One little act of kindness can go a long, long
way. Two little acts of kindness can brighten
anyone's day. Three little acts of kindness can
make a beautiful sound. Hi, and welcome back
to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast that features
folks from all walks of life talking about their
childhood experiences and how those experiences
have impacted who they are today. I'm your host,
Jay Rehack, and like you, I've had my share of
childhood experiences, some of them painful,
some of them quite beautiful. But I like to think
that whatever's happened to me in my childhood
has made me who I am today. Tell Me What Happened
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it. That's laughsaver .com. All right. Today
I have as my guest, a friend of mine, a former
student, a great guy, Keante H. Keante is co
-founder and president of Sun Bend Solar. He
is motivated by his passion for environmental
stewardship and is effortful in providing education
on sustainable living practices in urban areas.
Keante has a background as a certified solar
installation technician. and has pioneered solar
power stations in urban agricultural landscapes.
Welcome to Tell Me What Happened, Keontae. Thank
you, Mr. Rehack. Appreciate the introduction.
All right. Hey, by the way, what year did you
graduate, Keontae? 2015. Oh, my gosh. Are you
kidding me? Oh, whoa. I had no idea. I would
have said three years ago. All right. That's
not the story. That's not why we're here. So
I'm going to... Ask you, Keonte, are you ready
to tell your story? Absolutely, Mr. Rehack. I'm
ready to tell my story. All right. I'm going
to get out of the way, Keonte. And at the end,
I'm going to ask you just one question. And that
question is, how do you think whatever you tell
me has impacted who you are? But take it away,
Keonte. Sure thing. Thanks again for the introduction.
I appreciate you. My story are three small increments
that in totality are very impactful towards my
current life. It's a tale of how superheroism
has ingrained itself into my life at a young
age. And it starts with, I'll take you to, the
age is a bit blurry as far as what age I am,
but definitely before high school for sure, before
middle school even. I'll take you to the basement
in my family home, jumping on my grandpa's bed,
very short so I could still jump up and down
without hitting the ceiling. practicing all of
the high kick flip karate moves and action punches
Saturday morning. And one of the greatest acts
of superhero television comes on. It is an episode
of the Power Rangers, but not just any normal
episode. This episode is where The Red Rangers,
who are typically in the Power Rangers cartoon
run -up series, are the leaders. And there are
several different Power Rangers. The Red Rangers
are always the leaders, correct? And so on this
one particular episode, this amazing hour -long
special, as opposed to 30 minutes, all of the
Red Rangers from all of the various series come
together to fight the great evil from space.
And this is a very big event on TV because, for
one, It was a crossover event. Usually when you
see characters on their respective shows, they
don't just pop in and out. So this is a crossover
event. And once again, the Red Rangers are the
leaders and the icons, the top costume sellers
during Halloween even. And so to see this phenomenon
of all the leaders, all the best guys coming
together to fight this evil tyranny from space.
I'm watching it in the basement, on the basement
TV, jumping in my grandpa's bed up and down.
pooms all the pams all the jaws going crazy having
a good time just reenacting everything right
in front of me there so that that was like a
big i even i'm 25 right now like i said this
is happening before middle school so i've recently
within the last two years have just decided i
just decided i wanted to watch that episode again
just because of how much nostalgia it brings
me and how how good it just feels to watch things
that i grew up on so That's part one. Legendary
Power Rangers episode on TV. All the Red Rangers
coming together. Part two of this starts with
my friends. This is in third grade. Yeah, this
is in third grade. My friends were hardcore Saturday
morning cartoon action watchers. So hardcore
to the fact that we watch what was going on and
then we would create quizzes for each other.
What character does X, Y, Z? Which power does
X, Y, Z character have? This is third grade.
We're hardcore. We would literally write these
questions for each other after school or bring
them to each other during school to take. And
this got us in trouble one time. We actually,
like the teacher thought we were passing notes
back and forth and confiscated them. Just like,
oh, what's this? And we were like, oh. We actually
quizzed each other on the shows, the action cartoons
that we watched. So funny, we didn't get in trouble,
that or anything, but it was very funny because
I imagine that most teachers, when they catch
students passing pieces of paper, they're notes
without gossip, but no, we were quizzing each
other. And then like grading each other. We pass
a friend your answer and then we pass it back
and then grade it to see like how well you did.
So that was... a very big part of childhood,
like we really enjoyed watching cartoons, especially
the ones with superheroes and action and the
kung fu and whatnot. Part three of this story
begins a little bit closer to middle school,
sixth or seventh grade. One of my dear friends
who's passed away since then, his name is Corvus
Humphreys, he drew comic books, took computer
paper, folded the papers in half. and staple
the ends and hand drew comic book characters,
all inspired by Power Rangers, Dragon Ball Z,
all of it, you name it. And I was so, I was blown
away at that time. Like at this phase, right,
we go from part one of my stories being exposed
to, you know, cartoons and superheroes of this
world. Part two is we're analyzing, we're studying.
Part three is creating our own narratives and
creating our own worlds. And at that time I was,
I was like, wow, this is, we can do this, huh?
Like we can just take computer paper and we can
draw our own stories and we can create our own
universes and our own worlds of fictional characters
and superpowers and all those great things. And
we eventually got into that more so, I got into
that more so drawing cartoon characters, drawing
my own literally on a sheet of paper, creating
the little panels step by step. First they jump,
then they run, then they blast. So it was a very
incremental part of my growing up. So there isn't
necessarily one specific moment, but just these
different parts of my childhood that involved
really consuming and enjoying superheroes, the
action, the Saturday morning cartoons, and creating
our own stories, that just really fulfilled us.
Really brought, I'll say for myself at least,
really brought a sense of joy and excitement.
into my life at that time. I don't necessarily
participate as heavy anymore these days, but
like I mentioned, I'll every now and then think
to myself, man, like I remember that one episode
of The Power Rangers, like on YouTube, the episode,
and it's on like YouTube kids. Funny enough,
I'm like, oh yeah, this is dating my age for
sure, but super incremented part of my childhood.
And that's my story of Mr. React. All right,
so tell me, Keontae, how has that impacted who
you are today? The idea of, I get it, I love
the idea of first observing comics, then sort
of analyzing them and then having a friend actually
take it a step further and say, hey, I could
do this myself. And to me, you just told the
story of creativity and how it happens, which
is first see it, you know, then study it, then
do it. But how do you think that's impacted who
you are today? So... Right now, my current field
is solar energy. And I guess the premise of that
for me begins at a point of technology. I'm interested
in technology as a whole. Then there was a point
in life where I was at a crossroads between going
into solar energy or robotics. I just love technology
and the way that the programs are set up and
for the education I was going to get for either.
One paid, so energy. It was like you get you
paid. It was free program and you were paid to
learn it. And so as my pathway took me onward
and further, there is this quote that I came
across that says some of the best technology
is indistinguishable from magic. Love this quote
because for me that is in a sense how I live
in my own fantastical superhero world. In the
normal world, we don't have powers. We're normal
individuals. We all, for the most part, have
the same abilities, can only lift around the
average amount of weight. No one's super special
in those particular regards. But I really view
technology as a superhero, as a magical entity
that can help save the day. And this isn't to
be confused with me being some sort of savior
or anything, or wanting to be a superhero of
the world, this is me viewing, like I said, my
interactions and the uses of technology as a
way to help the world, as a way to benefit human
beings. So for my specific example, solar energy
is, it is the wave, it is the current, it is
helping aid our planet in the mitigation of the
already existing climate issues and CO2. access
that we have in the world. I even get specifically
with solar people, how does it work? Where does
the electricity come from? You just face those
in the sun? Like, what's going on? Because there
is a sense of, I guess you could say, like, mystical.
fullness to it. How does this work? Where do
you plug in? And so the way that I was just fascinated
as a child by my superheroes and saving the day.
And even now to this day, I'm a big fan of all
the Marvel movies and all the Marvel phenomena
and stuff going on. It's like you watched a fantastical
world for entertainment, but then the real world,
those ways of which applying those same ideas
and that same passion for helping others. in
my view, it comes through the form of using technology
to help the world. Yeah, you know, I do think
genuinely that you have a superhero quality in
the sense of you're taking the talents that you
have, trying, you are trying, trying to create
something or help create something or help promote
something that we know at this point, or we believe
is healthier for our world than, you know, what
we currently use for for energy and people make
commitments to this and it can be for a lifetime
and sometimes it's not but sometimes it is and
it's like no you're committed to trying to you
know make the world a cleaner environmental place
and that is superhero type of actions. I think
it's pretty cool and I actually would agree with
your friends who say I have no idea how it works
I'm just so glad it does. You know, I'm glad
that somebody's been able to translate the energy
from the sun into a power grid, et cetera. So
do you see yourself doing this for a lifetime
or is this just something you think you're going
to do for a while? What are you thinking? So
this this will definitely I have a 10 year plan
at the minimum. So for at least another 10 years,
I started a co -founded solar energy installation
company. So we've just been currently we are.
We have a large residential project that we're
going to be tackling in 2023. There's some new
homes being built in the Westside neighborhood,
North Lawndale, Chicago. And so that's going
to help expand a lot of things right now. The
first major project is powering a community refrigerator.
And more of those are in the works and in conversation.
But this housing project is really going to...
expand and really get things moving and create
a sustainable company and be able to continue
building further from that. So this is going
to be a thing for quite some time. I even got,
yeah, envision ways of us expanding. We want
to, like I said, the 10, 20 year plan, get into
manufacturing of energy solutions, solar panels,
battery storage. There's ways to, you can use
solar panels to power water, atmospheric water
generators. And that's, I'm not sure if you're
familiar with that, but for anyone, whether you
or anyone that's not listening, anyone that listens
isn't familiar, an atmospheric water generator
is essentially a, you can think about the mechanisms
of a dehumidifier and how it absorbs the moisture
out of the air and condenses it into little droplets
and all of those little droplets, just collecting
a pan or a pool. And now you have drinkable,
clean, drinkable water. And so there's a way
to do that with solar. So there's so many, avenues
and jump off points and expansions for this that
I've got a literally in a notebook I've got a
web of like this we start here and it connects
to this and it goes here it goes there and then
we do that so this is going to be a project that
I'll be working on for Solar Installation for
quite some time. Love it man I love it I'm so
proud of you I really I'm happy that you're helping
the world I love it I think you're like uh you
are influenced greatly by the first Power Ranger
comic, man. You're a Power Ranger in your own
right. So if anybody wanted to reach you, is
there some place that they would be able to reach
you or contact you regarding the stuff that you're
doing or is it still under wraps? Yeah, I'm accessible.
Anyone can reach me on my personal social medias.
Keonte underscore H. So that's A -E -Y -A -N
-T -E underscore. That's the letter H. Then there
is our company social media, Sunbend Solar. So
that's S -N -B -E -N -D -S -O -L -A -R, Sunbend
Solar. And those social medias are all the same.
So shoot us a message there. All of those are
also connected to our emails, my personal and
that one. It's connected to emails, so. If someone
wants to find me, they can find me. Well, I want
to thank you for being on the show, Keontae.
It's great to see you. You look fantastic. And
it's a joy. I'm actually on my way down to Whitney
Young now. We're going back to the old haunt.
Let's see how that goes. All right. Well, thank
you. Awesome. Thank you so much. And I'm going
to send you a, I know you say you haven't seen
the video, so I'm going to send you one of the
videos that I made to just really show you how
I'm still using video editing. Beautiful. All
right, well, thank you very much. It's an honor
to see you again. I'm glad you're looking healthy
and good and doing great things for the world.
So I'd like to thank Chianta H. for his time.
I'd also like to thank our sponsors, Sidelining
Publishing and LaughSaver .com. Remember to visit
LaughSaver and download the app and we'll start
recording your laughter. So I'm gonna end this
show as I often do with one of Susan Salazar's
classic songs. In this case, Every Moment, Every
Day. because I am thankful for the time I have
with my students every moment, every day. So
until next time, this is Jay Rehack asking you
all to please stay safe out there and try not
to hurt anybody. It is possible to be thankful
every moment, every day. It takes practice and
humility. It takes vision and civility. It takes
beauty and the wisdom to see it everywhere. It
takes practice and humility. It takes vision
and civility. It takes practice and the wisdom
to see it everywhere. It is possible to be thankful
every moment, every day.