· 5 years ago · Feb 16, 2020, 07:22 PM
1slash TV free Baltimore hi hi I'm dawn
2wells and guess what you are watching TV
3free Baltimore
4[Music]
5hello TV free Baltimore viewers I'm
6happy to say we're back with another
7episode of live from Annapolis Stein
8delicate Lauren Eric on and I want to
9begin with talking about taxes and as we
10all know that Baltimore County moves
11significantly to the liberal left with
12the election of Johnny Olesky and the
13current county council and as soon as
14eleska came to power he raised taxes
15crime unfortunately has skyrocketed and
16he passed new laws making it harder for
17small business owners particularly
18landlords and gun shop owners and now
19there's a significant change in
20leadership down in Annapolis and I want
21to talk about that and the question that
22I want to lead into is well the state
23government also began to raise taxes on
24top of the Olesky Baltimore County tax
25hikes hello how have you been good still
26here still surviving good so there's
27been some changes in leadership both in
28Baltimore County and down in Annapolis I
29was wondering if the changes in
30Annapolis are also taking the state
31further to the liberal left as Baltimore
32County has gone I would say for sure it
33has I can't really speak in depth on the
34Senate yet but for the house
35I'd say the leadership has definitely
36moved to the left the speaker herself
37has put in a gun registration bill I
38don't I could never imagine Bush doing
39such a thing so yeah I'd say we're we're
40definitely moving to the left and what
41what's the tax hike tax hikes looking
42like Dan Annapolis are we gonna have
43some tax hikes coming out this year so
44yeah I I think that what's gonna happen
45is we're gonna lose a lot of tax credits
46I don't know if they're gonna actually
47put in any increases in taxes this year
48because they did some polling themselves
49and we did some polling and it turns out
50neither party voters want to see their
51taxes go up in the state of Maryland so
52my guess is that what they're gonna do
53is they're gonna focus on removing tax
54credits for businesses to move to
55opportunity zones to lower income
56areas they're gonna get rid of every tax
57break that they've ever given to try and
58you know increase jobs they're gonna
59remove all of them from every possible
60place they can find them it's like
61almost like they're going through every
62department with a vacuum trying to suck
63up any tax cuts they've ever given well
64that's not good to hear to my ears and
65it seems like both in Baltimore County
66under Johnny Olesky and in Annapolis it
67seems like if you take a step back that
68the Democrats that are controlling this
69both the state and Towson right now are
70embarked on public policy just that just
71means constant tax hikes and constant
72intrusive legislation in the people's
73lives are you seeing that that in
74Annapolis yep there is bills that act
75make my hair stand on it and almost
76every committee that I've seen so far I
77mean it's it's very extreme now whether
78or not they will pass I do not know
79we've already passed at least one gun
80bill this year that is totally dumb
81ineffective and only built to make
82people like you and I go to prison not
83not meant to get criminals but meant to
84create new criminals out of regular
85people so yeah every every single
86committee has just absolutely bonkers
87California extremism to the tenth degree
88it's almost like Maryland said to
89California hold my beer oh my beer
90that's funny
91I'm gonna bring up some the gun law some
92of the legislation so our viewers if
93they want to dig into this a little bit
94deeper they can and okay let's start
95with the four billion proposed annual
96increase in taxes to fund the Kerwin
97commission what are people saying about
98that in Annapolis
99you know both parties know that they're
100not gonna able to raise taxes to pay for
101it that bill will move today we just
102move through the school construction
103piece which I did vote for because it
104did give Baltimore County like over four
105hundred million dollars
106in addition to the normal warming either
107fun the form the funding formula we
108normally use for school construction so
109I thought it was a good deal for
110Baltimore County it wasn't quite as good
111of a deal for Harford County which I
112also represent but it did give them more
113money than they normally get so so I did
114vote for that because we do need to work
115on our schools especially in Baltimore
116County I mean some of the schools of
117Baltimore County are health hazards I
118mean they're not safe
119so so that was one piece but yeah the
120the Kerwin Commission I think they're
121having a joint hearing maybe on Monday
122for ways and means and appropriations on
123the updated Berwyn bill it's not my
124committee but anybody can go and listen
125in on it so if it's something that any
126of our viewers any of your viewers want
127to go and listen to they can go to the
128joint hearing room and I can try and
129then do the information about what time
130it's gonna be at and they can hear what
131the legislators are hearing about Kirwan
132but essentially it's yeah four billion
133dollar a year tax hike and there's I
134think no guarantee that any of the
135policies that they're trying to
136implement are going to be effective in
137any way at all it's a really complicated
138they said like several hundred pages
139long is how long the billet and and
140they've pulled from all of these these
141countries that are totally homogeneous
142populations you know they're everybody
143in these populations essentially is the
144same looks the same is from the same
145ethnic background most of the countries
146were affluent countries so already those
147two factors are nothing like this and in
148many of them they use corporal
149punishment for discipline in the
150classrooms yeah well they're not gonna
151apply that part of it in Maryland
152they're just they're using these other
153countries as examples of the best school
154systems and the best way to educate
155children but our teachers in Maryland
156can't even keep control of their
157classrooms now because there's
158out-of-control children and they
159can't even keep them out of the room
160sometimes in Baltimore County schools
161when a child is acting up the entire
162rest of the class has to leave the room
163while that child breaks things and
164throws things because they didn't get
165what they wanted I mean we are talking
166it's majorly out of control discipline
167wise in our in our state children cannot
168learn the regular kids can't learn in
169that kind of environment so I have no
170clue what planet these people are living
171on thinking that they can take what's
172going on in Singapore education system
173and apply it to America in any way
174especially not in Maryland where we have
175you know income disparity we have ethnic
176diversity there's just a lot of
177different factors that make us different
178than other places I mean one of the
179other countries is Finland in Finland
180the money follows the student so if a
181family doesn't like the school system
182they leave the school system and they go
183to a private school and they can choose
184any private school they want and their
185funds come with them but none of those
186things are they planning to include
187they're not going to be adopting
188corporal punishment in our schools and
189they're not going to be allowing the
190money to follow the child so I'm I'm
191really shocked that they've been so so
192narrowly focused and so really ignorant
193to the application of from one country
194to another and who the population really
195is it's it's terrifying actually
196especially if it's gonna have a four
197billion dollar price tag on it yeah Wow
198of a friend of mine that just pulled his
199kid out of Parkville middle school and
200got into some special school that's over
201thinking White Marsh where the best
202sides are much smaller and well when
203you're on the floor in Annapolis I mean
204what are people saying about raising
205taxes and how that's gonna solve the
206problems that we have in the schools the
207Democrats always believe that more money
208is going to help more money is always
209better which is ironic because in
210Harford County for example I think ours
211are funding our spending per pupil maybe
212one of the lowest in the entire so maybe
213the may be actually the 24th out of 24
214counties but on most of the metrics for
215success we're like
216viii I mean we're doing well with way
217less money so but they don't they don't
218ask about that they want to know what
219are the successful counties doing
220differently and with less funds they
221just want to spend more spend more spend
222more and the Democrats think it's gonna
223work I don't know why I mean if Thornton
224didn't work why would this yeah yeah I
225don't know what to tell you about that
226let me get into some other specifics
227here let me know what this email that I
228have okay and this information comes
229from the Maryland taxpayers Association
230and they say that House bill 222 which
231is in ways and means adds one percent to
232income tax for net capital gains HB 295
233combined reporting for businesses
234House bill 473 carried interest which
235attacks investment companies HB 507 4%
236increase in tax for pass-through income
237above a million dollars I mean are they
238trying to push people with money out of
239the state and the people that put the
240most amount of money into the conference
241later they're trying to push them out
242yeah clearly I mean are they crazy my
243own parents left this state because the
244atrocious taxes they move to Texas
245whether you don't pay a state income tax
246so yeah that's exactly what this stuff
247does I mean they just try to punish
248people that have worked really hard and
249have a good income which is delusional I
250mean those are the people that buy goods
251and services in our state at a very high
252rate so they're just chasing people off
253I mean I think the the feeling is
254they're chasing off mostly Republican
255voters so they don't really care as much
256but eventually the tax base is gonna
257shrink I mean I don't understand if they
258they just don't think long-term
259they really don't same thing with the
260minimum wage laws from last year they
261don't care if wage compression causes
262people to quit industries like you know
263adult day care who's gonna take care of
264development met and developmentally
265disabled people when everybody's quit
266their job because they can get the same
267amount of money being you know a
268waitress
269they don't care they don't care as
270you've been talking I've pulled up an
271old email that I got from last year and
272I want to read it to our viewers because
273it's very telling about the loss of
274people that have money the people that
275are paying money into the coffers of the
276state and both the county so let me read
277this to you because it's very
278eye-opening this is dated February 17
2792019 it says Maryland loses Reverand
280news annually by driving out wage
281earners Maryland continues to grow
282population but those coming in make less
283money and a significant number may
284become dependent on some form of welfare
285according to IRS data maryland lost 1.6
286billion and nearly 21,000 tax paying
287citizens in one year from 2015 to 2016
288so my question you delegate is are these
289facts being brought up once at a floor
290as these tax hikes are being debated no
291we haven't had any floor debates yet
292about about tax base but I'm happy to
293bring it up once it does come up on the
294floor I mean maybe that information
295needs to be brought to you know the ways
296it Means Committee and the
297Appropriations Committee so they can
298first publicly shame them there and
299that's terrifying now that that's
300statistic from 21,000 taxpayers leaving
301in one year and if that makes my hair
302stand on end what what are they doing we
303have that kind of loss every year with
304that much revenue lost every year that's
305crazy
306I mean how will we sustain this we are
307going to be worse than California before
308we even know it well what blows my mind
309is that here we are in Baltimore County
310and we're right next to Baltimore City
311and you can see what happens to a
312political jurisdiction when the
313productive people are pushed out and
314you're left with you know people that
315don't make that much money and you know
316section 8 renters welfare recipients all
317that and it's just I mean to me it's
318clear as day and the thing that you
319really have to watch for is exodus of
320wealth and Maryland's Lee losing wealth
321Baltimore can including wealth Baltimore
322County experienced its first population
323decline last year
324and Baltimore city's been depopulating
325for decades now it seems like in
326Baltimore County were going through down
327the exact same Road and it just amazes
328me that people like Johnny Olesky just
329don't get it and what I'm afraid of is
330that the new leadership down in
331Annapolis just is incapable of getting
332it yeah I I think you're absolutely
333right they don't it's all about getting
334reelected for them it's not about making
335the state a better place it's about
336making the state look like it's a better
337place in the newspaper so they can get
338more funding for their campaigns I mean
339I I wish I had like a less negative view
340on it but that that's the feeling that I
341get down there everybody's worried about
342themselves and nobody's actually worried
343about making the state a better place
344for the citizens yeah for me it's all
345about mechanics the you know the
346machinery of government how does it best
347run how's the best way of oil the
348machinery to give the citizens the
349services that they need and if you're
350doing things that are pushing the
351productive people out and in the end
352you're going to be losing tax revenue to
353me it's just it's it's a wake up call
354you know and city yeah so I don't know
355why the people in the political left
356aren't looking at things like this I
357think when you have a supermajority you
358just don't have to you know it just it
359can pretty much do whatever they want to
360do and there's it's not like Congress
361where it swings back and forth you know
362where you could lose and you could lose
363your power there's no real pressure on
364Maryland Democrats to make the state
365actually function better and a lot of
366our a lot of our electorate is very
367uneducated they believe what they see on
368the news they think that mainstream
369media is telling them the truth about
370all these extremist policies they think
371that they're gonna help make the world a
372better place with these crazy leftist
373ideals and they're just chasing all the
374regular people away the ones that are
375happy to go to work every day and pay
376their taxes they they have no idea I
377mean there's that there is a 0% chance
378that I am retiring the state and there's
379a 0% chance that most the Democrats down
380they're going to retire in this state
381because he
382they know they can't pay the taxes when
383they retire on a fixed income I mean who
384can yeah Maryland is always in the top
385three of worst states to retire in and
386yeah I know I have relatives that
387complain all the time I'm nearing
388retirement and looking at leaving it's a
389shame too because that's going to be an
390emotional shock to me to not be able to
391age in place and a familiar the
392community that I've lived for my whole
393life you know
394it's faint um it's a damn shame I know
395it's her freaking my family's my parents
396they move to Texas but they still have
397their house here because they're
398emotionally it's hard for them to let go
399of the place they raise their children I
400mean they built that home from the
401bottom up so yeah it's an emotional
402process and it's it's hard but they're
403simply not willing to let their
404hard-earned money go to the state of
405Maryland when they see the direction
406that it's going in I can't blame them
407and I'm not gonna do it either let's get
408into the the gun bills that are down
409there for because it's my understanding
410that they're just hitting the floor hard
411I mean I have a three-page let me step
412back and you just inform the viewers
413please I mean it's so bad I mean summit
414I mean I haven't even read all these
415there's so many of them and there are
416some support bills on here as well some
417ones that that'll be good for us but
418there there's just almost too many to
419mention I mean there's clearly some
420focus on storage laws they want to
421increase the penalties if you don't
422store your guns properly I'm glad this
423camera can't pan to the left and see
424where my gun storage is it's next my bed
425so I can shoot anybody that Rob's me you
426know but uh it's bad it's bad there's
427all kinds of stuff there's that there's
428another one her bill her bill is a ban a
429more banning banning banning guns that
430are pistols that are made by companies
431that make rifles they don't they don't
432like they think are scary it's just it's
433just nonsensical it's more Blume
434berg anti-gun disarm the public because
435there's so much more obedient when they
436can't fight back you know it's it's all
437that kind of just crap junk legislation
438doesn't make anyone safer and the really
439sad thing is they don't seem to care if
440people are actually safer they just
441wanted to look like people are safer
442they just want the headline to say that
443they've done something but they don't
444actually care that we have 350 murders a
445year of Baltimore City I mean we have
446one of our our delegates stand up and
447have a moment of silence for you know a
448former resident of Maryland who moved
449down to another state a young man and
450we've never had a moment of silence for
451a single victim in Baltimore City ever
452I'm like what planet are we living on
453there was like a 72 year old woman shot
454in the stomach
455who died we didn't have a moment of
456silence for her we didn't have a moment
457of silence for the poor woman in the
458city who was murdered in her beauty shop
459at 21 years old who left behind a
460toddler who was just trying to make her
461her life better we didn't know Mona
462songs for her yeah I've heard some
463things about that that someone made the
464comment that people were ready to ride
465over Freddie gray but here was this
466woman that was hardworking achieving and
467doing all the right things and she gets
468killed it seems like the people in
469Baltimore City couldn't care less right
470amazing to me yeah it makes you sick I
471mean it makes you really sick and and
472they're so out of touch that's what
473tells you that a lot of the stuff that
474moves policy is nothing but propaganda
475coming from extremists it's just scary
476it's scary none of it is based on
477reality it's all based on feelings alone
478if you feel like this might be a good
479bill and they'll say things like if this
480could save just one life I'm like you
481know what save a lot more than one life
482arming every single citizen in Maryland
483sure every single citizen in Maryland
484was carrying a firearm guess how many
485people would be getting shot and killed
486way less
487because the bad people would be
488terrified of losing their lives over
489some stupid robbery it wouldn't be worth
490it because they'd know that there would
491be somebody that could shoot back yeah I
492don't know if you saw the interview but
493there was a situation last year where
494the FBI just released report that
495Baltimore City was the number one city
496in the United States for people being
497robbed there was a rash of them and a
498guy came home from work he had a permit
499to carry he was going to become the next
500victim and as soon as he put his hand on
501his gun and told the guys to back up
502they all left great stopped a crime I
503mean to me it's yeah and he didn't even
504have to use the gun no he didn't even
505have to pull it out he just put his hand
506or if they realized he had it
507yeah they went once they realized that
508he was armed they just left yeah yeah I
509mean I I wish that it didn't have to be
510like this I mean I I I hate that to feel
511safe in my own state that I have to keep
512a firearm near me at all times that's
513terrible but that's that's the reality
514of where we're living it just seems like
515these politicians want to give get into
516every nook and cranny into our lives and
517try to tax us I want to share two
518personal experiences I just had I got a
519letter from my bank saying hey guess
520what you're eska raised for your
521property tax is short why because your
522property was just reassessed it went up
523in value so now you have to pay more
524taxes and the one place that I did get
525some sort of relief from as far as taxes
526and that was shopping online I think
527since October I've been playing Maryland
528sales tax when I go on eBay now you know
529that was some one place where I could
530get some refuge from these heavy taxes
531from so do you know why in October
532suddenly I had to pay Syd the 6%
533Maryland sales tax on the Internet yeah
534that was the bill last year that passed
535I believe it was delegate Pena Melnick's
536bill I'm not sure if hers was one that
537passed last year but I know she's had
538that bill in the past but yeah they they
539PACs they they pass a tax on internet
540sales and I think really what they did
541was tighten up an RV
542ding tacks and I know that the retailers
543Association was actually in support of
544it because of course they feel like
545they're losing money every day to online
546sales Amazon things like that so it's
547just another way that they can put money
548in the coffers while simultaneously
549running off people from from the tax
550base in the state of Maryland
551yeah me personally I feel under siege
552when when I started noticing that I'm
553paying that 6% sales tax on eBay which I
554hadn't done ever and then with Olesky
555raising taxes all the taxes that he
556raised on the county level and also
557found out you can clarify me and tell me
558if I'm wrong if I am wrong but the
559personal income tax of Leske raised from
5602.8 percent up to 3.2 percent the reason
561he stopped at 3.2 percent because that's
562the highest allowable by state law is
563that true yeah that's yeah yeah yeah is
564there any talk in Annapolis about taking
565that ceiling out or raising it that is
566the fear right that they that's what
567they would do I don't think they can
568politically get away with it right now I
569just think that it would mean that they
570would lose seats in the next election
571because I gotta tell you my friends who
572are Democrats also don't want to pay
573taxes more than they already are
574in fact they already don't like how much
575repatha taxes they're paying so if it
576starts to become the party of tax and
577spend any more than it already is
578voters will literally not vote for that
579I mean Hogan won for a reason in a very
580blue state people are sick to death of
581being taxed so especially as the pool of
582taxpayers shrinks and they expect the
583ones that are remaining to pay more and
584more and more they cannot do it this
585year yeah well my personal experience
586has been that my friends that are
587Democrats are the old-style Democrats
588you know former union members steel
589workers that sort of thing and they just
590look at their party and there's like our
591party has gone from union members and
592steel workers to welfare recipients and
593section 8 rents and that's not us and
594they're taking money from us to do
595things that were not seen come back to
596us in our lives right
597and it just like like I said before it
598just seems like whether you're talking
599about Johnny or Lasky or the Baltimore
600County Council or now the people down in
601appleís it's like they're trying to get
602into every nook and cranny and
603take-take-take and like I said it's like
604a vacuum you're just sucking up whatever
605they can any any penny they can find
606anywhere you know that there could be a
607couch cushion tax later where they come
608to everybody's house and they look in
609the couch cushions for more money that's
610what it feels like yeah I mean that's
611it's it's I feel under siege personally
612and Dean before we leave do you want to
613say any kind words about your friend
614here that was in the studio or earlier
615yes yes I I actually endorsed Danielle
616home Hornberger for her race I'm really
617really pleased to have another strong
618Republican woman running out there Cecil
619County deserves it I know that they've
620had a lot of tax hikes in their own
621County which is ironic considering it's
622been run by a Republican for the last
623several years so yeah I'm very much
624hoping that she's gonna win her husband
625delegate Hornberger is a friend of mine
626and a colleague down in Annapolis to his
627office is right next to mine and he
628killed a very large boar over int
629remanded is now proudly hanging on his
630wall so if you do go to Annapolis make
631sure to stop by his office motor boards
632and brothers yeah I'd like to see that
633myself yeah it's a very very impressive
634force though yeah they're a great family
635and I can't wait for her to help Cecil
636County get back on track and get people
637some tax relief over there who
638definitely deserve it and one of the
639most economically disenfranchised
640counties in our whole state so they need
641some help for sure great well I want to
642thank you for coming on and we'll have
643to do this next week and then we'll take
644her from there so to the viewers out
645there stay tuned we've got some
646interesting shows coming up particularly
647the Paul stephane show he's doing a new
648show called windows in the world he
649interviews an author over in Germany of
650book she wrote that quote that's called
651death is not the end it talks about life
652after death so that should be very
653interesting and once again to you
654delicate Lauren aircon thank you very
655much and we'll see you next time happy
656to be here see you next week Thanks
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684[Music]
685we're now joined the following program
686already in progress we talked about the
687families we talked about all that you
688have so much going on with you
689we're granted your successful attorney
690you know whatever you want I was gonna
691ask you why didn't you run for mayor but
692I'm gonna leave it alone I'll leave that
693alone but I don't know we might come we
694might come back to that people we may
695talk we may come back to that but you
696have a lot going off for you and you
697think long-term let's talk about this
698school let's talk about the school boys
699Rock okay he's got a program on that but
700we're gonna go beyond the boys Rock
701we're gonna come back to it but let's
702talk about the fact that here's a guy
703who wants to put together a school to
704cover everything that's needed to be
705done and put all the pieces in place
706that you say a missing yeah so so what I
707started seeing over the years were
708consistent patterns if you will I
709started seeing lead paint exposure
710developmental disabilities kids who just
711were not thriving in school I started
712seeing a lot of the same patterns of
713dysfunctional ISM missing parents in the
714house or parents who were physically
715there but not mentally there those who
716were struggling with addiction
717themselves kids taking care of
718themselves and young children being
719forced to grow up much faster than they
720should and then I started to see the
721correlation between young adults and
722even older adults who just are violent
723who are bitter who are angry and who are
724just frustrated and I realized that
725we're not really fighting crime we're
726fighting hopelessness and brokenness
727there's something broken inside these
728people and before they became this adult
729at one point they were a child a child
730who had innocence a child who expected
731the world and other adults around them
732to provide and take care of them and
733then we were expecting them to also to
734thrive in an academic environment in
735school where we see in at that fail and
736so to me I looked at well what's the
737best way from a preventive standpoint
738and it's going to be long-term that we
739have productive young men and women who
740are really in a position to do things
741differently and and help our communities
742grow that they become the next families
743because
744when I was coming up your family meant
745everything if a kid went outside the
746house in the wintertime and didn't have
747a coat on it's not because he was cold
748it's because you represented your family
749and your mother or your grandmother
750whoever that matriarch was that was
751dealing with that it was an
752embarrassment for her for you to be
753improperly dressed and so those are the
754things you know you knew the Smiths or
755the Robinsons or the Johnsons of the
756Greens you always knew who those
757families were and people took pride in
758that family relationship and that bond
759you know now I've seen kids curse my
760mouth curse dad out there's a lack of
761respect there getting high with them
762it's just outrageous and so and it's
763generation and it's generational and
764that's the problem and so for me we have
765to do better and I think the way that we
766do better is we give them options and
767the way that kids get option is we have
768to recognize that every child is capable
769of learning right whether they special
770ed or they have some learning
771difficulties whatever but every child is
772capable of learning so that's the first
773premise number two every child is not
774college bound somebody's got to build
775the building
776somebody's got to build the
777infrastructure somebody's got to be the
778banker or the security guard or whatever
779everybody has a purpose and they in a
780function in which you will contribute
781and that's what skills come in and
782that's where the skills come in right
783now our kids are being educated to take
784tests I'm so sick of hearing about
785measurements and tests and things of
786that nature where the hills and building
787blocks for these kids to be able to when
788you walk out that door in high school if
789you never hit a door step on anybody's
790college you should be able to go out
791here a job and the funny thing is like
792you said out you know kids go to school
793to learn to pass the test so basically
794you're going to school to learn to pass
795to answer questions that we've given you
796yep okay now throw a question or NetID
797we didn't give you right can you figure
798that one out right then that's gonna
799lock everything and that's the same
800thing that happened with me with law
801school you know I was a smart kid I
802could always memorize things I had a
803great I still do have the great ability
804to just recall detail to things that are
805there and memory and the hardest
806transition was okay so here's this
807here's that here's the other now we're
808gonna take one of these things away
809you have uh whoa whoa wait a minute yeah
810okay this waiver is a little different
811because obviously you saying you have a
812B and C okay there's a B and C there's B
813a and C C a and B I can give it to you
814any way that you want but when you took
815one of those things out it was like whoa
816I got to think about this a little
817differently now and so we've got to get
818back to that part of getting our kids to
819become critical thinkers not just
820memorize and regurgitate this
821information but how to critically use it
822and apply it to what they need in order
823to be successful and how to learn the I
824mean one of the things that my mother
825was always focused on what we were kids
826and my in like my sister Regina it was
827how to learn write this you need to
828learn how to learn so that way when you
829have a question okay how do I figure
830this out myself where do I get these
831answers from and a lot of times we just
832don't see that anymore because we just
833don't we don't see it anymore
834so this school that I think is a great
835idea we've talked about it before how
836soon when would we what's going to take
837because this is this is a big deal this
838is a very big deal it's it's huge so one
839of the things that so what I've been
840doing is is I've been I've been I've
841been networking my butt off up and I've
842been meeting with the elected I've been
843you know and I just finished with the
844first cohort for planning in Baltimore
845City so I got an idea of how that whole
846infrastructure works from acquiring a
847building and the zoning and and from the
848academics and going down to City Hall
849and listening in on those going to the
850Board of Education just getting myself
851really up to speed working with grant
852writers going in there looking at those
853who can develop curriculums and then
854just taking some of the basic things
855that that I understood and understand
856about kids and particularly working with
857kids coming from devastating communities
858and devastated funk and dysfunctional
859environments at the house and saying how
860do we better educate these kids and one
861of the things I realized was is that
862schools are now being used as daycares
863right yeah so what they often this time
864at this time and it's okay that's okay
865right but so for me because so not only
866do I do criminal defense work but you
867know I do plaintiffs work I do civil
868work I do family
869but I've dealt with situations where
870I've represented fathers who only wanted
871to have a relationship with their child
872but the mother will withhold the child
873because she's more concerned with who's
874that girlfriend for the weekend that my
875child is gonna be exposed to but will
876not take ourselves to that school Monday
877through Friday to find out who the
878teachers are that they're dealing with
879and responsible for their child it's
880just mind-blowing
881so the school is is based on is
882basically going back to basics going
883back old school it's a community-based
884concept one of the things that or part
885of the core curriculum will be every
886child will learn how to play chess
887critical thinking long term thinking not
888checkers not what's immediate but
889long-term landing how to strategize and
890think down the road every child will
891participate in debate learning how to or
892rate or to orally have your disagreement
893and understand effectively and
894appreciate what another person is saying
895and being able to take it process it and
896then give them something different
897kids get frustrated and if I can't
898effectively communicate the first thing
899I want to do is I want to put the hands
900reach out I want to reach out but so we
901want to give them those world skills the
902other thing is we want to make sure that
903we are trade oriented all the way
904through whatever is the the technology
905so I want stem as my primary base
906because that's the direction that we're
907going in we need to take something from
908our Asian community and understand how
909they're gearing them up as early as
910possible say what he said to hear that
911everybody so so we want to do that and
912then also want to have a bridge I want
913to go back to the old school values of
914having children respect adults and then
915we have a greater respect for our
916seniors those senior citizen homes
917they're gonna be a part of our teaching
918staff they're gonna come in and they're
919gonna help give these kids some of that
920basic relationship you know because for
921me I remember as a kid how excited I was
922to be up underneath my grandfather and
923listen to the old men tell their stories
924because that was a part of the education
925you just couldn't get inside well that's
926a while talk about that post on it and
927the it's it's it's crazy because I'm
928telling you people once these seniors
929are gone unless you took the time to
930talk to them about the history of your
931family or your roots or the community or
932whatever their past they're all lessons
933for the
934and once it's gone it's gone so you need
935to go sit down and talk to Grandma my
936Grandpop or whoever it is in your
937neighborhood but because that that's an
938important piece of of growing that I
939think that we're that we're missing and
940now we have grandmother's who are less
941than 20 years old 30 years old is mom
942you know so and then the other part of
943it is is allowing children to be
944children Elementary will be separated
945from middle school middle school will be
946separated from high school let them grow
947and mature as they are supposed to you
948mixing them together they exposed it too
949much they got enough that they're
950dealing with at home and on social media
951and local media absolutely so so it's
952it's it's you know and the cost of
953tuition parents must actively be members
954of our parent-teacher Association and
955must donate 100 hours of community
956service every year 100 hours a year
957okay that's less than two that's a
958little bit more than 240 hour work weeks
959listen to what he said wouldn't what do
960you got to do what's the tuition for it
961100 hours of community service prayer
962parent and they must be active members
963meaning serve on a board on a committee
964of our parent-teacher Association you
965have to be an active member in that
966school with your child so what is your
967biggest hurdle in getting this thing
968going and how can people help you so
969right now I I have I have grantwriters
970as the as the young kid say I got grant
971writers on deck I have curriculum
972writers on deck I have I've got a lot of
973support from other folks I've just got
974to find a building and then I've just
975got to put my application together and
976go before you know the Board of
977Education to say hey I'm making an
978application I want my charter here's
979where we are have everything set up have
980my budget lined up all those that the
981more critical things that's the easy
982part getting that building and getting
983it approved because another thing is
984even if you could find a building you
985also still talking about we got to make
986sure that we've got environmental
987factors I don't want to pull you out of
988one negative environmental factor with a
989general another one and put you in
990another one but it's got to make sure
991they lead free I'm gonna make sure that
992you know we have a green of school that
993when we're talking about stem I also
994want the parents to participate in that
995community to help participate in
996renovating it and making it because I
997want you to take
998right and saying that's mine not that's
999just not where my kid goes to school but
1000that's my school my party my family here
1001that's I put blood sweat and tears into
1002this it's just like what my crime plan
1003I'd like to come up with an amnesty
1004program in that immediate community if
1005there's a if there's somebody who's out
1006there who's hustling if you will and
1007they're selling drugs guess what you
1008sign a contract for the local law
1009enforcement the local state's attorney's
1010office and the feds we take we
1011confiscate all of your proceeds and that
1012same block that you were selling those
1013drugs in you're gonna buy that corner
1014store you're gonna make it a green
1015station where you're gonna have
1016alternative foods with fruits and
1017vegetables and things like that those
1018houses that were abandoned that you had
1019people shooting up drugs in there you're
1020gonna fix it up and create affordable
1021housing you can collect rent you can do
1022all those things little chittim eyes
1023that money and if we get one whiff that
1024you're doing something wrong you forfeit
1025it you go to jail and you're done
1026all right guess what they're gonna help
1027you police that community because
1028they're not gonna want to go back to
1029jail and they're not gonna let that
1030little guy get on that corner because
1031hey that's my block what better way to
1032have somebody brag about that's my block
1033and then not be my little hustlers that
1034are out there but that's literally my
1035block those that's monopoly that's right
1036on that store I own those four houses
1037I'm collecting rent I'm paying taxes I'm
1038contributing to the community that I
1039devastate it and I've turned my life
1040around and I don't have to look over my
1041shoulders and I don't have to be in jail
1042I don't have to be in that okay we I
1043asked you before and now see this is why
1044I had Russell on this show and I've been
1045chasing him down for quite a bit so why
1046don't you run from there you know what
1047here's the thing sometimes it's best to
1048be the kingmaker instead of being the
1049king you can get so much done behind the
1050scenes
1051you really can I don't think Baltimore
1052is ready for somebody like me I'm too
1053radical I think I'm pragmatic Lee I
1054think too to just straight to the point
1055I don't believe in fluff I'm not gonna
1056tell you what you want to hear i'ma tell
1057you what I think works and that's not
1058what people want you can't get in bed
1059with me and think that your comforter is
1060gonna be different somehow
1061because you got in bed with me when you
1062get in bed with me you're getting in bed
1063with the rest of the city of Baltimore
1064because we're all in the same bed
1065together
1066that's the problem this development you
1067know we got
1068trash problem trash you know like they
1069always say with when it comes to make
1070somebody's trash at someone else's
1071treasure well guess what Baltimore all
1072of our trash is actually our treasure
1073and I say that because why is it that
1074we're not taking all of these plastics
1075these woods these these plaster it's
1076like drywall recyclables and making it
1077into composite building material that is
1078stronger more durable than wood itself
1079you make these outside developers come
1080in 40% of the goods that you buy which
1081is our composite that we've built our
1082own smelting Factory to put it together
1083you gotta buy it in order to build these
1084buildings we're putting people to work
1085we're taking care of our trash problem
1086and we're and we're earning money
1087because we're making them buy some of
1088the actual supplies that they need to
1089use to build it it just it blows my mind
1090it blows my mind
1091see this is why I have him on this show
1092and and now I like a lot of the stuff
1093that you say and you and I've always
1094always talked about and this this like I
1095said I call him all the time he answered
1096the phone and I come on crazy questions
1097but but the stuff that you talk about is
1098good it's inspirational and it's a
1099glimpse into a positive future and
1100granted I'll give you this just this one
1101time that yeah I do think that you have
1102a better goal than just being mayor
1103because I think that what happens is
1104what we need is ground roots building
1105for our future yes and a lot of yummy
1106you've already covered stuff
1107environmentally you talked about schools
1108you talked a crime so times so if you
1109win as mayor you need to call this man
1110but on a more important note I really
1111think that anybody who's watching this
1112and listens to a lot of the stuff that
1113Russell never done has said you really
1114need to contact him and especially when
1115it comes to this school thing sit and
1116think about the possibilities of what
1117he's talking about and what we can do
1118think about what you said when it comes
1119to to getting these repeat offenders who
1120are drug dealers who have more money
1121than I do and I go to work every day
1122okay and what we can do with the
1123resources and the stuff that we have I'm
1124you know you think about it it was
1125incredible I mean I like it you think
1126about it when the government locks them
1127up they forfeit their assets they take
1128them to get to hire more officers to buy
1129more technology and things of that
1130nature to go lock up more but wouldn't
1131it be so much better
1132if you could take them turn it around
1133and get them to reinvest in the same
1134community that they tore up and you sign
1135a contract it's just like it's like a
1136confession judgment
1137I'm already admitting if you you prove
1138your case against me and you catch me oh
1139all I need is surveillance to show
1140you're doing a hand a hand and I'm done
1141yeah I'm done
1142and I walk away from everything and you
1143know we do we give the next guy in line
1144now you get a shot now you get to walk
1145away from it's if you have choices and
1146the thing is that people see that Ray
1147Ray walked away and he's doing all this
1148they're gonna do the same absolutely
1149it's it's the Dominos as I tell my
1150clients there is so much legitimate
1151money out here that it is sickening you
1152just got to be dedicated and you've got
1153to be committed to saying I want better
1154if you want better you have to do better
1155if you want different you have to think
1156and do different now lastly let's talk
1157about boys rock yes we talked about we
1158talked about everything else and we
1159talked about the fear and then just so
1160you know you thought I called and bugged
1161the hell out of you before I'm gonna
1162really bother you now because we're
1163gonna be pushing some of this stuff
1164you're talking about and you got some
1165really good ideas and and as guardian
1166angels and community service and
1167activism this is the kind of stuff I
1168need I've been trying to get him to put
1169on Berber a for years but I mean now he
1170we got a school to build after that then
1171you know he can come over and take a job
1172one Baltimore will get him you heard
1173what he said you heard that he say it
1174again he'll get me there you go all
1175right so let's talk about boys Rock
1176which is another another one so boys
1177Rock is the inception came from me just
1178putting out so much work with our youth
1179going from partnering with from Roland
1180Patterson middle school to West
1181Baltimore middle school to I work with
1182the Green Street Academy I've worked
1183with a lot of different schools and work
1184with teachers one at helping teachers on
1185educational law on how to protect
1186themselves when they're dealing with
1187some difficult situations but more
1188importantly to also provide mentorship
1189and I'm not talking about more so than
1190mentorship but modeling letting these
1191kids know that I come from the same
1192environment that you do in a lot of
1193instances with having you know not
1194having mom and dad their mom struggle
1195with
1196with drugs dad in and out of the prison
1197system with my grandparents moved from
1198one family members house to another but
1199but periods of stability but still have
1200that wraparound that a lot of these kids
1201unfortunately are missing still have
1202that wraparound support so I get it but
1203I also know that unless you have
1204somebody that you feel like can relate
1205to you it's difficult you know that one
1206of the worst things that kids walk
1207around and I know that I dealt with for
1208years was that missing parents syndrome
1209no child wants to feel like they don't
1210belong that they're not wanted that
1211they're not loved and so despite the
1212fact of having phenomenal grandparents
1213incredible aunts and uncles are hosts of
1214neighbors that actually participated in
1215that process great teachers there's
1216always still that one piece in the back
1217of the mind like why didn't you love me
1218and that's a frustration and a piece
1219that you never get over in time again oh
1220you can't absolutely and so now when
1221you're dealing with that you wonder why
1222these guys are gravitating towards gangs
1223or why they gravitate towards these
1224little cliques or or folk that are doing
1225things because it's a sense of belonging
1226and somebody appreciating and finding
1227value in me so you know so I look at
1228those things and I'm always saying let
1229me talk to these kids and just have that
1230raw unadulterated conversation with them
1231to let them know you're not by yourself
1232and getting them to all open up but I
1233also realize that and opening them up
1234I'm also opening it up to exposing them
1235to options and opportunity so a good
1236good very dear friend of mine
1237Pam Curtis who is and I don't know all
1238of her stuff Pam lamb I follow your
1239stuff I think you do amazing stuff and
1240before you know it you're gonna be
1241sitting in a chair that Russell's able
1242let me talk about it let me see yeah you
1243seem pretty amazing she is an amazing
1244woman
1245raising two kids for the most part I'm
1246not for the most part but raising two
1247young men on her own and if you see her
1248at a housing education seminar her kids
1249are with her if you see her and in a
1250community involved information they're
1251right there she is preparing these young
1252men to actually do the kind of work that
1253needs and that's a push innovation
1254pushing her vision she is amazed and she
1255pushes the vision for everybody and I
1256told you got to stop and start pushing
1257your own because she's got a lot that's
1258there but but more importantly she and I
1259work together and as well as Marcus dent
1260the other markets debt markets Danton
1261overly I know
1262Marcus how you doing buddy because I go
1263into a room and I say well you're not
1264that Marcus there and I said no right at
1265that market but we have funny
1266conversations about that also but that
1267Marxism guy Marcus you got author
1268squeaky Kirk these are people who are
1269just out there putting the work in
1270that are just grinding day in and day
1271out that are putting that kind of work
1272so I having partnerships and
1273relationships with them I realized that
1274I could just do something a little
1275different and my mentorship with with
1276the kids and so Boys Rock was created
1277because my thing was I want to build new
1278leaders of the future and what better
1279way to do that so with boys Rock which
1280is building our youth successfully so
1281that Navy will will rebuild our
1282communities that's why I came up with
1283that acronym boys rock and for me it's
1284really about getting into their minds
1285letting them know that they have options
1286reaffirming that you have value you have
1287purpose and it you in it is a sin for
1288you to waste your life either to lose it
1289through violence or to just walk away
1290from being as great as we know that you
1291are capable of being everybody has a
1292purpose and we are interconnected God
1293has us intertwined like that one person
1294missing changes the trajectory of
1295everybody else's life and I and I
1296emphasize that to them you have value I
1297don't care how down you feel like you
1298are trust me there's somebody who feels
1299lower I don't care how alone you feel
1300you are there's somebody who feels even
1301more isolated but the goal is is
1302recognize that all of us carry baggage
1303around the difference is is getting to
1304the point in learning the skills of how
1305to recognize what's luggage that we can
1306reuse and what's garbage that we got to
1307throw away right and so that's how I
1308work with these kids and let them know
1309you have value
1310you have importance you have purpose and
1311we need to use that up because you serve
1312and the greater good of this this whole
1313function you're gonna come back to this
1314community you're gonna make a difference
1315I'm gonna show you how to be a leader
1316I'm gonna put you in contact with folk
1317I'm gonna show you how to network I'm
1318gonna expose you to as much as I
1319possibly can from shadow me when I go to
1320court come them off and do a little
1321internship right there let me introduce
1322you to some of my friends who are or
1323physicians or who are doctors or whore
1324that that contractor that that teacher
1325whomever I want them to know that we are
1326real people
1327we're not the basketball players we're
1328not
1329football and NFL star we have very real
1330people that are right here that are
1331tangible that you can reach out to and
1332say how do I do that and now and I've
1333seen it within the guardian angels and
1334one of the things you're talking about
1335when you grab somebody you take them
1336into another hole kind of a world and
1337it's funny because it all starts like
1338you said with the gang people and you
1339see the saddest thing is to see a child
1340or a teenager or in the corner whose
1341parents can't tell them you know you're
1342important to me and I love you but when
1343they leave their boys at that corner
1344every night where they say all right man
1345I see you tomorrow love you bro yeah
1346they get that yeah they get that but
1347it's a big deal
1348when you get these kids and like you
1349said when they shadow you what they meet
1350the people then they go into meetings
1351and buildings and go to places where
1352they've never had the experience and
1353they feel important and empowered not
1354because you're dragging them along
1355because you're making them a part of
1356what it is you have going on and it's
1357it's such a big deal a lot you know I've
1358been lucky I mean I was raised by my
1359sisters and grandmother and mother you
1360know I had females that all basically
1361taught me how to be a man but I was
1362lucky enough to have mentors coming to
1363my life who were police and FBI and and
1364adults who took me and said hey I'm
1365gonna show you how how to play baseball
1366I'm gonna show you you know what we do
1367at our jobs and and these things you
1368can't you can't live without them
1369because I look back when I think about
1370when you you know we talked about my my
1371youth and my childhood and a lot of the
1372stuff that I learned growing up I
1373learned from my mentors who were
1374professional adults who came up and said
1375hey come here I want to show you
1376something and they took the time to
1377invest to teach me and I'm glad you said
1378that you said when they said let me show
1379you something because the new model or
1380the new philosophy has to be weak
1381mentoring is not enough we also have to
1382model that's right because children
1383don't do what we tell them they did way
1384they say do what they see so the
1385mentorship is is guiding them giving
1386that advice giving them that that
1387lecture talking to them talking with
1388them and unless Ella but the modeling is
1389shown walking the walk and not just
1390talking the talk that's it I do as I do
1391as you see
1392as I say not as I say and you had and
1393because it's very important it's very
1394important out there that you have to be
1395the example you want to be and so it
1396doesn't come in sometimes all I'm
1397smoking a cigarette I put this down you
1398know what he comes over but at the same
1399time you gotta be consistent at what it
1400is you do because and and you have you
1401have children I have children and they
1402literally you can tell them one thing
1403and you can act like are they're not
1404listen to me they're listening they're
1405listening they're watching and they're
1406repeating everything you say so really
1407you should end up with a bunch of
1408minimis because they take in everything
1409we give them it's like porn stuff into a
1410glass
1411whatever we comes out of us goes into
1412them and that's not just your kids
1413that's the community kids it's a
1414neighborhood kids that's the kids that
1415you work with that's that's everybody
1416that you touch in life and we had a
1417defeat off we have to be invested in
1418other people's children besides know how
1419it takes a village people it takes the
1420village we really do we really have to
1421be invested in other people's children's
1422lives you know we can't walk around on
1423eggshells and here's the segue that I
1424always tell people if you're doing it
1425for the right reason then what you
1426should be able to do because you should
1427have that relationship with your
1428neighbor I should be able to tell you
1429and come to you and say you know even if
1430your child came running home said you
1431know mine mister mister Russell said and
1432he did XYZ and mom come out with a
1433editor I'm saying look let me tell you
1434something i watch you raise this young
1435man i watch the sacrifice you make day
1436in and day out and i'm gonna be your
1437eyes and ears cuz i'm not gonna let him
1438go out here and embarrass all the hard
1439work I put into this child I know what
1440you're doing I know how hard you worked
1441for him to go out and second and and
1442have the clothes that he has and to get
1443a good education and you busting your
1444butt going in and out of work for you to
1445have to be called off for it to go up if
1446I saw it I dressed it I didn't
1447disrespect him I didn't put my hands on
1448him but I let him know that's
1449unacceptable and I called you myself to
1450tell you this is what he was doing that
1451whole dynamic changes it's because now
1452they realize whoa wait a minute
1453you only embarrassing me and it changes
1454because of how you how you came off and
1455you told it to them but at the same time
1456we do have the parents out there where
1457when something was you
1458seen in the neighborhoods where not many
1459know your kids what who are you to tell
1460my kid what to do yogi and I've seen
1461I've seen parents get defensive and go
1462after this and instead of taking a step
1463back and said wait a minute
1464we're looking out for your kid because
1465you weren't and there's a lot of people
1466that just don't you know you're agitated
1467because they came home and it's still
1468daylight outside why don't you go
1469outside and play go find something to do
1470with yourself and now they're all
1471finding something to do but when
1472somebody comes out and says hey they're
1473doing something wrong you need to know
1474about this now it's a problem so yeah it
1475does take a village and we have to I
1476don't know how we get back to that but
1477yeah you guys started looking in the
1478mirror and you know and I'm always the
1479first to say that you know what at the
1480end of the day we have to be very real
1481and transparent with ourselves before we
1482can be real and transparent with anybody
1483else we really have to you know none of
1484us walk around with with with with a
1485glass slipper on our foot and then and
1486think that nothing's gonna happen that
1487he'll won't break our kids are capable
1488of failing and falling short and we have
1489to be prepared and strong enough to love
1490them love them through the experience to
1491love them through the mistake correct
1492them and let them know it's and let them
1493know it's okay to make mistake it's
1494implant that and plant and just and and
1495pray that the seeds we plant in them
1496will harvest at the time when it's
1497needed that when they're confronted with
1498making a decision whether I'm a break
1499the law and not all those being in their
1500ear and standing there but and and over
1501and over and over again the things that
1502you've said and tried to instill in them
1503when they get up to that line they we
1504pray that they're gonna that what you've
1505said has stayed with them so strongly
1506that they say that's the line I just
1507can't cross i'ma tell you when we talk
1508about you know those of us who are 50
1509and over I think about some of the
1510things that we weren't worried about
1511venereal diseases the utilization of
1512prophylaxis and protection was because
1513it was a sin to have somebody pregnant
1514out of wedlock you know yeah it was you
1515know that that part it was more of this
1516is an embarrassment to my family here by
1517that anymore no you don't hear about it
1518now cuz it's okay it's an embarrassment
1519to tell you not to get into that debt
1520situation okay and remember before I was
1521like illicit money taboo you just did oh
1522you look like shit
1523I'm worried about that part you were
1524more worried about embarrassing the
1525family name and having somebody pregnant
1526with a child out of wedlock
1527it's the vet we got to get back to those
1528core values and let these kids let them
1529be children let them grow up give them
1530that opportunity because you only get to
1531be a child once that's right and you're
1532an adult for a long time and it's gonna
1533be even longer if you have kids yeah you
1534know as a child so yeah it's a big deal
1535but Russell never done he's got a lot of
1536good stuff going on we're gonna leave
1537him alone because he's got the school
1538going on because I was gonna push the
1539mayor issue but I think the school thing
1540is more important and he's you know with
1541the boys Rock the foundation all the
1542great ideas but guys if you watch this
1543video you know my biggest thing about
1544this whole interview is the school we've
1545talked about it and you know if I was
1546one of these famous rich people in
1547Baltimore or somebody in a politician
1548that could say I can make that happen
1549and this would make me look good I'd
1550make that school thing of reality but I
1551think like I said I've always inspired
1552by what it is you do I'm still gonna bug
1553the hell how do you want to come to
1554quell miss earns and you know I'm gonna
1555order the beret and the red jacket and
1556all that stuff we're gonna snatch him
1557you heard him said here because I think
1558if he says no and I mean we got it on
1559tape so I think we can we can come after
1560him in court for that that's like a
1561verbal contract we got this we got this
1562but I want to thank you for coming on
1563here well thank you for having a
1564I want to thank you for everything you
1565do and this is Strider this is beyond
1566the streets this is Russell never done
1567and we will see you next time
1568[Music]
1569[Music]
1570[Music]
1571[Applause]
1572today we are going to be interviewing a
1573woman who is from Germany and she has
1574written a book and this is it right here
1575it's called death is not the end
1576understanding the transition between
1577lives and you know all the way from
1578Germany we have with us today
1579Inez Baer and welcome - hello Paul thank
1580you so much for having me it's wonderful
1581to have you and so we want to talk about
1582this really interesting book of yours
1583and first I guess for people want to
1584know because they hear the title explain
1585a little bit of what the book is about
1586yes the book is meant actually for those
1587who for those people who maybe have an
1588idea of an afterlife or maybe jetson
1589believe or they are wondering about that
1590of times that happens when there's a
1591death in the family or somebody gets a
1592diagnosis or if they themselves are
1593close to death or somebody had an
1594accident and they start wondering a
1595little bit so what happens after death
1596and but it's more like an idea or
1597concepts or it's based on a religion
1598that people have that it's it's part of
1599their tradition but there are studies
1600after death studies actually more
1601scientifically that show evidence for
1602the survival of the consciousness after
1603death and what I wanted to do is -
1604because I read you know where as we'll
1605probably discuss more how I got into
1606this but I had a face where I
1607for my own reasons well was wondering
1608about what happens after death and
1609researching death and near-death
1610experiences and out-of-body experiences
1611and what I found is that there is a lot
1612of studies there are doctors medical
1613doctors cardiologists neurosurgeons who
1614study near-death experiences and
1615consciousness after death and that most
1616people don't know about these studies
1617most people have no clue except for the
1618main followers that already into this so
1619what I wanted to do is just package all
1620these kind of evidence together a little
1621bit in this book death is not the end to
1622kind of show why we we may exist after
1623death why I am convinced that we exist
1624okay because I know a lot of people of
1625course are also they they fear death
1626they also some people say there's heaven
1627some people say there's nothing you just
1628die and of course you have a whole
1629different perspective on that and I
1630think you've got it a little bit the
1631next question I was gonna ask you then
1632why did you write this book so maybe at
1633that point go into it is your personal
1634near-death experience your NDE mm-hmm I
1635actually didn't have a specific
1636near-death experience but I've had a lot
1637of experience with out-of-body
1638I've actually been part of a non-profit
1639we've taught classes and out-of-body
1640experiences but more than that the
1641reason why I study death specifically
1642was that I had a health crisis in my
1643early 20s in fact I was diagnosed with
1644with HIV and I was 23 at the time and I
1645didn't know what that meant I thought I
1646was going to die in ten years and so I
1647learned to live with that and to wrap my
1648mind around it but a kind of this whole
1649idea of death
1650stuck in my mind
1651and you know what comes next and of
1652course now many years later a lot has
1653changed actually we can live well into
1654retirement age and have healthy good
1655lives but again at that point I didn't
1656know that and also I was kind of
1657stubborn and refusing to take the
1658medication for a while I tried to do
1659everything natural and not put chemicals
1660in my body and I didn't want to take
1661these medications which I heard were
1662toxic or that some people even died from
1663taking these drugs or they can have a
1664allergic reaction to it and died so in a
1665way I was avoiding them for five years
1666and then my house started to worsen I
1667did okay but at some point my t-cell
1668count got lower and lower and I realized
1669that I was getting close to having AIDS
1670at which point you basically can you
1671know catch a flu or food poisoning and
1672you can die from that so at that point
1673it was like okay well do I want to
1674continue on what I'm doing not taking
1675the medications then I will likely die
1676do I want to take the medication and in
1677my mind I thought I was going to die
1678from taking the medication so I had this
1679crisis for many weeks where I thought
1680either way somehow I was going to die
1681and then that led me into more of a
1682spiritual search of how can I make peace
1683with it and I really wanted to read all
1684I could about the topic so that's how I
1685got to study all the different fields so
1686one is the new death experiences of
1687course there's also Auto Body
1688experiences and we can talk more about
1689Auto Body experiences because again I
1690have more experience with that I've
1691taught classes and auto body experiences
1692I've had many of them and there's also
1693extrasensory perception there's research
1694in
1695memories of past lives through hypnosis
1696but also their studies of children who
1697remember their past lives and there are
1698so many different topics that all kind
1699of intertwine in the end but each of the
1700fields kind of gives a little bit of
1701evidence of that our soul our essence
1702our whatever you want to call that
1703spirit is something that is more eternal
1704and it's just the physical body that
1705dies and and essentially we do not have
1706to fear so that's the main message right
1707that I want to give people some more
1708information that they don't have to fear
1709death okay well your book certainly is
1710very detailed it does give a lot of that
1711research and for people who may want to
1712see more or inquire you have studies to
1713back up a lot of the things you say in
1714the book and there are also examples of
1715not examples but exercises people can do
1716in the book and and so that's very good
1717now I know you said you don't own your
1718personal journey of exploration but
1719where did you find and talk a little bit
1720about the training you got at this
1721Institute first of all I have to say
1722I've had out-of-body experiences since I
1723was younger more spontaneously maybe
1724once a year so I I had and they were
1725real but I couldn't quite categorize it
1726or I couldn't like produce it at will so
1727I ended up finding the IAC at the time
1728International Academy of consciousness
1729who studies consciousness development
1730and especially training people to have
1731out-of-body experiences because with the
1732out-of-body experience the unique thing
1733is that it's not like a near-death
1734experience where the body dies or you're
1735in a critical situation might not
1736to return but our body experiences you
1737can train in a very healthy way and it's
1738like playing the piano you just have to
1739dedicate some time and some effort and
1740some it's mostly energetic training and
1741out-of-body exercises that you can do to
1742leave the body but unique thing about
1743that is when you leave your physical
1744body in that state you are in that the
1745same state that you are basically when
1746you die only that you can look back down
1747at your bed and you can look at your
1748body lying there in bed and also you
1749have a silver cord connected to your
1750non-physical body and you will come back
1751to the body at any time or you can but
1752what you can get is a preview of the
1753other non-physical dimensions and and
1754these are the same realms where our
1755loved ones go when they die were
1756consciousness or souls are before they
1757are born and so we can gather a lot of
1758information from these three arms and
1759and that to me was very fascinating so I
1760started taking their classes and I had
1761many more out-of-body experiences and
1762also had more of a desire to teach this
1763to people as well because it's one thing
1764to hear a story or even to read a book
1765about this topic but it's another thing
1766to actually have the experience yourself
1767right because they say a picture's worth
1768a thousand words and an experience is
1769worth even more so having actually been
1770there having seen it for yourself
1771changes the whole game right and it's
1772not that you need to convince anybody
1773else but if you if I can do it and I can
1774see it for myself
1775then that's all you need what can the
1776out-of-body experiences or I guess it's
1777the same as some people would say astral
1778projection you know what can that teach
1779us it's the most important paradigm that
1780it teaches us is that we are more than
1781this one physical body and that in
1782essence if I can leave my body and let
1783this one go and I have more bodies in
1784the future and I also had different
1785lifetimes in the past it kind of
1786broadens our whole perspective of who we
1787are and puts it in a whole different
1788context so normally we live in this life
1789and it's like I think we try to do our
1790best and one day we're gonna die and
1791it's all over
1792and maybe then we don't need to vary so
1793much about stepping on other people's
1794toes or it doesn't really matter how we
1795get ahead but if we know there's
1796something maybe like karma that whatever
1797we do in this life also will affect us
1798in our next life and maybe those people
1799that we are having interactions with
1800good or bad that we're going to see them
1801in the afterlife and also in our future
1802lives perhaps and that especially
1803certain big things that have happened as
1804I would say more in the past because in
1805this life now were more civil with each
1806other but maybe three four hundred years
1807ago would just you know kill someone
1808very easily and then that could be
1809something that affects us still today
1810but having that kind of awareness and
1811that that's something that you see in
1812the outer body state because you can
1813even remember past lives a lot better in
1814that state because what you're doing is
1815you're using that body that has been
1816doing all these incarnations so the non
1817physical body is the one that enters the
1818physical one and then when you die it's
1819again in non-physical body so that one
1820remains the same and that's where the
1821memories are while this this body does
1822brain dies and
1823the memories they're gonna be gone so
1824when I leave the body and I'm in that
1825using the non physical body that access
1826that memory I can see the bigger picture
1827and and it can also be I guess some
1828people don't like to think about it
1829because it means more responsibility in
1830a way of who we are our actions and what
1831we do in our lives but that's but it's
1832also good a good thing because then when
1833maybe we take more care of each other
1834because we're gonna grin into the next
1835thing I want to bring you to us about
1836our multiple existences or lives that
1837we've we had and we will have is to ask
1838you this question with each existence do
1839we kind of not only learn but advance or
1840are there times you can have a future
1841life and you've regressed somehow from
1842the way that I understand it and I don't
1843know the total truth but from the way I
1844understand it the research that we have
1845done and from my own experience there is
1846a progression there's a evolution you
1847could say a evolution of consciousness
1848so that what with each lifetime that we
1849have we do evolve to more complexity or
1850more you could say we've become more
1851wholesome in a way and just as we do in
1852this life right so when we're 20 years
1853old we maybe we are less mature we make
1854some decisions that aren't good that we
1855wouldn't do and when were 50 and then as
1856we are 50 we have a lot of life
1857experience we have done things wrong and
1858good and we have learned from them and
1859we kind of just what we do and the same
1860thing basically that would you drink one
1861life ideally right because some people
1862they can be 80 in the chemist to be like
1863a 20 year old but most people we grow
1864and we mature and we make better choices
1865later
1866so if the same thing then extends to
1867multiple lives so I wouldn't say that
1868you go back to a lesser state
1869you don't become a better person but you
1870also don't become a worst person
1871necessarily but there are different
1872theories different authors that I also
1873have read who something that some say
1874that there isn't this idea of time
1875essentially and you could go back to
1876other times and different situations and
1877you could incarnate to be a bad guy or a
1878good guy I'm not quite sure if I that
1879makes very much sense to me it's part of
1880what I look at you know is to say that
1881you know it is get in tune with let's
1882say a past life
1883I mean you imagine for example because
1884you're in Germany
1885personal life today can go to a pest
1886like I said oh my god I was Hitler I
1887mean you know that that's quite a burden
1888for that person you know or if Eastern
1889philosophies kind of what you're talking
1890about some of the accept some of what
1891you're saying more than we do in the
1892West but I don't forget who it is
1893whether it's Hindu or whatever is it oh
1894well your person now but you might come
1895back as a bug or a dog or something in
1896your next life but you're saying we
1897don't come to a lower or different
1898species we continue as in a human body
1899with our consciousness I would say more
1900and more complex evolved as a more
1901complex than evolved consciousness it
1902wouldn't really make a lot of sense for
1903our understanding our development now to
1904go back into a cat's body unless they're
1905very evolved beings which could also be
1906possible and there are also ideas that
1907animals there are consciousness level in
1908themselves and I do believe maybe we
1909have come from that but in essence we
1910also have haven't seen that many cases
1911I've read some cases but most past lives
1912books or and and the research that I
1913have done it's more progressive well
1914that's good that's encouraging for
1915everybody I mean it's a sort of look
1916part what you're saying some people will
1917recognize when they say this person is
1918an
1919old soul you know they'll say it seems
1920like seems like you've been here before
1921you know so much you're you might be
1922like twenty or thirty and and seem to be
1923very wise you know and that may be
1924something they've gotten from previous
1925existences or give me a different
1926thought because I gave a lot of thought
1927to some things you wrote in your book is
1928it sometimes you might say oh maybe a 20
1929or 30 year old woman with a 56 year old
1930man but maybe she's older you know as
1931far as progressively you know she may be
1932you know the more they're well for each
1933other because it's not her physical body
1934you know that her consciousness is more
1935mature and so they make a good couple
1936sometimes and so that's a possibility
1937you know so many many many things now
1938the thing to talk about do you know when
1939we're no longer akhir you have a host
1940section and talk about between lives and
1941how that could be decades centuries I
1942don't know how long but that things go
1943on for us when the consciousness is are
1944between physical bodies and could you
1945talk about that a little bit yes between
1946lives essentially you once the you drop
1947the physical body you're in the
1948non-physical planes there are hundreds
1949thousands of them so we kind of have a
1950home dimension where we go and and at
1951first after we die at the very first
1952usually there's a few days where we are
1953more dense in state and we can actually
1954go around and some people may even see
1955us let's say I'd just let me let me use
1956me as example let's say I died tomorrow
1957I could go let's say to my parents house
1958and they might see me or feel me and
1959that's where a lot of after death
1960communications happen so usually it's
1961around three four days right after death
1962a lot of phenomena happens right around
1963that where it's it's it's denser and
1964it's more visible and energetically that
1965the the soul that's departing can then
1966around and say their goodbyes in the way
1967or they sometimes show up in dreams
1968that's very common
196940% of there's a study in the book
1970called hello from heaven of Bill and
1971Judy Coogan Guggenheim I think they
1972study dissonant they found it's 40% of
1973Americans have had at least one of these
1974kinds of after death communications so
1975that's not a small number and so that
1976happens right after death and then
1977there's a period where the consciousness
1978has a possibility to reflect on their
1979past lives and to kind of see you know
1980what looking back what could they have
1981done better or what went well not in a
1982punishing way or anything but it's just
1983more like a self reflection and also in
1984that state you have a lot more
1985information available you kind of also
1986remember what was the plan when you
1987entered the body and did you kind of
1988execute that plan in a way or not or
1989where did you get distracted or was
1990there something that you really
1991accomplished well this time that you
1992couldn't do in your past lives and and
1993then there's a period of also of rest it
1994also depends on what what has happened
1995but if it's a an accident something very
1996shocking happening fast that could be a
1997shock even extra physically I might need
1998some rest there if it's a natural death
1999and I'm 18 years old and it happens
2000during sleep then it's very peaceful
2001it's not that traumatic so then it's
2002very much easier to move on and it also
2003depends on each person of how they
2004understand themselves in the context of
2005multiple lives and and so there's this
2006awareness level so there's some
2007consciousness who can be drawn back to
2008their physical life who might get stuck
2009here might not even
2010that they have died and then there are
2011the ideal is that you pass on you go
2012through a second stage where where you
2013discard more of the denser energies and
2014you kind of let go of that life that you
2015just lived you still remember everything
2016and you can still be in contact with
2017your loved ones but you're not tied to
2018it and you let it you can let it go and
2019you can move forward and that would be
2020the ideal condition to go through that
2021second stage of death that in my proper
2022call it the second death and then from
2023there there ends up happening a
2024preparation and for the next life and of
2025course all of this can span many years
2026but there are also classes you can take
2027for preparation there's the discussions
2028about your life mission that you might
2029have with other people or in the team
2030and something that you can accomplish as
2031a group and so all of this will be
2032discussed with these spiritual mentors
2033will have more of an oversight of who
2034needs water who needs how people can
2035help each other grow and all of this
2036gets organized there and there's there
2037can be exercises that can be tours to
2038let's say you're let's say you're about
2039to be born you might go and visit your
2040future parents and you might just hang
2041around them for a little bit
2042that's also very common and sometimes
2043parents can feel their future baby
2044already or see it in the dream before
2045it's born a lot of different things yes
2046apparently I'm glad you stuck that
2047endows gonna ask you because we're
2048getting close to running out of time on
2049the interview that about extra physical
2050mentors and you did mention those you
2051know sort of or as the one some people
2052I've meant that years ago would say your
2053spirit guides when you're alive you know
2054and they are spirit guides yes yeah and
2055I mean when you're actually in that
2056in-between life state you do have some
2057of those what they call extra physical
2058mentors maybe people people are spirits
2059at that point
2060essences or consciousness that is more
2061evolved even than you are but they're
2062not in another body yet either
2063and they help you so I'm gonna just have
2064one final thing here and then we'll cut
2065the interview but I don't want you to go
2066away is that a quote that you had there
2067and I thought about getting some hope to
2068people and you wrote I think that there
2069is no end but a continuing journey of
2070becoming do you remember writing that I
2071don't all right but it gives people hope
2072I think I think it's a great quote
2073you know it's continual becoming there
2074is never really an end so you shouldn't
2075really fear death because only was a
2076transition to a state to you know an
2077evolution hopefully to you know higher
2078in higher state as you know some people
2079used to say here colloquially you know
2080we keep coming back until we get it
2081right and so or you might say when they
2082cut the golden cut the golden cord maybe
2083it was in your book and I know you
2084mentioned even he spell it out we didn't
2085give the title of the three deaths you
2086know that were mentioned in a book but
2087yes there seems to be and and and later
2088station and evolution where we kind of
2089get out of this whole cycle of coming
2090back and evolving what kind of right at
2091just watches pH where we're the phd of
2092human lives and come back anymore that's
2093that's that's true now we want you to
2094just to talk to people about how they
2095can find your book and how they might be
2096able to contact you we ask every guest
2097for their contact information thank you
2098Paul
2099yes you can find me definitely up
2100through my website it's um my name very
2101easy in aspire calm and the book is
2102available everywhere you can buy books
2103on Amazon Barnes and Noble yeah anywhere
2104books are sold
2105it's available as a Kindle as ebook and
2106let me know what you think
2107your feedback or if you have any
2108questions I know some of the terms can
2109be you know they make you think and
2110they've gotten a question like what does
2111this mean or how does that work
2112so feel free to send me an email and and
2113I also want to mention that there is an
2114organization called mosaic Wellness and
2115education that I am volunteering for now
2116and they teach classes for out-of-body
2117experiences actually there would the
2118next one will be in July and you can
2119send me an email and I forward it to
2120mosaic and you can get on the newsletter
2121and we'll let you know when the classes
2122are happening they're online so you can
2123take it from home and then also practice
2124at home in your own bed which is
2125probably the most comfortable and I
2126definitely recommend it because try to
2127do it go out there and explore yourself
2128and see if it's true I mean I could be
2129writing anything in my book but you have
2130to see if it's true well very good thank
2131you and as for being with us today and
2132being the first guest our first
2133international guests here on the program
2134and thank you so much folks that's the
2135end of this program of books and authors
2136and windows on the world and until next
2137time this is Paul Stefan
2138[Music]
2139[Applause]
2140[Music]
2141[Applause]
2142[Music]
2143[Applause]
2144hey guys Johnny Alonzo you're watching
2145TV free Baltimore you're watching the
2146paw stephane show on TV free Baltimore
2147hello and welcome to our latest program
2148and tonight our guest is a young woman
2149who has had quite a journey both
2150geographically and in her career and
2151currently she is making it as a
2152screenwriter and our guest tonight is
2153Tabitha Williams and welcome Tabitha
2154hello nice to have you here now you
2155started acting at 10 was it oh yes I
2156played Shirley Temple Shirley Temple yes
2157I sang on the good ship lollipop and a
2158variety show at school interesting and
2159that you kept acting after that didn't
2160you I did I said I continued to act
2161until I was at university Wow all the
2162way through yeah I did some community
2163theater in Knoxville Tennessee as well
2164outside of school okay and from that you
2165went into stage craft when I was at
2166university our professors encouraged us
2167to study all aspects of theater so I did
2168design and directing costumes makeup and
2169stage management Wow which I found
2170really seated me I'd like to organize
2171people and projects and how did you get
2172from that to doing that in London well I
2173did a study abroad in Amsterdam and went
2174back to finish what whilst I was in
2175Amsterdam I did a trip to London and I
2176went to stratford-upon-avon and I saw a
2177theatre Shakespeare Theatre show at the
2178Royal Shakespeare Company and I just saw
2179the best theatre and I've ever seen in
2180my life and I knew that I wanted to work
2181in London and so when I went back I
2182finished my degree and moved to London
2183Wow yeah and you were a stage manager or
2184a guest the stage manager from Jersey
2185Boys well that was where I finished my
2186stage management career took a little
2187while to get to that level to get up
2188that high yeah
2189first my first show was a small French
2190show for a theater company cut Khali
2191they did work for Asian women writers
2192okay
2193and I actually applied to be a stage
2194manager for them and they brought me in
2195for an interview and said we you don't
2196have any experience in England so we
2197don't know any of these references and
2198they agreed to take me on as the
2199assistant stage manager for an expenses
2200only contract but sort of I did the
2201rehearsal period and then by the end of
2202the rehearsals one of the main cast
2203members who was also on the board for
2204Kali Theatre Company asked me if I was
2205going on the on the tour with them the
2206national tour and I said that I couldn't
2207because I really needed to try and find
2208work that paid and she couldn't believe
2209that I was working for expenses only and
2210she said no you're coming on tour and
2211that's when I got my first equity
2212contract and I went out on tour there
2213you go yeah and you eventually got into
2214things like Jersey Boys and there was an
2215award show you were involved oh I
2216stage-managed the Laurence Olivier
2217Awards wow that's pretty prestigious huh
2218that was very interesting that was you
2219got to meet probably some of the big
2220people and British theater at least see
2221them from it I got to see that I stood
2222right next to Patrick Stewart yeah yeah
2223this card you know yes that was really
2224interesting and I'm it's there's there's
2225too many people to name it was Laurence
2226Olivier Award it's more just full of
2227Esav yes yes got in that a little bit
2228quickly because from that how did you
2229get to screenwriting cuz you're not a
2230writer up to this point not not really I
2231had dabbled in writing a novel and I'd
2232always written poetry and both of my
2233parents are writers actually as well but
2234I just after making it onto Jersey Boys
2235and doing that for a year in a bit I I
2236started feeling like I wanted to
2237facilitate my own vision my own
2238creativity because when you're stage
2239managing your you know you're following
2240the script you're it's a lot of fun but
2241you're doing what you're told or what
2242you're asked to do based on the script
2243that you have and I just felt like I had
2244a lot of stories inside me that I wanted
2245to tell and so I started taking
2246screenwriting classes and
2247led to me organizing a screenwriting
2248group which I ran and was a member of in
2249London for the last four or five years I
2250was there and yeah that's so which is
2251one thing led to another and I
2252eventually wrote my first script - it
2253took me five years actually to finish my
2254first script now I turn them out in two
2255or three months Wow yeah but I didn't
2256know what I was doing when I started so
2257that's why it took so long I had to go
2258through lots and lots of rewrites oh
2259there you go well question I wouldn't
2260have they're gonna a couple things well
2261the background in acting and stagecraft
2262how does that influence your writing I I
2263wasn't sure I did know I was getting and
2264I think that probably from acting I know
2265a lot about what character dialogue
2266should sound like and what comes natural
2267and also I guess I must know a little
2268bit about the emotion the emotional
2269journey that an actor has to go through
2270when they're discovering their part so I
2271think that I might consider those things
2272more than someone who didn't have any
2273experience with acting maybe
2274stage-managing is you're just you're
2275very organized you have to you know
2276organize everything from the start
2277pre-production process through to
2278post-production even and with with
2279script writing it's a lot of organizing
2280as well when you start you know with
2281just your initial idea and your logline
2282you didn't have to do outline step
2283outlines and treatments and different
2284drafts and so I think there's maybe
2285something to do with the stage managing
2286and all the organizing I did helps me
2287organize myself and the scripts that I'm
2288working on okay it's like you know act
2289having that acting background I would
2290say for example you know so maybe
2291somebody will read a script and say you
2292know this doesn't read true to me but
2293you've acted so you could say an actor
2294could say maybe she's an actors writer
2295kind of a thing maybe I hadn't really
2296thought about it much but I do think
2297you're right because I do read out the
2298dialogue and I seem to have an ability
2299to sense with whether something is true
2300to the character and if they would say
2301that so I feel I've been given notes
2302before that each character
2303as their own voice which is great that's
2304what you want so I may be acting might
2305have helped me with that you're gonna
2306say I've had actors in here another
2307screenwriters and sometimes an actor
2308might say well I don't think my
2309character would say that or actually had
2310one actors that he changed things around
2311because the screen writer seemed to
2312write every one of the parts in the
2313movie in the same voice yes
2314yes you do get a lot of scripts that you
2315can't differentiate between the
2316characters and that's absolutely not
2317what you want no I tried my best not to
2318have that happen and you've got to
2319really get in and learn the soul of the
2320character this the personality and the
2321spirit and how they would react and how
2322they would speak because you talked
2323about to the organ is being organized as
2324you know a stage manager but part of it
2325too isn't all the way then when you're
2326writing something well you know look at
2327the way things flow to say well you know
2328from the scene to this thing to this
2329scene is a this is how it would happen
2330and you know by being a stage manager
2331you know what maybe flows and doesn't
2332flow yes I'm a real stickler for that
2333actually you can ask my writing part in
2334the UK I sometimes will say that doesn't
2335work you know when you think about it
2336visually how if you're watching it out
2337on screen how this scene moves into that
2338scene and I have to sometimes be a
2339little bit careful with not over
2340directing the script if I'm just writing
2341it too right because there's a
2342difference between a shooting script and
2343the initial screenplay and you need to
2344make sure as a writer that you that you
2345write a screenplay and you're not
2346writing a shooting script right yeah but
2347sometimes I do think like that when I'm
2348writing to make sure that we're moving
2349from one to the other naturally but how
2350do you get your scripts then seen by
2351people you'd like to have produced them
2352or you have to pitch your scripts
2353whenever you get a chance so you have to
2354network all the time you have to go to
2355screenwriters festivals and those are
2356really good opportunity to network and a
2357lot of times they'll be managers agents
2358producers and you usually get an
2359opportunity to pitch at those festivals
2360as well and you just have to do the best
2361you can and try to get attention but
2362it's mostly down to networking that's
2363the way
2364it's worked for me so far it's gonna say
2365this is not New York this is not LA you
2366know how you get it out there you know
2367well then when you have these festivals
2368that's when they bring the people from
2369New York in LA they bring them yeah
2370Baltimore no they bring them to Atlanta
2371that's where I went I just went again
2372all this yes this Hollywood of the south
2373that is it is the Hollywood of East
2374Coast these days now have you ever had
2375any of your work produced not yet but
2376anything in the works
2377I do have yes those ones you told me
2378about yes one of the producers that I
2379worked for as a prop master on one of
2380his movies and asked him read my movie
2381the trail and he read it and he he
2382enjoyed it and he gave me a load of
2383feedback and a load of notes which was
2384interesting and I'd then asked my
2385permission to pitch it to a sales team
2386in LA so that was very exciting and I
2387also have another script called Primrose
2388manner that the the producer asked to
2389read my one pager which I gave him and
2390then he has to read the treatment which
2391I gave him and now he wants through the
2392script Oh so and I've just finished the
2393first draft of the script so that
2394scripts probably gonna go through about
2395seven drafts before it gets it before
2396he's in seasoning probably and then
2397he'll and then you'll give his notes and
2398feedback and it'll probably go through
2399another draft who knows yeah I could
2400picked up that would be amazing I really
2401hope so that well I really hope so too
2402thank you star here have you ever tried
2403thinking with a lot of people have in
2404here or in what we call the DMV
2405independent film community have you ever
2406tried to work with them or sell your
2407script to them or work with somebody who
2408has an idea and do a film cause loved
2409independent filmmakers you know they're
2410either looking for maybe a screenwriter
2411or something sometimes you know yes well
2412I'm new to Baltimore so I'm just now
2413starting to network with the local film
2414industry and I've just met a few people
2415with the Baltimore Film Commission I
2416believe it's called right and I've been
2417given contact information so hopefully
2418that something will come from that
2419so the answer is no not yet but I am
2420working on it well it probably didn't
2421hurt to be at the Maryland
2422festival yeah I don't think it did and I
2423had a great time at that festival it was
2424amazing I saw some really amazing films
2425and met a lot of really neat people and
2426and and they had a they had a panel for
2427screenwriters actually and I got to go
2428to and attend and they had they had some
2429people there that run the Baltimore
2430screenwriters competition and they were
2431talking about that and and then that's
2432where I met I met the professor I think
2433his name is David Warfield from Morgan
2434State University's a professor in
2435screenwriting so I'm gonna have a coffee
2436with him next week great yes and he's
2437moved to Baltimore from LA Wow yeah I'm
2438not working why exactly that's what it's
2439all about networking as much as you can
2440and meeting as many people as you can
2441but I am thinking about producing one of
2442my what one of my characters from my
2443trail movie his name is Bob his trail
2444name is g-string Bob rehearsing and I've
2445for fun I've pulled that character out
2446of the movie and given him a comedy web
2447series oh wow yes and so I'm hoping that
2448I can produce that and I'll get involved
2449with with the Maryland film industry to
2450make that happen
2451that's terrific now do you have a
2452favorite genre to work with them
2453comedy you like comedies mostly I think
2454so I love comedy but I also have written
2455animation family drama and now a
2456suspense romance mashup okay so you know
2457what we want to talk about some of these
2458projects you know to say that you know
2459so far as you haven't anything produced
2460so what do you do to put the bread on
2461the table are you the one yes I work as
2462a property master oh you are still
2463property master yes for theater company
2464or for films all for films yes you are
2465getting involved with films here locally
2466I am and it's great as a screenwriter to
2467be working on films too because I'm
2468learning the process of production and
2469it helps I think with my writing and
2470especially with with the aspiration to
2471direct as well I'm learning learning by
2472being behind the scenes on film sets I
2473was going to say have you done any other
2474type of writing a one-girl type of
2475writing like writing a novel or
2476poetry or anything I did write poetry
2477most of my childhood and and teenage and
2478university life I I wrote a lot of
2479poetry got books and books and books of
2480poetry that I pulled out of storage that
2481was in storage for 13 years I was in
2482London and so I I do write poetry but I
2483haven't written a novel I started one a
2484long time ago and never finished it
2485I still feel for me that writing
2486screenplays is the way I want to go but
2487I have heard that it's good for
2488screenwriters to write a novel and vice
2489versa or short stories Oh short stories
2490well I write short films that's true yes
2491assurance that's sort of my fun hobby if
2492if you know if I don't have anything
2493that I'm working on at the moment and I
2494just want to write I'll just sit down
2495and write a short film
2496Oh short films are good you pitched that
2497around here because we've had several
2498short films we've showed here and then
2499we've interviewed the directors and the
2500stars and I want to do that to get that
2501be a regular feature of our our station
2502so that a lot of good filmmakers get
2503known if they want event to get to a
2504feature why not do some shorts first
2505exactly they can get them produced and
2506let people see them and see what they
2507can do it all so that's good for whoever
2508the screenwriters and you're learning
2509how to do a whole story in a compressed
2510maybe 20 minute format or something
2511right I saw two different programs of
2512short no three actually I saw the comedy
2513shorts the Balti shorts and I think it
2514was called closed spaces or something
2515something like that shorts program that
2516shows by the film festival and they were
2517amazing it they were the production
2518quality was that of a film of a feature
2519film but obviously just in a 10 minute
252010 minute segment yeah well again let's
2521see now I want to talk about some things
2522you're done and are doing now what is
2523your background in animation you can't
2524actually draw undo the animating kenyon
2525no I haven't done are you right for
2526animation then I just said you normally
2527would just as you normally would except
2528for you and you just your characters
2529well they could be people in my case
2530they were mostly cats right and about
2531the adventures of Cooper and Mini Cooper
2532I did and also the
2533the the animation feature that I wrote
2534called me out the other one about the
2535switching of yes bodies yes the one that
2536Nick and I wrote and you just you give
2537the the characters whether they're
2538animals or not you give them their own
2539personalities just like you would people
2540okay and what's the trail the trail is a
2541romantic comedy it's about a ambitious
2542young woman at the start of her
2543professional career who lacks the
2544confidence to achieve her goals and
2545discovers that she has to climb a few
2546mountains confront a bear and dance in
2547the moonlight to find her true path
2548that's the log line and yeah there's a
2549lot going on
2550she's hazel is working at an internship
2551for the news team and she desperately
2552wants to be a travel presenter and her
2553and her boyfriend Ellen are set to do a
2554thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail which
2555is his dream and but she wants to be a
2556travel percenter so it's a good idea for
2557her as well but right before they're set
2558to leave she gets offered a job at the
2559news team and she's worried she should
2560maybe not miss out on that opportunity
2561even that even though it's not really
2562what she wants to do when she gets home
2563to discuss it with Alan he says they'll
2564postpone the thru-hike so she can take
2565the job when she wakes up in the morning
2566he's gone okay so she and a friend Zeke
2567goes off after him on the trail but
2568she's not the skilled hacker that he was
2569so she finds herself without the right
2570equipment without the right sort of
2571skills and knowledge of being of the
2572wilderness and how to survive and she
2573meets a lot of quirky through hackers
2574that help her on her journey and as
2575she's doing this through height trying
2576to catch up to Alan she starts filming
2577her hike in a selfie style way making a
2578documentary of her hike which she then
2579uses to try and get a job at the end of
2580the maybe interesting yeah it's a lot of
2581fun this is one of the movies that
2582people are interested in yes
2583I had a producer that asked me if he
2584could pitch it to his sales team in LA
2585and I said yes definitely
2586and so that was supposed to happen in
2587March unfortunately that hasn't happened
2588yet
2589and so I'm still kind of waiting on that
2590so but we'll see it's
2591so it's yes it's definitely interesting
2592it's good for me that he just wants the
2593hit that he wants to produce it and he
2594liked it enough and so hopefully that'll
2595get made and and that's the one I've
2596pulled the character his name's Bob his
2597child names g-string Bob I've pulled him
2598out of that in made a little comedy web
2599series for him that I'm hoping to
2600produce next spring I'd be interesting
2601now there's a sitcom too called fair
2602trade yes and that hasn't been made yet
2603that hasn't been made yet screenwriters
2604have to write a lot of scripts before
2605they actually get made but talk a little
2606bit about the premise of fairs trade
2607fair trade is its sitcom a pop comedy
2608sitcom about three women that work in a
2609shop together on zero hour contracts
2610with no benefits in the shop is an eco
2611boutique that's anything but ethical so
2612there's three women there that aren't
2613getting paid proper wages but they're
2614supposed to be selling all of this ethic
2615ethical goods and fair trade clothing
2616see that as a Brit comic it was written
2617in London I knew yes it was intended for
2618everyone across the pond across the pond
2619is about a disjointed American family
2620that moved from America for the summer
2621to London and and in the journey in
2622London they attempt to reunite find
2623happiness and it's oh it's it's a family
2624drama and there's it's kind of fun to
2625take an American family and put them in
2626England okay yeah there's a lot of
2627differences that's the fish-out-of-water
2628kind of thing exactly yeah what about
2629Primrose Manor
2630Primrose Manor is the movie that is also
2631with a producer at the moment that just
2632finished the first draft of that and
2633it's and it's the one I was saying it's
2634about an introverted postal worker who
2635sets out to discover the letters that
2636she's delivering to an abandoned house
2637but you see there's a lot about this
2638those like their suspense
2639there's thriller there's there's romance
2640there's all kinds of it's a real mashup
2641it is a real mashup so my writing
2642partner Nick and I we decided that we
2643were gonna try and write a movie under
2644the hallmark model to try in hopes to
2645just sell the script as quickly as
2646possible but we wanted to make it sort
2647of maybe a little more interesting than
2648some of the current hallmark movies
2649that can be a little bit predictable so
2650we've given we've got the romance there
2651but we've added this suspense element so
2652the postal worker he's really shy or
2653name is Janice she delivers letters to
2654an abandoned house and but no he said
2655there's no one there but she keeps
2656delivering these letters which finding
2657them in her mailbag to deliver and
2658eventually she decides to open up one of
2659the letters even though it's against the
2660law to open mail she could lose her job
2661she could go to jail and when she opens
2662the letter she discovers that it's
2663actually intended for her oh that's
2664interesting - yes that's a little more
2665intricate plotting than that one i think
2666i think so it was a lot of fun to write
2667and we're now starting to write draft
2668two of that Oh interesting
2669now there was a story on this one was
2670comedy web series called coffee guys
2671okay coffee guys is I produced actually
2672introduced an episode of coffee guys I
2673did not write it my friend Warren Clarke
2674was that was the screenwriter for that
2675and we were he was in the screenwriting
2676group that I organized in London and I
2677went to the London screenwriters
2678festival and met a guy there called Matt
2679green who was a professional music video
2680producer and then my friend Warren had
2681this comedy web series and I wanted to
2682produce something and after
2683stage-managing I felt that I would have
2684skills that could be transferable over
2685to producing which is which was true
2686because it's just again a lot of
2687organizing and managing and organizing
2688especially so um so we all got together
2689and Matt had all the equipment that we
2690needed so we got together we had
2691auditions and rehearsals and and then we
2692shot the episode in a park in London Wow
2693terrific yeah it was it it was a really
2694good learning experience for me has it
2695been shown like a week ago on YouTube
2696and find it or something unfortunately
2697not um it will be in the future but
2698unfortunately we had some hiccups with
2699the director actually so we just we
2700weren't able to we were missing quite a
2701lot of the close-ups and in order to do
2702a reshoot it just we just didn't really
2703feel like that it would be a good idea
2704so I think Warren's carrying on with
2705that project in London now actually you
2706know you talked about the writing the
2707producing have you ever thought of
2708saying you would like to be a writer
2709director yes I have but only recently
2710because I love the collaborative process
2711that that takes place when you know you
2712write a script you give your script over
2713and then there's a director a DOP sound
2714lighting costume wardrobe I really
2715really would love to write a script and
2716give it over to a talented group of
2717individuals and just see what they do
2718with it and so that way the director
2719wouldn't have interpreted my script
2720so I've for most of my projects I've
2721felt that I wanted to do that not be a
2722director but now that I've written the
2723comedy web series this is is g-string
2724Bob I feel that I want to direct that
2725project because it's a small project so
2726I feel that I could if I had a really
2727good director of photography I would
2728feel comfortable just focusing on the
2729vision that I wanted and the acting and
2730then rely on my do page to make sure
2731that everything's in focus and looks
2732good um and I think as well the trail I
2733have a little sort of feeling that I
2734would like to direct that as well okay
2735because part of what you said I think
2736off camera I've heard other writers say
2737this before too you know you give up
2738your script and a lot of times and a
2739couple of people actually like the one
2740gentleman so we had 14 things produced a
2741lot times they don't want the writer on
2742set and all right now or you could see
2743that my god when it gets to the screen
2744it's not exactly what I wrote mm-hm
2745and you do have your check but still you
2746have that emotional investment in the
2747project but if you're the director and
2748the writer you have control yes
2749absolutely i I think that it just
2750depends on the script really because
2751when we started out to write primrose
2752Manor we did decide that we were going
2753to write it within that hallmark model
2754and hopes to just spell script and then
2755you're not so attached to and what they
2756do with it at that stage whereas with
2757the trail I am very much attached to to
2758what's written in the script there's a
2759scene where hazel confronts a bear a
2760black bear in in the woods and I'd
2761really would like that done properly now
2762with your writing you know a lot of
2763writers how much of your characters are
2764any of your characters a lot like you
2765do you put yourself in your characters I
2766don't think I do
2767you don't not something else my arm look
2768a little bit like something you would
2769say or do Tabitha you don't get that
2770feedback from people I haven't no no so
2771you can totally divorce it I suppose I
2772think there's me in the script and the
2773story but I feel that I haven't written
2774myself as a character okay yeah got some
2775people get so they're always writing
2776themselves you know oh absolutely and I
2777I you know participate in these
2778screenwriting groups and I see it all
2779the time you know that the screenwriter
2780is the lead in the story you just know
2781it they but they write it as if they
2782think they describe the character how I
2783can see that they are and they also
2784speak the way those the way the
2785characters who the main character will
2786speak the way that that person will
2787write speak but I try not to do that I
2788don't really feel there was one I had
2789what I call to practice screenplay that
2790I wrote when I first started studying
2791and it's it I never finished it but
2792there was definitely a character in that
2793that was me
2794okay but I suppose after you know after
2795time now I don't I don't do that well
2796that's very interesting
2797yeah now is there anything else that
2798you'd like to tell us before we end I
2799just I guess I'm just really excited to
2800be in Baltimore I would love to get I'm
2801having a great time here and I would
2802love to get more involved with the local
2803film industry and meet more writers and
2804just see what happens and I am gonna be
2805putting together the crew for the comedy
2806web series and I'm so lucky that I have
2807actor Brian st. Augustine with me on
2808that project and he's he's willing to
2809play my character Bob and he also knows
2810and I would recommend to a great
2811director of photography for that I
2812believe so he's Jeff Herberger yes I
2813believe he's mentioned him to me and I'm
2814also gonna be going to meet Wayne
2815Shipley as well oh yes we interviewed
2816him too I know a guy I'm really excited
2817I'm going up to his ranch on June 5th
2818after well terrific we were there
2819we filmed there Oh amazing yeah we felt
2820bad that the move he just did which was
2821you know bill Tilghman at walls
2822he has sets there at his place and we
2823filmed the interview in the sheriff's
2824office oh that's really neat it was
2825really cool
2826well anyway well why don't you let
2827people out there know how to find you
2828give your contact information well my
2829name is Tabitha Williams my gmail is
2830Tabitha ta ba th a dot Williams at
2831gmail.com and my should I give my phone
2832numbers well that's up to you
2833my email is fine bear yeah thank you
2834yeah please do get in touch if you want
2835to talk about films or if you're a
2836screenwriter or if you're interested in
2837working on a career for a comedy web
2838series terrific well again well thanks
2839for being here thanks for having me it
2840was a lot of fun thank you folks oh
2841there we go that's the end of another
2842program and please look around and maybe
2843eventually you'll see a film or a web
2844series or TV show with this young
2845woman's writing credit on it at least
2846let's all hope so so until next time
2847this is Paul Stephan and good night
2848you're watching the pong stephane show
2849on TV free Baltimore hello I'm Steve
2850Darnell the publisher of nostalgia
2851digest and you're watching TV free
2852Baltimore well done
2853[Music]
2854[Music]
2855[Music]
2856my
2857[Music]
2858[Music]
2859[Applause]
2860[Music]
2861this concludes another day of livestream
2862broadcasting from TV free Baltimore