concerned about the suppression that's already happened, right?
00:33:36.640 --> 00:33:42.160
Because all of these Hispanics and Latin Americans, they're afraid they'll be terrified to go to the polls, let's be honest.
00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:50.240
So to me, the biggest thing now is that really making sure everybody votes and that they are very conscious of how they're voting.
00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:56.400
And I would actually advocate what for in-person voting, if at all possible, because of this right now.
00:33:56.880 --> 00:34:00.079
Do you have any events that are going on or anything recently that's coming up?
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:04.880
So if anyone is listening and says, like, I would love to get involved, like, how do I how do I get involved?
00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:05.599
It's so funny.
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:10.239
We just did a really good um immigration one with the immigration attorney, Caroline Corbella.
00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:11.519
Yeah, that was really good.
00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:11.920
Yeah.
00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:14.559
Are they in person and then live streaming person?
00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:17.440
We live stream at them if they say we can live stream.
00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.800
Okay, because then people can hear if they can't get to your house.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:21.519
Yeah, yeah.
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:24.960
Yeah, we used to live stream where we had a YouTube channel at one point.
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:27.440
Um, I think we should probably get back to posting things on there.
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:28.400
It might be helpful.
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:28.800
You know what?
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:30.320
Because people that's a good idea.
00:34:30.559 --> 00:34:35.119
Plus, you also talked about a podcast, which I really think is your next one.
00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:37.119
You know, we always talk about what your next move is.
00:34:37.440 --> 00:34:37.599
Yeah.
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:38.400
That's your next move.
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:46.960
Because I think your reach would help you reach people that maybe can't get to you either on that exact day or at that same time, but they can still be part of it.
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.760
Yeah, you can do it at that house where you can host a hundred people.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:50.320
Yeah.
00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:54.400
It's it's interesting because you you said how people feel powerless, right?
00:34:55.039 --> 00:35:00.719
And you do have to remind yourself that this little wheel that I'm I'm churning, right?
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:03.039
This little cog is is is moving.
00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:05.360
It might be moving slowly, but it's moving.
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:09.039
And what we're always saying is like, just do the work, put your head down and do the work.
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:15.679
So regarding a podcast, it's like you're right, that is a good avenue to pursue because it's like, what's next?
00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:17.440
Like, how do how do you get out of this bubble?
00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:25.920
How do you Well, I think there's that that's how you find somebody who's doing their work and then they're gonna find you and go, okay, she's doing the same work as me.
00:35:26.079 --> 00:35:27.119
So I'm not alone.
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:27.519
Yeah.
00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:33.199
And if if my little piece matters and her little piece matters, then we're at we actually might get somewhere.
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:33.440
Yeah.
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:41.280
And I think that's the connector piece is like we've had people all the time that have said that they've listened to an episode and said, like, oh, I really love what you said on that.
00:35:41.360 --> 00:35:42.480
Or and we say it all the time.
00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:44.719
We send each other podcasts all the time.
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:46.400
Listen to this one, you're gonna love it.
00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:47.440
And he said this.
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:53.199
We learned this quote, and even you had said you had listened to our episode with Marcel, and you were taking notes, and so I did.
00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:54.159
You never know.
00:35:59.039 --> 00:35:59.760
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:02.480
You know, and and put them on the spot.
00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:08.480
I mean, it's uh And we've had such a wide variety of people that you never know who's gonna hit with who.
00:36:08.639 --> 00:36:12.159
But everything that we're doing is about mental health, right?
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:14.000
Right, has the common theme, yeah.
00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:24.880
That is that is the theme, and and what you're doing is because you know, there's a question there since my sheets aren't here about uh hopelessness, cat one of Kathy's questions.
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:27.280
If you and what do you do for self-care?
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:38.880
Because honestly, uh huh you you have a lot going on, a lot going on, and you see a lot of hardship too, yeah, and sadness and people are in despair.
00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:42.320
See, and you're not like seeing it, you're you're doing something.
00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:43.440
You're doing something about it.
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:49.199
I I I honestly, to be frank, I feel a little insulated from that because I've I've got a nice life.
00:36:49.360 --> 00:36:53.280
Um, and yes, I I see people in need all the time, and we all do.
00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:57.119
For me, it's a much more global perspective of what the need is.
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:07.679
Um, you know, I did want to just say one thing because I mean, those Knicks this year and like the world, the excitement in New York, which is positive, positive.
00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:11.360
So, but Jalen Brunson said, We'll raise where's the exact words?
00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:18.639
You have you're allowed to think about the worst case scenario, but you have to go out and do something about it.
00:37:18.800 --> 00:37:18.960
Yeah.
00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:20.639
And I'm like, yes, yes.
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:26.079
And that that's how we win, and that's how you deal with uh I'm a confronter.
00:37:26.159 --> 00:37:28.079
I believe that you don't bury things.
00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:30.079
You you bury them, it gets you nowhere.
00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:33.199
You know, you never you never don't speak, you never don't bury things.
00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:35.199
And so yeah, this is terrible.
00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:36.559
Like it's okay.
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:42.239
Don't, don't, don't, you know, put roses on it and make it seem better than it is.
00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:43.679
No, it smells horrible.
00:37:43.760 --> 00:37:46.800
It is horrible, but okay, what are we gonna do about it?
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:53.119
If you don't look at that and say, yes, this is bad, but also understand that you can do something about it.
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:54.079
You can.
00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:56.639
So well, if you don't face it, you can't fix it.
00:37:56.800 --> 00:37:58.960
If you have perfect exactly what you have to do.
00:37:59.199 --> 00:37:59.599
Perfect.
00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:01.119
If you don't face it, you can't fix it.
00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:01.920
So, what about your own?
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:03.440
So, what do you do to take care of it?
00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:04.000
I do.
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:07.119
I I have to take pretty good care of myself.
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:10.480
I I like to exercise, I'm sure that's what he said.
00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:12.800
Uh, I really I kind of need to exercise.
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:19.360
Um but I don't I I'm not I I never get obsessed with anything like that.
00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.400
So I just kind of do it in a moderation.
00:38:22.719 --> 00:38:27.519
Um and self-care for me is it's that we love your books.
00:38:27.599 --> 00:38:29.840
We just before we were in air, we talked about huge.
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:31.039
Yeah.
00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:35.119
I mean, like literature, not just uh the New York Times bestseller.
00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:36.239
And that's how it is for me.
00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:37.519
Books are magic to me.
00:38:37.760 --> 00:38:38.719
They are a real book.
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:41.119
A real book is a real book.
00:38:41.440 --> 00:38:42.480
No more looking at phones.
00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:45.039
You know, somebody on one of your other podcasts said something.
00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:54.719
Uh uh Sean, I believe his name was, and he said, he just said in passing something about um when you you look at your phone, 30 minutes of your life is gone.
00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:55.119
Yes.
00:38:55.440 --> 00:38:56.159
And that's so true.
00:38:56.320 --> 00:38:58.880
It's like and that was a man who was in prison.
00:38:58.960 --> 00:38:59.920
Yeah, who said that.
00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:00.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:00.880
Right.
00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:01.440
Yeah.
00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:04.480
And so how much of his life was gone while he was in prison?
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:09.119
And manifested everything lighting and in a looking at 30 minutes.
00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:11.360
Yes, yes, how important 30 minutes is.
00:39:11.519 --> 00:39:16.559
Because it is, because none of us know what's gonna happen in the next minute or when we walk out of here.
00:39:16.639 --> 00:39:21.039
Yeah, we don't it made him probably made him meta-aware, kind of a very good thing.
00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:21.440
Exactly.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.119
Yeah, so and and and you know what?
00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:25.920
Connection, family connection, friend connection.
00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:27.280
I think that's self-care for me.
00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:29.840
Yes, talking to people all the time, you know.
00:39:30.079 --> 00:39:30.719
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:30.960 --> 00:39:32.159
You're definitely good at connecting.
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:33.440
You definitely need it.
00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:34.079
You need it.
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:37.360
So okay, so we talked about like what might be next for you.
00:39:37.599 --> 00:39:40.960
Like maybe the podcast, maybe something else, you know, we don't know.
00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:44.719
But but is there what is the very next thing that Joel is doing?
00:39:44.880 --> 00:39:49.440
I think we're having a speaker this month from um the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:49.840
Okay.
00:39:50.159 --> 00:39:50.960
Another great group.
00:39:51.119 --> 00:39:54.079
And they're gonna talk about, you know, democracy in the vote.
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:57.760
And then we're gonna segue into our get out the vote operations.
00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:07.599
And we have a couple of candidates um picked because we like what they are doing that we're gonna just get out, um get our operation going for.
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:14.000
So, how can somebody, if they want to become involved or they want to go to these events, or they want to come and help you, like how can they get involved?
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:14.800
How can they find you?
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:18.400
We have a website, uh ridgewoodjolt.com.
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:23.119
Um, and it was uh it was set up before we incorporated.
00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:25.599
We're a C4 actually, Jolt now.
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:34.719
And um they could just email ridgewoodjolt at gmail.com and just say in in the in the subject line, just say interested.
00:40:35.280 --> 00:40:44.239
Um, perfect, perfectly yeah, and we have an Instagram and uh Blue Sky instead of Twitter, Blue Sky.
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:47.599
And we'll put uh we'll put all that in the show notes so people can find you.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:48.320
Right, yeah.
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:50.400
So we have some questions that we ask everybody.
00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:52.159
So you've watched a few of our podcasts.
00:40:52.320 --> 00:40:53.280
You're ready, you know what's coming.
00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:55.920
Actually, don't remember them, but go, okay, that's good.
00:40:56.159 --> 00:40:58.800
That's good because we like it to be kind of like spontaneous.
00:40:58.880 --> 00:40:59.039
Yeah.
00:40:59.280 --> 00:41:02.800
So what do you think are your three most important strengths?
00:41:03.039 --> 00:41:05.199
And don't overthink it, go from your gut.
00:41:05.440 --> 00:41:06.320
That one I did remember.
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:08.559
I think authentic authenticity.
00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:11.280
I think I'm definitely I'm definitely fearless.
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:13.599
Not not for physical activities, let's be clear.
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:17.360
But with with people, I'm fearless and I'm compassionate, you know.
00:41:17.519 --> 00:41:19.440
I I I'm definitely compassionate.
00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:20.159
But yeah.
00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:21.199
Yeah, wonderful.
00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:23.840
All right, and and uh what's going well in your life right now?
00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:28.000
I think I told you both of my kids have just moved one to Vancouver and one to North Carolina.
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:32.400
So to put a positive twist on that, I think embracing freedom.
00:41:32.639 --> 00:41:40.960
And you know, I still have my mom around, and she's 90, and she's sharp, and my family nearby, uh good friends.
00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:41.920
Uh yeah.
00:41:42.159 --> 00:41:43.920
So that's all going well for sure.
00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:44.639
Yeah.
00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:45.440
That's wonderful.
00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:45.840
Yeah.
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:52.639
And these are some questions that we ask um everybody who's on the podcast, also from our book, The Elevation Principles.
00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:55.679
So, is there something in your life that you would like to change?
00:41:55.840 --> 00:41:56.719
It's a yes or no.
00:41:56.880 --> 00:41:57.679
Probably, yeah.
00:41:57.920 --> 00:41:58.239
Okay.
00:41:58.639 --> 00:42:00.159
So, uh, what's holding you back?
00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:02.400
Okay, so that's always the hardest one.
00:42:03.280 --> 00:42:04.000
You know, it's funny.
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:13.280
One of the things you seem to speak about a lot is this concept of being intentional and firstly being passionate about something, and secondly being intentional.
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:18.400
Because I don't think that everybody has the capacity to be intentional or know what they're passionate about.
00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:22.800
I think that sometimes people just have to do stuff and it happens, right?
00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:23.519
That's right.
00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:27.119
I so I don't think I have been very intentional in my life.
00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:31.679
I think a lot of it has been this has presented itself, this has happened.
00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:32.400
Of course.
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:34.000
And you're connecting the dots.
00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:34.320
Yes.
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:35.679
Connecting the dots.
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:35.920
Yeah.
00:42:36.079 --> 00:42:40.960
So I think that the what I would like to do is is is be more intentional.
00:42:41.199 --> 00:42:43.679
And what's holding me back is me.
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:45.440
I mean, I'm just not that person, right?
00:42:45.599 --> 00:42:46.719
So that's going to be work.
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:54.320
So the work could be, as our um therapist at the table would tell you, get a journal and start writing about it.
00:42:54.480 --> 00:42:55.360
Yeah, write about it.
00:42:55.760 --> 00:42:58.719
Yeah, and then and your ideas and your thoughts will come.
00:42:58.880 --> 00:42:59.119
Yeah.
00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:05.760
When you put it on paper also and start telling people, I want to do this because when you tell people, it makes it real.
00:43:05.920 --> 00:43:06.079
Yeah.
00:43:06.320 --> 00:43:08.960
So you're gonna go home and talk about starting a podcast.
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:11.519
Yeah, I think I think tell Patrick that.
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:12.880
But that's the next thing.
00:43:13.360 --> 00:43:15.199
And uh yeah, yeah, that's there.
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:15.599
You go.
00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:16.480
That's great.
00:43:16.559 --> 00:43:23.679
Um, but you know, you know, it's funny that you said that, and I think that people, you know, uh, when I said everything that you've done leads up to this moment.
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:28.320
And I think when you're open that, oh, this is a possibility for me.
00:43:28.719 --> 00:43:30.639
You know, Jen is a visionary.
00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:31.920
There's no doubt.
00:43:32.400 --> 00:43:33.760
I come up with all the crazy ideas.
00:43:35.199 --> 00:43:37.280
And then I call Cindy and go, hey, we're gonna do this.
00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:38.719
And she's like, okay.
00:43:39.119 --> 00:43:44.559
Yeah, like I'm okay, I'm along for the ride, but then I'm like, then I'm like, okay, we're gonna do this.
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:46.719
But anyway, and who's the executor though?
00:43:46.800 --> 00:43:47.760
See that we do it together.
00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:48.400
Do it together.
00:43:48.639 --> 00:43:48.960
Do it together.
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:49.920
So we do it together.
00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:53.039
Once we have the idea, then we go, okay, we do.
00:43:53.280 --> 00:43:56.000
And then we're gonna go, okay, now we're making a plan and we're doing it.
00:43:56.159 --> 00:44:02.159
Yeah, and we we're also very good at yeah, like saying, I love that, or oh no, that doesn't work.
00:44:02.320 --> 00:44:02.559
Yeah.
00:44:02.719 --> 00:44:03.920
So let's how can we fix it?
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:04.320
Yeah.
00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:06.559
So it's great that it's great that you have each other.
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:07.199
Yeah, I do.
00:44:07.360 --> 00:44:10.880
And that holds you accountable because like, you know, we make a plan and we're gonna do this.
00:44:10.960 --> 00:44:14.719
And so if I show up and I'm like, like doing that, she's like, Well, we're doing it.
00:44:14.800 --> 00:44:15.840
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:17.599
So it just works that way.
00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:23.840
Yeah, but it's getting that idea out and honestly putting it into the world and saying it out loud and making it real.
00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:25.440
And then the rest will come.
00:44:25.679 --> 00:44:28.960
So and I do believe that every single person has a gift.
00:44:29.119 --> 00:44:30.000
Yeah, that's my purpose.
00:44:30.320 --> 00:44:31.119
It's a true philosophy.
00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:38.559
Yeah, everybody does, but they just don't want to, they're so busy kind of complaining that they don't open it up.
00:44:38.960 --> 00:44:42.719
Well, they don't see it, they don't see the life is out there, and sometimes they're busy surviving too.
00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:43.199
That's true.
00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:44.239
That's like true too.
00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:48.880
Sometimes they are they surviving, are they thriving, or are they just going along?
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:51.360
And everybody has periods that are just like that.
00:44:51.440 --> 00:44:51.760
Yeah, yeah.
00:44:53.519 --> 00:44:53.920
Yeah, okay.
00:44:54.159 --> 00:45:04.639
And we are coming into our last few seconds, and so we want to thank Kathy for making the drive to come here in the middle of the summer and spend time with us.
00:45:04.719 --> 00:45:08.960
It's been a long time coming that we've been waiting for you, and you're definitely worth the wait.
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:10.800
Well, thank you for definitely worth the wait.
00:45:11.039 --> 00:45:12.079
So thank you for being on.
00:45:12.159 --> 00:45:14.800
And as always, we will be back with another episode.
00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:16.880
And Cindy has our final words of wisdom.
00:45:17.199 --> 00:45:23.199
Yeah, so remember to pause, breathe, and then respond instead of reacting.
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:26.079
Just take a second and do hard things.
00:45:26.239 --> 00:45:33.039
And certainly, Kathy is doing hard things when she puts her mind to it, no stopping this woman.
00:45:33.679 --> 00:45:33.920
Definitely.
00:45:34.159 --> 00:45:34.800
All right, thank you so much.
00:45:35.119 --> 00:45:35.760
Thank you for being here.
00:45:36.079 --> 00:45:36.400
Thank you.