WEBVTT 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:12.599 One little act of kindness can go a long, long 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:18.539 way Two little acts of kindness can brighten 00:00:18.539 --> 00:00:24.859 anyone's day Three little acts of kindness can 00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:31.199 make a beautiful sound Many acts of kindness 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.340 Hi, and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened, 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:41.679 the podcast that features people from all walks 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:44.219 of life talking about experiences they had as 00:00:44.219 --> 00:00:47.140 a child and how those events impacted them as 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:50.700 an adult. I'm your host, Jay Rehack, and like 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:53.979 you, I've had my share of childhood experiences 00:00:53.979 --> 00:00:57.359 that have impacted who I am, all of them painful 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:01.640 or eventful or even pleasant. have helped make 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:05.579 me who I am today. Tell Me What Happened is sponsored 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:09.459 by Sidelining Publishing, publishers of quality 00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:12.340 books including Susan Salador's One Little Act 00:01:12.340 --> 00:01:15.159 of Kindness, a children's book that is perfect 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.019 for the holiday season. Tell Me What Happened 00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:22.480 is also sponsored by LaughSaver .com. Visit LaughSaver 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:25.400 .com and record your laughter. We'll keep it 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:29.099 for you now and forever. It's free and your children 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:32.090 and your grandchildren and your great grandchildren 00:01:32.090 --> 00:01:36.390 will appreciate it. That's LaughSaver .com. Visit 00:01:36.390 --> 00:01:39.849 LaughSaver .com and record your laughter now. 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:43.030 All right, so today I have as my first guest 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.790 a good friend of mine, a man that I used to teach 00:01:45.790 --> 00:01:49.489 with at Whitney Young a long time ago, a man 00:01:49.489 --> 00:01:53.560 who is now the... Executive Director of K -12 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:57.819 Education Initiatives and my very own library 00:01:57.819 --> 00:02:01.180 program at the University of Chicago. Welcome 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:04.560 Dwayne Davis. Dwayne, great to have you on the 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.859 show. Are you ready to tell your story? I'm ready. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.439 I think I'm ready. All right. Well, this is how 00:02:10.439 --> 00:02:11.759 it's going to work, Dwayne. I'm going to stop 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:13.319 talking. I'm going to get out of the way. I'm 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:17.319 going to mute my microphone. At the end of your 00:02:17.319 --> 00:02:19.400 story, I'm going to ask you one question. How 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.580 do you think that? experience has impacted who 00:02:22.580 --> 00:02:26.340 you are today. So take it away, Dwayne. All right. 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:31.180 So I believe the year was 1990. It might have 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:34.539 been 1989. As you get older, the years kind of 00:02:34.539 --> 00:02:36.800 blur together. You're not sure which year is 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:39.560 the right year and which year this kind of seed 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:43.000 actually got planted. But I definitely was a 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.860 gainfully employed teenager. at like an office 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:50.680 job. And I heard about this program, and I'm 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:52.419 going to name the program. I was going to Google 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:55.139 to see if it still existed. But this is the integral 00:02:55.139 --> 00:02:57.840 part of the story. The program was called InRose. 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:01.639 Excellent program at the time. It was a program 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:05.960 to try to get young African -American and Latinx 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:08.840 high school students into like internship programs 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:12.080 for business. So you get like a really good kind 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.479 of office job. And then It turns into like a 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.659 network of people. You can kind of keep that 00:03:18.659 --> 00:03:21.639 job and internship through college. And it was 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:24.560 trying to be a pipeline program. And I believe, 00:03:24.979 --> 00:03:26.539 having done the research on this and looked it 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:28.740 up, that it was a relatively successful program, 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:30.539 like the young people I know that participated 00:03:30.539 --> 00:03:34.520 at the time are, I think, many of them in business 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.240 or doing something that had long careers, like 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:42.740 inside of companies in that way. So I, as a teenager 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:45.979 at the time, with my office job that I had, that 00:03:45.979 --> 00:03:48.500 was a relatively minimal wage job. I might've 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:50.240 been making four or something an hour. I'm not 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:52.460 quite sure what the hourly rate was at the time. 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:54.860 It was a lot of money to me. I said, I'm going 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:56.900 to go to this enrolls program. You have to have 00:03:56.900 --> 00:03:59.729 a certain GPA. Yeah, to have a certain, you know, 00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:02.909 wasn't super high and I wasn't, I wasn't, I was, 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.930 I believe I was a talented student, but I wasn't 00:04:05.930 --> 00:04:08.669 a good student. I didn't kind of know how to 00:04:08.669 --> 00:04:11.169 navigate those waters or possibly didn't even 00:04:11.169 --> 00:04:13.150 care how to navigate those waters in that way 00:04:13.150 --> 00:04:15.090 of trying to adjust as a young person at the 00:04:15.090 --> 00:04:18.129 time. So I apply this program and I get to go 00:04:18.129 --> 00:04:20.089 do an interview. And I know, OK, I got to go 00:04:20.089 --> 00:04:22.689 to an interview. I've never been in like a formal, 00:04:22.769 --> 00:04:26.050 formal job interview for like a business situation. 00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:28.730 And I'm a young person at the time that I mean, 00:04:29.189 --> 00:04:32.250 I dressed. fairly okay and I say fairly okay 00:04:32.250 --> 00:04:35.110 like I like to wear like slacks and t -shirts 00:04:35.110 --> 00:04:36.990 and you know shirts like button -up shirts at 00:04:36.990 --> 00:04:39.589 the time and then the late 80s 90s you know they 00:04:39.589 --> 00:04:42.430 might be like a silk or rayon shirt with like 00:04:42.430 --> 00:04:44.949 some kind of floral print on it or you know and 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:47.050 you had the high top phase and had a high top 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:49.930 fade and my ear was pierced and I go into this 00:04:49.930 --> 00:04:52.819 interview with a respectable pair of pants, a 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:56.980 respectable pair of shoes. I think I like an 00:04:56.980 --> 00:04:58.879 off -white, I can still see myself too, like 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.839 an off -white kind of button -up shirt. I even 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.600 put a tie on, but it wasn't the kind of shirt 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.139 that took a tie. So it wasn't like a dress dress 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:08.480 shirt, like a press, you know, dress shirt that 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:10.660 got like lightly starched in the dry cleaners. 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.279 And I go into this interview because I got to 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:15.040 the interview and at the time I'm trying to decide 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.560 what I want to major in and I legitimately were, 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:21.910 think on my application, I put business or English. 00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:24.430 And if I believe correctly, this is my junior 00:05:24.430 --> 00:05:26.649 year of high school. I think in the intro mentioned 00:05:26.649 --> 00:05:29.589 that I taught at Whitney Young Magna High School, 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:31.589 but I'm also a graduate of Whitney Young Magna 00:05:31.589 --> 00:05:34.149 High School and my English teachers at Whitney 00:05:34.149 --> 00:05:37.850 Young really impacted me. That's getting ahead 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:40.269 of the stories, but they did. So I get to this 00:05:40.269 --> 00:05:42.269 interview and I get to this office and it's a 00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:44.709 downtown office and other young people are there. 00:05:45.230 --> 00:05:47.949 And they're dressed up too. I'm dressed a little 00:05:47.949 --> 00:05:50.329 differently. I'm a little more alternative. I 00:05:50.329 --> 00:05:52.350 got the big high top fade and it was pretty tall. 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:54.990 It was kid and play tall. And I got my earring 00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:57.569 in and I think people have one like, they have 00:05:57.569 --> 00:05:59.910 on suits. There's some young ladies there. They're 00:05:59.910 --> 00:06:02.029 dressed kind of business professional. And, you 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:04.110 know, my mother's a college graduate. Like, you 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:06.329 know, I've got teachers in my family, professionals 00:06:06.329 --> 00:06:08.250 in my family, but, you know, it doesn't quite 00:06:08.250 --> 00:06:09.889 round. I'm born in a job interview. Like I said, 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:12.529 internship. I will see what it is. So I get to 00:06:12.529 --> 00:06:15.100 the interview. i don't know i can't remember 00:06:15.100 --> 00:06:17.240 one thing they asked me i do remember the end 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:20.720 of the interview they say you did great i got 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:23.120 two three things i need to tell you three things 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:27.120 one on your application you put business or english 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:31.779 don't put english don't put english i'm 15 years 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:37.360 old okay all right second take the earring out 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:39.259 next time you come for an interview like remove 00:06:39.259 --> 00:06:43.660 your earring third thing wear a suit to the next 00:06:43.660 --> 00:06:46.699 interview. And I walk out of there with a little 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:50.279 miffed. Like, hey, and I had enough perspective, 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:53.300 I think at that time, to be like, I'm a kid. 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:55.000 Like, I don't know what I want to do right now. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.839 Like, I'm about to lock in. I got to tell people 00:06:56.839 --> 00:07:00.079 I'm not sure. It really kind of made that moment 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.370 like. So I go back and get the second interview. 00:07:02.490 --> 00:07:04.810 There's another level to this, right? And I think 00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:07.350 the idea of that there are gates, right? And 00:07:07.350 --> 00:07:09.230 you've got to like get the right key to the right 00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:12.170 gate. You know, I think about the movie The Matrix 00:07:12.170 --> 00:07:15.329 and the guy that makes the keys to open the doors 00:07:15.329 --> 00:07:18.389 in the back, you know, the back channels on the 00:07:18.389 --> 00:07:21.430 Internet, that metaphor for that. And it's like 00:07:21.430 --> 00:07:23.370 there's another key. Another key is another interview. 00:07:23.389 --> 00:07:25.990 So I go to for the interview, literally like 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:28.209 I might have been outside of the building. I 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:31.149 remove my earring. I don't have a suit. I don't 00:07:31.149 --> 00:07:33.689 have money like in two weeks to procure a suit. 00:07:34.029 --> 00:07:35.649 To be honest, I don't even know where to get 00:07:35.649 --> 00:07:37.589 a suit. Like I haven't had at that time in my 00:07:37.589 --> 00:07:39.490 life, like an Easter suit since I was like in 00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:42.029 the fifth grade. So we're not buying, I think 00:07:42.029 --> 00:07:44.149 I had an eighth grade graduation suit that I 00:07:44.149 --> 00:07:47.189 got at like a store on 71st street on the South 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:48.990 side of Chicago. And it's like, I don't know 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:51.930 where to go procure a suit at 15 years old as 00:07:51.930 --> 00:07:55.470 a junior in high school. So I go to the next 00:07:55.470 --> 00:07:59.939 interview, take the earring out, walk in. says, 00:07:59.939 --> 00:08:02.279 I do well again. I'm going on to the next round. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:04.160 Like, oh, you did great. And it was interesting 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:06.079 to get feedback there, like right there in the 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:08.480 moment. Like, I didn't find out I didn't make 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:10.980 it. Like, there was no email. You know, there 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:12.939 wasn't, you know, there wasn't any of that. I 00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:15.300 got, I didn't get a phone call. They told me 00:08:15.300 --> 00:08:17.220 right there, like, you did great. You made it 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:21.240 to the next round. Two things this time. Don't 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:23.459 put English on your, don't put English on your 00:08:23.459 --> 00:08:27.220 application. And then two, you need a suit. and 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:28.839 I'm glad you didn't have an airing in your ear. 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:30.879 You know, it was like, it was like they were 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.460 all talking about candidates. And as a candidate, 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:36.419 I seem to be a good candidate. But I had these 00:08:36.419 --> 00:08:38.360 kind of flags on me. And flag, you know, flag 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:41.100 number one is I wanted to I was thinking about 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:42.740 being an English major, not being a business 00:08:42.740 --> 00:08:47.340 major. Flag number two is I got my ear pierced, 00:08:47.340 --> 00:08:49.700 which at the time in the 90s could mean a lot 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:51.379 of different things. But for me, it was just 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:54.350 a fashion choice. And then the third thing was, 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:56.909 is that I needed a suit, you know, like that 00:08:56.909 --> 00:09:00.169 somehow the covering of a suit, you know, made 00:09:00.169 --> 00:09:02.289 me more legitimate candidate, which means maybe 00:09:02.289 --> 00:09:04.470 they didn't really read my application, where 00:09:04.470 --> 00:09:06.049 it's like, I don't have money for a suit. I do 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:09.250 have a job. I'm dressed as a young person. I'm 00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:11.409 dressed appropriately for an interview. I'm dressed 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:14.529 as dressed up as I can possibly be. And they 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:16.789 didn't have a thing that said, oh, we need to 00:09:16.789 --> 00:09:18.809 get this young person a suit. It was like, you 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.779 need to get a suit. so then you can kind of have 00:09:21.779 --> 00:09:24.440 the proper identification, the next key to get 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.600 to the next level in this particular game that 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:28.919 I've decided to play at this particular point 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:32.039 in my life. And I walked out of that second interview 00:09:32.039 --> 00:09:34.860 and was like, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:38.379 gonna be an English major. Because clearly, if 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:41.179 they say that's the wrong thing to do, then it 00:09:41.179 --> 00:09:44.220 must be the right thing to do for me. It legitimately 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:47.759 solidified the idea. that I should major in English. 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.820 And then the story continued, right? But at that 00:09:50.820 --> 00:09:53.500 moment, that moment solidified what I was gonna 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:55.220 major. I didn't know what I was gonna do with 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:57.980 an English major, but I knew why I wanted to 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:00.580 major in English is because of the teachers that 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:03.179 I had throughout my life, including my family, 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:06.639 that impacted me as far as stories, narrative. 00:10:07.150 --> 00:10:09.669 reading, talking, writing, all those things. 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:11.509 Right then, in that moment, I made the decision 00:10:11.509 --> 00:10:13.529 when I walked out of that door that I was going 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:15.470 to be an English major and I figure out what 00:10:15.470 --> 00:10:18.470 to do after that. But business was likely not 00:10:18.470 --> 00:10:22.909 going to be for me. And that's my story. That's 00:10:22.909 --> 00:10:26.970 a great story. So you definitely became an English 00:10:26.970 --> 00:10:29.570 teacher. So I know the impact to some extent 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:33.169 is. I thank God you don't wear that suit because 00:10:33.169 --> 00:10:35.129 you're a heck of an English teacher. But anyway, 00:10:35.269 --> 00:10:37.370 I'm going to let you tell me how you think it's 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:39.570 impacted your life because obviously there was 00:10:39.570 --> 00:10:42.210 two roads that diverged in the woods and one 00:10:42.210 --> 00:10:45.250 of them was the business side and the other side 00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:48.429 was becoming an educator in English with an English 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:50.450 degree. And like you said, it doesn't mean you 00:10:50.450 --> 00:10:52.049 necessarily become a teacher if you're an English 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:54.590 teacher, if you're an English major. So tell 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:58.309 us how it impacted your life then, Dwayne. So 00:10:58.309 --> 00:11:01.820 I think the I mean, I think of this in like four 00:11:01.820 --> 00:11:05.659 different ways. So I think way number one was 00:11:05.659 --> 00:11:10.600 that it is okay to not know, right? That the 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:15.700 uncertainty of life was important. The uncertainty 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:20.100 of this may have to take a risk in order to do 00:11:20.100 --> 00:11:22.399 something. I have to do something that everybody 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:24.799 might not think is the most popular or the right 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.179 thing to do. Like definitely impacted my life. 00:11:29.070 --> 00:11:32.009 both negative and positive ways, right? So, you 00:11:32.009 --> 00:11:33.769 know, like, hey, I'm gonna take a stand. Like, 00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:35.710 I'm gonna take a stand. I'm gonna take a principal 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:38.049 stand on something. And I've, you know, definitely 00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:41.330 felt the consequences of standing on principles 00:11:41.330 --> 00:11:43.529 in a lot of different ways in my life. But in 00:11:43.529 --> 00:11:46.289 that moment, it's the idea of knowing and not 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:48.570 knowing, and then being aware of your knowing 00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:53.429 and not knowing. Two, it's like... Follow your 00:11:53.429 --> 00:11:56.750 passion like it's a bit of like if it's something 00:11:56.750 --> 00:12:01.210 that you enjoy doing that you gain joy from You 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:05.009 can hopefully find a way to do that thing it 00:12:05.009 --> 00:12:08.669 not become cumbersome You know that you can continue 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:11.590 that thing and maybe you could do it in some 00:12:11.590 --> 00:12:14.230 way shape or form for a professional career but 00:12:14.230 --> 00:12:17.149 that it always stays with you. And definitely 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:20.330 like my love of literature, my love of reading, 00:12:20.429 --> 00:12:23.070 my love of story has transferred in some cases 00:12:23.070 --> 00:12:25.850 to theater and the movies and the TV shows. But 00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:28.529 it's rooted in this idea that stories matter 00:12:28.529 --> 00:12:31.429 to me and that everybody's humanity and stories 00:12:31.429 --> 00:12:33.950 matter to me. And we see people's humanity in 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:36.710 their stories and knowing their story, talking 00:12:36.710 --> 00:12:39.240 to people. Getting to know them, getting to understand 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:41.240 them, building community with them. Like that's 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:42.899 how we build it. We build it through the telling 00:12:42.899 --> 00:12:44.820 the story. We build it through sharing information 00:12:44.820 --> 00:12:47.279 with each other in that way. I think the third 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.340 thing I ended up becoming an English teacher 00:12:49.340 --> 00:12:53.039 and in becoming an English teacher, what I didn't 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:57.179 necessarily want to do was transfer my love of 00:12:57.179 --> 00:13:00.440 certain texts. But what I wanted to transfer 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:04.940 was the skillset that I thought it gave me that 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:08.070 ultimately, interesting enough, people in business 00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:11.549 find valuable, right? He's, oh, this person can 00:13:11.549 --> 00:13:15.769 tell stories. Oh, this person can like very quickly 00:13:15.769 --> 00:13:19.690 summarize, synthesize, and move us to a different 00:13:19.690 --> 00:13:23.129 point in discussion and direction, like very 00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:28.269 quickly, right? And that comes from lots of coffee 00:13:28.269 --> 00:13:31.870 time discussions, classroom chats. things that 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:33.750 I learned from young people, things that young 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:35.450 people would learn from me being in the community 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:37.230 with other people and learning those things. 00:13:37.330 --> 00:13:41.409 And so the idea that the skill set that I got 00:13:41.409 --> 00:13:44.350 was kind of transferable in that way. I'm using 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:46.610 that terminology because what's interesting about 00:13:46.610 --> 00:13:49.330 it in reflection and telling this story is that 00:13:49.330 --> 00:13:52.309 the thing that I turned out to be good at, other 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:55.990 people think I'm good at too. And I just happened 00:13:55.990 --> 00:13:58.129 to have this very circuitous route in order to 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:01.149 get there, in order to say in that moment, I'm 00:14:01.149 --> 00:14:02.909 going to make this decision to do this thing 00:14:02.909 --> 00:14:06.509 and not do this other thing. And I think, lastly, 00:14:06.970 --> 00:14:09.250 it's what I try to transfer to young people as 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:12.389 an educator. And you say teacher educator, this 00:14:12.389 --> 00:14:17.149 is my 26th year in education. And it's respecting 00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:22.529 young people who don't know and trying to transmit 00:14:22.529 --> 00:14:25.250 to them that it's OK to do what you don't know. 00:14:25.470 --> 00:14:28.389 it's perfectly fine to not know that there's 00:14:28.389 --> 00:14:30.289 a lot of things in your life that you're not 00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:33.370 going to be sure of and that you need to think 00:14:33.370 --> 00:14:36.250 about them and consider them. But if you're not 00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:39.929 sure, that's okay. That you can kind of fight 00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:43.029 against the tide of a group of people who are 00:14:43.029 --> 00:14:45.690 very happy and wanting to chart out their life 00:14:45.690 --> 00:14:49.049 in a way and have goals and set those goals. 00:14:49.669 --> 00:14:52.769 And that's a great thing for them, but that's 00:14:52.769 --> 00:14:54.830 not for everybody. And that some young people 00:14:55.070 --> 00:14:57.509 are still trying to figure it out. And I say 00:14:57.509 --> 00:15:00.529 young people mean anybody not in the ground, 00:15:01.350 --> 00:15:03.970 not still in this earthly plane. We are still 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:05.809 trying to figure things out. And I joke with 00:15:05.809 --> 00:15:07.529 people and that's my last two points. I joke 00:15:07.529 --> 00:15:09.750 with people. I joke with people saying I still 00:15:09.750 --> 00:15:11.710 don't know what I do when I grow up and I have 00:15:11.710 --> 00:15:14.370 a grown person that goes to college that lives 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:19.110 in my house and that when I figure it out, I'll 00:15:19.110 --> 00:15:21.210 let everybody know, right? I'll let everybody 00:15:21.210 --> 00:15:24.230 know. And I always ended many of my classes probably 00:15:24.230 --> 00:15:26.710 in the last 15 years that I've taught by saying, 00:15:26.710 --> 00:15:29.490 thank you for participating in the grand experiment 00:15:29.490 --> 00:15:33.370 of education. Because if you were here with me 00:15:33.370 --> 00:15:35.149 and we tried to figure something out together 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:36.950 and I tried to teach something or we tried to 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:38.990 have a conversation to try to unlock something 00:15:38.990 --> 00:15:41.629 in your brain, I want to thank people for being 00:15:41.629 --> 00:15:43.840 there, but I also want to let them know. There's 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:45.759 not one way to do it. We're all experimenting 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:48.299 and trying things out. And I know that moment, 00:15:48.820 --> 00:15:51.139 that inroads moment, that internship moment, 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.460 kind of impacts how I think about all those things 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.840 in that way. I love it. It's easy for me to say, 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:00.440 because I identify with everything you say. I'm 00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:04.179 like, yes, I'm with you, yes. And I think you 00:16:04.179 --> 00:16:06.259 really hit it where you say, you got to let these 00:16:06.259 --> 00:16:09.470 young people. Feel it either way, you know if 00:16:09.470 --> 00:16:11.330 a kid says I know what I want to be then you 00:16:11.330 --> 00:16:14.409 say great Congratulations, you know, but as you've 00:16:14.409 --> 00:16:16.870 articulated I mean I'm 65 and I still can't wait 00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:18.590 to figure out what I want to be when I grow up 00:16:18.590 --> 00:16:22.710 So you hit it. Thank you so much Dwayne. I Love 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:25.429 talking with you because again was sort of kindred 00:16:25.429 --> 00:16:28.090 spirits and in the the love of the bigger picture 00:16:28.090 --> 00:16:30.389 It's not really, you know, it's not English per 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:32.809 se. It's that's the storytelling. It's you know 00:16:32.809 --> 00:16:36.019 that the world It actually needs us. The business 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:38.360 world needs us. They know it. Everybody uses 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:44.059 it. They say the number one major for CEOs is 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:46.899 English majors. They've done studies on it. So 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.139 it's not like the business community has a corner 00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:51.960 on it. But anyway, I'm not trying to push for 00:16:51.960 --> 00:16:55.460 our discipline. I just enjoy having you on the 00:16:55.460 --> 00:16:58.480 show, hearing your story. Thank you very much. 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:04.039 Happy post -Thanksgiving. Thank you, Jay. Great 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.720 to be here with you. And you never know who you 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:10.420 meet along the way. who turns into a person that 00:17:10.420 --> 00:17:13.700 you can always go back to and have these conversations 00:17:13.700 --> 00:17:16.920 with. And I met you in a moment where I was trying 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.480 to make similar decisions, like, you know, and 00:17:20.480 --> 00:17:22.880 the road diverged again and again and again. 00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.480 And you look at my, you look at my resume, you 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:28.599 can tell like this guy moved around a lot. But 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:32.079 really I moved around because I wanted to always 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:33.740 try to do something interesting. I wanted to 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:35.380 always try to move to something that might be 00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:38.460 more challenging to me and teaching. is always 00:17:38.460 --> 00:17:40.740 challenging, and circumstances are always kind 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:43.779 of nuanced. But when we crossed paths many years 00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:46.339 ago, it was brief, and then it was long, and 00:17:46.339 --> 00:17:48.839 we're still connected. So I appreciate you and 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:52.240 all that you do as well. All right. Thanks, Dwight. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:56.849 You're sort of my... alternative what might have 00:17:56.849 --> 00:17:59.250 been because you definitely you know have done 00:17:59.250 --> 00:18:01.329 an incredible amount of different things and 00:18:01.329 --> 00:18:03.710 I appreciate having on the show hearing your 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.930 insights that it's a profound understanding of 00:18:06.930 --> 00:18:08.990 people and I hope people really kind of get that 00:18:08.990 --> 00:18:11.289 out of this is that a kid says I'm not sure it 00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:15.559 doesn't make no it's like Badger him until he 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.799 figures it out. Let him have a lifetime of not 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:21.140 necessarily floating around, but searching, picking 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:22.700 things up, saying, do I want to do this? Do I 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:26.359 not? But anyway, it's wonder. It's wonder. It's 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.680 wonder. It's what school can do for you and to 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.420 you is it can open doors for you and it can give 00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:35.599 you the idea of what's possible. Right. And what 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:40.119 we kind of. school out of young people is we 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:42.759 school them out of like wonder. We want them 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.619 to know what they want to do. We want them to 00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:46.779 be secure in that. We want them to then seek 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:48.740 this, you know, kind of put the steps in order 00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:51.720 in order to get to. some perceived end goal of 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.700 something. And we just don't live in a world 00:18:54.700 --> 00:18:56.940 where that applies as much as it does anymore. 00:18:56.960 --> 00:18:59.880 And that is probably better to encourage young 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:03.099 people to be curious, to be critical, and to 00:19:03.099 --> 00:19:06.539 consider all the possibilities and all the possible 00:19:06.539 --> 00:19:11.079 options. And to do that in what we hope the education 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.380 provides is a safe environment to do so, like 00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:18.119 a risk. You can take some risks and still have 00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:20.500 a safety net. You can take some risks, even with 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:22.640 some ideas and kind of work them out and think 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.440 them out and talk them out with people who are 00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:27.079 willing to listen to you because you might get 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:28.759 into another circumstance where nobody wants 00:19:28.759 --> 00:19:30.619 to hear what you got to say. But I want to hear 00:19:30.619 --> 00:19:32.079 what you got to say. I want to hear what you 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.680 want to write. How do we do that in informal 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:37.319 education and in families and communities across, 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:41.079 across, you know, again. for all young people, 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:44.759 meaning all people still sentient beings alive. 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:52.039 Thank you so much. I want to thank Dwayne Davis 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:55.000 for coming on the show. I want to thank all of 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.299 you, all the sentient beings who are above ground 00:19:57.299 --> 00:19:59.920 who are listening to us today. I want to thank 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.759 our sponsors, Sidelining Publishing. Publishers 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:06.359 of quality books, including Susan Salador's One 00:20:06.359 --> 00:20:08.099 Little Act of Kindness, which is perfect for 00:20:08.099 --> 00:20:10.799 the holiday season, encourages young people to 00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:14.000 be kind to one another. And also, LaughSaver 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:17.779 .com. Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter. 00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:21.140 We'll keep it for you, now and forever. It's 00:20:21.140 --> 00:20:23.759 free, and your grandchildren, and your great 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.339 -grandchildren, and your great -great -grandchildren 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:30.359 will appreciate it. That's LaughSaver .com. Alright! 00:20:30.589 --> 00:20:32.630 Well, I'm going to end this show, as I often 00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:36.190 do, with Susan Salador's classic, One Little 00:20:36.190 --> 00:20:39.670 Act of Kindness. This is Jay Reheck asking you 00:20:39.670 --> 00:20:42.130 all to stay safe out there and try not to hurt 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:54.029 anybody. One little act of kindness can go a 00:20:54.029 --> 00:21:00.269 long, long way. Two little acts of kindness can 00:21:00.269 --> 00:21:06.569 brighten anyone's day Three little acts of kindness 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:13.609 can make a beautiful sound Many acts of kindness 00:21:13.609 --> 00:21:22.109 help the world go round One little loving word 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:32.099 can go a long, long way Can brighten anyone's 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:38.380 day Three little loving words Can make a beautiful 00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:46.759 sound Many loving words Help the world go round 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:55.599 One little seed sown Can go a long, long way 00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:02.650 Two little seed sown Can brighten anyone's day 00:22:02.650 --> 00:22:09.430 Three little seeds so Can make a beautiful sound 00:22:09.430 --> 00:22:19.369 Many seeds so Help the world go around One little 00:22:19.369 --> 00:22:25.910 child's laughter Can go a long, long way Two 00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:31.390 little children's laughter Can brighten anyone's 00:22:31.390 --> 00:22:36.369 day Three little children's laughter Can make 00:22:36.369 --> 00:22:43.210 a beautiful sound Many children laughing Help 00:22:43.210 --> 00:22:50.230 the world go round And many see its own Help 00:22:50.230 --> 00:23:03.079 the world go round and many acts of kindness 00:23:03.079 --> 00:23:04.319 help the