July 15, 2025 • 37 mins
8:05PM: The long, long road to taxing mileage in Massachusetts…
Guest: Mike Deehan - Axios Reporter
8:15PM: A Message of Hope to those who have experienced a natural disaster such as the Texas Floods
Guest: Kim Cantin – keynote speaker & a survivor of the deadly 2018 Montecito mudslide
8:30PM: Study finds that happy thoughts could be the secret to a stronger memory
Guest: Dr. Patrick Porter – Founder of BrainTap
8:45PM: Senate school cellphone bill leaves key details to districts
Guest: Chris Lisinski- State House News Service Reporter
Guest: Mike Deehan - Axios Reporter
8:15PM: A Message of Hope to those who have experienced a natural disaster such as the Texas Floods
Guest: Kim Cantin – keynote speaker & a survivor of the deadly 2018 Montecito mudslide
8:30PM: Study finds that happy thoughts could be the secret to a stronger memory
Guest: Dr. Patrick Porter – Founder of BrainTap
8:45PM: Senate school cellphone bill leaves key details to districts
Guest: Chris Lisinski- State House News Service Reporter
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, I'm doing Easy Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much Madison for that introduction as we
begin a Tuesday night here. By the way, if you're
gonna watch the All Star Game tonight, you're a real
baseball fan. All you have to do is turn the
audio down again, watch the baseball game, and you can
feed your mind by listening to Night Side. It's as
simple as that. If you just watch the baseball game
(00:27):
with the audio up, you'll be asleep by the third inning.
Probably the All Star Game is, without a question, the
dullest baseball game of the year. So that's a warning.
Please take it as some helpful advice. My name's Dan Ray.
And yeah, we go up against World Series, All Star Games,
Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA championships. The only thing I don't
(00:51):
go up against is Super Bowls because that's played on
a Sunday afternoon or a Sunday evening now, But yeah,
we go up against them. All doesn't matter. You're there,
I'm here, and we have some great guests coming up
and some great topics. Nine o'clock going to be talking
about anti Semitism and how it's rearing its ugly head
(01:11):
in high schools and what can be done to say
to get ahead of that curb. And then talking about tariffs,
We're going to learn a lot about tariffs from Boston
University's Questrium School of Business professor Gregory Staller. He is
a very interesting gentleman. He has traveled to China some
(01:33):
fifty times and he will share his experiences with us
beginning at ten o'clock. But first off, some good news
for Massachusetts motorists. They have figured out another way to
tax you. Yes, absolutely, We are delighted to be joined
by Axio's Boston reporter Mike Dian. Mike, they have done
(01:54):
it again. They've figured out that they're going to try
to tax people based upon the number of miles that
they drive. Are they ever going to calculate that?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Mike, welcome all that. Yeah, thanks for having me. I
just want to say you jump into a bit of
a conclusion there. I can see where your mind's going,
because the bill before the legislature right now is uh
kind of what I like to say. They're thinking about
thinking about factoring in mileage into the taxation and revenue.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Remember this the state as somebody who come to the
state House for a long time as a television reporter.
Once they start thinking, they generally come up with something
that's a problem. That's the rule of thumb. They don't
come up with solutions to problems. They create problems at
the legislature. You know, when they're just working to take
(02:49):
when when when they just working to hire their cousins
and whatever in some you know, not nice you know
jobs at the state House. I don't mind that at all,
because that's human nature. But when they start to think,
tell us about it, Mike, you're you're the expert on
this already. Head, I need to listen to this so
I can know how to attack at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Go ahead, Well, so I'll give you plenty of red
meat at the end. But let's start with the bill
that's kind of moving a bit through the legislature right now.
And I think it's important to realize that this is
something that would really take sessions and sessions years and
years to really get going, get any traction. But it's
called the Freedom to Move Act. Its goal is uh
(03:29):
in order to hit the state's climate goals and emission goals,
it wants to cut back. You want to look at
ways to cut back on you know, vehicle miles traveled.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So it's called, by the way, it's called the Freedom
to Move Act.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Freedom to Move.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so we see that that is a mistitled piece
of legislation. But but but keep going, I'm sorry, keep going.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well not if not, if you're you know, you want
to be biking and walking and using evs and things
like that. But I hear what you're saying. So it's
kind of like the first step into taking mileage into account.
And so again, the goals of this thing are to
in car, encourage non car travel, you know, transit, bikes,
(04:14):
the same stuff I'm talking about for into But at.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The same time, my god, I don't I want to
be honest with you, it sounds to me like they
are going to try to discourage people from.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Driving exactly where it's going.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Problem exactly precisely. And so yeah, and so this bill
that's right here, it would take into that in order
to reach the state's mandate of zero emissions by twenty
fifty and that's only twenty five years away. So people
are worried that we're not going to quite get there now.
Senate Majority Leader Cindy Kreme is the one behind this one,
(04:46):
and she's making it clear this bill infront doesn't impose
restrictions on what Master's residents can do. Again, it's thinking
about thinking about factoring in mileage. And one of the
things that kind of is pressing on lawmakers right now
is that as more and more people adopt electric vehicles
and get away from gas, they're not paying the gas tax.
(05:10):
Uh so, yeah, there is something out there. How do
we feel on the revenue side, you know, they're in
charge of maintaining steady flows to the Coffer.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Mike, if you're a state rep or state senator and
your dim witted cousin, you got them a no show
job that could be cut if revenue dropped. I mean,
this is what they're thinking about.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Man without deems, Dan, what are they left to do?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well, they never cut the pre diem, you know that, Okay?
And none, not not one of them, to the best
of my knowledge. Maybe one, but not none, to the
best of my knowledge, has said that's too far to drive.
I'm not going to go to the state House because
it's you know, wouldn't it be nice if the average
(06:05):
guy and gal who had to drive to work at
home at Night would get a per diem. Mike, keep
your eye on these.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
If we have time. If we have time, I'll tell
you how this might play into the electrical election next year.
So there's there's another bill, not not the big one
that's kind of moving, but kind of a one off
thing that was heard today that would actually increase a
fee on drivers for mileage. But here's the thing, only
(06:38):
for electric vehicle drivers because they're not paying that gas tax.
This would kind of add a fee to EV drivers
so that they contribute, you know, their share as well.
And this is something that you know is I don't
know if that's going to pass or go forward. But
who did pick this up is Joe Brian Shortsleeve, the
(06:58):
GOP candidate for governor, kind of saying that you know,
this is the slippery slope and and and looking at
you know what he and Hill might be looking at
for new taxes. Well, because if you want to screw,
if you want to, you know, turn the keys on
the on the EV drivers, This would be one way
to even the playing field.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, but the point is they encouraged people to purchase EV's.
They have they don't have an adequate number of charging
stations around the Golden Welf. But they they enticed people
and they guilt trip people. They said this will save
the environment. And now that people have been good enough
and concerned enough about maybe trying to help save the environment.
(07:40):
Although you know, as long as they keep building coal
plants in China, Mike, I'm not sure that that we're
gonna be able to offset that. But that's okay. Now
they're going to turn around and say, okay, now that
you have done the right thing were and now you're
not using gas, we could charge you for ev miles. Again.
This is the Freedom to Move Act. Mike. I enjoyed
(08:04):
this conversation immensely. I hope you did as well. Just
remember this, and I think I've told this to you before.
The only things that are taxed in Massachusetts anything that
moves and anything that doesn't move. Everything else is not impacted.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I think I saw that engraved in Latin over one
of the doorways.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes. Absolutely, the current members of the legislature think that
Latin is a language that has spoke and spoke in
Central America as opposed to ancient or Mike, thank you,
thank you, thank you really enjoyed it. You're a great sport.
I try to have fun with these, and I had
(08:46):
fun with this one, although most of the things I
said I truly believe.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
In always a blast to do with you.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Come back anytime, Palm Mike Dian. By the way, how
can people can they subscribe to what you do? There
must be some way?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, thank you, thanks for asking ahead. Yeah, it's the
Axios Boston Newsletter. If you go to axios dot com
slash local, slash Boston, uh, you can sign up for
my newsletter. It's it's Axiox Axios. That's a spell Axios
and you can get my work in your inbox every morning.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That way, perfect, perfect, Mike, thanks again for what you do.
Keep your eye on those guys, those those men and
women up, they're up to no good.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I will, Dan, I will.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Thanks have a great name. All Right, we come back.
We're going to get kind of serious. Actually, I'm going
to talk with an author. Her name is Kim Canton.
She's a keynote speaker and survivor of the deadly Montecito
mud slide. That's a natural disaster that claimed the lives
of twenty three people, including Kim Canton's husband, her teenage son,
(09:55):
and the famous spell loved dog. Kim and her daughter
did survive, and she's going to talk about a message
of hope to those who have experienced natural disaster. And
of course, in the last week or so, we've talked
about that horrific flood situation in the Hill Country of Texas.
So we will talk with Kim Canton. Also, by the way,
I would remind you and invite you, there aren't too
(10:17):
many things free in this world, but one thing that
is free is the new and improved iHeart app. All
you have to do is go to your app store
and pull down the iHeart app. Put it on your desktop,
put it on your laptop, put it on your tablet,
put it on your want anything, anything that you want,
and make us your first preset. I would ask you
(10:38):
that as a favorite, WBZ could be your first preset,
So we're always just a fingertip away no matter where
you are, anywhere in New England, the United States for
that matter, around the world. I don't think we have
reception yet on the Moon of Mars, but I suspect
very few of you are going to be there, at
least in our lifetimes. My name is Dan Mary. This
is Nightside No. Phone calls, but interesting guests. I'm back
(11:00):
right after this break.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Welcome back everyone. I'm honored to speak with my next guest.
She and her family have suffered immensely. Her name is
Kim Canton. Kim, welcome to Nightside. I wish I met
you under different circumstances. How are you the sevening?
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Thank you, thank you, and thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You and your daughter survived a natural disaster in twenty
and eighteen, what was known as the Montecito mud slide.
I took the lives of twenty three people, including your husband,
a teenage son, and your beloved family dog who's also
(11:51):
a member of the family. I believe that strongly, and
you have now written a book of out that experience
and also a message of hope. Tell us if you can.
I'm you know we think of mud slides.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I just got to tell you it's horrific to think
that that natural disaster would kill half of your family,
your husband, Dave, and your teenage song Were you all
home in his sleep? How did this happen? If I
could ask just a week.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah, your loss sure. So what had happened in around
December twenty seventeen was the largest wildfire in California called
the Thomas Fire. And what it did is it roared
through toward Monticito, Santa Barbara, California, and with it, the
wildfire took all the foliagry on the mountain, leaving behind
(12:52):
car sized boulders and big down trees. And then fast
forward a few weeks and it's January and we got
heavy downpour and it was heavy downpour on the mountain
that didn't have the roots of the plants holding everything together,
and so part of the mountain came down in the
middle of the night. It was in the dark at
three thirty in the morning, and the boulders came with it,
(13:15):
and the boulders jammed up under the underpass with the
big down trees, and across the creek we were on
a lane and there was houses and the boulders jammed up,
and the water and the mud similar to what you're
looking like in Texas right now. Right the water's coming
waring down and it plumed up to a thirty foot
wave and then crashed down on our family home with
(13:39):
my family in it, and we didn't know what was coming.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And no warning whatsoever.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
You know, they have those things on your phone, And
when I was probably chested deep into mud, my phone,
the blast went off on my phone. So so it
was you know, we were trying to get out. We
knew if it was going to be heavy rain. You know,
we had our car stage to get out. But we
(14:09):
woke up with the rain and we were all getting
dressed to get out, and it just came through and
you know, just obliterated the home. I mean, there wasn't
even rebar left in the pool. It was gone. Sixty
two homes were destroyed that night, one hundred and fifty damaged,
twenty three people died and two were missing. I think
(14:31):
one hundred and fifty were injured. So it was thirty
square miles. I think there was one thousand rescues, eight
hundred by land and two hundred by air. So when
I'm looking at the Texas huge tragedy that's going on
with the flooding right now, it's so bringing back. It's
like I get it. It happened at night, it happened swiftly.
(14:53):
You see the water roaring, and water is so powerful.
It's just my heart breaks for those.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
People, well, our heart breaks for your family. You've written
a memoir that talks about the redemptive power of love
even through death. The book is called We're Yellow Flowers Bloom.
I assume that this book, like all great books available
at bookstores and Amazon, But what is the message. I
(15:26):
hope people will buy this book just to understand you're
an American family like the people who are listening to
our program tonight, and none of us should take tomorrow
for granted.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
That's it, right, is that life can pivot anyone. For
this book, I wrote it and it was just healing
for me, and then I realized, I think it could
help people, and I think it has the feedback that
I've gotten. Look, we don't know when our life will pivot, right.
It can pivot in a good way or pivot in
a bad way. Mind was a bad way one night.
(16:02):
We don't know when that life will pivot. And then
what what I wrote about is that you know the
things that came from that and, believe it or not,
some of the most beautiful things of humanity I got
to witness through that tragedy. Believe it or not, there's
been some silver linings now I miss my husband and
(16:24):
my son and my dog and my life as I
knew it every day. However, however, it is a story
of hope because I know, like I put you know,
I put one foot in front of another, and I
do look at life in the future saying, you know,
there's a lot to live for when when other people
(16:45):
might say, why aren't you just in the feudal position,
you know, fucking on a pacifier? You know, like this,
your life just turns so bad. And so it is
the book. The feedback that I've got really helps people,
especially who've lost a child or anyone who's had, you know,
a big life trauma or pivot, and to say life
(17:05):
can and we'll move forward. It will get lighter, and
there's things you can do in that to get to
that point.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Well, your remarkable person. I'm sure this book is a
book that a lot of people should read, just to
understand again the vagaries of life and how lucky most
of us are. And for you to have gone through
this horrific tragedy and to be able to write about
it where yellow flowers blown. Kim Canton an honor to
(17:39):
speak with you. I don't know that I would have
the internal courage to go through what you've gone through.
And I hope I never find out whether I have
that coin. I just I can't tell you much I admire.
We all admire. You know a lot of people astronauts
and professional athletes and movie stars, but I want you
(18:02):
to know I admire someone like yourself who's been able
to overcome this. Never forget the memory of your husband
and your son and the beloved family pet. But I
hope that many of our listeners in the next day
or so we'll go to Amazon and pick this book up,
because I think there's a lesson for everyone. Thank you
(18:24):
so much for joining us tonight. You're a remarkable one.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
By mine, I'll tell you I don't know how people
can go through that. We're going to light it up
a little bit on the other side of the news
at eight thirty, we're going to talk with doctor Patrick Porter.
He's the founder of a group of an organization you
called brain Tap. He's going to tell us happy thoughts
(18:50):
could be the secret to a stronger memory. I think
after that interview we need some happy thoughts. But again,
that book is one that I would highly reckon back
on Nightside right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
All right, we are delighted to welcome back to Nightside
doctor Patrick Porter. He's the founder of an organization you
called brain Tap, and his study has found that happy
thoughts could be secret to a stronger memory. Doctor Porter,
I have never heard this one before. I'm fascinated to
find out, first of all, why that is so and
(19:34):
how you have concluded it is so.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Well, they did it with eg studies, and they did
it with The research was done kind of bizarrely. They
used squiggly lines, different squiggly lines, and they associated different
pictures with emotions like happy emotions, sad emotions, and terrifying emotions,
like pictures that would evoke those emotions. And then over
(19:59):
the course of six weeks, they were exposed to these
over a three day every day for three three times
a day, and then they did a test just to
the squiggly lines, and they had to basically remember the lines.
And what they found was that they didn't remember the
negative ones. They typically remembered the positive ones. And then
they correlated that with the reality is if you're feeling down, depressed, anxious,
(20:23):
and worried, you're going to have lack of blood flow
and circulation to the brain, which means you're neuroplasticity or
the power of the cells. Those neurons are not going
to be there to retrieve memories. Even though they're there,
you just don't have the energy to go get them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Boy, this is fascinating. When was this study conducted and
when was it completed?
Speaker 6 (20:45):
It was the study was done just recently here and
it was posted in different magazines, the Neuroscience in July
twenty twenty five, so it's a very recent study. And
what they're trying to show is, and we've done this before,
showed it, when you can change somebody's physiological state. There's
a thing that your psychology is affecting your physiology, Like
if you're depressed, you'll have a certain posture imposed, and
(21:07):
when you're excited and positive, you have an open posture
and posed. And they've even shown that when you change
your physiology, you actually change the way your brain process
is information. So in other words, you open yourself up
to learning, or you can close yourself down to learning.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, I'm a more believer in that theory. Never studied it,
but it's interesting to find out that there's some statistical
studies which support that theory. Clearly. When people are happier,
I'm assuming you're healthier. You know, if mentally, whatever your
(21:43):
state in life is, if you're happy to be alive,
that has to be good for your internal mechanisms. I'm
not a scientist, I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
But well, yeah, longevity studies show that the average positive
person lives six and a half years longer than negative people.
So it's not uncommon to have negative thoughts. What's bad
is when you dwell on them and don't change those thoughts.
I mean, it's normal to be sad, upset, frustrated, worried.
These are normal emotions. The problem is when you stay
(22:14):
stuck in them. And I tell people think of like
a light bulb and you have a seventy five want
light bulb, and when it's running and it's a peak,
you know, seventy five watts that filter, that filament's going
to last longer. But if you start putting one hundred
lot energy through, it's going to burn out. It takes
a lot more energy to be negative and I always
tell the example, if you've ever had an experience where
(22:36):
something really negative happened to you, so you broke down crying.
Typically afterwards you have to sit down, relax, even take
a nap. Now that same thing doesn't happen if something
positive happened to you, like if you have good news,
great news things going on, you feel energized, you want
to share with the world, You want to get up
and move because we actually our brain is linked to
especially with neuroplasticity and staying. Having a youthful brain is
(22:58):
keeping you active and creating what's called b D and
APP brain derived neurotropic factors, and those aren't created in
negative states, They're created in positive states.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
When you talk about neuroplasticity, and I've heard the term before,
are the if we're getting away from your air of expertise,
that's just tell me. But we can tell people to
try to be more positive, and that will increase your neuroplasticity,
which will diminish your your your chances of developing, you know,
(23:27):
atrophy in the brain, which could lead to the nature.
I get all of that. I get all of that,
but are the foods? Are there activities exercises, I mean,
all of us. It's tough to quantify how many happy
thoughts you have in sad thoughts. Obviously, you have a
controlled study, and I accept that. I have no question
(23:51):
that you've did. You did a scientific a legitimate, valid,
scientific study. But are there some other things that people
can do that also can help increase the neuroplasticity in
their brain.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
You can look at foods too, as foods that are
drainers and foods that are gainers. And when you think
of the draining foods, those are the sugars that are
the they give you the faults high, but then they
cost you later, you know, they call it the sugar blues,
you know. And so eating more, you know, raw fresh foods,
especially purple foods. For some reason, those purple vegetables have
(24:29):
more brain derive nutrients for them. That's one way to
think about it. Also, to hydrate, drink half your body's
weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh one
hundred and twenty pounds, you want to at least drink
sixty ounces of water during the day to hydrate the brain,
not at one time, but throughout the day. Get rid
of the unhealthy fats and implement something like olive oil.
Just one tablespoon of olive oil a day. And I
(24:51):
always tell people just change out your salad dressing, use
olive oil, and if you want to do some balsamic
on it, that's fine, and use Italian seasoning in salt
upper and you could get all of the healthy fats
you need for today with olive oil. So it's a
very inexpensive way to feed the brain. And that's why
and where you can do it nutritionally. Now physically being
(25:11):
active is you can do stretching, you can do tai
chi yoga. But if you don't want to do any
of those things, would they have linked to just a
gentle walk, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes after eating.
This also speeds up your metabolism, so if you want
to if you when you get sluggish metabolism, it's usually
because people eat, and this will lower something called your
(25:32):
heart rate variability, or the way in which their brain
and heart communicate, because all your digestion is taking almost
all your energy. But you when you get up and walk,
you move the body and you move that neurology and
you actually speed up your metabolism and that's going to
help you have more energy. Just some little tips like
that would will help.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Well, those are great. Have you ever and we've talked
with you and I have talked before. I'm sure you
don't remember me, but I remember you because you're so
excited and passionate about what you believe. Have you ever
produced a book that incorporates a lot of this information.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Because hay House, Yeah, yeah, we have several books out there.
One it's called Private Overdrive, and I talk a lot
about those, but the one that's coming out in October
will have all my latest information. Hey House is putting
it out and it's it's it's already on Amazon for
pre order and they can go there and check it out.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
What's the name. What's the name of the book, doctor.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
It's called it's called Brain Fitness Blueprint.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, Yeah, We obviously will have you back for that,
and maybe we can do an extended hour with you
on that and have people ask some questions as well.
The first hour that we do these interviews, they're about
eight or nine minutes long, and sometimes I feel I
want more information and I just want to say that
(26:54):
I have a lot of guests I go through about
twenty guests every week for every eight o'clock hour, five
nights a week, and the ones that are as passionate
as you stand out to me. So I hope people
take and I hope that I can can learn to
take some of the advice that that that you give us.
(27:15):
And I just want to say thanks for being on tonight.
Give us the name of the book that's coming out
that can be pre ordered.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
They can go to Amazon and just look up Brain
Fitness Blueprint, or they can look up my name, Patrick K. Porter, PhD.
And they can see all the books that I have.
There's there's other books on there too. I've written ten books.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So okay, that's that. That is so great. Look will
have you back. Thank you so much for your information.
It is really really helpful to me personally, and I
hope it's helpful to a lot of my audience. And
it's vital. It is truly vital information that that you're
providing with people. And I say and I thank you
(27:54):
for doing that. Thank you my friend.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Well, okay, thank you for having me. And look forward
to the next time you bet you we.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Get back and to talk about a I'm going to
talk with State House reporter, State House News Service reporter
Chris Lisinsky. We've had Chris on before and there is
slowly but surely apparently a school telephone bill that is
going through the legislature. I think that cell phones in
(28:21):
school are problematic. You probably know my position on that.
Let's see what's going on at the legislature. Chris Lasinsky.
Lisinski joins us right after this quick break.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Night Side with Dan Ray IBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Delighted to be joined again once again by with Chris Lisinski.
He's the State House News Service reporter. State House News
Service is an absolute go to for this program, and
I think anybody who covers Massachusetts politics or is interested
in Massachusetts politics, Chris, welcome back to Night.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Side, Dan. It's great to be back.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
We're going to talk tonight. I guess the State Senate,
in their infinite wisdom, has decided to move a cell
phone bill that would be in cell phones in schools.
But I guess they're leaving the key details up to
the district so giving the districts authority. As I understand it,
(29:21):
is that an accurate thumbnail sketch of what we're going
to talk about.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Absolutely, the general push in the state Senate is for
schools across the state that had some kind of policy
on the books getting cell phones out of student hands
during class hours, but exactly what that looks like, what
discipline would look like. The Senate bill would leave that
up to each district to say, we know our student's best,
here's what's going to work.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Okay. I understand the wisdom of that. Basically that the
group that is closest the government, closest to the people
is the one that governs less. Whether it's a school
committee or a or a high school principal. It also
going to be looked at as the state Senate kind
(30:09):
to avoiding the tough decisions. Is there any sense in
your mind covering this that the state senators don't want
to be the ones who say we want a bell
to bell ban, or we want a tough option, we
want to we want to leave the details to those
below or in their communities. Is that a bit of
(30:31):
a cop out by the state senator or no?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
In European No, I don't. I don't necessarily think so.
I think that what senators are hearing from districts, from superintendents,
from educators is that they want the state to take action,
but they also want a little bit of flexibility to
carve out excuse me, to craft the exact specific details.
We should be clear. You know, this bill is on
the move that could get a vote by the end
(30:55):
of the month. It would require every public cater twelve
school to have a bell to be prohibition on students
using cell phones during the school day. It just leaves
some of the nothing bolts up to individual districts. You know,
one district might want to go harder on discipline than another.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Okay, okay, So whether or not they said, okay, you
have to leave the cell phone in your locker, well,
whether or not you're going to leave it in the
front office in an identifiable cell phone pouch, those sort
of mechanics of the band. So the state Senate is
saying no cell phones, that's the standard statewide build bell.
(31:34):
But the implementation of the details of the implementation will
leave up to local communities. That seems to me to
be a reasonable.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Position, exactly. And I think that a lot of districts
have already done this themselves, something like half maybe two
thirds have varying policies already on the books. So you
could argue that leaving details up to the district would
be a way of kind of grandfathering in districts that
have all already figured out a way to do this
(32:01):
and not making them now change their approach.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Is there any group up there pushing back again this?
I assume that probably some high school students who enjoy
having a cell phone will will probably not be happy
with this legislation. But look, those of us who went
to high school before cell phones, we survived. But is
there any any push from I don't know, you know,
(32:27):
cell phone companies or content providers anywhere speaking in opposition
to this this legislation.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
There's not a ton of organized opposition. But what I
will say one area that's been not totally on board
is some parents. Parents have been some of the loudest
voices not arguing against a cell phone ban, but raising
some concerns worried that if schools cracked down on this,
they might not be able to get in touch with
(32:58):
their kids during the school especially in cases of emergencies.
That seems to be one area where some parents, not
all of course, are really the most concerned.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Well, you know, parents of your generation, in my generation,
pre cell phones, they would pick up their rotor dial
telephone and explain that, you know, something had happened and
they had to come and take their son or daughter
home a little early because you know, grandmama is going
to the hospital. And you know, they still had communication,
(33:33):
didn't have to do smoke signals or send carrier pigeons.
I mean people, they can still call the office at
the school and say, jar geap, my son wasn't feeling
well this morning, and could you check on him. I
assume that all of that sort of communication would still exist.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, there's certainly nothing in here that would prevent a
parent from calling the front office in any school. But
you know, cell phones, as we know it has been
around for fifteen years. Smartphones have been ubiquitous for more
than a decade. So for a lot of parents of
current teenagers, they've they've never had to be a parent
to a child who didn't have a data equipt smartphone
(34:15):
that they could access anything on the Internet in a
matter of seconds.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I know, I know that there have been some
parents and some students who have said, well, if there
was ever an active shooter at our school, I want
to be able to be in touch with my son
or daughter. Actually that could be a mistake because if
there was some active shooter stalking the hallways of a
(34:40):
school and someone inadvertently, you know, had their cell phone ring,
that might give the shooter some some guidance as to
where students might be sheltering in place. So that there's
that argument as well, and I think that's an important
argument that you don't want to be look, give the
(35:02):
school administrators the ability to deal with whatever crisis comes along,
which hopefully won't come along, and cell phones, even in
that crisis, could be a liability as opposed to an
asset in my opinion.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And it's not unanimous, nothing is. But from what we've
heard reporting on this, covering hearings where folks have spoken,
even a lot of students are asking for this. A
lot of students have made their voices heard on Beacon
Hill and told their lawmakers we need help. These cell
phones are a distraction. They fuel mental health issues because
(35:40):
when we're wired in all the time, it's just not
good for a perspective. So, you know, there are some
parents who are concerned, but there are plenty of parents
and plenty of students who look at this as a
as a potential positive.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Sounds great, Chris. How can folks become subscribers to the
State House News Service? It is a subscription in organization,
but it does provide a lot of information.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yeah, yeah, you can do that online. Go to State
Housenews dot com and if you click on the about
us there should be all sorts of information about trial
periods and signing up for a subscription thereafter.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Sounds great, Chris. Thank you for what you do up there.
Earlier tonight we were talking with I guess you're one
of your competitors, Mike Dean of Axio's Boston. But it's
good to have a presence to keep a close eye
on all those activities by the legislature. It's something that
someone has to keep an eye on. Okay, wait, thank you, Yeah,
(36:36):
my pleasure. All right, thanks Chris Chrisser the State House
News Service. When we get back, we are going to
talk about anti semitism in schools here in Massachusetts, not colleges,
high schools. You're going to be talking with Brookline School
Committee member doctor Jesse hefter uh in what some school
(36:57):
districts have now done by passing a resolution. Doctor Hefter
is here not speaking on behalf of the school committee
in Brookline. He's speaking as a member of the school
committee and his points of view are his own, but
I think you'll find them interesting. Back on nights side,
right after the nine o'clock news, we'll catch up on
what's going on around the world.
It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, I'm doing Easy Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Thank you very much Madison for that introduction as we
begin a Tuesday night here. By the way, if you're
gonna watch the All Star Game tonight, you're a real
baseball fan. All you have to do is turn the
audio down again, watch the baseball game, and you can
feed your mind by listening to Night Side. It's as
simple as that. If you just watch the baseball game
(00:27):
with the audio up, you'll be asleep by the third inning.
Probably the All Star Game is, without a question, the
dullest baseball game of the year. So that's a warning.
Please take it as some helpful advice. My name's Dan Ray.
And yeah, we go up against World Series, All Star Games,
Stanley Cup playoffs, NBA championships. The only thing I don't
(00:51):
go up against is Super Bowls because that's played on
a Sunday afternoon or a Sunday evening now, But yeah,
we go up against them. All doesn't matter. You're there,
I'm here, and we have some great guests coming up
and some great topics. Nine o'clock going to be talking
about anti Semitism and how it's rearing its ugly head
(01:11):
in high schools and what can be done to say
to get ahead of that curb. And then talking about tariffs,
We're going to learn a lot about tariffs from Boston
University's Questrium School of Business professor Gregory Staller. He is
a very interesting gentleman. He has traveled to China some
(01:33):
fifty times and he will share his experiences with us
beginning at ten o'clock. But first off, some good news
for Massachusetts motorists. They have figured out another way to
tax you. Yes, absolutely, We are delighted to be joined
by Axio's Boston reporter Mike Dian. Mike, they have done
(01:54):
it again. They've figured out that they're going to try
to tax people based upon the number of miles that
they drive. Are they ever going to calculate that?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Mike, welcome all that. Yeah, thanks for having me. I
just want to say you jump into a bit of
a conclusion there. I can see where your mind's going,
because the bill before the legislature right now is uh
kind of what I like to say. They're thinking about
thinking about factoring in mileage into the taxation and revenue.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Remember this the state as somebody who come to the
state House for a long time as a television reporter.
Once they start thinking, they generally come up with something
that's a problem. That's the rule of thumb. They don't
come up with solutions to problems. They create problems at
the legislature. You know, when they're just working to take
(02:49):
when when when they just working to hire their cousins
and whatever in some you know, not nice you know
jobs at the state House. I don't mind that at all,
because that's human nature. But when they start to think,
tell us about it, Mike, you're you're the expert on
this already. Head, I need to listen to this so
I can know how to attack at some point.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Go ahead, Well, so I'll give you plenty of red
meat at the end. But let's start with the bill
that's kind of moving a bit through the legislature right now.
And I think it's important to realize that this is
something that would really take sessions and sessions years and
years to really get going, get any traction. But it's
called the Freedom to Move Act. Its goal is uh
(03:29):
in order to hit the state's climate goals and emission goals,
it wants to cut back. You want to look at
ways to cut back on you know, vehicle miles traveled.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So it's called, by the way, it's called the Freedom
to Move Act.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Freedom to Move.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, so we see that that is a mistitled piece
of legislation. But but but keep going, I'm sorry, keep going.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Well not if not, if you're you know, you want
to be biking and walking and using evs and things
like that. But I hear what you're saying. So it's
kind of like the first step into taking mileage into account.
And so again, the goals of this thing are to
in car, encourage non car travel, you know, transit, bikes,
(04:14):
the same stuff I'm talking about for into But at.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
The same time, my god, I don't I want to
be honest with you, it sounds to me like they
are going to try to discourage people from.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Driving exactly where it's going.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Problem exactly precisely. And so yeah, and so this bill
that's right here, it would take into that in order
to reach the state's mandate of zero emissions by twenty
fifty and that's only twenty five years away. So people
are worried that we're not going to quite get there now.
Senate Majority Leader Cindy Kreme is the one behind this one,
(04:46):
and she's making it clear this bill infront doesn't impose
restrictions on what Master's residents can do. Again, it's thinking
about thinking about factoring in mileage. And one of the
things that kind of is pressing on lawmakers right now
is that as more and more people adopt electric vehicles
and get away from gas, they're not paying the gas tax.
(05:10):
Uh so, yeah, there is something out there. How do
we feel on the revenue side, you know, they're in
charge of maintaining steady flows to the Coffer.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Mike, if you're a state rep or state senator and
your dim witted cousin, you got them a no show
job that could be cut if revenue dropped. I mean,
this is what they're thinking about.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Man without deems, Dan, what are they left to do?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Well, they never cut the pre diem, you know that, Okay?
And none, not not one of them, to the best
of my knowledge. Maybe one, but not none, to the
best of my knowledge, has said that's too far to drive.
I'm not going to go to the state House because
it's you know, wouldn't it be nice if the average
(06:05):
guy and gal who had to drive to work at
home at Night would get a per diem. Mike, keep
your eye on these.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
If we have time. If we have time, I'll tell
you how this might play into the electrical election next year.
So there's there's another bill, not not the big one
that's kind of moving, but kind of a one off
thing that was heard today that would actually increase a
fee on drivers for mileage. But here's the thing, only
(06:38):
for electric vehicle drivers because they're not paying that gas tax.
This would kind of add a fee to EV drivers
so that they contribute, you know, their share as well.
And this is something that you know is I don't
know if that's going to pass or go forward. But
who did pick this up is Joe Brian Shortsleeve, the
(06:58):
GOP candidate for governor, kind of saying that you know,
this is the slippery slope and and and looking at
you know what he and Hill might be looking at
for new taxes. Well, because if you want to screw,
if you want to, you know, turn the keys on
the on the EV drivers, This would be one way
to even the playing field.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well, but the point is they encouraged people to purchase EV's.
They have they don't have an adequate number of charging
stations around the Golden Welf. But they they enticed people
and they guilt trip people. They said this will save
the environment. And now that people have been good enough
and concerned enough about maybe trying to help save the environment.
(07:40):
Although you know, as long as they keep building coal
plants in China, Mike, I'm not sure that that we're
gonna be able to offset that. But that's okay. Now
they're going to turn around and say, okay, now that
you have done the right thing were and now you're
not using gas, we could charge you for ev miles. Again.
This is the Freedom to Move Act. Mike. I enjoyed
(08:04):
this conversation immensely. I hope you did as well. Just
remember this, and I think I've told this to you before.
The only things that are taxed in Massachusetts anything that
moves and anything that doesn't move. Everything else is not impacted.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
I think I saw that engraved in Latin over one
of the doorways.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yes. Absolutely, the current members of the legislature think that
Latin is a language that has spoke and spoke in
Central America as opposed to ancient or Mike, thank you,
thank you, thank you really enjoyed it. You're a great sport.
I try to have fun with these, and I had
(08:46):
fun with this one, although most of the things I
said I truly believe.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
In always a blast to do with you.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Come back anytime, Palm Mike Dian. By the way, how
can people can they subscribe to what you do? There
must be some way?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, thank you, thanks for asking ahead. Yeah, it's the
Axios Boston Newsletter. If you go to axios dot com
slash local, slash Boston, uh, you can sign up for
my newsletter. It's it's Axiox Axios. That's a spell Axios
and you can get my work in your inbox every morning.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
That way, perfect, perfect, Mike, thanks again for what you do.
Keep your eye on those guys, those those men and
women up, they're up to no good.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I will, Dan, I will.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Thanks have a great name. All Right, we come back.
We're going to get kind of serious. Actually, I'm going
to talk with an author. Her name is Kim Canton.
She's a keynote speaker and survivor of the deadly Montecito
mud slide. That's a natural disaster that claimed the lives
of twenty three people, including Kim Canton's husband, her teenage son,
(09:55):
and the famous spell loved dog. Kim and her daughter
did survive, and she's going to talk about a message
of hope to those who have experienced natural disaster. And
of course, in the last week or so, we've talked
about that horrific flood situation in the Hill Country of Texas.
So we will talk with Kim Canton. Also, by the way,
I would remind you and invite you, there aren't too
(10:17):
many things free in this world, but one thing that
is free is the new and improved iHeart app. All
you have to do is go to your app store
and pull down the iHeart app. Put it on your desktop,
put it on your laptop, put it on your tablet,
put it on your want anything, anything that you want,
and make us your first preset. I would ask you
(10:38):
that as a favorite, WBZ could be your first preset,
So we're always just a fingertip away no matter where
you are, anywhere in New England, the United States for
that matter, around the world. I don't think we have
reception yet on the Moon of Mars, but I suspect
very few of you are going to be there, at
least in our lifetimes. My name is Dan Mary. This
is Nightside No. Phone calls, but interesting guests. I'm back
(11:00):
right after this break.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Welcome back everyone. I'm honored to speak with my next guest.
She and her family have suffered immensely. Her name is
Kim Canton. Kim, welcome to Nightside. I wish I met
you under different circumstances. How are you the sevening?
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Thank you, thank you, and thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You and your daughter survived a natural disaster in twenty
and eighteen, what was known as the Montecito mud slide.
I took the lives of twenty three people, including your husband,
a teenage son, and your beloved family dog who's also
(11:51):
a member of the family. I believe that strongly, and
you have now written a book of out that experience
and also a message of hope. Tell us if you can.
I'm you know we think of mud slides.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I just got to tell you it's horrific to think
that that natural disaster would kill half of your family,
your husband, Dave, and your teenage song Were you all
home in his sleep? How did this happen? If I
could ask just a week.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah, your loss sure. So what had happened in around
December twenty seventeen was the largest wildfire in California called
the Thomas Fire. And what it did is it roared
through toward Monticito, Santa Barbara, California, and with it, the
wildfire took all the foliagry on the mountain, leaving behind
(12:52):
car sized boulders and big down trees. And then fast
forward a few weeks and it's January and we got
heavy downpour and it was heavy downpour on the mountain
that didn't have the roots of the plants holding everything together,
and so part of the mountain came down in the
middle of the night. It was in the dark at
three thirty in the morning, and the boulders came with it,
(13:15):
and the boulders jammed up under the underpass with the
big down trees, and across the creek we were on
a lane and there was houses and the boulders jammed up,
and the water and the mud similar to what you're
looking like in Texas right now. Right the water's coming
waring down and it plumed up to a thirty foot
wave and then crashed down on our family home with
(13:39):
my family in it, and we didn't know what was coming.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
And no warning whatsoever.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
You know, they have those things on your phone, And
when I was probably chested deep into mud, my phone,
the blast went off on my phone. So so it
was you know, we were trying to get out. We
knew if it was going to be heavy rain. You know,
we had our car stage to get out. But we
(14:09):
woke up with the rain and we were all getting
dressed to get out, and it just came through and
you know, just obliterated the home. I mean, there wasn't
even rebar left in the pool. It was gone. Sixty
two homes were destroyed that night, one hundred and fifty damaged,
twenty three people died and two were missing. I think
(14:31):
one hundred and fifty were injured. So it was thirty
square miles. I think there was one thousand rescues, eight
hundred by land and two hundred by air. So when
I'm looking at the Texas huge tragedy that's going on
with the flooding right now, it's so bringing back. It's
like I get it. It happened at night, it happened swiftly.
(14:53):
You see the water roaring, and water is so powerful.
It's just my heart breaks for those.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
People, well, our heart breaks for your family. You've written
a memoir that talks about the redemptive power of love
even through death. The book is called We're Yellow Flowers Bloom.
I assume that this book, like all great books available
at bookstores and Amazon, But what is the message. I
(15:26):
hope people will buy this book just to understand you're
an American family like the people who are listening to
our program tonight, and none of us should take tomorrow
for granted.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
That's it, right, is that life can pivot anyone. For
this book, I wrote it and it was just healing
for me, and then I realized, I think it could
help people, and I think it has the feedback that
I've gotten. Look, we don't know when our life will pivot, right.
It can pivot in a good way or pivot in
a bad way. Mind was a bad way one night.
(16:02):
We don't know when that life will pivot. And then
what what I wrote about is that you know the
things that came from that and, believe it or not,
some of the most beautiful things of humanity I got
to witness through that tragedy. Believe it or not, there's
been some silver linings now I miss my husband and
(16:24):
my son and my dog and my life as I
knew it every day. However, however, it is a story
of hope because I know, like I put you know,
I put one foot in front of another, and I
do look at life in the future saying, you know,
there's a lot to live for when when other people
(16:45):
might say, why aren't you just in the feudal position,
you know, fucking on a pacifier? You know, like this,
your life just turns so bad. And so it is
the book. The feedback that I've got really helps people,
especially who've lost a child or anyone who's had, you know,
a big life trauma or pivot, and to say life
(17:05):
can and we'll move forward. It will get lighter, and
there's things you can do in that to get to
that point.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Well, your remarkable person. I'm sure this book is a
book that a lot of people should read, just to
understand again the vagaries of life and how lucky most
of us are. And for you to have gone through
this horrific tragedy and to be able to write about
it where yellow flowers blown. Kim Canton an honor to
(17:39):
speak with you. I don't know that I would have
the internal courage to go through what you've gone through.
And I hope I never find out whether I have
that coin. I just I can't tell you much I admire.
We all admire. You know a lot of people astronauts
and professional athletes and movie stars, but I want you
(18:02):
to know I admire someone like yourself who's been able
to overcome this. Never forget the memory of your husband
and your son and the beloved family pet. But I
hope that many of our listeners in the next day
or so we'll go to Amazon and pick this book up,
because I think there's a lesson for everyone. Thank you
(18:24):
so much for joining us tonight. You're a remarkable one.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
Thank you.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
Okay, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
By mine, I'll tell you I don't know how people
can go through that. We're going to light it up
a little bit on the other side of the news
at eight thirty, we're going to talk with doctor Patrick Porter.
He's the founder of a group of an organization you
called brain Tap. He's going to tell us happy thoughts
(18:50):
could be the secret to a stronger memory. I think
after that interview we need some happy thoughts. But again,
that book is one that I would highly reckon back
on Nightside right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
All right, we are delighted to welcome back to Nightside
doctor Patrick Porter. He's the founder of an organization you
called brain Tap, and his study has found that happy
thoughts could be secret to a stronger memory. Doctor Porter,
I have never heard this one before. I'm fascinated to
find out, first of all, why that is so and
(19:34):
how you have concluded it is so.
Speaker 6 (19:37):
Well, they did it with eg studies, and they did
it with The research was done kind of bizarrely. They
used squiggly lines, different squiggly lines, and they associated different
pictures with emotions like happy emotions, sad emotions, and terrifying emotions,
like pictures that would evoke those emotions. And then over
(19:59):
the course of six weeks, they were exposed to these
over a three day every day for three three times
a day, and then they did a test just to
the squiggly lines, and they had to basically remember the lines.
And what they found was that they didn't remember the
negative ones. They typically remembered the positive ones. And then
they correlated that with the reality is if you're feeling down, depressed, anxious,
(20:23):
and worried, you're going to have lack of blood flow
and circulation to the brain, which means you're neuroplasticity or
the power of the cells. Those neurons are not going
to be there to retrieve memories. Even though they're there,
you just don't have the energy to go get them.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Boy, this is fascinating. When was this study conducted and
when was it completed?
Speaker 6 (20:45):
It was the study was done just recently here and
it was posted in different magazines, the Neuroscience in July
twenty twenty five, so it's a very recent study. And
what they're trying to show is, and we've done this before,
showed it, when you can change somebody's physiological state. There's
a thing that your psychology is affecting your physiology, Like
if you're depressed, you'll have a certain posture imposed, and
(21:07):
when you're excited and positive, you have an open posture
and posed. And they've even shown that when you change
your physiology, you actually change the way your brain process
is information. So in other words, you open yourself up
to learning, or you can close yourself down to learning.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Well, I'm a more believer in that theory. Never studied it,
but it's interesting to find out that there's some statistical
studies which support that theory. Clearly. When people are happier,
I'm assuming you're healthier. You know, if mentally, whatever your
(21:43):
state in life is, if you're happy to be alive,
that has to be good for your internal mechanisms. I'm
not a scientist, I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
But well, yeah, longevity studies show that the average positive
person lives six and a half years longer than negative people.
So it's not uncommon to have negative thoughts. What's bad
is when you dwell on them and don't change those thoughts.
I mean, it's normal to be sad, upset, frustrated, worried.
These are normal emotions. The problem is when you stay
(22:14):
stuck in them. And I tell people think of like
a light bulb and you have a seventy five want
light bulb, and when it's running and it's a peak,
you know, seventy five watts that filter, that filament's going
to last longer. But if you start putting one hundred
lot energy through, it's going to burn out. It takes
a lot more energy to be negative and I always
tell the example, if you've ever had an experience where
(22:36):
something really negative happened to you, so you broke down crying.
Typically afterwards you have to sit down, relax, even take
a nap. Now that same thing doesn't happen if something
positive happened to you, like if you have good news,
great news things going on, you feel energized, you want
to share with the world, You want to get up
and move because we actually our brain is linked to
especially with neuroplasticity and staying. Having a youthful brain is
(22:58):
keeping you active and creating what's called b D and
APP brain derived neurotropic factors, and those aren't created in
negative states, They're created in positive states.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
When you talk about neuroplasticity, and I've heard the term before,
are the if we're getting away from your air of expertise,
that's just tell me. But we can tell people to
try to be more positive, and that will increase your neuroplasticity,
which will diminish your your your chances of developing, you know,
(23:27):
atrophy in the brain, which could lead to the nature.
I get all of that. I get all of that,
but are the foods? Are there activities exercises, I mean,
all of us. It's tough to quantify how many happy
thoughts you have in sad thoughts. Obviously, you have a
controlled study, and I accept that. I have no question
(23:51):
that you've did. You did a scientific a legitimate, valid,
scientific study. But are there some other things that people
can do that also can help increase the neuroplasticity in
their brain.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:08):
You can look at foods too, as foods that are
drainers and foods that are gainers. And when you think
of the draining foods, those are the sugars that are
the they give you the faults high, but then they
cost you later, you know, they call it the sugar blues,
you know. And so eating more, you know, raw fresh foods,
especially purple foods. For some reason, those purple vegetables have
(24:29):
more brain derive nutrients for them. That's one way to
think about it. Also, to hydrate, drink half your body's
weight in ounces of water. So if you weigh one
hundred and twenty pounds, you want to at least drink
sixty ounces of water during the day to hydrate the brain,
not at one time, but throughout the day. Get rid
of the unhealthy fats and implement something like olive oil.
Just one tablespoon of olive oil a day. And I
(24:51):
always tell people just change out your salad dressing, use
olive oil, and if you want to do some balsamic
on it, that's fine, and use Italian seasoning in salt
upper and you could get all of the healthy fats
you need for today with olive oil. So it's a
very inexpensive way to feed the brain. And that's why
and where you can do it nutritionally. Now physically being
(25:11):
active is you can do stretching, you can do tai
chi yoga. But if you don't want to do any
of those things, would they have linked to just a
gentle walk, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes after eating.
This also speeds up your metabolism, so if you want
to if you when you get sluggish metabolism, it's usually
because people eat, and this will lower something called your
(25:32):
heart rate variability, or the way in which their brain
and heart communicate, because all your digestion is taking almost
all your energy. But you when you get up and walk,
you move the body and you move that neurology and
you actually speed up your metabolism and that's going to
help you have more energy. Just some little tips like
that would will help.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Well, those are great. Have you ever and we've talked
with you and I have talked before. I'm sure you
don't remember me, but I remember you because you're so
excited and passionate about what you believe. Have you ever
produced a book that incorporates a lot of this information.
Speaker 6 (26:09):
Because hay House, Yeah, yeah, we have several books out there.
One it's called Private Overdrive, and I talk a lot
about those, but the one that's coming out in October
will have all my latest information. Hey House is putting
it out and it's it's it's already on Amazon for
pre order and they can go there and check it out.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
What's the name. What's the name of the book, doctor.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
It's called it's called Brain Fitness Blueprint.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, Yeah, We obviously will have you back for that,
and maybe we can do an extended hour with you
on that and have people ask some questions as well.
The first hour that we do these interviews, they're about
eight or nine minutes long, and sometimes I feel I
want more information and I just want to say that
(26:54):
I have a lot of guests I go through about
twenty guests every week for every eight o'clock hour, five
nights a week, and the ones that are as passionate
as you stand out to me. So I hope people
take and I hope that I can can learn to
take some of the advice that that that you give us.
(27:15):
And I just want to say thanks for being on tonight.
Give us the name of the book that's coming out
that can be pre ordered.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
They can go to Amazon and just look up Brain
Fitness Blueprint, or they can look up my name, Patrick K. Porter, PhD.
And they can see all the books that I have.
There's there's other books on there too. I've written ten books.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
So okay, that's that. That is so great. Look will
have you back. Thank you so much for your information.
It is really really helpful to me personally, and I
hope it's helpful to a lot of my audience. And
it's vital. It is truly vital information that that you're
providing with people. And I say and I thank you
(27:54):
for doing that. Thank you my friend.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
Well, okay, thank you for having me. And look forward
to the next time you bet you we.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Get back and to talk about a I'm going to
talk with State House reporter, State House News Service reporter
Chris Lisinsky. We've had Chris on before and there is
slowly but surely apparently a school telephone bill that is
going through the legislature. I think that cell phones in
(28:21):
school are problematic. You probably know my position on that.
Let's see what's going on at the legislature. Chris Lasinsky.
Lisinski joins us right after this quick break.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Night Side with Dan Ray IBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Delighted to be joined again once again by with Chris Lisinski.
He's the State House News Service reporter. State House News
Service is an absolute go to for this program, and
I think anybody who covers Massachusetts politics or is interested
in Massachusetts politics, Chris, welcome back to Night.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Side, Dan. It's great to be back.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
We're going to talk tonight. I guess the State Senate,
in their infinite wisdom, has decided to move a cell
phone bill that would be in cell phones in schools.
But I guess they're leaving the key details up to
the district so giving the districts authority. As I understand it,
(29:21):
is that an accurate thumbnail sketch of what we're going
to talk about.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Absolutely, the general push in the state Senate is for
schools across the state that had some kind of policy
on the books getting cell phones out of student hands
during class hours, but exactly what that looks like, what
discipline would look like. The Senate bill would leave that
up to each district to say, we know our student's best,
here's what's going to work.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Okay. I understand the wisdom of that. Basically that the
group that is closest the government, closest to the people
is the one that governs less. Whether it's a school
committee or a or a high school principal. It also
going to be looked at as the state Senate kind
(30:09):
to avoiding the tough decisions. Is there any sense in
your mind covering this that the state senators don't want
to be the ones who say we want a bell
to bell ban, or we want a tough option, we
want to we want to leave the details to those
below or in their communities. Is that a bit of
(30:31):
a cop out by the state senator or no?
Speaker 4 (30:34):
In European No, I don't. I don't necessarily think so.
I think that what senators are hearing from districts, from superintendents,
from educators is that they want the state to take action,
but they also want a little bit of flexibility to
carve out excuse me, to craft the exact specific details.
We should be clear. You know, this bill is on
the move that could get a vote by the end
(30:55):
of the month. It would require every public cater twelve
school to have a bell to be prohibition on students
using cell phones during the school day. It just leaves
some of the nothing bolts up to individual districts. You know,
one district might want to go harder on discipline than another.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Okay, okay, So whether or not they said, okay, you
have to leave the cell phone in your locker, well,
whether or not you're going to leave it in the
front office in an identifiable cell phone pouch, those sort
of mechanics of the band. So the state Senate is
saying no cell phones, that's the standard statewide build bell.
(31:34):
But the implementation of the details of the implementation will
leave up to local communities. That seems to me to
be a reasonable.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Position, exactly. And I think that a lot of districts
have already done this themselves, something like half maybe two
thirds have varying policies already on the books. So you
could argue that leaving details up to the district would
be a way of kind of grandfathering in districts that
have all already figured out a way to do this
(32:01):
and not making them now change their approach.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
Is there any group up there pushing back again this?
I assume that probably some high school students who enjoy
having a cell phone will will probably not be happy
with this legislation. But look, those of us who went
to high school before cell phones, we survived. But is
there any any push from I don't know, you know,
(32:27):
cell phone companies or content providers anywhere speaking in opposition
to this this legislation.
Speaker 4 (32:37):
There's not a ton of organized opposition. But what I
will say one area that's been not totally on board
is some parents. Parents have been some of the loudest
voices not arguing against a cell phone ban, but raising
some concerns worried that if schools cracked down on this,
they might not be able to get in touch with
(32:58):
their kids during the school especially in cases of emergencies.
That seems to be one area where some parents, not
all of course, are really the most concerned.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Well, you know, parents of your generation, in my generation,
pre cell phones, they would pick up their rotor dial
telephone and explain that, you know, something had happened and
they had to come and take their son or daughter
home a little early because you know, grandmama is going
to the hospital. And you know, they still had communication,
(33:33):
didn't have to do smoke signals or send carrier pigeons.
I mean people, they can still call the office at
the school and say, jar geap, my son wasn't feeling
well this morning, and could you check on him. I
assume that all of that sort of communication would still exist.
Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah, there's certainly nothing in here that would prevent a
parent from calling the front office in any school. But
you know, cell phones, as we know it has been
around for fifteen years. Smartphones have been ubiquitous for more
than a decade. So for a lot of parents of
current teenagers, they've they've never had to be a parent
to a child who didn't have a data equipt smartphone
(34:15):
that they could access anything on the Internet in a
matter of seconds.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I know, I know that there have been some
parents and some students who have said, well, if there
was ever an active shooter at our school, I want
to be able to be in touch with my son
or daughter. Actually that could be a mistake because if
there was some active shooter stalking the hallways of a
(34:40):
school and someone inadvertently, you know, had their cell phone ring,
that might give the shooter some some guidance as to
where students might be sheltering in place. So that there's
that argument as well, and I think that's an important
argument that you don't want to be look, give the
(35:02):
school administrators the ability to deal with whatever crisis comes along,
which hopefully won't come along, and cell phones, even in
that crisis, could be a liability as opposed to an
asset in my opinion.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
And it's not unanimous, nothing is. But from what we've
heard reporting on this, covering hearings where folks have spoken,
even a lot of students are asking for this. A
lot of students have made their voices heard on Beacon
Hill and told their lawmakers we need help. These cell
phones are a distraction. They fuel mental health issues because
(35:40):
when we're wired in all the time, it's just not
good for a perspective. So, you know, there are some
parents who are concerned, but there are plenty of parents
and plenty of students who look at this as a
as a potential positive.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Sounds great, Chris. How can folks become subscribers to the
State House News Service? It is a subscription in organization,
but it does provide a lot of information.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yeah, yeah, you can do that online. Go to State
Housenews dot com and if you click on the about
us there should be all sorts of information about trial
periods and signing up for a subscription thereafter.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Sounds great, Chris. Thank you for what you do up there.
Earlier tonight we were talking with I guess you're one
of your competitors, Mike Dean of Axio's Boston. But it's
good to have a presence to keep a close eye
on all those activities by the legislature. It's something that
someone has to keep an eye on. Okay, wait, thank you, Yeah,
(36:36):
my pleasure. All right, thanks Chris Chrisser the State House
News Service. When we get back, we are going to
talk about anti semitism in schools here in Massachusetts, not colleges,
high schools. You're going to be talking with Brookline School
Committee member doctor Jesse hefter uh in what some school
(36:57):
districts have now done by passing a resolution. Doctor Hefter
is here not speaking on behalf of the school committee
in Brookline. He's speaking as a member of the school
committee and his points of view are his own, but
I think you'll find them interesting. Back on nights side,
right after the nine o'clock news, we'll catch up on
what's going on around the world.
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