January 31, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Dr. Bob Anderson, from the Center for Vein Restoration says Don’t toss New Year’s goals aside: doctors link exercise and weight loss with vein health. The importance of vein health.
Friday was National Have Fun at Work Day! The importance of having fun on the job! With Joel Zeff - workplace culture expert, speaker and the author of Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work.
Don Fountain – Trial attorney has a Consumer Alert: Amazon Ordered to Reveal Dangerous Products.
The new Stars School & Learning Center will help dyslexic kids often underserved and left behind…Set to Open September 2025. Jennifer Curtis, Ed.D - CEO of South Shore Stars joined Dan.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Dr. Bob Anderson, from the Center for Vein Restoration says Don’t toss New Year’s goals aside: doctors link exercise and weight loss with vein health. The importance of vein health.
Friday was National Have Fun at Work Day! The importance of having fun on the job! With Joel Zeff - workplace culture expert, speaker and the author of Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work.
Don Fountain – Trial attorney has a Consumer Alert: Amazon Ordered to Reveal Dangerous Products.
The new Stars School & Learning Center will help dyslexic kids often underserved and left behind…Set to Open September 2025. Jennifer Curtis, Ed.D - CEO of South Shore Stars joined Dan.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBS Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I thank you very much, Madison. My name is indeed
Dan Ray, the host of the appropriately named Nightside with
Dan Ray, believe it or not. Tonight we do our
three thousand, nine hundred and ninety ninth program Nightside, well
probably ninety nine per I did a few programs before
(00:27):
it was christened Nightside in October of two thousand and seven,
but kind of proud of that. So there will be
a night next week when we will do our fourth
thousandth program, and I'm proud of that, and I wanted
to share that with all of you who listen to Nightside.
We have four really interesting guests in the first hour,
then we have a couple of guests later on tonight,
(00:50):
and a final fourth hour at nine o'clock tonight. We're
going to be talking with a couple of folks Boston
Hill reported Gayla Cawley, who has written a lot about
what's going on at White Stadium in Boston. And we'll
also talk with a gentleman who is the head of
a group, someone that I have known of many for
(01:12):
many many years and have inviewed many years ago. Lewis Eliza,
the president of the Garrison Totter Neighborhood Association, about their
concerns over the project that's going on at White Stadium.
We'll get to all of that, and then we're going
to talk at ten o'clock with a couple's theorist, the therapist.
We are approaching Dallentine's Day. It's actually, I believe two
(01:33):
weeks from today, two Fridays from today, and the couple's
therapists is going to talk about reigniting relationships, and I
think you'll enjoy listening to her at ten o'clock Carolyn Sharp.
And then in the twentieth hour, I think the one
month during the year that bothers me the most it's January.
And January only has four hours left in and so
(01:56):
I am very happy to say goodbye to January, and
for a whole by reasons, I'd love to know what
you think about the month of January. It's the coldest,
it's the longest. As far as I'm concerned, it's a
depressing month. But anyway, we are going to open up.
We'll get you all the way to February, which is
I think one of the nicer months you've got Groundhog Day,
Valentine's Day, start of spring training, all sorts of things
(02:18):
to look forward to in February. But first off, we
are going to talk about one of the remnants of January. That,
of course, is the New Year's resolutions that some of
us have kept and some of us have failed to keep.
And with us is Bob Anderson to talk about keeping
your New Year's resolutions, the value in that. He's a doctor,
(02:41):
Bob Anderson, Doctor Anderson, Welcome to Night's Side. And first
of all, percentage do you think of New Year's resolutions
are actually kept? Has anyone ever done a real study
on that?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Not that I know of, Probably about twenty percent I
would guess something like that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You think twenty that's pretty good. That's a big number.
I would have guessed more like two percent. But that's good.
That's great. Obviously, all the goals we set for you know,
when we do that on New Year's Eve or a
couple of days before New Year's and great, great goals,
(03:21):
tough to accomplish, just human nature. How important is it
for those of that twenty percent or the ten percent
or whatever, how important is it for them to keep
it going?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well? I think it's really important because it just helps
your self esteem and you know, many times their health
related and just improve your overall health and your ability
to enjoy life.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Now you are with the Center for Vain Restoration, and
I guess there's a bit of a relationship between New
Year's resolutions which people pledge to and if they keep
many of the resolutions actually have a positive impact on
(04:13):
blood circulation. I believe that that is the nexus for
this interview.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Correct, Yes, that's right, tell us about it. We have arteries,
of course that always benefit from exercise because they're what
drives blood to our muscles, and then the veins return
the blood from the muscles up to our heart and
lungs areas. And the nice thing about exercise is keeping
(04:42):
the weight low so that the added pressure of weight
doesn't weigh on your veins so to speak, and cause
them to become varicos over time.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, you're making me feel better. I exercise today. I'm
somebody who tends to get into the gym as much
as I can. There was one year before COVID where
I actually was in the gym three hundred and sixty
three days out of the year twenty nineteen I've admittedly
backed off that a little bit after COVID. There's other
(05:14):
some of the other traditional resolutions that people make, the
dry January resolution, other resolutions that I assume also has
a physical benefit, just from you know, kind of backing
off the alcohol and the beer and the wine a
little bit correct on circulation.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, because alcohol, of course, is considered empty calories. They
really don't provide any nutrition for you, and they just
add extra calories that you don't really need and that
we'll add to increased weight over time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And again, if we were to cut back on drinking,
is there any physical benefit, I mean, you know, is
there a physical I mean, obviously weight loss, You've described
that very well, but I got to assume that there's
a little bit of a physical benefit to cutting back
on alcohol on a consistent basis. Yes, I'm not a doctor,
(06:11):
so I'm shooting in the dark here. Doctor helped me out. Well.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
One of the other big effects of alcohol, of course,
is that it kills your brain cells, and you only
have so many of those, and they don't regenerate. So
the more you drink, the more you're killing your brain cells,
and you only have so many. So they know that
doesn't help at all with your cognitive function, especially later
in life.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So it's fear for me to conclude from our conversation
that the one resolution that physically helps you the most
physically and also medically is losing some weight if you're overweight.
Any of the other traditional resolutions also have a medical
(06:55):
benefit that you could share with us.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Obviously smoking is another big culprit artery disease. Yeah, number
one cause for hardening of the arteries, and so giving
that up is definitely for your best thing for your
health you could ever do, probably other than do everything
else in moderation kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, Well, the other thing is never start. You know.
I was blessed. My dad was a World War Two veteran,
two packs a day, camels, unfiltered. I hated cigarette smoke
and I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and
I was. I just it just appalls me. It doesn't
appeal to me. It appalls me that that is for sure,
(07:43):
and that's one. But the weight loss is so is
so important. So I would say anyone who has kept
a resolution for what thirty one days, now, there's no
reason to stop it. You can continue it on, particularly
if you feel a benefit from it. I encourage people
(08:04):
to do that. The one that I did many years
ago was I gave up drinking in January. I'm not
a heavy drink or a coarse light and red wine
here and kicked. I said, now, let me get the
Valentine's Day, got the Valentine's dais, let me get to
Saint Patrick's Day. Got the Saint Patrick's dan and said,
let me get daple first. Well, May twenty fifth, I
had kidney stones. Never had had kidney stones in my
(08:25):
life before, and I was told it was not in
taking enough fluid. So that's one that it was a little.
Kidney stones were unpleasant as I don't know if you've
never had them anyway. Yeah, well that's a good thing
to avoid. That's a good resolution to avoid. I've never
(08:47):
had him since Doctor Bobby Anderson. Your organization called Center
for Vane Restoration. I assume people can get some information
there if they go to your website, yep.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And if they want to make an appointment over the phone,
they can do that as well, calling twenty eight hundred
six legs and our website is CVR dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah are you We're in Boston, as you know, we
have a pretty big audience across at the eastern half
of the US.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Where you located, Well, I'm in Springfield, Massachusetts, but we
have offices in Wuburn and Framing and great.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Okay. The reason I ask you that, I'm delighted to
hear that. I'm glad I asked that question because I
see the book appointment number says two four zero, and
I'm thinking, to myself, where's that that. Okay, so you're
a New England based organization. Excellent. That's good to know
people who have problems with veins send it for van restoration.
And you said CVR dot com. That's pretty simple. Yeah,
(09:49):
thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you doctor.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Good, thank you, You're welcome. Okay, we get back. We're going
to talk about today. In case you missed, it was
National have Fun at Workday. I hope you had fun
at work today today. I have fun at work most days. Actually,
I like my job, so it's not hard for me
to have fun at work. But I think I was
(10:13):
thinking today I was rainy, and I was thinking, how
lucky am I to have an inside job. I don't
worry about cold weather or hot weather. So we're going
to talk on the other side with a fellow named
Joel Zeph. National have Fun at work Day sounds great
coming back on night side. My name is Dan Ray.
This is WBZ in Boston. We're ten thirty in the
AM dial, Boston's Radio, Boston's news radio station. You can
(10:37):
always get us on the iHeart app to new and
improved iHeart app. Listen to us anywhere in the country
anywhere in the world twenty four to seven, three sixty five,
or just check out ten thirty on your AM dial.
My name's Dan Ray. Back more interesting topics right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Now back to Dan ray line from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, for those of you who might have missed it
today was I guess it still is if you're working
somewhere like me, National have Fun and work Day. The
importance of having fun in the job with us is
Joel Zeph. Joel's a workplace culture expert. Joel, you sound
like my sort of guy.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
How are you tonight, I'm great, Thanks for having me, Dan.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
He was afraid for a second, there was the delay.
I thought, have we lost him? So how do you
become a workplace culture expert. Are you a writer? You're
a speaker and an author. You've written a book called
What Make the Right Choice? Lead with passion, elevate your
team and unleash the fun and work you sell. You
(11:43):
think exactly like I do. I have funded work every day.
I'm a talk show host. I don't have to lift
everything heavy. I don't have to climb on steel beams.
I don't have to hang off of roofs. I'm I'm happy, man.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
We're very lucky.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I can't do math, so I was limited in what
jobs that appealed to me. And I was a newspaper journalist,
and then I went into advertising in PR and I
started doing improv comedy just for fun. And one of
my clients said, hey, we know you do that improv
on the weekend.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Can you do that with us? And that's how my
career started.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And twenty five hundred events later, I wrote a book
and now I'm talking to you, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Know you had twenty five hundred events. I do my
four thousandth show on this radio station next week. Tonight
is three three thousand, nine hundred ninety nine, So welcome,
Welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
So I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, well, I'm always excited. So let me ask you,
what is who decides today January thirty first, one of
the most depressing days of the year. By the way,
it's a long month January. Who decides it's National Have
Fun to at Workday? Did President Trump do executive order
(13:01):
that I missed somehow?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't know who created that day, but I'm guessing
they felt just like you did.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
That.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
January was a long month and we're kicking off the year,
so it's probably a good day to focus on fun
and creating passion and being fulfilled at work. Because when
you're happy at work, that's going to lead to success,
and that's gonna be you're gonna be a better leader,
a better communicator, a better teammate.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. Now, I don't want to get real serious on
me here, because I think you I think what you
just said I agree with the same day, the same thing.
What percentage of workers do you think? How can we
make this more accessible, more available a year from now?
I don't know how many people I had not heard
of National Have Fun at Workday until tonight. What what
(13:48):
can we do going forward next year? Let's do something
early in January, so we get people give up.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Dan, I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm not gonna
lie to you. I didn't know his National Fun at
Workday either.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Someone told me and said, hey, you'd be great on
the radio with some of these hosts because you're all
about fun and energy, And I said, sounds great to me.
And because so here we are together, it's more in
National Fun and Work Today for the first time together, Dan,
So we'll always have today, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yes, yes, Well, what I'm wondering I was figuring that
maybe you'd be able to tell me some stories that today,
you know, people were able to bring hula hoops to work,
or they were able to bring their bikes and ride
around the office, or they had water balloon fights. That's
really not what we're talking about here. We're talking about
how do you get happy? How do you get excited
(14:44):
and want look forward to going to work for fun
and accomplishing something as opposed to looking at yourself in
the mirror and say, oh God, not again. It's seven
point thirty in the morning and I got to get
to go to work.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Well, we've all been I've been there too, right, And
it's about what's going to fulfill you, what's going to
make you happy? And you know, what is that opportunity
that you need to be happy? And fun means a
lot of different things, and some of the things that
you mentioned Hulu hoops and karaoke and dancing and all that,
that's part of it. Sure, why not, you know, creating
(15:20):
that energy and doing something fun as a group. I
have a friend that is a runs an ad agency
and they do a lot of give back.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
They go to pet shelters or food bank.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
And they donate their time as a company because that
brings them joy and it connects people together. I have
another friend work for a telecommunications company. They have a
four foot chess piece, a four foot chess.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Piece that goes around the office.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
If somebody's having a bad day, all of a sudden,
you go on a break, it shows up in your
cubicle because they know you're having a bad day and
it just kind of brings a little fun, a little spirit.
And what's funny is that four foot chess piece. My
friend was called up.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
This was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He's called up.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
He's in the hes in the Army Reserve, went to
go serve.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
In Kuwait, and the company mailed the four foot chess
piece to the army base that he went around took
pictures uh, you know, with his uh with his troop
and on tanks and uh in the latrine and the
mess tent. And so it created happiness for the people,
(16:28):
the soldiers that he's serving with, and it created happiness
back at his telecommunications company. And so you know, it's
all about maybe sometimes a surprise, doing something different, finding
that opportunity to just kind of bring joy into the office.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's great. There were a lot of companies, a lot
of individuals here who reached out to some of the
US service personnel who had been deployed to places like
Afghanistan and Kuwait and and all of that. And and
that's always a touch of home when you're in the military,
to to say to to be able to say, oh, yeah,
(17:06):
I know what this is. So that's that's great. Well, look,
so where where do you practice your comedy?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
So I do. I'm focused on the corporate market, and
so I work with all different types of industries, companies, associations.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
UH.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
This week I was in Louisville speaking to a company
that helps law enforcement officers.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
With a with a with a software that helps them
for online investigations.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And I have a property management company coming up, an
insurance company. Uh So, it's a lot of different industries.
And I use improv to bring that fun and energy.
So it's all about humor, and we play some improv
games and laugh and then we talk about these choices,
how we deal with change, how we work together as
a team, how we stay in the game.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And by the way, the Louisville Police departmentism sure. You
know a couple of years ago had some real serious
issues and hopefully you've been able to help them work
together as a team. Rob, how much time we got
before the CBS cut in? You said a minute? Five?
Is that what I got? Minute five? One minute? Okay? Perfect?
(18:16):
So if folks would like to get in touch with you, Jeff,
what's the easiest way for folks. You've got to have
a website.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I'm sure, sure, sure, I think we're contractually obligated to
have websites in this day and age. Yes, Joel's f
dot com j O E l z e f F
dot com and the new book Make the Right Choice
is available Barnes and Noble, Amazon, wherever you get your
books and lots of ideas and ways to energize, keep
(18:44):
the fun going, and you know, elevating that that your
team and unleashing the fun at work that's part of
the subhead and just enjoying work and kind of being
fundamentally filled at work.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Perfect, Joel, Thank you very much. We'll have your back. Sell.
We can tell jokes to each other. I think I
think you're a great guest. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. Hey,
thanks again. All right, we are going to cut away
now for a CBS News report on a second airplane crash,
this one in Philadelphia. Pre CBS News.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Or there's a very interesting development and order that was
issued by the Consumer Protection Safety Commission. And we have
the lawyer who has actually been the person here who
has forced Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the world,
(19:43):
into a position where Amazon is now being ordered to
reveal dangerous products. Don Fountain. He's a trial attorney, leading
product defect attorney whose landmark cases to transform safety standards
across multiple industries. Counsel Or, welcome to Night's Side. This
sounds like a big victory for the consumer.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Thank you for having me. Yes, and you're right, it
is a big victory. I can't take credit for this.
This is the Consumer Product Safety Commission finally bringing Amazon
to the table to make them a critical part of
product safety in this country.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Okay, I'm misread, and I might have been under the
impression that you were representing parties in the case. Explain
to us. Well, let me just kind of cut to
the chase a little bit here. Obviously, Amazon sells everything,
and they're a huge, huge company, one of the biggest
companies in the world. And this order from the Consumer
(20:44):
Protection Safety Commission basically says to Amazon, if you ship
something and it's a dangerous product, you have a responsibility.
It's just not the person who sells the product. You
have become the conveyor of that product, and therefore there
(21:04):
is an obligation for you to be involved in the
remediation of hazardous products. As I understand it, am I
fairly accurate in what I've just described.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Yes, term is Amazon is now an official legal distributor
of products. That's an important term because under the law,
a distributor now has an obligation to keep track of
safety trends. Keep track of recalls and to notify their
customers about them.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Okay, so how does Amazon get hooked into this? And
let me just play Devil's advocate for a second, because
you know more about this case than I do. I
am a lawyer, but this is your area of expertise.
How does Amazon get hooked in where, let's say I
don't know UPS or FedEx, or for that matter, of
the US mail as I read the materials that were
(21:58):
sent to me are not impacted.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
That's a good question, and for years Amazon said, we
don't want to be a part of the safety program
in this country. We're just like the United States Postal
Service or FedEx. We just deliver goods to consumers. And
this has been going on since twenty twenty one. The
Consumer Product Safety Commission said, no, your online marketplace qualifies
you as a distributor, and as a distributor, you are
(22:24):
now part of the safety matrix in this country. You
need to keep track or recalls and you need to
let the consumers know about them.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So that's the distinction that was drawn, which is interesting.
I'm kind of proud of the fact that I've raised
an issue that at least it's been part of the
consideration in this case. So the reality is, let us
assume you order something from Amazon, and let's say it
costs fifty bucks and it's a toy or a product
(22:53):
that is found to be dangerous. Amazon then has to
refund the money you didn't you paid Amazon, and I
assume they in turn paid the producer of the product
some monies. So Amazon now as the middleman, has to
reimburse the buyer and then probably chase the producer the
(23:16):
original seller for their money. So there's a lot of
obligation now on Amazon here. Maybe this is going to
force Amazon to reconsider the type of products that it
advertises on its website.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
Yeah, you're right. So Amazon now has the contractual ability
to make sure the manufacturers are ultimately responsible and to
encourage them to make their products safer. What I do
want to want you to know is that right now,
if you go to Google and you type in Amazon
recall and safety Alerts, YEP, it'll take you directly to
(23:48):
the Amazon website page and it will tell you click
here to see if any of the products you have
purchased have a safety recall or a safety alert. It's
a one click thing you can do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
It great for the consumer? Did Amazon try to litigate
the whole concept of privity of a contract here and say, look,
we're really not involved in this in any way, shape
or form. I assumed that they must erased that as
an issue. Unsuccessful.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
For many years, Amazon took the position that they are
not a distributor, They're simply like FedEx in the post circus,
so they don't have this obligation, and they were fairly
successful in many of the courts around the country. And
in twenty twenty one, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped
in and litigated the issue and finally resolved it in
the consumer's favor.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is Amazon obviously is going to have to comply? Do
you think that there's further appeals that Amazon, obviously an
administrative agency, has made a determination. I assume that determination
is always going to be potentially appealable in federal court.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
I guess they could. But here's what I'll say. This
became effective on January twenty sixth of this year, just
a few days ago.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Three days ago, five days ago.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
And I've already seen, you know, a change in Amazon's
website since then. So and so I'm hoping that, you know,
they're just going to let it go and be a
part of the safety matrix to keep us all hopefully safer.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, And as I understand it, even in this and
I didn't read this deeply, I apologize for that, but
I do a lot of stuff. I drink from the
fire hose every day that if let us say, the
product that Amazon has shipped you, uh, there's some knowledge
of public knowledge that the product is dangerous and if
(25:33):
someone discards the product throws it out. And I guess
some of this was you know, what would be the
pajamas that that sometimes are flammable. I assumed there could
be some food stuffs that Amazon would would would would
ship even if the the the end of the line
consumer destroys the product, Amazon is still going to be
(25:58):
in the hook for that because if the if the
consumer destroys the product, there's no product for Amazon to
send back to the distributor. So Amazon's going to have to,
I assume, build this into their costs of doing business.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I think you're right, and I want you to know
that Amazon has probably already done that. The ruling originally
came out in January of twenty twenty four, but the
Consumer Product Safety Commission gave Amazon a year to kind
of get the system in place, So during the last
year they've probably already taken care of this contractually.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Fascinating case. It's amazing and it sounds to me like
something that's going to benefit consumers at a number of levels.
But I'm hoping that as a consumer that Amazon is
a little more careful about what products they advertise, they
(26:53):
and they ship. I would hope that that is the
big win for consumers here.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Same hope, and I also hope that Amazon will use
as tremendous power over its manufacturers to say, you better
make your stuff safe because we have an obligation now
to report defects and problems and we don't really want
to be doing that every day.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's great. Uh well, Attorney Fountain, great to talk with you.
You A lot of attorneys don't do well in the media,
but but you explained it so well. You've got you've
got to be really good in a quote. Along with
that that ability to articulate and simplify and make people understand.
I bet you're pretty good in front of jury's Thank
you so much.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
My mother, My mother says I am so.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all learned to expect that. But no,
I really mean that, and that's not an off the
cuff call comment. I I deal with lots of lawyers
who are pretty good litigators, but sometimes on the radio,
they lose that ability to succinctly explain the issues in
front of them or in front of the audience. And
(27:55):
you did it exceptionally well. And that's not and that
is not an off the hand compliment. That's genuine, genuine
compliment for my end. I do this professionally as a broadcaster,
and I was never very comfortable in court. I was
always on watching my p's and q's. This is the
court of public opinion, and I'm real comfortable here. I
(28:17):
wish I was discomfortable in trial cases. Thank you so much,
Counselor appreciate your time.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You're very welcome. When we get back, we're going to
talk about a new school called the Stars School and
Learning Center for kids who are dyslexic, and we will
be talking with doctor Jennifer Curtis right after a break
here on Nightside. That was an interesting segment. I enjoyed
that back right after this.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Delighted to be joined by doctor Jennifer Curtis. She's the
CEO of South Shore Stars, a nonprofit is starting a
new school in tell kids with dyslexia. Welcome, doctor Curtis.
How are you this evening.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me
here tonight.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You're very welcome. Why did you explain dyslexia? I think
most people have heard about it, but I always assume
that there might be some people who are confused by, uh,
this this set of circumstances that I'm not sure how
many kids face it, but I know that it's it's
it's rare, but but there's there's still a lot of
kids that are dealing with this. Explain explain that.
Speaker 7 (29:31):
So everyone is on the shore absolutely, So there are
a lot of children and a lot of adults that
are impacted by dyslexia.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
It's a disability.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Typically you see about one in five people the head
of a diagnosis of dyslexia. It's what's called a language
based learning disability. And what that really means when you
break that down is people who have dyslexia have a
hard time with things that spelling, writing, to coding.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
So the reading pieces of.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
Literacy, mapping the print the letter itself to what the
sound might be and being able to do that in
a very easy manner, that doesn't happen. And so frequently
what we find with people that have a disability such
as dyslexia, they need really specific instruction to help them
(30:23):
break that code or maps the sounds.
Speaker 8 (30:26):
To those letters.
Speaker 7 (30:27):
And when we think about, you know, our English language,
there are lots of rules to it, and if you
are taught those rules very systematically and repetitively, so to
a point where you're mastering those skills, people with dyslexia
can be very very successful. And you know, we have
so many high functioning adults in you know, careers that
(30:50):
are out there that are dyslexic. It's not it is
a disability, I will say that, But the other pieces,
it doesn't mean that it's something that's going to impact
you from you going in the direction you want to
go for your dreams or your goals. And frequently there's
a lot of literature out there right now about how
dyslexic thinkers are sometimes a bit more creative and think
(31:12):
outside the box.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Okay, so let me make sure I understand that I
always understood dyslexia to be primarily a reading limitation, and
that people and I focused. I realized adults have it,
but I focused upon kids. That they would see a
word and they would somehow see it differently, maybe the
letters would be misarranged. Is that a hold of an
(31:37):
old explanation of dyslexia that is now out of style?
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Yes, so frequently. I think it's often been dramatized as
things are letters are backwards all the time, and that
that's how everything always looks. That's not accurate. People me
with dyslexia may have issues with reversals of letters, especially
letters that are similar. Like if you think about your
(32:02):
b's and your.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
D's, they look almost the.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
Same, they just facing different ways. But once someone with
dyslexia is taught specifically how to make sure you're differentiating
between those two letters, that that's a skill set that
they can have under their belt and move forward in
a positive manner. So yeah, so what you talked about
is really an older lens of looking at dyslexia, and
(32:26):
it's much more complex than that, but it is. Actually
it's something that with the right methods, it can be
something that you can move on from. It never goes away.
It's a disability that stays with you forever, but you
can learn different skills to be able to cope with it.
And most aslexics have a very high IQ average, a
(32:49):
high IQ and as I said before, a very high
functioning adult as we get older.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Okay, is the is the problem with dyslexia somewhere deep
deep inside the brain.
Speaker 8 (33:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
It does have to do with the processing and information.
When someone looks at the letters, they may not identify
that letter right away. The brain may not really say, oh,
that letter is a B, and when I see that B,
it has that sounds that goes with the books. They
may not naturally be able to connect that and it
(33:26):
has to be really identified and spelled out specifically for them.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Okay, So tell us about your school. That's sure. I
think we'd really like to learn about Is this school
just opening or has it just opened?
Speaker 7 (33:39):
So we're working to open our doors this coming September,
so September twenty twenty five, and we have done a
lot of work to get to this point. We're in
an enrollment phase right now, so we're working with families
to enroll their students in what it is. It's for
students that will be in grades one through five initial opening,
(34:01):
depending upon the need for what we find out there
in the areas around the south Shore, Massachusetts, or anyone
that wants to come to us from another area. If
we want to expand down to kindergarten and up to
sixth grade, we can.
Speaker 8 (34:14):
Do that as well.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
But to start off, we want to make sure we
have our doors open with at least twelve kiddos in seats,
and at full build out, the school would max out
at one hundred students. It's very it's a small program.
It is in Weymouth, it's in a brand new facility
that's been built for this purpose. And as I said,
we're doing our moments right now and we have a
(34:37):
lot of people.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Let me let me ask you a course, which is important. Okay,
if there are families in Weymouth or surrounding communities or anywhere,
but obviously you're going to draw more people I assume
from your surrounding communities. Are they able to enroll your
school at a cost that is covered by what they
(35:00):
you have from their public school. Generously, what I'm saying
is I understand the private school. You know, if you
choose to send your child to Belmont Hill or to
bb and N, that's considered a private school and you
have to pay whatever tuition is charged in addition, of
course to your real estate taxes, and you do not
(35:22):
receive any benefit from your town, your hometown, even though
you have taken some pressure off the school system. How
is your school being categorized?
Speaker 7 (35:34):
So that's a great question. So I'll say, with what
you just describe, we're a bit of a hybrid. So
if someone wants to send their child to us through
as a private mechanism, they can do that. There there's
definitely an option to do that. But we have worked
really hard and we recently received our initial approvals through
the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as what is
(35:56):
called a seven sixty six school. A phasics school is
a specialized school for students that have some sort of
special needs or disability, and we have approved as a
school working with kids with a slexia or language based needs.
Now what does that mean? So what is the benefit
of being approved as a seven six yeh by.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
The way, about a minute left.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
So okay, well, well that is what that does mean
is that if a team, if the school department feels
as though this is the best placement for a family's child,
they can access funds through the school department that are
called circuit breaker funds to help alleviate that tuition for
the families. So there are mechanisms to do that. And
(36:39):
if you want to have people, come on our website,
so for stars dot org you can find more information
about the school and information about everything else, talking about
the open houses coming up and the zoom sessions.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Great. So again, you have the balance of this school
year to get yourself ready for September of twenty twenty five.
And the children who you would enroll, do they have
to be shown to be dealing with dyslexia? Is that
the one and only disability that that could make them
(37:12):
eligible for your school?
Speaker 8 (37:14):
Is your schilah?
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Yeah, that is our focus area. That's what we're specializing in.
Kids they come in without the diagnosis, but they may
have all of the markers and we're here and ready
for them.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
So without the can you help them get the diagnosis
to make them to make them eligible for either enrollment
or financial assistance. That's my last and most important question.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
Yeah. So we have a team that's a very highly
skilled team of enrollment staff that are also evaluators that
can help point the families in the right direction to
get that diagnosis if that's what is needed, and then
to kind of guide them through what does it mean
now I have that diagnosis, and we also want to
work with the school districts, so if we're right, we
(38:00):
would work with them to have them come on our way.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Okay, well, look, appreciate you. You're doing great work, doctor
Jennifer Curtis. I hope a lot of people who may
find themselves in the need for special education like this.
We'll get in touch with you. Best way to reach
you is give us the website real quickly and then.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
We got to go sure social stars dot org. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
That's great. You're very welcome, doctor Jennifer Curtis, south Shore
Stars dot org. We'll be back right after the nine
o'clock news. We're going to talk about a controversy dealing
with white stadium. You probably know something about it, but
we're going to dive deep into the controversy revolving around
(38:42):
this venerable Boston Public School. Location White Stadium in Franklin Park,
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBS Boston Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I thank you very much, Madison. My name is indeed
Dan Ray, the host of the appropriately named Nightside with
Dan Ray, believe it or not. Tonight we do our
three thousand, nine hundred and ninety ninth program Nightside, well
probably ninety nine per I did a few programs before
(00:27):
it was christened Nightside in October of two thousand and seven,
but kind of proud of that. So there will be
a night next week when we will do our fourth
thousandth program, and I'm proud of that, and I wanted
to share that with all of you who listen to Nightside.
We have four really interesting guests in the first hour,
then we have a couple of guests later on tonight,
(00:50):
and a final fourth hour at nine o'clock tonight. We're
going to be talking with a couple of folks Boston
Hill reported Gayla Cawley, who has written a lot about
what's going on at White Stadium in Boston. And we'll
also talk with a gentleman who is the head of
a group, someone that I have known of many for
(01:12):
many many years and have inviewed many years ago. Lewis Eliza,
the president of the Garrison Totter Neighborhood Association, about their
concerns over the project that's going on at White Stadium.
We'll get to all of that, and then we're going
to talk at ten o'clock with a couple's theorist, the therapist.
We are approaching Dallentine's Day. It's actually, I believe two
(01:33):
weeks from today, two Fridays from today, and the couple's
therapists is going to talk about reigniting relationships, and I
think you'll enjoy listening to her at ten o'clock Carolyn Sharp.
And then in the twentieth hour, I think the one
month during the year that bothers me the most it's January.
And January only has four hours left in and so
(01:56):
I am very happy to say goodbye to January, and
for a whole by reasons, I'd love to know what
you think about the month of January. It's the coldest,
it's the longest. As far as I'm concerned, it's a
depressing month. But anyway, we are going to open up.
We'll get you all the way to February, which is
I think one of the nicer months you've got Groundhog Day,
Valentine's Day, start of spring training, all sorts of things
(02:18):
to look forward to in February. But first off, we
are going to talk about one of the remnants of January. That,
of course, is the New Year's resolutions that some of
us have kept and some of us have failed to keep.
And with us is Bob Anderson to talk about keeping
your New Year's resolutions, the value in that. He's a doctor,
(02:41):
Bob Anderson, Doctor Anderson, Welcome to Night's Side. And first
of all, percentage do you think of New Year's resolutions
are actually kept? Has anyone ever done a real study
on that?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Not that I know of, Probably about twenty percent I
would guess something like that.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
You think twenty that's pretty good. That's a big number.
I would have guessed more like two percent. But that's good.
That's great. Obviously, all the goals we set for you know,
when we do that on New Year's Eve or a
couple of days before New Year's and great, great goals,
(03:21):
tough to accomplish, just human nature. How important is it
for those of that twenty percent or the ten percent
or whatever, how important is it for them to keep
it going?
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well? I think it's really important because it just helps
your self esteem and you know, many times their health
related and just improve your overall health and your ability
to enjoy life.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Now you are with the Center for Vain Restoration, and
I guess there's a bit of a relationship between New
Year's resolutions which people pledge to and if they keep
many of the resolutions actually have a positive impact on
(04:13):
blood circulation. I believe that that is the nexus for
this interview.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Correct, Yes, that's right, tell us about it. We have arteries,
of course that always benefit from exercise because they're what
drives blood to our muscles, and then the veins return
the blood from the muscles up to our heart and
lungs areas. And the nice thing about exercise is keeping
(04:42):
the weight low so that the added pressure of weight
doesn't weigh on your veins so to speak, and cause
them to become varicos over time.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, you're making me feel better. I exercise today. I'm
somebody who tends to get into the gym as much
as I can. There was one year before COVID where
I actually was in the gym three hundred and sixty
three days out of the year twenty nineteen I've admittedly
backed off that a little bit after COVID. There's other
(05:14):
some of the other traditional resolutions that people make, the
dry January resolution, other resolutions that I assume also has
a physical benefit, just from you know, kind of backing
off the alcohol and the beer and the wine a
little bit correct on circulation.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, because alcohol, of course, is considered empty calories. They
really don't provide any nutrition for you, and they just
add extra calories that you don't really need and that
we'll add to increased weight over time.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And again, if we were to cut back on drinking,
is there any physical benefit, I mean, you know, is
there a physical I mean, obviously weight loss, You've described
that very well, but I got to assume that there's
a little bit of a physical benefit to cutting back
on alcohol on a consistent basis. Yes, I'm not a doctor,
(06:11):
so I'm shooting in the dark here. Doctor helped me out. Well.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
One of the other big effects of alcohol, of course,
is that it kills your brain cells, and you only
have so many of those, and they don't regenerate. So
the more you drink, the more you're killing your brain cells,
and you only have so many. So they know that
doesn't help at all with your cognitive function, especially later
in life.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
So it's fear for me to conclude from our conversation
that the one resolution that physically helps you the most
physically and also medically is losing some weight if you're overweight.
Any of the other traditional resolutions also have a medical
(06:55):
benefit that you could share with us.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Obviously smoking is another big culprit artery disease. Yeah, number
one cause for hardening of the arteries, and so giving
that up is definitely for your best thing for your
health you could ever do, probably other than do everything
else in moderation kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, Well, the other thing is never start. You know.
I was blessed. My dad was a World War Two veteran,
two packs a day, camels, unfiltered. I hated cigarette smoke
and I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and
I was. I just it just appalls me. It doesn't
appeal to me. It appalls me that that is for sure,
(07:43):
and that's one. But the weight loss is so is
so important. So I would say anyone who has kept
a resolution for what thirty one days, now, there's no
reason to stop it. You can continue it on, particularly
if you feel a benefit from it. I encourage people
(08:04):
to do that. The one that I did many years
ago was I gave up drinking in January. I'm not
a heavy drink or a coarse light and red wine
here and kicked. I said, now, let me get the
Valentine's Day, got the Valentine's dais, let me get to
Saint Patrick's Day. Got the Saint Patrick's dan and said,
let me get daple first. Well, May twenty fifth, I
had kidney stones. Never had had kidney stones in my
(08:25):
life before, and I was told it was not in
taking enough fluid. So that's one that it was a little.
Kidney stones were unpleasant as I don't know if you've
never had them anyway. Yeah, well that's a good thing
to avoid. That's a good resolution to avoid. I've never
(08:47):
had him since Doctor Bobby Anderson. Your organization called Center
for Vane Restoration. I assume people can get some information
there if they go to your website, yep.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And if they want to make an appointment over the phone,
they can do that as well, calling twenty eight hundred
six legs and our website is CVR dot com.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Yeah are you We're in Boston, as you know, we
have a pretty big audience across at the eastern half
of the US.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Where you located, Well, I'm in Springfield, Massachusetts, but we
have offices in Wuburn and Framing and great.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Okay. The reason I ask you that, I'm delighted to
hear that. I'm glad I asked that question because I
see the book appointment number says two four zero, and
I'm thinking, to myself, where's that that. Okay, so you're
a New England based organization. Excellent. That's good to know
people who have problems with veins send it for van restoration.
And you said CVR dot com. That's pretty simple. Yeah,
(09:49):
thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you doctor.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Good, thank you, You're welcome. Okay, we get back. We're going
to talk about today. In case you missed, it was
National have Fun at Workday. I hope you had fun
at work today today. I have fun at work most days. Actually,
I like my job, so it's not hard for me
to have fun at work. But I think I was
(10:13):
thinking today I was rainy, and I was thinking, how
lucky am I to have an inside job. I don't
worry about cold weather or hot weather. So we're going
to talk on the other side with a fellow named
Joel Zeph. National have Fun at work Day sounds great
coming back on night side. My name is Dan Ray.
This is WBZ in Boston. We're ten thirty in the
AM dial, Boston's Radio, Boston's news radio station. You can
(10:37):
always get us on the iHeart app to new and
improved iHeart app. Listen to us anywhere in the country
anywhere in the world twenty four to seven, three sixty five,
or just check out ten thirty on your AM dial.
My name's Dan Ray. Back more interesting topics right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Now back to Dan ray line from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Well, for those of you who might have missed it
today was I guess it still is if you're working
somewhere like me, National have Fun and work Day. The
importance of having fun in the job with us is
Joel Zeph. Joel's a workplace culture expert. Joel, you sound
like my sort of guy.
Speaker 5 (11:17):
How are you tonight, I'm great, Thanks for having me, Dan.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
He was afraid for a second, there was the delay.
I thought, have we lost him? So how do you
become a workplace culture expert. Are you a writer? You're
a speaker and an author. You've written a book called
What Make the Right Choice? Lead with passion, elevate your
team and unleash the fun and work you sell. You
(11:43):
think exactly like I do. I have funded work every day.
I'm a talk show host. I don't have to lift
everything heavy. I don't have to climb on steel beams.
I don't have to hang off of roofs. I'm I'm happy, man.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
We're very lucky.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
I can't do math, so I was limited in what
jobs that appealed to me. And I was a newspaper journalist,
and then I went into advertising in PR and I
started doing improv comedy just for fun. And one of
my clients said, hey, we know you do that improv
on the weekend.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Can you do that with us? And that's how my
career started.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
And twenty five hundred events later, I wrote a book
and now I'm talking to you, Well, you.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Know you had twenty five hundred events. I do my
four thousandth show on this radio station next week. Tonight
is three three thousand, nine hundred ninety nine, So welcome,
Welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 4 (12:38):
So I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, well, I'm always excited. So let me ask you,
what is who decides today January thirty first, one of
the most depressing days of the year. By the way,
it's a long month January. Who decides it's National Have
Fun to at Workday? Did President Trump do executive order
(13:01):
that I missed somehow?
Speaker 4 (13:04):
I don't know who created that day, but I'm guessing
they felt just like you did.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
That.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
January was a long month and we're kicking off the year,
so it's probably a good day to focus on fun
and creating passion and being fulfilled at work. Because when
you're happy at work, that's going to lead to success,
and that's gonna be you're gonna be a better leader,
a better communicator, a better teammate.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. Now, I don't want to get real serious on
me here, because I think you I think what you
just said I agree with the same day, the same thing.
What percentage of workers do you think? How can we
make this more accessible, more available a year from now?
I don't know how many people I had not heard
of National Have Fun at Workday until tonight. What what
(13:48):
can we do going forward next year? Let's do something
early in January, so we get people give up.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
Dan, I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm not gonna
lie to you. I didn't know his National Fun at
Workday either.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Someone told me and said, hey, you'd be great on
the radio with some of these hosts because you're all
about fun and energy, And I said, sounds great to me.
And because so here we are together, it's more in
National Fun and Work Today for the first time together, Dan,
So we'll always have today, yes.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yes, yes, Well, what I'm wondering I was figuring that
maybe you'd be able to tell me some stories that today,
you know, people were able to bring hula hoops to work,
or they were able to bring their bikes and ride
around the office, or they had water balloon fights. That's
really not what we're talking about here. We're talking about
how do you get happy? How do you get excited
(14:44):
and want look forward to going to work for fun
and accomplishing something as opposed to looking at yourself in
the mirror and say, oh God, not again. It's seven
point thirty in the morning and I got to get
to go to work.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
Well, we've all been I've been there too, right, And
it's about what's going to fulfill you, what's going to
make you happy? And you know, what is that opportunity
that you need to be happy? And fun means a
lot of different things, and some of the things that
you mentioned Hulu hoops and karaoke and dancing and all that,
that's part of it. Sure, why not, you know, creating
(15:20):
that energy and doing something fun as a group. I
have a friend that is a runs an ad agency
and they do a lot of give back.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
They go to pet shelters or food bank.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
And they donate their time as a company because that
brings them joy and it connects people together. I have
another friend work for a telecommunications company. They have a
four foot chess piece, a four foot chess.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Piece that goes around the office.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
If somebody's having a bad day, all of a sudden,
you go on a break, it shows up in your
cubicle because they know you're having a bad day and
it just kind of brings a little fun, a little spirit.
And what's funny is that four foot chess piece. My
friend was called up.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
This was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
He's called up.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
He's in the hes in the Army Reserve, went to
go serve.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
In Kuwait, and the company mailed the four foot chess
piece to the army base that he went around took
pictures uh, you know, with his uh with his troop
and on tanks and uh in the latrine and the
mess tent. And so it created happiness for the people,
(16:28):
the soldiers that he's serving with, and it created happiness
back at his telecommunications company. And so you know, it's
all about maybe sometimes a surprise, doing something different, finding
that opportunity to just kind of bring joy into the office.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
That's great. There were a lot of companies, a lot
of individuals here who reached out to some of the
US service personnel who had been deployed to places like
Afghanistan and Kuwait and and all of that. And and
that's always a touch of home when you're in the military,
to to say to to be able to say, oh, yeah,
(17:06):
I know what this is. So that's that's great. Well, look,
so where where do you practice your comedy?
Speaker 4 (17:13):
So I do. I'm focused on the corporate market, and
so I work with all different types of industries, companies, associations.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
UH.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
This week I was in Louisville speaking to a company
that helps law enforcement officers.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
With a with a with a software that helps them
for online investigations.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And I have a property management company coming up, an
insurance company. Uh So, it's a lot of different industries.
And I use improv to bring that fun and energy.
So it's all about humor, and we play some improv
games and laugh and then we talk about these choices,
how we deal with change, how we work together as
a team, how we stay in the game.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And by the way, the Louisville Police departmentism sure. You
know a couple of years ago had some real serious
issues and hopefully you've been able to help them work
together as a team. Rob, how much time we got
before the CBS cut in? You said a minute? Five?
Is that what I got? Minute five? One minute? Okay? Perfect?
(18:16):
So if folks would like to get in touch with you, Jeff,
what's the easiest way for folks. You've got to have
a website.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
I'm sure, sure, sure, I think we're contractually obligated to
have websites in this day and age. Yes, Joel's f
dot com j O E l z e f F
dot com and the new book Make the Right Choice
is available Barnes and Noble, Amazon, wherever you get your
books and lots of ideas and ways to energize, keep
(18:44):
the fun going, and you know, elevating that that your
team and unleashing the fun at work that's part of
the subhead and just enjoying work and kind of being
fundamentally filled at work.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Perfect, Joel, Thank you very much. We'll have your back. Sell.
We can tell jokes to each other. I think I
think you're a great guest. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. Hey,
thanks again. All right, we are going to cut away
now for a CBS News report on a second airplane crash,
this one in Philadelphia. Pre CBS News.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Or there's a very interesting development and order that was
issued by the Consumer Protection Safety Commission. And we have
the lawyer who has actually been the person here who
has forced Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the world,
(19:43):
into a position where Amazon is now being ordered to
reveal dangerous products. Don Fountain. He's a trial attorney, leading
product defect attorney whose landmark cases to transform safety standards
across multiple industries. Counsel Or, welcome to Night's Side. This
sounds like a big victory for the consumer.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Thank you for having me. Yes, and you're right, it
is a big victory. I can't take credit for this.
This is the Consumer Product Safety Commission finally bringing Amazon
to the table to make them a critical part of
product safety in this country.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Okay, I'm misread, and I might have been under the
impression that you were representing parties in the case. Explain
to us. Well, let me just kind of cut to
the chase a little bit here. Obviously, Amazon sells everything,
and they're a huge, huge company, one of the biggest
companies in the world. And this order from the Consumer
(20:44):
Protection Safety Commission basically says to Amazon, if you ship
something and it's a dangerous product, you have a responsibility.
It's just not the person who sells the product. You
have become the conveyor of that product, and therefore there
(21:04):
is an obligation for you to be involved in the
remediation of hazardous products. As I understand it, am I
fairly accurate in what I've just described.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
Yes, term is Amazon is now an official legal distributor
of products. That's an important term because under the law,
a distributor now has an obligation to keep track of
safety trends. Keep track of recalls and to notify their
customers about them.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Okay, so how does Amazon get hooked into this? And
let me just play Devil's advocate for a second, because
you know more about this case than I do. I
am a lawyer, but this is your area of expertise.
How does Amazon get hooked in where, let's say I
don't know UPS or FedEx, or for that matter, of
the US mail as I read the materials that were
(21:58):
sent to me are not impacted.
Speaker 6 (22:01):
That's a good question, and for years Amazon said, we
don't want to be a part of the safety program
in this country. We're just like the United States Postal
Service or FedEx. We just deliver goods to consumers. And
this has been going on since twenty twenty one. The
Consumer Product Safety Commission said, no, your online marketplace qualifies
you as a distributor, and as a distributor, you are
(22:24):
now part of the safety matrix in this country. You
need to keep track or recalls and you need to
let the consumers know about them.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
So that's the distinction that was drawn, which is interesting.
I'm kind of proud of the fact that I've raised
an issue that at least it's been part of the
consideration in this case. So the reality is, let us
assume you order something from Amazon, and let's say it
costs fifty bucks and it's a toy or a product
(22:53):
that is found to be dangerous. Amazon then has to
refund the money you didn't you paid Amazon, and I
assume they in turn paid the producer of the product
some monies. So Amazon now as the middleman, has to
reimburse the buyer and then probably chase the producer the
(23:16):
original seller for their money. So there's a lot of
obligation now on Amazon here. Maybe this is going to
force Amazon to reconsider the type of products that it
advertises on its website.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
Yeah, you're right. So Amazon now has the contractual ability
to make sure the manufacturers are ultimately responsible and to
encourage them to make their products safer. What I do
want to want you to know is that right now,
if you go to Google and you type in Amazon
recall and safety Alerts, YEP, it'll take you directly to
(23:48):
the Amazon website page and it will tell you click
here to see if any of the products you have
purchased have a safety recall or a safety alert. It's
a one click thing you can do.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
It great for the consumer? Did Amazon try to litigate
the whole concept of privity of a contract here and say, look,
we're really not involved in this in any way, shape
or form. I assumed that they must erased that as
an issue. Unsuccessful.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (24:15):
For many years, Amazon took the position that they are
not a distributor, They're simply like FedEx in the post circus,
so they don't have this obligation, and they were fairly
successful in many of the courts around the country. And
in twenty twenty one, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped
in and litigated the issue and finally resolved it in
the consumer's favor.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Is Amazon obviously is going to have to comply? Do
you think that there's further appeals that Amazon, obviously an
administrative agency, has made a determination. I assume that determination
is always going to be potentially appealable in federal court.
Speaker 6 (24:51):
I guess they could. But here's what I'll say. This
became effective on January twenty sixth of this year, just
a few days ago.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Three days ago, five days ago.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
And I've already seen, you know, a change in Amazon's
website since then. So and so I'm hoping that, you know,
they're just going to let it go and be a
part of the safety matrix to keep us all hopefully safer.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, And as I understand it, even in this and
I didn't read this deeply, I apologize for that, but
I do a lot of stuff. I drink from the
fire hose every day that if let us say, the
product that Amazon has shipped you, uh, there's some knowledge
of public knowledge that the product is dangerous and if
(25:33):
someone discards the product throws it out. And I guess
some of this was you know, what would be the
pajamas that that sometimes are flammable. I assumed there could
be some food stuffs that Amazon would would would would
ship even if the the the end of the line
consumer destroys the product, Amazon is still going to be
(25:58):
in the hook for that because if the if the
consumer destroys the product, there's no product for Amazon to
send back to the distributor. So Amazon's going to have to,
I assume, build this into their costs of doing business.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:13):
I think you're right, and I want you to know
that Amazon has probably already done that. The ruling originally
came out in January of twenty twenty four, but the
Consumer Product Safety Commission gave Amazon a year to kind
of get the system in place, So during the last
year they've probably already taken care of this contractually.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Fascinating case. It's amazing and it sounds to me like
something that's going to benefit consumers at a number of levels.
But I'm hoping that as a consumer that Amazon is
a little more careful about what products they advertise, they
(26:53):
and they ship. I would hope that that is the
big win for consumers here.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
Same hope, and I also hope that Amazon will use
as tremendous power over its manufacturers to say, you better
make your stuff safe because we have an obligation now
to report defects and problems and we don't really want
to be doing that every day.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
That's great. Uh well, Attorney Fountain, great to talk with you.
You A lot of attorneys don't do well in the media,
but but you explained it so well. You've got you've
got to be really good in a quote. Along with
that that ability to articulate and simplify and make people understand.
I bet you're pretty good in front of jury's Thank
you so much.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
My mother, My mother says I am so.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all learned to expect that. But no,
I really mean that, and that's not an off the
cuff call comment. I I deal with lots of lawyers
who are pretty good litigators, but sometimes on the radio,
they lose that ability to succinctly explain the issues in
front of them or in front of the audience. And
(27:55):
you did it exceptionally well. And that's not and that
is not an off the hand compliment. That's genuine, genuine
compliment for my end. I do this professionally as a broadcaster,
and I was never very comfortable in court. I was
always on watching my p's and q's. This is the
court of public opinion, and I'm real comfortable here. I
(28:17):
wish I was discomfortable in trial cases. Thank you so much,
Counselor appreciate your time.
Speaker 6 (28:25):
I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
You're very welcome. When we get back, we're going to
talk about a new school called the Stars School and
Learning Center for kids who are dyslexic, and we will
be talking with doctor Jennifer Curtis right after a break
here on Nightside. That was an interesting segment. I enjoyed
that back right after this.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Delighted to be joined by doctor Jennifer Curtis. She's the
CEO of South Shore Stars, a nonprofit is starting a
new school in tell kids with dyslexia. Welcome, doctor Curtis.
How are you this evening.
Speaker 7 (29:05):
I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me
here tonight.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
You're very welcome. Why did you explain dyslexia? I think
most people have heard about it, but I always assume
that there might be some people who are confused by, uh,
this this set of circumstances that I'm not sure how
many kids face it, but I know that it's it's
it's rare, but but there's there's still a lot of
kids that are dealing with this. Explain explain that.
Speaker 7 (29:31):
So everyone is on the shore absolutely, So there are
a lot of children and a lot of adults that
are impacted by dyslexia.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
It's a disability.
Speaker 7 (29:41):
Typically you see about one in five people the head
of a diagnosis of dyslexia. It's what's called a language
based learning disability. And what that really means when you
break that down is people who have dyslexia have a
hard time with things that spelling, writing, to coding.
Speaker 8 (30:00):
So the reading pieces of.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
Literacy, mapping the print the letter itself to what the
sound might be and being able to do that in
a very easy manner, that doesn't happen. And so frequently
what we find with people that have a disability such
as dyslexia, they need really specific instruction to help them
(30:23):
break that code or maps the sounds.
Speaker 8 (30:26):
To those letters.
Speaker 7 (30:27):
And when we think about, you know, our English language,
there are lots of rules to it, and if you
are taught those rules very systematically and repetitively, so to
a point where you're mastering those skills, people with dyslexia
can be very very successful. And you know, we have
so many high functioning adults in you know, careers that
(30:50):
are out there that are dyslexic. It's not it is
a disability, I will say that, But the other pieces,
it doesn't mean that it's something that's going to impact
you from you going in the direction you want to
go for your dreams or your goals. And frequently there's
a lot of literature out there right now about how
dyslexic thinkers are sometimes a bit more creative and think
(31:12):
outside the box.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Okay, so let me make sure I understand that I
always understood dyslexia to be primarily a reading limitation, and
that people and I focused. I realized adults have it,
but I focused upon kids. That they would see a
word and they would somehow see it differently, maybe the
letters would be misarranged. Is that a hold of an
(31:37):
old explanation of dyslexia that is now out of style?
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Yes, so frequently. I think it's often been dramatized as
things are letters are backwards all the time, and that
that's how everything always looks. That's not accurate. People me
with dyslexia may have issues with reversals of letters, especially
letters that are similar. Like if you think about your
(32:02):
b's and your.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
D's, they look almost the.
Speaker 7 (32:05):
Same, they just facing different ways. But once someone with
dyslexia is taught specifically how to make sure you're differentiating
between those two letters, that that's a skill set that
they can have under their belt and move forward in
a positive manner. So yeah, so what you talked about
is really an older lens of looking at dyslexia, and
(32:26):
it's much more complex than that, but it is. Actually
it's something that with the right methods, it can be
something that you can move on from. It never goes away.
It's a disability that stays with you forever, but you
can learn different skills to be able to cope with it.
And most aslexics have a very high IQ average, a
(32:49):
high IQ and as I said before, a very high
functioning adult as we get older.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Okay, is the is the problem with dyslexia somewhere deep
deep inside the brain.
Speaker 8 (33:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (33:04):
It does have to do with the processing and information.
When someone looks at the letters, they may not identify
that letter right away. The brain may not really say, oh,
that letter is a B, and when I see that B,
it has that sounds that goes with the books. They
may not naturally be able to connect that and it
(33:26):
has to be really identified and spelled out specifically for them.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Okay, So tell us about your school. That's sure. I
think we'd really like to learn about Is this school
just opening or has it just opened?
Speaker 7 (33:39):
So we're working to open our doors this coming September,
so September twenty twenty five, and we have done a
lot of work to get to this point. We're in
an enrollment phase right now, so we're working with families
to enroll their students in what it is. It's for
students that will be in grades one through five initial opening,
(34:01):
depending upon the need for what we find out there
in the areas around the south Shore, Massachusetts, or anyone
that wants to come to us from another area. If
we want to expand down to kindergarten and up to
sixth grade, we can.
Speaker 8 (34:14):
Do that as well.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
But to start off, we want to make sure we
have our doors open with at least twelve kiddos in seats,
and at full build out, the school would max out
at one hundred students. It's very it's a small program.
It is in Weymouth, it's in a brand new facility
that's been built for this purpose. And as I said,
we're doing our moments right now and we have a
(34:37):
lot of people.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Let me let me ask you a course, which is important. Okay,
if there are families in Weymouth or surrounding communities or anywhere,
but obviously you're going to draw more people I assume
from your surrounding communities. Are they able to enroll your
school at a cost that is covered by what they
(35:00):
you have from their public school. Generously, what I'm saying
is I understand the private school. You know, if you
choose to send your child to Belmont Hill or to
bb and N, that's considered a private school and you
have to pay whatever tuition is charged in addition, of
course to your real estate taxes, and you do not
(35:22):
receive any benefit from your town, your hometown, even though
you have taken some pressure off the school system. How
is your school being categorized?
Speaker 7 (35:34):
So that's a great question. So I'll say, with what
you just describe, we're a bit of a hybrid. So
if someone wants to send their child to us through
as a private mechanism, they can do that. There there's
definitely an option to do that. But we have worked
really hard and we recently received our initial approvals through
the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as what is
(35:56):
called a seven sixty six school. A phasics school is
a specialized school for students that have some sort of
special needs or disability, and we have approved as a
school working with kids with a slexia or language based needs.
Now what does that mean? So what is the benefit
of being approved as a seven six yeh by.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
The way, about a minute left.
Speaker 7 (36:19):
So okay, well, well that is what that does mean
is that if a team, if the school department feels
as though this is the best placement for a family's child,
they can access funds through the school department that are
called circuit breaker funds to help alleviate that tuition for
the families. So there are mechanisms to do that. And
(36:39):
if you want to have people, come on our website,
so for stars dot org you can find more information
about the school and information about everything else, talking about
the open houses coming up and the zoom sessions.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Great. So again, you have the balance of this school
year to get yourself ready for September of twenty twenty five.
And the children who you would enroll, do they have
to be shown to be dealing with dyslexia? Is that
the one and only disability that that could make them
(37:12):
eligible for your school?
Speaker 8 (37:14):
Is your schilah?
Speaker 7 (37:16):
Yeah, that is our focus area. That's what we're specializing in.
Kids they come in without the diagnosis, but they may
have all of the markers and we're here and ready
for them.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
So without the can you help them get the diagnosis
to make them to make them eligible for either enrollment
or financial assistance. That's my last and most important question.
Speaker 7 (37:39):
Yeah. So we have a team that's a very highly
skilled team of enrollment staff that are also evaluators that
can help point the families in the right direction to
get that diagnosis if that's what is needed, and then
to kind of guide them through what does it mean
now I have that diagnosis, and we also want to
work with the school districts, so if we're right, we
(38:00):
would work with them to have them come on our way.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Okay, well, look, appreciate you. You're doing great work, doctor
Jennifer Curtis. I hope a lot of people who may
find themselves in the need for special education like this.
We'll get in touch with you. Best way to reach
you is give us the website real quickly and then.
Speaker 7 (38:16):
We got to go sure social stars dot org. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
That's great. You're very welcome, doctor Jennifer Curtis, south Shore
Stars dot org. We'll be back right after the nine
o'clock news. We're going to talk about a controversy dealing
with white stadium. You probably know something about it, but
we're going to dive deep into the controversy revolving around
(38:42):
this venerable Boston Public School. Location White Stadium in Franklin Park,
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