WEBVTT 00:00:02.090 --> 00:00:04.290 So there's something that's been pissing me off 00:00:04.290 --> 00:00:06.969 since I was a kid, and that is people who are 00:00:06.969 --> 00:00:10.250 all talk and not about action. And especially 00:00:10.250 --> 00:00:13.849 in the realm of making the world a better place. 00:00:14.009 --> 00:00:16.769 It always pissed me off. And I think one of the 00:00:16.769 --> 00:00:18.890 things I realized at a very early age is that 00:00:18.890 --> 00:00:21.350 you need to really... If you're going to make 00:00:21.350 --> 00:00:23.429 a difference, you need to put your hands into 00:00:23.429 --> 00:00:26.589 mud. You need to get dirty, right? And so I want 00:00:26.589 --> 00:00:28.170 to go ahead and say a few things about virtue 00:00:28.170 --> 00:00:31.809 signaling just generally. And it goes under different 00:00:31.809 --> 00:00:33.070 names, right? So I don't know if you know what 00:00:33.070 --> 00:00:35.450 virtue signaling is. But there's other people 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:38.030 who, like, have all these signs or postings up 00:00:38.030 --> 00:00:40.789 on social media or shit that tells the world 00:00:40.789 --> 00:00:43.890 what they're about, what they believe in. Bumper 00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:46.149 stickers is a good place where people do this 00:00:46.149 --> 00:00:48.890 sort of virtue signaling of who they support 00:00:48.890 --> 00:00:53.109 or, you know. flags on their uh you know what 00:00:53.109 --> 00:00:56.009 is it on their in their houses and stuff uh indicating 00:00:56.009 --> 00:00:58.990 their loyalties to or like phrases or something 00:00:58.990 --> 00:01:00.810 like t -shirts i don't know all these different 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:02.630 places where people will just basically kind 00:01:02.630 --> 00:01:04.409 of express to the world this is what i believe 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:07.650 right okay it's not i'm not going to say that 00:01:07.650 --> 00:01:09.409 there's no reason for doing these things i think 00:01:09.409 --> 00:01:11.909 it's important to create a culture of support 00:01:11.909 --> 00:01:15.920 for certain causes but What I have found in my 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.480 living now in Orange County, so let me backtrack 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:20.739 a little bit if you're not familiar with Orange 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:23.599 County here in California. It's like suburban 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.879 neighborhoods. It's different from L .A. in this 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.340 sense. It's mostly residential areas with some, 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:35.519 at least the areas I live and engage with, you 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:37.000 know, it's a bunch of families and so on. But 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.400 people who are at least like fairly close to 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.739 middle class, it's fairly safe neighborhoods. 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:46.719 At least, again, the areas that I'm around. And, 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:48.439 you know, these are all well -to -do people, 00:01:48.459 --> 00:01:51.659 and they're all generally very kind and, you 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.819 know, polite and, you know, want to believe in 00:01:54.819 --> 00:01:57.060 doing good things, right? But here's a reality, 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:59.760 okay? Here's a reality. There's a lot of issues 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.780 in the world that if you want to fix, you're 00:02:01.780 --> 00:02:04.930 going to have to give up something. There's no 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:08.409 way that you can make real change without meaningfully 00:02:08.409 --> 00:02:11.430 sacrificing something, especially specifically 00:02:11.430 --> 00:02:13.870 for those people that are in positions of power, 00:02:13.969 --> 00:02:16.330 people who have money, people who have influence, 00:02:16.509 --> 00:02:19.479 right? You need to give up something. OK, that's 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:21.539 the reality, right? Like if you want to improve 00:02:21.539 --> 00:02:23.020 like housing conditions, like in California, 00:02:23.080 --> 00:02:25.860 we have the housing crisis. If you want to make 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:28.900 more houses available, there's a way to do it. 00:02:28.939 --> 00:02:31.099 You could stop some of these people from using 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:34.439 money and buying up investment properties and 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:36.740 creating more homes that people could actually 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:38.599 afford to purchase for themselves and build wealth. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.900 But of course, people aren't going to do that. 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:44.860 Which brings me to the things that I've seen 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:47.479 over the past more recent years with things like 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:49.580 Me Too when they're wearing all white to the 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:53.460 Oscars or I think the most recent one that my 00:02:53.460 --> 00:02:56.860 particular community of people that I know were 00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:59.219 involved with is this whole blackout thing in 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:03.500 support of Black Lives Matter on Instagram or 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:06.780 some dumb shit like that. This is virtue signaling 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:09.699 shit. I call this lazy activism. This is not 00:03:09.699 --> 00:03:12.699 real activism. This is just... a bunch of fake 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:15.360 ways of supporting and showing solidarity, okay? 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:17.680 It's fucking bullshit. It's fucking bullshit. 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:21.479 And it pisses me off because I know, you know, 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.639 that this is the least you can do, and it actually 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:26.439 doesn't move the needle, but it just makes you 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:28.400 feel better about yourself and thinking that 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.319 you actually accomplished something. It's bullshit. 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:34.080 And I say it's bullshit for a reason. I grew 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.379 up in poverty. I grew up needing to, needing, 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:42.479 I actually mean it when I say I needed government 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:46.139 support to be able to survive. That's, you know, 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:48.360 like the poverty, state poverty line, right? 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:50.240 They always give you, they always have this every 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:51.560 year, right? They say this is considered the 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:53.719 state poverty line. And then anything below it 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.280 is considered like you're in poverty, right? 00:03:55.379 --> 00:03:57.080 I was always below that line. But I think what 00:03:57.080 --> 00:03:58.919 people don't realize is that even if you're above 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:01.680 the line, you're in fucking poverty. It fucking 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.240 sucks even if you're above that line. Even if 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:06.080 you're like just slightly above that line. That 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.000 line, I don't know who comes up with that goddamn 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.120 number, okay? But nobody could survive on that 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.099 amount of money at all. There's no way you could 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:14.659 even. you can live month to month on that kind 00:04:14.659 --> 00:04:17.180 of money, okay? It's absolutely ridiculous, okay? 00:04:17.379 --> 00:04:20.100 So I'm not joking when I say I needed government 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:23.160 assistance. I could not go see a doctor at all 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:25.740 if it wasn't for free clinics, okay? I wouldn't 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:27.779 have had food on the table if it wasn't for certain 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:30.939 government support programs, okay? What I'm pointing 00:04:30.939 --> 00:04:34.300 out is this, okay? If you wanted to, I remember 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:36.500 thinking back then, if you want to fix this, 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.360 we can fix it. We can fix this, but in order 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:42.540 to fix it, guess what? You wealthy motherfuckers, 00:04:42.540 --> 00:04:45.579 we're going to have to pay more in taxes. Millionaires, 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:47.920 multimillionaires especially, we're going to 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:50.120 have to pay more taxes. We're going to have to 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:52.240 improve some of these programs. We're going to 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.060 have to create situations where families don't 00:04:54.060 --> 00:04:56.160 have to be begging for handouts. It's not as 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.439 if my parents didn't want, it was like enjoyed 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:00.699 being, nobody enjoys being in poverty. It was 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:03.000 like, it wasn't fun at all. But what pissed me 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.600 off most wasn't the people who were like, I actually 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:07.699 appreciate it when people were like, you know, 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:10.519 I don't give a damn, right? It's each their own. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:12.519 Everybody's on their own, like doggy dog world. 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:15.000 People who had that sort of perspective, I appreciated 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.759 the honesty. What I didn't like were the people 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.300 who would come to me and say, we care, we want 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:23.480 to give. And so they would donate shit. But you 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:25.000 know what they would donate? They would donate 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:28.040 leftovers. And they would donate those leftovers 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:30.379 knowing that it wasn't actually going to change 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.040 the situation. It was merely going to make themselves 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:35.920 feel good about themselves for doing something, 00:05:36.100 --> 00:05:39.040 thinking that they helped. But the reality is 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:42.420 that they didn't help shit. And on top of that, 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.839 I felt disrespected being given a bunch of leftovers. 00:05:48.980 --> 00:05:52.720 That's not really doing anything to move the 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:55.120 needle. And if you're not doing anything to move 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:57.939 the needle, that's not real activism. That's 00:05:57.939 --> 00:06:00.720 not really standing for something. That is you 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.540 tossing a few coins at a panhandler. feeling 00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:06.259 better about yourself that you did something. 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:10.800 That's all that is. It didn't do shit. And virtue 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.699 signaling, honestly, in most cases, doesn't do 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:18.560 shit. It gives you an excuse to not do more, 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:21.600 okay? And I've had this conversation with friends 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.160 myself, and I'm probably considered an asshole 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:27.000 for doing it, but I will call people out on it 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.920 when people say like, oh yeah, I did this because 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:31.800 I want such and such to be better. It's like, 00:06:31.860 --> 00:06:34.980 you're fucking bullshit, okay? You did that because 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:37.180 it was trending. You didn't do that because it 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:38.660 made a difference. Let's be honest. Look, the 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:40.500 Me Too movement, when people were dressed in 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:42.300 all white going to the Oscars, did that do anything? 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:44.860 That did fucking shit. You know what would have 00:06:44.860 --> 00:06:47.040 done something? What would have actually made 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:50.959 some changes? If the women who had money actually 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:53.639 got together, created up their own organizations 00:06:53.639 --> 00:06:57.279 and structures so that they were the ones who 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.579 collectively kept power away from certain other 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:03.079 individuals that they knew to be shady, creepy, 00:07:03.259 --> 00:07:08.899 old -school, molesty -type people, they didn't 00:07:08.899 --> 00:07:10.439 need to put up with it. They could have done 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:11.540 something about it, but you know what it would 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:13.279 have required? It would have required real work. 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:16.110 It would have required real commitment. It would 00:07:16.110 --> 00:07:18.410 have required real time, energy and money. That's 00:07:18.410 --> 00:07:21.069 what it would have required. OK, we can address 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:23.209 housing issue in California. You know what it 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:25.110 would require? It would require time, energy 00:07:25.110 --> 00:07:28.029 and money. That's what it really requires. We 00:07:28.029 --> 00:07:30.910 could address the fact that this goddamn high 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:33.290 speed railway going, you know, between NorCal 00:07:33.290 --> 00:07:35.550 and SoCal hasn't been built yet. Right. We could 00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:39.389 address it if people just fucking got the job 00:07:39.389 --> 00:07:41.589 done. But guess what it would require? It would 00:07:41.589 --> 00:07:43.129 require certain people in positions of power. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:45.740 to give up their political capital. It would 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.819 require people to make sacrifices in specific 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:52.319 communities. It would require people to like 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.199 people with interest in it. I get it. They have 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:55.800 some interest in it. They would have to give 00:07:55.800 --> 00:08:00.519 up something. That's the reality. Change doesn't 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.459 happen until somebody who is in a position to 00:08:03.459 --> 00:08:06.759 make a change chooses to give up that power. 00:08:07.370 --> 00:08:10.870 to give up their time, their energy. It doesn't 00:08:10.870 --> 00:08:12.589 necessarily have to be money. They could give 00:08:12.589 --> 00:08:14.910 up their time, energy, political capital, their 00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:18.670 vocal support. If your capital, if the kind of 00:08:18.670 --> 00:08:21.589 wealth you have is not in terms of dollar amount, 00:08:21.730 --> 00:08:24.810 but in terms of popular support, you're going 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:28.269 to have to use that in order to make a real change. 00:08:28.670 --> 00:08:31.269 And so if you're not doing that, I don't want 00:08:31.269 --> 00:08:34.710 to hear from you because it is just lazy ass 00:08:34.710 --> 00:08:39.070 shit. And it doesn't make me, like, I see right 00:08:39.070 --> 00:08:42.190 through that shit, and it just pisses me off. 00:08:42.730 --> 00:08:45.350 Because what it shows other people is that that 00:08:45.350 --> 00:08:47.509 is good enough for them to do, and then they 00:08:47.509 --> 00:08:49.370 do the same thing, and they feel like they did 00:08:49.370 --> 00:08:51.509 something. And then nothing changes, and you 00:08:51.509 --> 00:08:54.029 wonder why everyone stays frustrated and nothing 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:57.169 ever actually gets better. You want things to 00:08:57.169 --> 00:08:59.049 be better? You're going to have to do something 00:08:59.049 --> 00:09:01.169 about it, okay? Let me give you a good example 00:09:01.169 --> 00:09:03.710 in this area, right? Because I live in an area 00:09:03.710 --> 00:09:05.990 where the school system is relatively good, okay? 00:09:06.330 --> 00:09:08.889 All right. You know one thing you can do to improve 00:09:08.889 --> 00:09:12.450 the educational outcomes for students who are 00:09:12.450 --> 00:09:16.490 not as well off, who lack a lot of resources 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:18.590 to help schools that lack a lot of resources? 00:09:19.009 --> 00:09:21.529 We could stop playing this fucking game with 00:09:21.529 --> 00:09:24.009 the school districts where people who are in 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:26.029 wealthy neighborhoods are the ones who get access 00:09:26.029 --> 00:09:30.070 to the nicer public schools, where real estate 00:09:30.070 --> 00:09:33.710 value is tied to. school district. There are 00:09:33.710 --> 00:09:36.029 ways of disassociating these things. We've done 00:09:36.029 --> 00:09:38.470 it before, right? We've tried busing. We've tried 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:40.809 all kinds of solutions that have tried to address 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:44.649 at least some of what's happening, okay? But 00:09:44.649 --> 00:09:48.730 guess what? All these goddamn parents who are, 00:09:48.870 --> 00:09:51.250 again, well -meaning, they're nice, they're good 00:09:51.250 --> 00:09:54.690 people, they don't want it to change. That's 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:58.039 the reality. They don't want it to change. They 00:09:58.039 --> 00:09:59.960 don't want to change. If they wanted it to change, 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:02.220 they would be on the forefront of demanding these 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:04.460 changes because they're actually the people in 00:10:04.460 --> 00:10:07.779 the best position to create these changes. But 00:10:07.779 --> 00:10:10.120 they're not going to. Why? Because it hurts themselves. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:12.679 Because it's going to require a sacrifice on 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:15.860 their part. It's going to require them to give 00:10:15.860 --> 00:10:18.659 up having such a highly rated school. It might 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:21.759 impact their home value. That's what it's going 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:26.450 to do. So I'm not joking when I say... There's 00:10:26.450 --> 00:10:28.350 going to have to be something that you have to 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:31.730 give up. And if you're not hurting in making 00:10:31.730 --> 00:10:33.789 a change, if you're not hurting in some way, 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:37.690 then you're not really doing anything. That's 00:10:37.690 --> 00:10:40.129 the truth. That's the truth. That's the reality. 00:10:40.230 --> 00:10:41.570 And you're going to have to start accepting that 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:43.970 because I'm getting fucking pissed off with all 00:10:43.970 --> 00:10:46.190 these people who are just talking, talking, talking 00:10:46.190 --> 00:10:48.129 about how they support such and such and such. 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:50.470 But when it comes time to actually doing something 00:10:50.470 --> 00:10:52.409 that will really make a change, they don't want 00:10:52.409 --> 00:10:53.649 to do it because they're going to have to make 00:10:53.649 --> 00:10:56.389 a sacrifice. And I'm pointing specifically to 00:10:56.389 --> 00:10:58.730 the people who are in positions of power, people 00:10:58.730 --> 00:11:01.649 who have money, people who have the time, the 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:05.409 expertise, the wealth. They're the ones who are 00:11:05.409 --> 00:11:06.990 in the best position to do it. They're the ones 00:11:06.990 --> 00:11:09.850 who are choosing not to. No wonder nothing changes. 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:14.450 Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that I 00:11:14.450 --> 00:11:19.230 am somehow peachy clean and I'm great about this. 00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:21.950 No. I'm ranting here because I just get pissed 00:11:21.950 --> 00:11:23.169 off about this kind of stuff, but I'm probably 00:11:23.169 --> 00:11:25.639 guilty of it too. I don't know to what degree 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:27.879 or how much. Everybody's guilty of it, probably 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:31.740 to some degree. I don't care. I don't care. Call 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:35.600 me out on it. That's fine. I will hear it and 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:37.139 I will accept it and be like, yeah, you know 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:39.700 what? Fuck. I'm not living up to my own standards. 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:43.340 Okay. And so please call me out on it. This is 00:11:43.340 --> 00:11:46.000 not just because, just because, you know, just 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:47.820 because other people, I point out that other 00:11:47.820 --> 00:11:49.440 people are doing this doesn't mean that I'm not 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.740 doing it. I might be doing it as well. And there 00:11:51.740 --> 00:11:54.419 might be things that I can do better. Fine. The 00:11:54.419 --> 00:11:55.879 question is this, are you willing to listen? 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.139 That's all I'm asking. Are you willing to listen 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:00.419 and to really reflect on why it is that the things 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:07.700 you're doing has zero impact? Okay. So I'm saying 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:10.480 all this, just asking you to just be honest with 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.659 yourself, please. That's all I'm asking. I don't 00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:17.139 mind. Like I said, I don't mind if you come at 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:20.659 me straight and say, hey, look, I don't really 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:22.840 care about this enough to really sacrifice anything 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:26.320 of worth. okay? I will do this bare minimum, 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.559 and that's what I'm willing to do. If you're 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:31.379 willing to acknowledge it, I respect you. I respect 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:35.820 you, okay? I respect you. I'm not joking about 00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.559 this. I'm very serious. I would rather you be 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.940 upfront with me, honest with me, and just say 00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.879 it to me straight up like that instead of lying 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:45.840 to me and then telling me that you're really 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.620 about it. You really care. You care about addressing 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:50.480 homelessness. You care about addressing poverty. 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:54.100 You care about addressing food deserts. You actually 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:56.379 care about this kind of stuff. If you care about 00:12:56.379 --> 00:12:58.100 it, I want to see you do something about it. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:12:59.480 If you're not going to do anything about it, 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:00.759 then don't tell me that you care. That's all 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:06.429 I ask. Be fucking consistent. Okay? With that 00:13:06.429 --> 00:13:09.669 said, there's something that does actually matter 00:13:09.669 --> 00:13:12.950 to me, and I'm going to tell you right now that 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:15.870 I'm planning on doing this every single year, 00:13:16.009 --> 00:13:19.309 okay? But in the summers, when I do have the 00:13:19.309 --> 00:13:23.370 time, I am going to open up a forum where students 00:13:23.370 --> 00:13:26.730 who want free college consultation, this is something 00:13:26.730 --> 00:13:29.389 that I used to, you know, get paid like thousands 00:13:29.389 --> 00:13:31.409 of dollars per student, thousands of dollars 00:13:31.409 --> 00:13:34.009 per student to do, okay? I'm going to open it 00:13:34.009 --> 00:13:36.820 up for free. for any student who wants that help. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.299 Because what I have realized was that a lot of 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.139 students are not getting a fair shot at getting 00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:44.840 into college because their application didn't 00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:47.120 get the polish up that other students did. I 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.460 think that's absolutely unfair, okay? And I know 00:13:49.460 --> 00:13:51.299 that there's quality students out there and they 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:53.639 just can't afford the additional help. that they'll 00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:55.820 need. Because let's be honest, like high school 00:13:55.820 --> 00:13:58.139 counselors, teachers, they can help to some degree, 00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:00.179 but that's patchwork. What you need is somebody 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:03.139 who really just can sit one -on -one with a student. 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:05.700 I've tried to look to see if there's any good 00:14:05.700 --> 00:14:08.600 resources online. And I found that there are 00:14:08.600 --> 00:14:11.460 some good general resources on places like Reddit. 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:13.740 I think there's one for like asking about colleges. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:17.000 There's been some people who provide free advice 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:22.379 on YouTube, on podcasts. I think that they are 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:26.100 helpful to some small, very minute degree. But 00:14:26.100 --> 00:14:29.460 when you get down to it, you need somebody to 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:32.559 help you one -on -one. There's no other way to 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:35.399 improve your chances until you have somebody 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:38.340 look over your application, every aspect of it, 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.759 and really try to clean it up so that it presents 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.360 the best version of you. It's like having somebody 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.000 who helps you with your resume to make sure that 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.379 you have all your, you know, I's dotted and your 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:51.659 T's crossed, right? Any of you who are needing 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:55.740 and wanting that help, I will put a link to a 00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:59.100 form where you can sign up. This is for 2025. 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.299 This is for students who are applying in the 00:15:02.299 --> 00:15:07.750 fall of 2025. and going straight from high school 00:15:07.750 --> 00:15:10.210 to college. I will have a separate form in the 00:15:10.210 --> 00:15:13.029 fall for transfer students. I'll shift my focus 00:15:13.029 --> 00:15:16.129 there. But I recommend that you take advantage 00:15:16.129 --> 00:15:18.029 of it because it's free. Like I said, it usually 00:15:18.029 --> 00:15:20.629 will cost you thousands of dollars. Might as 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:22.730 well save yourself that money, or maybe you just 00:15:22.730 --> 00:15:24.950 can't afford it at all, and that's fine, which 00:15:24.950 --> 00:15:26.950 is why I'm offering for free. I want you to go 00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:28.730 ahead and sign up. I want to be there as a resource 00:15:28.730 --> 00:15:32.799 for you. I want to help you, okay? Sign up while 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.600 there's still, I mean, this is a one -person 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:37.759 operation, so sign up while you can. If I get 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.179 some support from people around me in my community, 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:42.279 I'm going to try to see if I could find other 00:15:42.279 --> 00:15:44.220 people who are willing to volunteer to provide 00:15:44.220 --> 00:15:46.580 the service as well so that we could expand the 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.960 number of students that we could help. But I 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:51.259 want you to go ahead and dedicate the time in 00:15:51.259 --> 00:15:53.460 the summer. High school students, I know that 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.009 you think that you have time. I'm telling you 00:15:56.009 --> 00:15:58.409 right now, college application takes a lot of 00:15:58.409 --> 00:16:02.230 work to do well. And if you start late summer, 00:16:02.429 --> 00:16:04.750 beginning of fall, when you start school again, 00:16:04.950 --> 00:16:06.889 you're going to be screwed. You're not going 00:16:06.889 --> 00:16:08.309 to be in a good place. You're going to be overwhelmed. 00:16:08.549 --> 00:16:10.559 It's not going to be your best work, okay? Take 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.659 the summer to go ahead and get this done. And 00:16:12.659 --> 00:16:14.980 I guarantee I will work with you to try to ease 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:18.299 the transition so that it's not as heavy of a 00:16:18.299 --> 00:16:21.379 load for you to take on, right? Usually it'll 00:16:21.379 --> 00:16:24.480 require at least an hour, one -on -one Zoom meeting 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.899 with me. And then after that, we'll do probably 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:29.320 a lot of back and forth on Google Docs to clean 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:32.360 up some of your essays, but also look over transcripts 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:34.120 and things like that to make sure we got everything 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:40.870 in order. Please sign up. It's free. And I hope 00:16:40.870 --> 00:16:42.629 that we could actually make some sort of dent 00:16:42.629 --> 00:16:46.049 in what is otherwise a pretty shitty situation.