October 29, 2024 • 39 mins
8:05PM: How to Prepare Kids for a Competitive and Changing World - what parents can do now to help their children make the most of college and beyond with Greg Kaplan – College Admissions Expert
8:15PM: Air Quality Alert in Parts of MA due to the burning of ongoing brush fires. What residents need to know with Glenn Keith - MassDEP Director, Division of Air and Climate Programs
8:30PM: Gen X Retirement Plans: Why Starting a Business in Your Golden Years is a Smart Move
- Almost half of Gen Xers are unsure if they can retire at 65 and have anxiety about their retirement finances with Gib Olander - CPO and Business Strategist at Northwest Registered Agent
8:45PM: How do haunted houses, scary movies impact our mental health? with Leigh Richardson – PhD Licensed Professional Counselor; Founder, The Brain Performance Center
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
8:15PM: Air Quality Alert in Parts of MA due to the burning of ongoing brush fires. What residents need to know with Glenn Keith - MassDEP Director, Division of Air and Climate Programs
8:30PM: Gen X Retirement Plans: Why Starting a Business in Your Golden Years is a Smart Move
- Almost half of Gen Xers are unsure if they can retire at 65 and have anxiety about their retirement finances with Gib Olander - CPO and Business Strategist at Northwest Registered Agent
8:45PM: How do haunted houses, scary movies impact our mental health? with Leigh Richardson – PhD Licensed Professional Counselor; Founder, The Brain Performance Center
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 Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you very much, Nicole. As we head to midnight,
my name is Dan Ray. Here for the next four hours,
Dan is in the other. Dan with this pro with
this program is in the the production booth in the
control room back at Broadcast Central, as we call it.
Dan Cantano is back there, and I'm here. You're where
you are, and we're all set to go. By the way,
(00:30):
let me remind you we will be giving away two
tickets tonight right after nine o'clock or after the nine
o'clock news, so please don't call him now after the
nine o'clock news to Celtic Thunder at the Premiere Theater
at Foxwood's on November seventh. Please don't get these tickets
(00:51):
unless you are going to utilize them. Set off on
a musical journey with the Irish music sensations. Celtic Thunder Live.
Complete show info and tickets available at Foxwoods dot com.
We'll have two tickets available right after the nine o'clock news.
Of course, in our first hour there are no phone calls.
We have four guests lined up on a variety of topics.
(01:13):
I think that you will find the topics interesting. I
know we always find the guests interesting as well. I'm
going to talk how to get your college applicant student
ready for the big process that you will go through
with your student, I'm sure your high school junior, a
high school senior. We'll talk about the air quality alert
(01:34):
here in parts of Massachusetts because of all of the
ongoing brush fires. We'll also talk about what gen extras
are doing as they approach retirement. Yeah, believe it or not,
and only the boomers in retirement phase, but the gen
extras people born after nineteen sixty five to nineteen eighty,
people who now are I don't know, you'd probably say
sixty or so. We'll get to all of that as
(01:57):
well as a conversation about haunted else But first like
to introduce Greg Kaplan. He's a college admissions expert on
how to prepare your children for a competitive and changing
world and what parents must do now. I hope that
children make the most of college and beyond. First of all, Greg,
I'm not sure college is for everyone. How are you tonight? Welcome?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Thank you, Thank you so much for having me today, Dan,
And you know I'm going to agree with you it's
it's not for everyone. And if it is for you,
or you think it is for your kid, the most
important thing is is making this process work for you.
You don't have to go to Harvard or m to
be successful in this world or to be happy, and
so it's at about making this process work for your family.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay, Now, the name Kaplin, that's a pretty good big name.
I've been through this with two kids, so I'm very
familiar with I assume you're from the Kaplan clan.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
That so now I am not from the Kaplin clan.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
If I was, I will not.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Be working this hard. But I do have a great
loss for education. Yeah, that's the test prep company, and
we're in my company, which is much smaller than that.
Kaplan uh International is just purely focused on helping students
navigate the process with figuring out what schools to apply to,
(03:19):
what major's interests, on career paths, and then actually, you know,
coming up with recommendations for experiences and support on those
dreaded college essays that people are submitting right now.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So this is the service that that you provide to
students and their families across the country, because, believe it
or not, in many cases this is a family effort,
I mean looking for Yeah, I'm sure you understand what
I mean. I what I discovered as my kids went
(03:51):
through this process more than a few years ago, is
there some great colleges around the country that no one's
ever heard of, Meaning people in the Northeast. We think
about Harvard and Princeton, Yale, Mi T, Boston College, Boston
University where I went to law school a long time ago,
and we think about places like Smith and Amherst and Williams.
(04:13):
But we don't think about Panoma. We don't think about Elon.
We don't think about some great colleges around the country
that are that are available for applications as well. How
important is it to look a little more broadly than
just locally.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I think, you know, it depends on the student's preference.
If you have someone that wants to stay close to home, great,
stay close to it. That's where they're going to be happy.
But there are twenty two hundred four year universities in
the United States, and I think the most important thing
is is to, you know, ask ourselves, what do we
want long term out of this education? What makes sense financially?
There are great schools outside of one's you know, you
(04:52):
know neck of the woods that could you know, enormous
merit scholarships that can make going out of state actually
more attractive than staying. So I think it's important to
keep an open mind because that's what allows you to,
you know, really find schools at architects.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
How do students and by the way, the the the
academic advisors in different high schools they run they arranged
the gamut. I'm sure there are great academic advisors. There
are some that are maybe not so great. How do
parents who are looking to get some financial aid? How
(05:26):
do they find the sources for financial aid? This is like,
this is amaze for for parents. Do you help provide
parents with information about scholarships that are available? And what
do they call it? Is that the fast application that
the federal government runs that that now is you have
(05:47):
to you have to complete that form in noted to
be eligible for any form of federal aid?
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Am I quoting that? I'm a little dated here on this,
but so help me out.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, no, No, you're you're you're you're you're in on
the money. So did I The thing is is there's
a new process for applying for need based financial aid,
which is based on your ability to pay, and those
I would say thresholds for who qualifies for need based
financial aid are pretty consistent for private universities and pretty
consistent for public universities. Applying for need based financial aid,
(06:22):
it's become a streamline process where you will be entering
line items from last year's tax returns. Now, for folks
that make more than call it for public schools, sixty
to seventy thousand dollars per year, more than one hundred
to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars year for private universities,
it's quite hard to get need based financial aid. And
(06:44):
you may say, gosh that at those income levels, twenty
to thirty k year for room and board or one
hundred k all in for a private university don't make sense.
I can't afford that. That's why merit scholarships, which are
based on the strength of an application, so important, because
those are the ones that you can control and it
(07:06):
you know through online. You know, this is something we
work with on students. And I was a conversations just
having before I hopped on to this show with a family,
is what are those types of schools. We do provide
that kind of support for families and say, hey, what
are we looking for Because once you you know, understand
what an applicants GPA or you know, grades are in
a test score if they have one, we can you know,
(07:28):
lean in and see where students getting scholarships with similar stats.
I'll use an example that's far from Boston in Massachusetts,
but the University of Arizona in Tucson. If a student
scores a fourteen hundred or higher on the SAT, they
automatically qualified for a twenty eight thousand dollars per year scholarship. Now,
(07:48):
out of state tuition for the u of A is
thirty one thousand dollars. So if you do the math, which,
as a former lawyer like you, no one likes to
do that, that's three thousands.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Lawyer's lawyer, by the way, lawyer.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Oh you're still okay, Well you can recover, I guess
in a later not.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
A recovery lawyer. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I'm sorry you, Multira.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's a great piece of advice if you're talking about
a school that that charge is thirty one k in
University of Arizona down in Tucson, that's beautiful city. Been there.
You do the math on that, or an out of
state student fourteen hundred combined to the college Board, you're
talking about a tuition of three thousand dollars for an
out of state student. Wow, that's that is a great
(08:34):
tip if somebody likes you know, likes the Sun Valley exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And so it's about finding those schools. There's similar scholarships
at Loyola Chicago, Loyola New Orleans, and so it's about
finding the right fit and having an open mind because
you may say, oh, like, I don't want my child
to go that far from home, but at that price,
you're like, okay, Like I can go see him when
I want to and get out the cold.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
In the winter.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I also found out something that was interesting. We think
about the National Merit scholarships and we think about Harvard, Deale,
Princeton and all that. I was addressed to find out,
at least a few years ago that the top ten
universities around the country who were able to attract National
(09:21):
Merit finalists, which I think it's about fifty. I think
the pools about fifteen thousand, or at least it was
at the time. Harvard was there, Yale was there, Princeton
was there. But in that top ten also included the
University of Arizona and the University of Oklahoma, and I
suspect that they probably are still in that top ten
(09:44):
or so again, those of us in the Northeast sometimes
we look down our noses at some of the land
grand universities in the Midwest and the Southwest and the
far West, and those schools are attracting great.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
School Well, yeah, and I'm from I was born in
Tucson at the u A Hospital. But as there's no
bias here when I say this, The University of Arizona
is all honors college produces more roads than Fulbright scholars
than the entire Ivy League put together, and so, and
(10:20):
the honors colleges exist there, you are going to get
the type of experience that I had at Penn, small classes,
intimate conversations with professors for a fraction on the price
of It's about being flexible. It's about being open minded
and asking yourself what we want out of college, because
it's not you know, we're not investing in any brand.
(10:43):
We're investing in an experience and an education, a skill set,
and that's why I think it's so important to be
open minded, especially when some of these schools that are
so coveted that are you know, in the Northeast, that
are some of the most prestigious universities in the country,
in the world. It's when they a five percent acceptance rate.
You can do everything right, so not get in. And
(11:03):
that's why it's so important to cast a wide net
and be open minded and make this process work for
you rather than life is over if I don't get
into Harbor with our Princeton because it's you know, a
non recruited athlete or you know, someone who doesn't have
a building named after their family has about a one
percent chance of getting in. So that's why it's just
we need to be open minded.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Well, Greg a lot of great advice. How could folks
get in touch with you. I know that you have
a book that has just come out. We can start
off with that, The Journey How to Prepare Kids for
a competitive and Changing World, available Amazon and great bookstores everywhere.
How do folks get in touch with you if they
are looking for some personal counseling or some personal assistance.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, just to go to our website. It's kaplan educationalgroup
dot com and we if you shoot us a message
through a website, we will get you scheduled with a
chance to you know, understand how to make the most
of this process.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Sounds great.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Great.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Kaplan really enjoyed the conversation and congratulations on graduating for
a great school in the Southwest, the University of Arizona
at Tucson. Kaplan Educationgroup dot com. Pleasure. Thanks very much. Greg.
When we get back, when we get a little closer
to home and talk about the air quality alert that
now exists in parts of Massachusetts with Glenn Keith. He's
(12:18):
with the Massachusetts Department Environmental Protection Division. He's the director
of the Division of Air and Climate Programs. Coming back
on night Side.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Now back to Dan ray My from the Window World
night Side Studios on wb Z NewsRadio.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Delighted to be joined by Glenn Keith. Glenn is the
director of the Division of Air and Climate Programs at
the Massachusetts Department of environment Mental Protection. Glenn, welcome. I
know that you know what we're going to ask you about,
and that is what is the quality the air quality
in Massachusetts. I know it differs, but we've got a
(12:55):
lot of fires in different parts of the state. What's
going on and what is the prospect of this air
quality perps getting a little better in the next few days.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Hey, Dan, thanks for having me on. Happy to be here. Yeah,
so we've had some recent brush fires, wildfires here in
Massachusetts that have created some smoke if some of you
have probably seen that on the news and pictures. But
in general, you know, Massachusetts has very good air quality.
(13:29):
We monitor air quality across the state at twenty four
monitoring stations in nineteen communities. We also have grant programs
to give away air sensors that you know, people can
put in their homes or business can put them in,
and these all can look at air quality in near
(13:50):
real time and it's displayed on dp's website as well
as some EPA website And generally we meet all of
the national ambient air quality standards statewide. But when there
is a fire, there is smoke, and so we saw
that today the fire up in Middleton, and there's one
(14:12):
near Salem that's generated a lot of smoke and that's
definitely a health concern for folks that are nearby. So
you don't want to be breathing smoke, for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
We were talking about with the State Fire Marshal last night,
John Gavin, and he told us there I think reports
us of last night forty seven fires. Now I'm sure
none of not all of them as big as the
fire in Middleborough, Middleton, not Middlebroo. Correct. I may have misspoken.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
Yeah, Middleton, I believe.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Right, and of course Salem. But this is a problem.
Is there a is there any light at the end
of the tunnel here I should say, is there any
darkness at the end of the tunnel that with the
weather cool it off for a couple of days, maybe
a little bit of rain tonight, it's going to get
tamp down a little bit.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Yeah, I think. I think. You know, we're seeing so
many fires right now do to the dry conditions, and
so just a little spark can start a fire. So
oftentimes fires, especially in Massachusetts, are very weather dependent, so
it's really dry, so that's why we're seeing these. But
(15:22):
hopefully as the as you mentioned, as the weather gets
cooler and we get some more rain, which we usually
do in the fall, that should help the situation a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You mentioned the availability of air sensors. Is that something
that individuals can get for their homes or was that
for you know, commercial use.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Yeah, no, we so et monitors. We have monitoring stations,
as I mentioned, twenty four monitoring stations throughout the state.
And these are you know, high quality, lab grade equipment costs,
you know, thousands and thousands of dollars, but increasingly you
can buy lower cost sensors that you know, even a
(16:09):
homeowner could use or a business. One that's pretty popular
is it's called the Purple Air sensor. And if you
go to purpleair dot com you can see that and
they have a map on their website that shows all
the sensors that have been put out throughout the United
States and including Massachusetts. And so what dB did in
(16:31):
twenty twenty one, we had a grant program where we
offered up to ten of these Purple Air sensors for
free to municipalities, and we distributed over two hundred censors,
and then the municipalities worked with their residents or businesses
to have them, you know installed. They do need electricity
(16:54):
and you do need Wi Fi. But if you look
at purpleair dot com and you look at the map,
you see the readings from these sensors displayed and then
they're you know, color coded in terms of the quality
of the air. And then we just did another round
of grants that we distributed sensors in September again over
(17:14):
two hundred additional purple Air sensors. These sensors cost about
two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, I'm misinterpreted. I thought that that was something that
individual homeowners could either apply for or get like through
the some of the national group programs where people can
get insulation for their homes at discounted rates. I wasn't sure.
I just wanted to make sure that So these are yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
No, yeah, we yeah, we offered them to municipalities, community organizations,
and nonprofits, but then they work with individual residents. So
if you're you know, town applied or if you know
about the sensor grant, you can ask your town to
apply and you can get one. And some individuals actually
just purchased one on their own because they're not so expensive.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, and you said they're called purple air. Is that it?
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Yeah, purple air all one word, and their sensors and
they measure fine particulate matter, So wildfire smoke generates particles,
and in particular, the health concern is with fine particular matter,
and those are particles that measure across less than two
(18:24):
point five microns, so they're very tiny. You can breathe
them in, they can go deep into the lung, and
they can certainly aggravate any symptoms you have, your health symptoms,
and long term they can contribute to disease and even
premature death.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
All right, well, Glenn, thank you very much. Great to
finally make your acquaintance. I'd love to have you back
periodically on the program. But good information, particularly for people
who will live near those communities, and actually some people
who live a little distance from those communities because, as
they say, with as small fire, but also where there's fire,
there's smoke, and that smoke now has drifted over a
(19:04):
lot of communities in Massachusetts. Really appreciate you joining us tonight. Glynn.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Thank you, so yeah, sure, no problem.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
All right, when we get back, we're going to right
after the news going to talk about plans by some
gen xers. Believe it or not, Baby boomers are kind
of moved well into the retirement category. I think you
understand that. But the generation behind the boomers, gen X,
those folks now have some retirement plans that involve businesses, well,
(19:34):
we'll talk with an expert business strategist right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Well, jen xers are people who were born beginning in
nineteen sixty five. So if you're at the first edge
of gen X, you now are are fifty four or
fifty let me see thirty five plus twenty fifty nine
years old, you're really approaching retirement. And with us now
(20:10):
is GiB Olander. He's the business strategist. He's the CPO
and business strategy at strategist at Northwest. He's a Northwest
registered agent. Not exactly sure what that is. So my
first question, GiB, after having welcome you Tonight's side, is
(20:30):
is what does CBO stand for? And what is a
business strategist at Northwest registered agent mean? That looks to
me to be an awkward phrase.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Thanks, well, nice to meet you.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
You know the first part GPO part of my title,
which is chief Product Officers, So help us organize how
we build make products from the products we bring to
the market across our team of about a thousand people
in the company, and then business strategists is just that
trying to help both are business and other businesses are
the very strategyly successful. And then registered agent is a
(21:08):
northwestent change. It's a brand of our company and registered
agent in the service that you could that every business
that gets UH incorporated and started has to have a
registered agent that's in place to actually accept any service
of profits, the process or legal documents at your building.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Good. First of all, are you on a speakerphone by
any chance?
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Or now?
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Oh, actually, okay, you got in trouble with like an
action little it's a little over modulated, so you can
back off the mic a little bit so we could
probably hear you a little bit more clearly.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I want to talk about what gen xers are doing.
Gen Xers are not only thinking about retirement, but some
of them are thinking about retirement and in retirement starting
their own businesses. Is this a new trend that you
guys are picking up?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Yeah, absolutely true. You're interesting. You know a lot of
the gen xers today, myself included, find itself in this
somewhat thing that we call like the Sandwich years, where
we may still be taking care of our kids as
they're getting you know, ready for college, or they're still
at home with us, or we're taking care of our
parents as well, and with that comes some need for
(22:19):
both added income and added flexibility, and so a lot
of Gen xers we're finding are actually in the business
of starting a business. There's some interesting stats that we've seen.
Since twenty nineteen, we saw really an average about three
point five million businesses a year being started, and now
as we get into since twenty twenty, it's been the
(22:41):
pre steady five million businesses a year, and we see
a lot of that as coming from this Generation X
that is starting new types of businesses.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
No, let me ask you did the preceding generation, the
baby boomers, the folks who were born from nineteen forty
six until nineteen sixty five or so, post war babies,
were they as active in starting businesses or as are
the gen xer is actually setting new standards for the
starting of small new businesses.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Yeah, I think we're seeing a new standard being set again.
We've seen almost a fifty percent increase from twenty nineteen
to twenty in too recently, and so there's a host
of factors that go into that. Some of that is
just the accessibility to the tools and services that are
out there that have made it significantly easier and less
(23:32):
friction for you know, everyday you know, average shows like
you and me to get into the realm of actually
starting a business. And it used to be that you
had to find you know, a heavy hit or lawyer,
and you had really hard ways to get through that.
And now with technology, it's opened the door to make
it easier than it's ever been before.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
What are some of the businesses? I think to myself, Okay,
if somebody is on the cusp of retire and they
want to start something new, are they folks who are
buying franchises, you know, stand old franchises, new franchises, or
are they just starting a wide swath a wide variety
of businesses, you know, everything from a you know, golf,
(24:15):
driving ranges, bowling alleys. What are they? What it's sort
of businesses are they? Are they engaged now? Find do
they find themselves engaged in? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
I love those I love those visuals of you know,
started the driving range and you know, it sounds like,
you know, it sounds like a great idea to me.
I saw the movie turned out. It seems like it
worked out all right for that guy. But uh, you know,
maybe it's not all about driving ranges. But I think
some of the areas that we're seeing things in is
there's a lot of consulting services getting started. Gen xers
(24:47):
have a deep professional knowledge and they've actually had the
experience of both you know, providing the digital and non
digital landscape. Right that we grew up at a time
before everything was run with computers, but yet we still
have the ability to build to be you know, somewhat
digitally native. And so we see a lot of consulting
services that that people bringing their expertise of you know,
(25:10):
years of experience they have in the industry and maybe
they gather the client list and they're able to kind
of pull that off to their self use a lot
of these new uh low code, no code platforms and
technologies to actually get themselves in a position to be
up and running. We see people in gen X you know,
launching technology solutions, e commerce stores, some of them becoming
(25:30):
you know, creators and influencers. Uh. We see them jumping
into real estate, and then we're even seeing you know
a lot of health and moments where uh, they are
finding that it's time to invest in their own health
and wellness and they are able to you know, lead
others and make a living doing that.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
The thing that's interesting about gen xers is not only uh,
they probably more technologically proficient than their predecessors, my generation
of baby boomers, but they also knew how to dial
a row to refhone, and they knew what a landline was,
and they probably could distinguish a typewriter from a computer.
So they had experiences in two technical worlds, you know,
(26:12):
the in the sixties and seventies and then in the
eighties and nineties. So yeah, they bring a lot of
real life experience. Which which is I think is going
to serve them.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Well, yeah, I think that's absolutely right. Heck, I remember
my day back on a farm where we had a
party line. Still I don't know if that if anybody
even knows who that is, but the landline that was
shared by multiple families on the same road. So the
fact that today we carry a pocket phone with us
that can be you know, communicated anywhere in the world
(26:45):
is pretty neat still to this day. But yet we
still have our feet on the ground and understand how
to you know, drive process efficiencies and how to help
people build teams and solve real world a problems.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I got to tell you, I'm not old enough or
was not in a situation where they had party lines,
But I can remember picking up the phone and being
able to talk to an operator and sometimes the operator
would help you place the call as a as a
young child, believe it or not, in the city of Boston.
So I might be dreaming here, but that was some
(27:23):
of my first experiences, and telephones were I thought amazing
contraptions that you could pick up a telephone and talk
to people on other parts of the country and other
parts of the world. And of course now we have
gone far beyond that. How can folks get in touch
with you if they're a gen xer or from any
generation and I'll look into to deal with the business strategist.
(27:45):
How's easy to what's the easiest way to find.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
You, GiB Yeah, you know, the best way is always
just go to our web site, you know ww dot
Northwest Registered agent dot com, and we've got an amazing
set of you know, newing nine hundred customer service people
across the country that are you going to answer the
phone when you give us a call, that can help
you walk through it and if you need any help
setting up you know, the legal entity of your business,
(28:10):
or you know, from filing an LLC to creating a corporation,
or if you need help picking a domain name or
setting up a website. We can do all of that
in one platform, so you don't have to learn a
whole bunch of new technologies, but you can jump into
one and know that you've got somebody there to help
you walk you through it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, if I have a come up with a company,
it's going to be Widgets Are Me. That would be
the name of my company. So if you ever see that,
would let me know. Hey, give really enjoyed the conversation.
I'd never talked with a business strategist from your group before.
You a great guest. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
You have a wonderful afternoon. EDI, thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
You bet you all right. Now, Halloween's a couple of
nights away, and so we're going to bring back doctor
Lee Richardson. She's a licensed professional counselor found with the
Brain Performance, and we're going to talk about haunted houses
and scary movies and what sort of an impact they
have on our mental health. I'm assuming it's not necessarily good,
but we'll find out from doctor Lee Richardson right after
(29:08):
this Prey God Night's Side.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Well, Halloween is less than forty eight hours away today
being Ontober twenty ninth. Delighted to welcome back doctor Lee Richardson,
a PhD licensed professional counselor found for the Brain Performance Center.
How do haunted houses and scary movies impact our mental health?
I'm assuming the answer is not great. I could be wrong,
(29:39):
doctor Richardson, How are you tonight?
Speaker 8 (29:42):
I'm great and Happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, Halloween my favorite holiday, but not my favorite holiday,
but but that's okay. Happy Halloween to you. So tell
us about haunted houses and scary movies off either, to
be honest with you.
Speaker 8 (30:03):
Well, personally, I don't enjoy either either. But there are
some people that really enjoy, you know, their thrill seekers.
They want to see how much fear they can tolerate,
and they'll sit there and I can remember growing up
with kids, you know, they'd watch these horrible, scary movies
and at the end of it, they were so proud
(30:24):
of themselves because they made it all the way through.
And I'm looking at them going I'm good. I am good.
So I mean it affects us all differently. Is what
are we looking for? I mean, so many people I
can remember as a little kid, we need candy, that's
part of Halloween, and now as an adult, I think, well,
(30:48):
you know, an ounce of dark chocolate every day can
reduce your cardio vacuum, your cardiovascular disease and blah blah blah,
so we all rational off the holiday.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I'm definitely into dark chocolate. Trust me, if you've given
out dark chocolate at your house, I'm coming by. Trust
me on that. But yeah, I just think of some
of the really good, you know, scary movies that that
were that were well done. But I think of some
of the cheap knockoffs where it's it's violence for the
(31:20):
sake of violence. And I don't know, if what what
are the scary movies that you would suggest people might
want to watch Halloween? You know that that isn't just
golory for the sake of gorge. You know what I'm saying.
It's like, you know, some of the horror on Elm
Street type movies I'm interested, Like Hannibal Lecter. I liked
(31:43):
that movie with Yeah, yeah, I did. I mean, it
wasn't a pleasant movie, but but there was actually a
plot to it, you know. I mean, okay, I love
the final scene he's got taking the guy to dinner.
You're going to have them for dinner. So well, Kate,
(32:05):
I thought that was a little more highbrow than some
of the you know, murder on Elm Street type movies. Maybe.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
Okay, so I'm going to go I'm going to go
so old school on you because as a kid, those
scary movies they scared me to death. But I can
remember a book that was in our house growing up,
the Positive Power of Negative Thinking, and I'll never forget.
My mom shared with me that there was one study
that found that walking through a graveyard made people forty
(32:35):
percent more likely to help the stranger than walking down
the street. And another study found that visualizing death could
lead us to become more grateful for the things that
we have in life. So that was the Halloween message
in my house.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
It wasn't great Halloween message. Your mom was a wise
Your mom was a wise woman there. I mean, it
tells you to appreciate things. I mean, I I guess
the distinction I was trying to draw was the the
movies like again the Hannibal Lectro movie, which obviously was scary,
but it was it was well done. I'm not a
(33:14):
movie officionado as opposed to some of the stuff. What's it,
you know, Freddy on ELM Street. I don't even watch
that what I considered to be really garbage, you know.
I mean that the stuff that is just gore and
all of that. Haunted houses strike me interestingly. I was
with a friend of mine a couple of weekends ago
(33:35):
who's a big, tough guy, and he was a college
basketball player about six seven, so you don't mess with
uh with my friend, and he was telling me that
the house that he grew up in Connecticut, he was
convinced it was haunted and and he remember told me
the story if he walked down the backstairs one day
(33:56):
and he was convinced he saw a you know, a
shadowy figure that when he really focused, it disappeared. So
I don't know if you've got to believe in haunted
houses or don't believe in haunt but I think I
think that there are presence that exists within houses. Now,
I don't know if you as a professional, you know, psychologist,
(34:18):
can you professional counselor can buy into that that idea
or or do you think that's just you know, old
school thinking that that is not long out of date.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Well, what I do buy into is that fear is
an emotion and it's what you feel, and it's either
what you perceive to be a threat or danger. If
you're walking down the back of that house and you
perceive a threat or danger, that ebolt set behavioral response.
That's what throws you into the fight, flight or freeze mode.
(34:51):
So perception is reality.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, in that situation, in his reality because in talking
to my friend, he was explaining it to me and
he said, he said, Dan, there there have been rumors
about people. You know, you have houses. We're going to
talk later this week, I think with a realtor who
is going to talk about how do you sell a
house in which tragically some horrible event had occurred? And
(35:18):
there are laws in states which require real estate agents
to disclose to people buyers before they even look at
the house that a murder might have occurred there or
something like that. And so there's a lot of that
stuff that you know, around Halloween that we start to
think about. And I think there's more to it than
(35:38):
meets the eye. I don't know if you're a literalist
or if you would agree with me that there's probably
a lot of stuff out there that we don't even
understand what it is.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
Well, I do agree with you, but I also think
about our brain. And our brain their job is to
take good care of us, and they sense what's going
on around us. And there's a difference between a safe fright.
When I'm sitting on my sofa with my puppies watching
you know something that alarms me, that's very safe. When
(36:11):
I come out of a restaurant at eleven o'clock at
night by myself after having dinner with a girlfriend and
I sent somebody's behind me, that's a real fright. And
our brain gives us the ability to quickly evaluate the
situation and tell us ooh you're in danger, danger will smith,
or it's safe. So I think that that plays into
(36:35):
what we perceive. But there are a lot of us
that were thrill seekers. We're looking for that control fear
and suspense, and there's some of us that just want
to see how much fear we can tolerate.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I remember being in Disney Disney World down in Florida
a few years ago, and there was this house that
they brought you up in an elevator and they opened
the door. They showed it the distance and you felt
like you were at the top of the Empire State Building.
Then they closed the elevator and they dropped. I forget
someone out. They will know what it was like, you know,
(37:13):
the House of Doing or something. And it scared the
hell out of me. And I knew the Tower of Terror.
Uh Dan, the producer, tales it was it we caught.
We put the Boston accident on as we call it,
the Tower of Terra, but it's pronounced properly, the Tower
of Terror. And I'm telling you, I did it once
and that was enough of me. I'm done. I'm done.
(37:35):
My kids wanted to go back, and they were really young,
Doctor Richardson. As always, I so enjoy our conversation. I
for some reason, I feel I have to tell you
stuff that that that clears me out of my head.
I haven't told that Tower of Terror story in decades.
(37:56):
Have you ever been on the Tower of Terror, Doctor
Richardson a Disney World.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
No, I haven't. But there's something at the state here
of Texas that you go round and round, the bottom
pop falls out, and it affected me when you were
telling me that story. My heartstir boom, no. I felt
that that law below me.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Oh that's great. If folks want to get in touch
with you, what's the easiest way for them to get
in touch with you, Doctor Lee Richardson.
Speaker 8 (38:23):
So you can find me on LinkedIn, or you can
find the good old fashioned website, the Brain Performance Center
dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Perfect the Brain Performance Center dot com. Doctor Lee Richardson
has always enjoying you very much, fun, Thank you so.
Speaker 8 (38:39):
Much, thank you, thank you suving me happy, j very welcome.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
When we come back, we're going to talk about question
four here in Massachusetts, the question of whether or not
psychedelics should become legalized under some you know, controlled circumstances.
We're going to talk to a graduate of West Point
serve time the military, and he is an advocate. He
votes yes on question four, and we'll have a conversation
(39:05):
between both points of view on this issue on Friday night.
I'll explain it all coming back on night Side
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you very much, Nicole. As we head to midnight,
my name is Dan Ray. Here for the next four hours,
Dan is in the other. Dan with this pro with
this program is in the the production booth in the
control room back at Broadcast Central, as we call it.
Dan Cantano is back there, and I'm here. You're where
you are, and we're all set to go. By the way,
(00:30):
let me remind you we will be giving away two
tickets tonight right after nine o'clock or after the nine
o'clock news, so please don't call him now after the
nine o'clock news to Celtic Thunder at the Premiere Theater
at Foxwood's on November seventh. Please don't get these tickets
(00:51):
unless you are going to utilize them. Set off on
a musical journey with the Irish music sensations. Celtic Thunder Live.
Complete show info and tickets available at Foxwoods dot com.
We'll have two tickets available right after the nine o'clock news.
Of course, in our first hour there are no phone calls.
We have four guests lined up on a variety of topics.
(01:13):
I think that you will find the topics interesting. I
know we always find the guests interesting as well. I'm
going to talk how to get your college applicant student
ready for the big process that you will go through
with your student, I'm sure your high school junior, a
high school senior. We'll talk about the air quality alert
(01:34):
here in parts of Massachusetts because of all of the
ongoing brush fires. We'll also talk about what gen extras
are doing as they approach retirement. Yeah, believe it or not,
and only the boomers in retirement phase, but the gen
extras people born after nineteen sixty five to nineteen eighty,
people who now are I don't know, you'd probably say
sixty or so. We'll get to all of that as
(01:57):
well as a conversation about haunted else But first like
to introduce Greg Kaplan. He's a college admissions expert on
how to prepare your children for a competitive and changing
world and what parents must do now. I hope that
children make the most of college and beyond. First of all, Greg,
I'm not sure college is for everyone. How are you tonight? Welcome?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Thank you, Thank you so much for having me today, Dan,
And you know I'm going to agree with you it's
it's not for everyone. And if it is for you,
or you think it is for your kid, the most
important thing is is making this process work for you.
You don't have to go to Harvard or m to
be successful in this world or to be happy, and
so it's at about making this process work for your family.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay, Now, the name Kaplin, that's a pretty good big name.
I've been through this with two kids, so I'm very
familiar with I assume you're from the Kaplan clan.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
That so now I am not from the Kaplin clan.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
If I was, I will not.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Be working this hard. But I do have a great
loss for education. Yeah, that's the test prep company, and
we're in my company, which is much smaller than that.
Kaplan uh International is just purely focused on helping students
navigate the process with figuring out what schools to apply to,
(03:19):
what major's interests, on career paths, and then actually, you know,
coming up with recommendations for experiences and support on those
dreaded college essays that people are submitting right now.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
So this is the service that that you provide to
students and their families across the country, because, believe it
or not, in many cases this is a family effort,
I mean looking for Yeah, I'm sure you understand what
I mean. I what I discovered as my kids went
(03:51):
through this process more than a few years ago, is
there some great colleges around the country that no one's
ever heard of, Meaning people in the Northeast. We think
about Harvard and Princeton, Yale, Mi T, Boston College, Boston
University where I went to law school a long time ago,
and we think about places like Smith and Amherst and Williams.
(04:13):
But we don't think about Panoma. We don't think about Elon.
We don't think about some great colleges around the country
that are that are available for applications as well. How
important is it to look a little more broadly than
just locally.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
I think, you know, it depends on the student's preference.
If you have someone that wants to stay close to home, great,
stay close to it. That's where they're going to be happy.
But there are twenty two hundred four year universities in
the United States, and I think the most important thing
is is to, you know, ask ourselves, what do we
want long term out of this education? What makes sense financially?
There are great schools outside of one's you know, you
(04:52):
know neck of the woods that could you know, enormous
merit scholarships that can make going out of state actually
more attractive than staying. So I think it's important to
keep an open mind because that's what allows you to,
you know, really find schools at architects.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
How do students and by the way, the the the
academic advisors in different high schools they run they arranged
the gamut. I'm sure there are great academic advisors. There
are some that are maybe not so great. How do
parents who are looking to get some financial aid? How
(05:26):
do they find the sources for financial aid? This is like,
this is amaze for for parents. Do you help provide
parents with information about scholarships that are available? And what
do they call it? Is that the fast application that
the federal government runs that that now is you have
(05:47):
to you have to complete that form in noted to
be eligible for any form of federal aid?
Speaker 5 (05:52):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Am I quoting that? I'm a little dated here on this,
but so help me out.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Yeah, no, No, you're you're you're you're you're in on
the money. So did I The thing is is there's
a new process for applying for need based financial aid,
which is based on your ability to pay, and those
I would say thresholds for who qualifies for need based
financial aid are pretty consistent for private universities and pretty
consistent for public universities. Applying for need based financial aid,
(06:22):
it's become a streamline process where you will be entering
line items from last year's tax returns. Now, for folks
that make more than call it for public schools, sixty
to seventy thousand dollars per year, more than one hundred
to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars year for private universities,
it's quite hard to get need based financial aid. And
(06:44):
you may say, gosh that at those income levels, twenty
to thirty k year for room and board or one
hundred k all in for a private university don't make sense.
I can't afford that. That's why merit scholarships, which are
based on the strength of an application, so important, because
those are the ones that you can control and it
(07:06):
you know through online. You know, this is something we
work with on students. And I was a conversations just
having before I hopped on to this show with a family,
is what are those types of schools. We do provide
that kind of support for families and say, hey, what
are we looking for Because once you you know, understand
what an applicants GPA or you know, grades are in
a test score if they have one, we can you know,
(07:28):
lean in and see where students getting scholarships with similar stats.
I'll use an example that's far from Boston in Massachusetts,
but the University of Arizona in Tucson. If a student
scores a fourteen hundred or higher on the SAT, they
automatically qualified for a twenty eight thousand dollars per year scholarship. Now,
(07:48):
out of state tuition for the u of A is
thirty one thousand dollars. So if you do the math, which,
as a former lawyer like you, no one likes to
do that, that's three thousands.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Lawyer's lawyer, by the way, lawyer.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Oh you're still okay, Well you can recover, I guess
in a later not.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
A recovery lawyer. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I'm sorry you, Multira.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's a great piece of advice if you're talking about
a school that that charge is thirty one k in
University of Arizona down in Tucson, that's beautiful city. Been there.
You do the math on that, or an out of
state student fourteen hundred combined to the college Board, you're
talking about a tuition of three thousand dollars for an
out of state student. Wow, that's that is a great
(08:34):
tip if somebody likes you know, likes the Sun Valley exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
And so it's about finding those schools. There's similar scholarships
at Loyola Chicago, Loyola New Orleans, and so it's about
finding the right fit and having an open mind because
you may say, oh, like, I don't want my child
to go that far from home, but at that price,
you're like, okay, Like I can go see him when
I want to and get out the cold.
Speaker 5 (08:59):
In the winter.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I also found out something that was interesting. We think
about the National Merit scholarships and we think about Harvard, Deale,
Princeton and all that. I was addressed to find out,
at least a few years ago that the top ten
universities around the country who were able to attract National
(09:21):
Merit finalists, which I think it's about fifty. I think
the pools about fifteen thousand, or at least it was
at the time. Harvard was there, Yale was there, Princeton
was there. But in that top ten also included the
University of Arizona and the University of Oklahoma, and I
suspect that they probably are still in that top ten
(09:44):
or so again, those of us in the Northeast sometimes
we look down our noses at some of the land
grand universities in the Midwest and the Southwest and the
far West, and those schools are attracting great.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
School Well, yeah, and I'm from I was born in
Tucson at the u A Hospital. But as there's no
bias here when I say this, The University of Arizona
is all honors college produces more roads than Fulbright scholars
than the entire Ivy League put together, and so, and
(10:20):
the honors colleges exist there, you are going to get
the type of experience that I had at Penn, small classes,
intimate conversations with professors for a fraction on the price
of It's about being flexible. It's about being open minded
and asking yourself what we want out of college, because
it's not you know, we're not investing in any brand.
(10:43):
We're investing in an experience and an education, a skill set,
and that's why I think it's so important to be
open minded, especially when some of these schools that are
so coveted that are you know, in the Northeast, that
are some of the most prestigious universities in the country,
in the world. It's when they a five percent acceptance rate.
You can do everything right, so not get in. And
(11:03):
that's why it's so important to cast a wide net
and be open minded and make this process work for
you rather than life is over if I don't get
into Harbor with our Princeton because it's you know, a
non recruited athlete or you know, someone who doesn't have
a building named after their family has about a one
percent chance of getting in. So that's why it's just
we need to be open minded.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Well, Greg a lot of great advice. How could folks
get in touch with you. I know that you have
a book that has just come out. We can start
off with that, The Journey How to Prepare Kids for
a competitive and Changing World, available Amazon and great bookstores everywhere.
How do folks get in touch with you if they
are looking for some personal counseling or some personal assistance.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, just to go to our website. It's kaplan educationalgroup
dot com and we if you shoot us a message
through a website, we will get you scheduled with a
chance to you know, understand how to make the most
of this process.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Sounds great.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Great.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Kaplan really enjoyed the conversation and congratulations on graduating for
a great school in the Southwest, the University of Arizona
at Tucson. Kaplan Educationgroup dot com. Pleasure. Thanks very much. Greg.
When we get back, when we get a little closer
to home and talk about the air quality alert that
now exists in parts of Massachusetts with Glenn Keith. He's
(12:18):
with the Massachusetts Department Environmental Protection Division. He's the director
of the Division of Air and Climate Programs. Coming back
on night Side.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Now back to Dan ray My from the Window World
night Side Studios on wb Z NewsRadio.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Delighted to be joined by Glenn Keith. Glenn is the
director of the Division of Air and Climate Programs at
the Massachusetts Department of environment Mental Protection. Glenn, welcome. I
know that you know what we're going to ask you about,
and that is what is the quality the air quality
in Massachusetts. I know it differs, but we've got a
(12:55):
lot of fires in different parts of the state. What's
going on and what is the prospect of this air
quality perps getting a little better in the next few days.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Hey, Dan, thanks for having me on. Happy to be here. Yeah,
so we've had some recent brush fires, wildfires here in
Massachusetts that have created some smoke if some of you
have probably seen that on the news and pictures. But
in general, you know, Massachusetts has very good air quality.
(13:29):
We monitor air quality across the state at twenty four
monitoring stations in nineteen communities. We also have grant programs
to give away air sensors that you know, people can
put in their homes or business can put them in,
and these all can look at air quality in near
(13:50):
real time and it's displayed on dp's website as well
as some EPA website And generally we meet all of
the national ambient air quality standards statewide. But when there
is a fire, there is smoke, and so we saw
that today the fire up in Middleton, and there's one
(14:12):
near Salem that's generated a lot of smoke and that's
definitely a health concern for folks that are nearby. So
you don't want to be breathing smoke, for sure.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
We were talking about with the State Fire Marshal last night,
John Gavin, and he told us there I think reports
us of last night forty seven fires. Now I'm sure
none of not all of them as big as the
fire in Middleborough, Middleton, not Middlebroo. Correct. I may have misspoken.
Speaker 6 (14:41):
Yeah, Middleton, I believe.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Right, and of course Salem. But this is a problem.
Is there a is there any light at the end
of the tunnel here I should say, is there any
darkness at the end of the tunnel that with the
weather cool it off for a couple of days, maybe
a little bit of rain tonight, it's going to get
tamp down a little bit.
Speaker 6 (15:02):
Yeah, I think. I think. You know, we're seeing so
many fires right now do to the dry conditions, and
so just a little spark can start a fire. So
oftentimes fires, especially in Massachusetts, are very weather dependent, so
it's really dry, so that's why we're seeing these. But
(15:22):
hopefully as the as you mentioned, as the weather gets
cooler and we get some more rain, which we usually
do in the fall, that should help the situation a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You mentioned the availability of air sensors. Is that something
that individuals can get for their homes or was that
for you know, commercial use.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Yeah, no, we so et monitors. We have monitoring stations,
as I mentioned, twenty four monitoring stations throughout the state.
And these are you know, high quality, lab grade equipment costs,
you know, thousands and thousands of dollars, but increasingly you
can buy lower cost sensors that you know, even a
(16:09):
homeowner could use or a business. One that's pretty popular
is it's called the Purple Air sensor. And if you
go to purpleair dot com you can see that and
they have a map on their website that shows all
the sensors that have been put out throughout the United
States and including Massachusetts. And so what dB did in
(16:31):
twenty twenty one, we had a grant program where we
offered up to ten of these Purple Air sensors for
free to municipalities, and we distributed over two hundred censors,
and then the municipalities worked with their residents or businesses
to have them, you know installed. They do need electricity
(16:54):
and you do need Wi Fi. But if you look
at purpleair dot com and you look at the map,
you see the readings from these sensors displayed and then
they're you know, color coded in terms of the quality
of the air. And then we just did another round
of grants that we distributed sensors in September again over
(17:14):
two hundred additional purple Air sensors. These sensors cost about
two hundred and fifty dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Yeah, I'm misinterpreted. I thought that that was something that
individual homeowners could either apply for or get like through
the some of the national group programs where people can
get insulation for their homes at discounted rates. I wasn't sure.
I just wanted to make sure that So these are yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
No, yeah, we yeah, we offered them to municipalities, community organizations,
and nonprofits, but then they work with individual residents. So
if you're you know, town applied or if you know
about the sensor grant, you can ask your town to
apply and you can get one. And some individuals actually
just purchased one on their own because they're not so expensive.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, and you said they're called purple air. Is that it?
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Yeah, purple air all one word, and their sensors and
they measure fine particulate matter, So wildfire smoke generates particles,
and in particular, the health concern is with fine particular matter,
and those are particles that measure across less than two
(18:24):
point five microns, so they're very tiny. You can breathe
them in, they can go deep into the lung, and
they can certainly aggravate any symptoms you have, your health symptoms,
and long term they can contribute to disease and even
premature death.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
All right, well, Glenn, thank you very much. Great to
finally make your acquaintance. I'd love to have you back
periodically on the program. But good information, particularly for people
who will live near those communities, and actually some people
who live a little distance from those communities because, as
they say, with as small fire, but also where there's fire,
there's smoke, and that smoke now has drifted over a
(19:04):
lot of communities in Massachusetts. Really appreciate you joining us tonight. Glynn.
Speaker 6 (19:08):
Thank you, so yeah, sure, no problem.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
All right, when we get back, we're going to right
after the news going to talk about plans by some
gen xers. Believe it or not, Baby boomers are kind
of moved well into the retirement category. I think you
understand that. But the generation behind the boomers, gen X,
those folks now have some retirement plans that involve businesses, well,
(19:34):
we'll talk with an expert business strategist right after the
news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Well, jen xers are people who were born beginning in
nineteen sixty five. So if you're at the first edge
of gen X, you now are are fifty four or
fifty let me see thirty five plus twenty fifty nine
years old, you're really approaching retirement. And with us now
(20:10):
is GiB Olander. He's the business strategist. He's the CPO
and business strategy at strategist at Northwest. He's a Northwest
registered agent. Not exactly sure what that is. So my
first question, GiB, after having welcome you Tonight's side, is
(20:30):
is what does CBO stand for? And what is a
business strategist at Northwest registered agent mean? That looks to
me to be an awkward phrase.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Thanks, well, nice to meet you.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Dan.
Speaker 5 (20:43):
You know the first part GPO part of my title,
which is chief Product Officers, So help us organize how
we build make products from the products we bring to
the market across our team of about a thousand people
in the company, and then business strategists is just that
trying to help both are business and other businesses are
the very strategyly successful. And then registered agent is a
(21:08):
northwestent change. It's a brand of our company and registered
agent in the service that you could that every business
that gets UH incorporated and started has to have a
registered agent that's in place to actually accept any service
of profits, the process or legal documents at your building.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
Good. First of all, are you on a speakerphone by
any chance?
Speaker 5 (21:30):
Or now?
Speaker 7 (21:31):
Oh, actually, okay, you got in trouble with like an
action little it's a little over modulated, so you can
back off the mic a little bit so we could
probably hear you a little bit more clearly.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I want to talk about what gen xers are doing.
Gen Xers are not only thinking about retirement, but some
of them are thinking about retirement and in retirement starting
their own businesses. Is this a new trend that you
guys are picking up?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Yeah, absolutely true. You're interesting. You know a lot of
the gen xers today, myself included, find itself in this
somewhat thing that we call like the Sandwich years, where
we may still be taking care of our kids as
they're getting you know, ready for college, or they're still
at home with us, or we're taking care of our
parents as well, and with that comes some need for
(22:19):
both added income and added flexibility, and so a lot
of Gen xers we're finding are actually in the business
of starting a business. There's some interesting stats that we've seen.
Since twenty nineteen, we saw really an average about three
point five million businesses a year being started, and now
as we get into since twenty twenty, it's been the
(22:41):
pre steady five million businesses a year, and we see
a lot of that as coming from this Generation X
that is starting new types of businesses.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
No, let me ask you did the preceding generation, the
baby boomers, the folks who were born from nineteen forty
six until nineteen sixty five or so, post war babies,
were they as active in starting businesses or as are
the gen xer is actually setting new standards for the
starting of small new businesses.
Speaker 5 (23:11):
Yeah, I think we're seeing a new standard being set again.
We've seen almost a fifty percent increase from twenty nineteen
to twenty in too recently, and so there's a host
of factors that go into that. Some of that is
just the accessibility to the tools and services that are
out there that have made it significantly easier and less
(23:32):
friction for you know, everyday you know, average shows like
you and me to get into the realm of actually
starting a business. And it used to be that you
had to find you know, a heavy hit or lawyer,
and you had really hard ways to get through that.
And now with technology, it's opened the door to make
it easier than it's ever been before.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
What are some of the businesses? I think to myself, Okay,
if somebody is on the cusp of retire and they
want to start something new, are they folks who are
buying franchises, you know, stand old franchises, new franchises, or
are they just starting a wide swath a wide variety
of businesses, you know, everything from a you know, golf,
(24:15):
driving ranges, bowling alleys. What are they? What it's sort
of businesses are they? Are they engaged now? Find do
they find themselves engaged in? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (24:25):
I love those I love those visuals of you know,
started the driving range and you know, it sounds like,
you know, it sounds like a great idea to me.
I saw the movie turned out. It seems like it
worked out all right for that guy. But uh, you know,
maybe it's not all about driving ranges. But I think
some of the areas that we're seeing things in is
there's a lot of consulting services getting started. Gen xers
(24:47):
have a deep professional knowledge and they've actually had the
experience of both you know, providing the digital and non
digital landscape. Right that we grew up at a time
before everything was run with computers, but yet we still
have the ability to build to be you know, somewhat
digitally native. And so we see a lot of consulting
services that that people bringing their expertise of you know,
(25:10):
years of experience they have in the industry and maybe
they gather the client list and they're able to kind
of pull that off to their self use a lot
of these new uh low code, no code platforms and
technologies to actually get themselves in a position to be
up and running. We see people in gen X you know,
launching technology solutions, e commerce stores, some of them becoming
(25:30):
you know, creators and influencers. Uh. We see them jumping
into real estate, and then we're even seeing you know
a lot of health and moments where uh, they are
finding that it's time to invest in their own health
and wellness and they are able to you know, lead
others and make a living doing that.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
The thing that's interesting about gen xers is not only uh,
they probably more technologically proficient than their predecessors, my generation
of baby boomers, but they also knew how to dial
a row to refhone, and they knew what a landline was,
and they probably could distinguish a typewriter from a computer.
So they had experiences in two technical worlds, you know,
(26:12):
the in the sixties and seventies and then in the
eighties and nineties. So yeah, they bring a lot of
real life experience. Which which is I think is going
to serve them.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Well, yeah, I think that's absolutely right. Heck, I remember
my day back on a farm where we had a
party line. Still I don't know if that if anybody
even knows who that is, but the landline that was
shared by multiple families on the same road. So the
fact that today we carry a pocket phone with us
that can be you know, communicated anywhere in the world
(26:45):
is pretty neat still to this day. But yet we
still have our feet on the ground and understand how
to you know, drive process efficiencies and how to help
people build teams and solve real world a problems.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I got to tell you, I'm not old enough or
was not in a situation where they had party lines,
But I can remember picking up the phone and being
able to talk to an operator and sometimes the operator
would help you place the call as a as a
young child, believe it or not, in the city of Boston.
So I might be dreaming here, but that was some
(27:23):
of my first experiences, and telephones were I thought amazing
contraptions that you could pick up a telephone and talk
to people on other parts of the country and other
parts of the world. And of course now we have
gone far beyond that. How can folks get in touch
with you if they're a gen xer or from any
generation and I'll look into to deal with the business strategist.
(27:45):
How's easy to what's the easiest way to find.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
You, GiB Yeah, you know, the best way is always
just go to our web site, you know ww dot
Northwest Registered agent dot com, and we've got an amazing
set of you know, newing nine hundred customer service people
across the country that are you going to answer the
phone when you give us a call, that can help
you walk through it and if you need any help
setting up you know, the legal entity of your business,
(28:10):
or you know, from filing an LLC to creating a corporation,
or if you need help picking a domain name or
setting up a website. We can do all of that
in one platform, so you don't have to learn a
whole bunch of new technologies, but you can jump into
one and know that you've got somebody there to help
you walk you through it.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, if I have a come up with a company,
it's going to be Widgets Are Me. That would be
the name of my company. So if you ever see that,
would let me know. Hey, give really enjoyed the conversation.
I'd never talked with a business strategist from your group before.
You a great guest. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (28:43):
You have a wonderful afternoon. EDI, thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
You bet you all right. Now, Halloween's a couple of
nights away, and so we're going to bring back doctor
Lee Richardson. She's a licensed professional counselor found with the
Brain Performance, and we're going to talk about haunted houses
and scary movies and what sort of an impact they
have on our mental health. I'm assuming it's not necessarily good,
but we'll find out from doctor Lee Richardson right after
(29:08):
this Prey God Night's Side.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Well, Halloween is less than forty eight hours away today
being Ontober twenty ninth. Delighted to welcome back doctor Lee Richardson,
a PhD licensed professional counselor found for the Brain Performance Center.
How do haunted houses and scary movies impact our mental health?
I'm assuming the answer is not great. I could be wrong,
(29:39):
doctor Richardson, How are you tonight?
Speaker 8 (29:42):
I'm great and Happy Halloween.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
You know, Halloween my favorite holiday, but not my favorite holiday,
but but that's okay. Happy Halloween to you. So tell
us about haunted houses and scary movies off either, to
be honest with you.
Speaker 8 (30:03):
Well, personally, I don't enjoy either either. But there are
some people that really enjoy, you know, their thrill seekers.
They want to see how much fear they can tolerate,
and they'll sit there and I can remember growing up
with kids, you know, they'd watch these horrible, scary movies
and at the end of it, they were so proud
(30:24):
of themselves because they made it all the way through.
And I'm looking at them going I'm good. I am good.
So I mean it affects us all differently. Is what
are we looking for? I mean, so many people I
can remember as a little kid, we need candy, that's
part of Halloween, and now as an adult, I think, well,
(30:48):
you know, an ounce of dark chocolate every day can
reduce your cardio vacuum, your cardiovascular disease and blah blah blah,
so we all rational off the holiday.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I'm definitely into dark chocolate. Trust me, if you've given
out dark chocolate at your house, I'm coming by. Trust
me on that. But yeah, I just think of some
of the really good, you know, scary movies that that
were that were well done. But I think of some
of the cheap knockoffs where it's it's violence for the
(31:20):
sake of violence. And I don't know, if what what
are the scary movies that you would suggest people might
want to watch Halloween? You know that that isn't just
golory for the sake of gorge. You know what I'm saying.
It's like, you know, some of the horror on Elm
Street type movies I'm interested, Like Hannibal Lecter. I liked
(31:43):
that movie with Yeah, yeah, I did. I mean, it
wasn't a pleasant movie, but but there was actually a
plot to it, you know. I mean, okay, I love
the final scene he's got taking the guy to dinner.
You're going to have them for dinner. So well, Kate,
(32:05):
I thought that was a little more highbrow than some
of the you know, murder on Elm Street type movies. Maybe.
Speaker 8 (32:12):
Okay, so I'm going to go I'm going to go
so old school on you because as a kid, those
scary movies they scared me to death. But I can
remember a book that was in our house growing up,
the Positive Power of Negative Thinking, and I'll never forget.
My mom shared with me that there was one study
that found that walking through a graveyard made people forty
(32:35):
percent more likely to help the stranger than walking down
the street. And another study found that visualizing death could
lead us to become more grateful for the things that
we have in life. So that was the Halloween message
in my house.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
It wasn't great Halloween message. Your mom was a wise
Your mom was a wise woman there. I mean, it
tells you to appreciate things. I mean, I I guess
the distinction I was trying to draw was the the
movies like again the Hannibal Lectro movie, which obviously was scary,
but it was it was well done. I'm not a
(33:14):
movie officionado as opposed to some of the stuff. What's it,
you know, Freddy on ELM Street. I don't even watch
that what I considered to be really garbage, you know.
I mean that the stuff that is just gore and
all of that. Haunted houses strike me interestingly. I was
with a friend of mine a couple of weekends ago
(33:35):
who's a big, tough guy, and he was a college
basketball player about six seven, so you don't mess with
uh with my friend, and he was telling me that
the house that he grew up in Connecticut, he was
convinced it was haunted and and he remember told me
the story if he walked down the backstairs one day
(33:56):
and he was convinced he saw a you know, a
shadowy figure that when he really focused, it disappeared. So
I don't know if you've got to believe in haunted
houses or don't believe in haunt but I think I
think that there are presence that exists within houses. Now,
I don't know if you as a professional, you know, psychologist,
(34:18):
can you professional counselor can buy into that that idea
or or do you think that's just you know, old
school thinking that that is not long out of date.
Speaker 8 (34:30):
Well, what I do buy into is that fear is
an emotion and it's what you feel, and it's either
what you perceive to be a threat or danger. If
you're walking down the back of that house and you
perceive a threat or danger, that ebolt set behavioral response.
That's what throws you into the fight, flight or freeze mode.
(34:51):
So perception is reality.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, in that situation, in his reality because in talking
to my friend, he was explaining it to me and
he said, he said, Dan, there there have been rumors
about people. You know, you have houses. We're going to
talk later this week, I think with a realtor who
is going to talk about how do you sell a
house in which tragically some horrible event had occurred? And
(35:18):
there are laws in states which require real estate agents
to disclose to people buyers before they even look at
the house that a murder might have occurred there or
something like that. And so there's a lot of that
stuff that you know, around Halloween that we start to
think about. And I think there's more to it than
(35:38):
meets the eye. I don't know if you're a literalist
or if you would agree with me that there's probably
a lot of stuff out there that we don't even
understand what it is.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
Well, I do agree with you, but I also think
about our brain. And our brain their job is to
take good care of us, and they sense what's going
on around us. And there's a difference between a safe fright.
When I'm sitting on my sofa with my puppies watching
you know something that alarms me, that's very safe. When
(36:11):
I come out of a restaurant at eleven o'clock at
night by myself after having dinner with a girlfriend and
I sent somebody's behind me, that's a real fright. And
our brain gives us the ability to quickly evaluate the
situation and tell us ooh you're in danger, danger will smith,
or it's safe. So I think that that plays into
(36:35):
what we perceive. But there are a lot of us
that were thrill seekers. We're looking for that control fear
and suspense, and there's some of us that just want
to see how much fear we can tolerate.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I remember being in Disney Disney World down in Florida
a few years ago, and there was this house that
they brought you up in an elevator and they opened
the door. They showed it the distance and you felt
like you were at the top of the Empire State Building.
Then they closed the elevator and they dropped. I forget
someone out. They will know what it was like, you know,
(37:13):
the House of Doing or something. And it scared the
hell out of me. And I knew the Tower of Terror.
Uh Dan, the producer, tales it was it we caught.
We put the Boston accident on as we call it,
the Tower of Terra, but it's pronounced properly, the Tower
of Terror. And I'm telling you, I did it once
and that was enough of me. I'm done. I'm done.
(37:35):
My kids wanted to go back, and they were really young,
Doctor Richardson. As always, I so enjoy our conversation. I
for some reason, I feel I have to tell you
stuff that that that clears me out of my head.
I haven't told that Tower of Terror story in decades.
(37:56):
Have you ever been on the Tower of Terror, Doctor
Richardson a Disney World.
Speaker 8 (38:00):
No, I haven't. But there's something at the state here
of Texas that you go round and round, the bottom
pop falls out, and it affected me when you were
telling me that story. My heartstir boom, no. I felt
that that law below me.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Oh that's great. If folks want to get in touch
with you, what's the easiest way for them to get
in touch with you, Doctor Lee Richardson.
Speaker 8 (38:23):
So you can find me on LinkedIn, or you can
find the good old fashioned website, the Brain Performance Center
dot com.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Perfect the Brain Performance Center dot com. Doctor Lee Richardson
has always enjoying you very much, fun, Thank you so.
Speaker 8 (38:39):
Much, thank you, thank you suving me happy, j very welcome.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
When we come back, we're going to talk about question
four here in Massachusetts, the question of whether or not
psychedelics should become legalized under some you know, controlled circumstances.
We're going to talk to a graduate of West Point
serve time the military, and he is an advocate. He
votes yes on question four, and we'll have a conversation
(39:05):
between both points of view on this issue on Friday night.
I'll explain it all coming back on night Side
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