September 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Does it feel like more people you know are struggling with a mental health condition? Maybe you’re struggling or the parent of a child who is struggling and not sure why or how to help. According to the CDC as well as the American Psychological Association, kid’s mental health is in crisis. What’s contributing to or causing rising mental health issues? Former New Hampshire Chief Justice John Broderick has now devoted his life to speaking to middle and high school kids about their mental health struggles. After speaking with thousands of kids across New England about the societal and cultural forces impacting their mental well-being, Judge Broderick along with Jeffrey Levin, a former middle school teacher, therapist and now life coach, joined us on NightSide to discuss what’s harming kids’ mental health and what can be done about it.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's nice side with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Boston Radio,
we have two guests. We're holding them over a courtesy
of their willingness to be held over. The former Chief
Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, John Broderick, and
Jeffrey Levin. He is a therapist, a life coach. What
(00:23):
else have you done, Jeffrey? I know you mentioned it
and I might have missed it, so you were I.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Taught junior high school in the plastic seen age.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, okay, a middle school middle school teacher, amongst other skills,
and also have coached sports teams. And we are talking
about young people. I watched today a Ted talk. I
don't know if most of you know how to find
a Ted talk, but just go to Ted talk slash.
John Broderick, the former Chief Justice at the Hampshire Supreme Court.
(00:52):
It was nineteen minutes of I thought compelling information. I
knew he was going to join us tonight. There's just
so much to take out of that nineteen minutes. You
told one story, Judge about oh about kids of experiencing
(01:13):
failure and kids' days are two scheduled and it's okay
not to be okay, and you told one quick story
about talking to kids about social cultural stress, and you
talked about asking them about the difference between in eighty
nine and in ninety or a test. And if you
(01:34):
can tell that story in the meantime, I'm gonna give
people a chance to join the conversation. If there are
some high school students out there tonight who would like
to join the conversation, we'd love to have you call.
And if you are interested as a parent, we want
to hear your perspective as well. Just that quick story
I thought was interesting. And then the kid who raised
(01:55):
his head, the third child that raised his hand, Go ahead, judge.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Just thank you that No, it's illustrative of what Jeff
Levin was saying. What I've been saying about achievement, and
that it's starting at a younger and younger age. Jeff
and I actually were out on Nantucket Island. It's one
of the most beautiful places on earth, and we went
there in November a couple of years back. And if
you go to Nantucket November to speak, they think it's serious,
(02:22):
and in July they say, oh, I know, are you here.
So it was a beautiful day. We were out behind
the school and we were talking to Jeff and I.
The kids from the fifth to the eighth grade so
pretty young, and they're on Nantucket Island, that's where they live.
And so I said, I have a question. I want
to ask you guys, if I could promise you in
(02:43):
eighty nine on your next test, you wouldn't have to
study anymore. You can pick the subject you'll get to
eighty nine. Or if you want to study all night
long before the test, you'll get in ninety. And then
I said, how many of you would say all night long?
Please raise your hands? He said, fifth to eighth graders
(03:05):
on Nantucket, Every handwep every handwinner was stunning. And then
when the hands went down, the boy raised his and
he said, I'm in the seventh grade. I have a
question for you. I said, true, what's your question? He said,
what would I need to do to get one hundred
on your test? And I wanted to say, go fishing.
(03:28):
You're on Nantucket? Are you kidding me? When I was
in the fifth or sixth grade, if you said you
get the eighty nine and go out and play or
study all night long. At one more point, that's what
Jeff and I were talking about. It doesn't matter. But
to these kids, because they're being taught, that's where it's
coming from. And eighteen nyes are good enough. A ninety
(03:50):
one point is worth all those hours were going to sleep,
and that translates as they move ahead. Then, and I
didn't grow up like that. I'll bet you didn't either,
and Jeff didn't, and we did okay in life. I'm
just worried that kids are expected to do more than
they really should be doing. I'm not against achievement, but
(04:12):
my goodness, I had a girl and may come up
to me one day. She waited forty minutes then to
tell me she was an all Advanced personal class and
she was a junior, and she's so sad looking, and
she said to me, I have no life. I was
not my junior or in high school. And I said,
(04:33):
have you talked to your parents? Who should talk to
your parents? I'm sure they love you, do they know that?
And she didn't answer me. She just moved closer to
me and hugged me like a life jacket and then
ran down the hallway and to her parents, who I'm
sure lover her. She's there, all advanced placement class, high
school junior that girl was so sad. That's what I'm
(04:56):
talking about.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay, let's let's pick up some clothes that been patient
that waited, let me go next to Warren joins us
from Fall River. Warren next on nice side with former
Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Justice John Broderick,
and Jeffrey Levin, who's middle school teacher therapist on a
life coach.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Go right ahead, Hey Dan, Yeah, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Yeah. You know, I remember like when I was a kid,
you know, and didn't have all the computers, and didn't
have the phones and this and that, and I'm comparing
it to my son's life now, all right, and people
that I work with their lives now, and everyone's on
(05:43):
the phone, and everyone is more depressed, more stressed than ever.
And like when I was a kid, we me and
my friends were problem solved. We would get into situations
and we were problem problem solves our way out of
(06:05):
those situations, if you know what I mean. Kids. I
don't feel that kids today know how to problem solve.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well. The funny thing about it is that think the
computers and the cell phones that we've talked about are
supposed to make people's life life easier. I can remember
when you had to type a high school paper, you know,
five page paper or something. I would go through a
gallon of white out. Yeah, kids kids today don't know
(06:35):
what whiteout is.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
They don't. But but I also think it's you know,
I think it's very psychological the these so the social
media as you know that I'm sort of a content
creator myself on online with my music pages, and and
(07:00):
it's just I think that kids look at it and
I think they've traded in what used to be our
friends when I was growing up for likes on on
a social media page. Yeah, and I and I really
think that they, you know, I think they put way
(07:21):
too much pressure on themselves. And I think when they
look on these social media pages, they're looking at people
that that are doing better than them, and it's comparing contrast,
comparing contrast all the time in their head, even when
they don't even know that they're comparing and contrasting.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
All right, let me get a quick comment from I
think you're saying you're singing from the same song page
that we all kind of agree upon, but you did
raise them very interesting points, and Warren, I thank you.
Stay right there, Justice broaduct your comments and what Warren
had to say.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, I agree with them one hundred percent. Look,
I'm not suggesting there is Jeff Levin that we go
back thirty years and forget technology. Technology is usually important,
but what's happened to it. It's become a tunnel where
people go in and they're in there for days. It's
(08:18):
changing the way we relate to each other. And I believe,
from my own life experience all the way to the
President by the way, that eyeball to eyeball really matters.
Jeff Levan and I spoke to a pediatrician that Jeff
knows and he's been doing it twenty five years, and
we had dinner with him one night and I said
(08:40):
to him, what's the difference docts between kids twenty five
years ago these kids today? And we didn't coach the answer,
and he didn't hesitate that. He said, kids today don't
look in the eye. They're not comfortable there. They look down.
And I think there's a lot of truth to that.
These kids are not comfortable in the world all that
we grew up in, and they're overstretched in the world
(09:03):
they live in. I mean, that's kind of where we
find ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
N can I jump in real quick? A year ago
this July, I had a three very upsetting phone calls.
And I don't say this to be alarmist, but I've
been a counselor of some shape for forty years and
a teacher for five years before that. The three calls
I received were from athletes where I had worked with
(09:28):
their team, in one case a boy in New Hampshire,
football player, a hockey player from Rhode Island, and a
private school kid and the athlete and so on, and
the three calls where these boys were crying and what
happened Alex, what happened Mac? What happened to And they're
a close friend of this had committed suicide the day
(09:50):
or a couple of days before, and when I received
these calls, and the justices that it was statistics, and
I he knows the exact statistics around suicide, loneliness and
so on, and and something inside me snapped in. And
I've done a lot of thinking about why we are
where we are, and it's no one's fault, but we're
(10:12):
seeing we're seeing sort of the death of imagination and
intestinal fortitude and independence and intimacy and integrity, and you
need all those where they happen to all begin with I.
But you need those insufficient quantities for your identity to solidify.
You have to go through adversity and figure it out.
(10:33):
Like the caller said, you know, we'd we'd problem solved
at this point, and I don't want to. I really, John,
and I do not blame anybody. I'm sure I would
have done the same thing as a parent, but it's
really we're not doing this right. And we implore people
the call is Dan or anybody who's listening, to get
(10:54):
in touch with us, because we want to broaden the conversation.
And we've we've we we have solutions for this. It's
not rocket science. We can the skills, the skills that
we learned as most of us on the playgrounds and
so on in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties. We can
teach kids imagination and intestinal fortitude. I do it when
(11:17):
I work with sports teams and there, as we say
around Boston, wicked hungry to learn what makes them tick
and to learn how they can be confident and feel
more connected to their friends and themselves.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
All right, boy, thank you for the call. Appreciation.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Can I just add one one little small comment. Sure, okay,
I do think that, like if we do, you know,
we're you know, Rhode Island is taking the phones out
of the classroom. I don't know if Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Has Massachusetts, I think the.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Doing it. But I'm gonna but I'm going to make
a prediction that test scores are going to go way
up with the with the phones out of the classroom
because they're gonna have to learn how to problem solve
on their on their own.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Okay, we will see. That's an interesting comment. Thanks for
thanks talk. Sure, Okay, we're gonna take a quick break.
This is a very quick break. We can back up
Matt and Brighton, I get some of the lines. If
you'd like to join the conversation again, I'm looking for
one other parent to fess up. Come on, some of
you have some courage. And also if you're a high
school or a college student, who can talk about what
(12:26):
pressure you felt and whether or not it's interfered in
your mind with your development within society. Uh, and whether
you feel that you have been over regulated, overscheduled uh
and maybe that your childhood or your teen years are
slipping away. We'd love to hear that perspective as well.
(12:47):
Back on night's side right after this six one seven, two,
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. Back right after this, it's night Side with.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Fast News Radio.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Okay, back to the calls, and gentlemen, I may let
you go at eleven thirty. I so appreciate the time
you spent with us tonight. I think a lot of
people are listening. I wish more we'll call it Matt
and Brighton. Matt, you're next to Nights. I appreciate you
checking in. Matt, you're on with former New Hampshire Chief
Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court John Broderick and
(13:22):
Jeffrey Levin gord a hit Matt.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Pleasure to be acquainted to both of you.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
All good to have you back.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Then, I'll say to somebody who's a younger individual, somebody
who can understand the modern age of kind of technology
and stuff like that in the classroom, I do want
to say, and somebody who's had my own foundation of
(13:55):
issues when I was in high school, which I long,
you know, made out and made out very well.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I do have to say part.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Of it from where I went and I Honestly, I
went to Newton schools and I went to private school
and it's a great school system.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But it's also.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
About driving the trip and the kids in. You know,
it's about that too.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I mean, by driving the kids, what do you mean
by that man describe? I don't understand that phrase.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Absolutely bringing the people, the kids, the students, the young men,
young women in on interest of the subject. If somebody
is going to put on and I and I have
this many times people teachers were put on a video
they didn't really put in the effort. I'm not trying
to shoot anybody down here.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You're when you're talking to what I'm hearing mat is,
you're talking about the teachers interacting and keeping kids interested.
How does that relate to what we're talking.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
About, Because as you're talking about people who are having
dilemmas and students who may not and have huge pressures
coming from home, and the teachers are not able to
fulfill that. And many times, from what I experienced, it
made me feel worse by some of those teachers. Some
of these kids, especially in sports. As the other gentleman
(15:22):
was said saying, you know, these athletes have huge pressures
put on them. And going home to that at eighteen
seventeen sixteen. And as you're saying, they hear them crying,
they can't outreach. So if there's not a teacher or
professor or necessary not professor, but that my point is
(15:44):
that driving them in and having a good solid outreach
and something that they somebody they can trust and somebody
where they if they break down when a teacher asked
them one or two questions, how well is the school
or the system doing. Is taking away a phone? Is
that going to make it all the different? Is that
(16:05):
going to bring their sport?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I'm honestly not sure that we're on the same page here.
I'm what they're talking about are kids who are being overstressed, overscheduled,
with pressure being put on them by parents, and and
that's what they're talking about here. I just don't understand
(16:29):
how it relates to what you're saying. Give another shot
at this for me, please, Matt Wish.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I'm very happy to I had a father who was
very tough on me, very tough, who was rigid on me,
who never made me feel good about myself. He wanted
me to go to case Western Reserve just like him,
and go to n y U and then go to
another school. And if I didn't, that was the pressure
(16:54):
putting me back in two thousand and seven. I didn't
have a teacher to go reach out to. I didn't
have accounts starting to reach out.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, okay, I get now, I get to the point
you're making. Let me get Roberts and Matt and uh
and Jeffrey Levin to comment. Matt, you stay there. Okay,
I get you a point. Yeah, okay, I.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Truly do you.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
No, You've you've connected the circle for me, and I
get it just as Broderick I. I I assume that
did you get the point that this young guy had
pressure from his dad to succeed uh and had no
one else to talk to.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I think that's a common malady, to be honest. Uh.
I've talked to too many kids then who are living
someone else's dream and they don't want to tell their parents.
Jeff and I spoke one night to a young woman
who was at an Ivy League school, and Jeff said
to her on this podcast, what is your passion in life?
(17:56):
She was going to be a junior at the school,
and she looked at him, what are you talking about?
Your passion? He said, what motivate you? And he said,
you mean my hobbies? He said, don't know what's the
driving force in your life? And she said helping people?
And I said that's pretty noble. And I said, what
are you doing this summer? So I'm going to be
an intern an investment bank on Wall Street? Okay, maybe
(18:21):
she'd be helping rich people. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
And so she didn't. She didn't have the wherewithal to
say to her parents, I don't want to go to
investment banking. So that young man who called you tonight,
he didn't have any outlet and he was disappointing his parents.
And it sounds like he's done just fine. But it's
(18:41):
stress on kids. They don't need trust your child, let
them grow, and if you have a good relationship with them,
they'll tell you how they're feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah in your tea. Yeah. In his Ted talk today,
Matt the Judge said that essentially, see the child in
front of you and enjoy the time with that child
that's in front of you, and don't look at that
(19:14):
child and try to visualize who that child might be.
I'm paraphrasing Judge, but I think I'm close to what
you said. You said it much more particularly than I did.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
No, I think that's true, Dan, and it wasn't. As
Jeff Levin said, We're not here to blame people. Believe me,
being a parent today is hard. It's harder for parents
today than it wasn't my parents. I get that, But
at some point certain principles of childhood are agutable, and
so stop building resumes from the seventh grade. Let your
(19:46):
kids grow, find out what they like, and support what
they're interested in. And I just think we love our
kids so much we're afraid they'll make the wrong choice,
and therefore we drive the choices that they have, and
it's not helpful.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
All right, Matt, thanks for you let me very very
quickly if I can, and it really does relate on
I'm sorry, you know I couldn't connect it originally. I
did have two loving parents, one of which never gave
me that feeling. And when that kind of stuff happens
and you have no one to reach out to in
(20:25):
your school system is when I start to feel the
whole thing fails. And then things like addiction. I'm not
saying it's relating to me per se. You know, things
early on, hanging around the wrong groups in.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
High school, et cetera. That is where you.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Find your group and there's not any outreach, and these
things do pervase, and these things do happen, and then
it's very hard to bring that student back in. That's
where you need to find that for teacher, that counselor all.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Right, Matt, you said you said it, well, thank you
very much. I appreciate you, all right, all right, I
also very much much appreciate Justice Broderick your time and
Jeff Levin your time. Again. I hope many in our
audience will seek out your Ted Talk, Justice Broderick. Simply
(21:14):
it's John Broderick, b R O D E r ic
K and Ted Talk. They should be able to find it.
It's nineteen minutes that I would hope every parent would
have an opportunity to watch in the not too distant future,
particularly if the kids are now either very young or
(21:35):
even more importantly, if they are passing through their preteen
or teen years. And I want to thank you Justice Broderick,
and also thank you Jeff Levin for joining us tonight.
I think a lot of people were listening to what
you had to say to I and a lot of
people probably identified with everything you said but did not
want to be associated with if via a phone by
(21:56):
a phone call.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Thanks for the opportunity, and as Jeff said, we really
want to start community conversations. We don't want to you know,
we don't want to have this issue go away. We
can fix it, we can solve it, but we need
to be honest to me to start talking locally about
what we're seeing and what we're doing. And I hope,
I hope it does connect with people because it's so
(22:22):
important that the kids have talked to.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Gentlemen, and go ahead, Yeah, thanks very much. We do
want to We're happy to talk to folks. This isn't
a plug personally, but my website is Jeff levincoaching dot com.
And if you want to get in touch about parenting
and kids and families and any of this stuff, John
and I would both love to hear from me.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Well, thank you both, gentlemen for you the general will
safe your time tonight, and you're also willingness to be
available on a more one to one basis. We will
we'll do something like this again at some point in
the not too distant future. I think it's such an
important subject and pray. I think a lot of people
benefited from it tonight, but they benefited by listening. We'll
be back right after the news at the bottom of
(23:06):
the hour. Running a couple of minutes late, apologize about that.
I want to thank my guests profusely. We'll be back
right after the news.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Well, I want to thank my guest the last hour
and a half, John Broderick, the former Chief Justice of
the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and jeff Levin. Jeffrey Levin,
a former middle school teacher, therapist, life coach, and also
sports coach Sham. Both of them have spent a lot
of time with middle school students and high school students,
(23:41):
and they have come to the conclusion that we as
parents have overstressed them, overscheduled them, and basically pushed them
in areas that have taken away wide swaths of time
of their childhood. If you'd like to comment on what
you heard ten thirty or six one, seven, nine, three,
(24:03):
ten thirty, I have open lines. And speaking of open lines,
I'm going to give you an opportunity. We get about
twenty two minutes left here. Feel free if there's some
subject out there that you would like to explore, that
you'd like to talk about. A lot has happened in
the last two weeks I was away. I am going
to get to all of these topics in some depth
in the next week or so. I'll remind you that
(24:24):
Tomorrow night at nine o'clock we will have Boston mayor
candidate Josh Kraft. He lost or two of his longtime advisors,
or at least long time advisors in terms of this campaign.
He's not been running for a long time. Two people
who were married, Eileen O'Connor and Will Kaiser, have left
the campaign. The We will certainly ask Joshkraft about that
(24:49):
tomorrowt nine o'clock. So if you want to talk with
Meyrill candidate Josh Kraft Tomorrow night at nine o'clock, and
then on Friday night at nine o'clock, we will present
the other part of the story that we talked about
earlier tonight, which is the group that are the two
groups that are vying for the Massachusetts Service Plaza contract.
(25:11):
That's one that has already been decided, it has not
been finalized. But the group that we had on this evening,
Eric Slifka, and the president and CEO of Global Partners.
They are hoping that they can resurrect and get this
commission Department of the Committee on the Department of Transportation
(25:34):
to look at the two contracts, and they claim that
their contract would be of about a billion dollars more
in revenue here in Massachusetts. But in the meantime, there's
lots going on around the country. Donald Trump is fighting
battles everywhere. We talked last night a little bit about
the whole concept of more police in certain communities. I
(25:59):
think the Democrats actually have a legitimate point. And now
again some of you are going to say, well, there's
day criticizing Trump. I'm not criticizing President Trump. I think
that there are a lot of cities in America that
are out of control. And I think that if the
same crime that occurred in some of the poor cities
(26:23):
in America. Again, whether it's a city in a state
like Illinois, Chicago, which is obviously a deep blue state,
or Boston, which is a deep blue state, or or
some of the red states. Certainly there are cities Memphis, Tennessee,
(26:44):
apparently on a per capita basis, has a significant amount
of crime. Saint Louis and Kansas City are both two
states in Missouri, which has a Republican governor and has
voted Republican in recent years. They I think President Trump
would be very smart, and I'm not sure that he
(27:05):
would be willing to do this, but why not ask
a Republican governor or two or three Republican governors he
can certainly you see some of the crime that goes
on in Texas cities. These are cities that need some
attention and need some help. And the more that President
(27:26):
Trump tries to trude it into a partisan issue on crime,
I can't imagine any Democrats who would say, you know what,
I live in a crime riddle neighborhood here and fill
in the blank whether it's Washington and Baltimore or Chicago
or wherever, New York, Boston, who are going to stay?
(27:48):
But I enjoy living in a high crime neighborhood. I
can't imagine anyone Democrat Republican, whatever background, political or otherwise
you might have, would want to live in community this
high crime. Because one, you're not a safe, your family's
not a safe. You may not be able to move
(28:09):
somewhere and pay more in rent, or move somewhere and
buy a home to get your family out of there.
But I know that you'd prefer more security, more safety.
And it's got nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans.
It has a lot to do with democratic leaders. In
(28:31):
my opinion, there are Democratic leaders who do not want
to be shown up by any Republican, most specifically Donald Trump.
Now the mayor of Washington, D C. Muriel Bowser, who
had expressed a great deal of concern with the federalization
of troops. The introduction of federal troops, she now seems
(28:51):
to be reconciled to it, and actually more than reconciled.
The comments that I have seen her make, at least
of recent date, seem to be so motive of it. Again,
look at Los Angeles, overwhelmingly democratic city. Now they had
some problems, and President Trump, I think did the right
(29:14):
thing once ICE agents were coming under attack. Now again,
if you're going to say, well, the ICE agents shouldn't
be there, I guess there's not much of a conversation
we can have. I want to know if there's anyone
out there, And I challenge you, if you live in
a crime ridden neighborhood. And you'd like to tell me
(29:34):
how comfortable you are to live in a crime riddle neighborhood,
and you prefer it that your neighborhood remain crime riddled
as long as there were no federal troops in your neighborhood.
I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The other thing is that Democratic presidents have used federal troops,
and they have used federal troops to integrate segregated schools
in Arkansas and in Alabama. I can remember Nicholas katzenback
then the Attorney General and the Kennedy administration going and
confronting George Wallace who wanted to keep the schools in
(30:11):
Alabama segregated. I remember President Eisenhower confronting Ville Fobas with
National Guard troops in nineteen fifty seven in Arkansas, in
Little Rock, Arkansas. These are things that clearly existed. So
the idea of federal troops in American cities is not novel.
(30:32):
I do know that many of you say, well, there
are laws that suggest that federal troops cannot go into
cities and perform police activity. I get that. I get that,
But if you're going to introduce FBI agents, if you're
going to introduce state police and if they need to
(30:52):
be protected, I think that's a legitimate role of the
US federal government. You can agree to disagree six one seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty. Got a quick commercial break coming up. We'll
take it a little early. Give you an opportunity to
jump on board. I want to hear from you. Is
(31:13):
Donald Trump making a mistake by not acts asking Republican
governors in red states, including Governor DeSantis in Florida. Uh,
maybe no governor wants to admit that they need some help.
But I think it would be a way in which
Donald Trump could diffuse this politically and still accomplish what
(31:37):
he wants to accomplish. But I'm not sure that's where
he would take this conversation. Wide open lines six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six one seven, nine, three one
ten thirty. I'll be back in two minutes. I hope
to hear from some of you. Will be right back
on Nightside. You're on night Side with Dan Ray on
w b Z, Boston's news radio. Well, everybody's so, you
(32:00):
know what, I'm going to talk for the next ten minutes,
and I if maybe some of you would like to
make a suggestion as to what subjects you would be
interested in. I thought that tonight and last night we
put together two pretty good shows which would attract interest.
(32:24):
And for some reason, and I don't know why, sometimes
this happens. When I returned from a vacation, I hadn't
had a vacation in well, I hadn't had a long
vacation in a long time. I pretty much for the
most part of lest fore youears have been doing a
week's vacation. I decided to think two weeks vacation and
tackle on a Labor day for good luck. And it
(32:48):
was great. Did lots of interesting things, relaxed, which is
I think very important. Didn't go anywhere to speak of,
kept within probably I don't know a ten or a
fifteen mile radius, which again most people would say, well,
don't you want to go somewhere. No, I like to
(33:09):
stay home. If you are a vacation person and want
to tell me how if you had two weeks vacation,
what you would do with it. Love to hear from you,
that's fine, But no, I said to myself, I'm going
to just kind of relax, kick back, and I'm glad
I did now one of the things that I did
(33:31):
during the vacation, which frankly, I treated myself and my
family to a lot of family time. We had some
relatives come down, and we had some lovely meetings, lovely meals,
and there was some more than a few opportunities to
(33:53):
at night have a coarse light or red wine, my
two intoxican of choice. And yesterday I had the reality
that I had to weigh in for wake in one
eighty and I got it done. It was great, it
was absolutely great. Weighed in in about one sixty seven.
(34:15):
I don't have the precise number in front of me,
but well below what I considered to be my marginal line,
which is one seventy. So so I had a successful
vacation weighed in despite the fact that you know, my
weight had gone up pound pound and a half. But
the beauty of a wake in one eighty is that
(34:35):
the weight comes down again with little effort. With little effort,
you just kind of kicked back, pushed back from the
table a little bit. I was not doing any pushing
back from the table during my two weeks vacation, and
it was great. I enjoyed it, and I hope that
(34:55):
you folks enjoyed my my substitute host. As I mentioned
last night, I'm both Bradley Jay and my good friend
Morgan White allowed me to spend some time off and
to do something other than doing this talk show, because
people don't realize that when you're doing a talk show
(35:16):
five nights a week, four hours a night, it's a
lot of work. Believe me, it's a lot of work.
And I enjoy doing it. But sometimes when I don't
hear from as many of you as I like to
expect to, I wonder if maybe somehow I have picked
the wrong subjects. Let me go to wrong and see
(35:37):
if we're picking the wrong subjects. Hey, Ron, appreciate your
calling in.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
How are you damn doing?
Speaker 6 (35:43):
Okay? Calling in late because just returning from work actually,
But I just want to say that this, among many
of the shows, was are the finest hours that spent.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I thought we had two. I thought the two guests
were really good. To be honest with you, they wore
their hearts on their sleeves. And if you get a
chance to see Justice Brodercts, Ted talk, knowing you run
as I do, I think you would really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Oh, yes, I really enjoy those, and I can't wait
to I mean, I'll do that before I go to sleep. Connect.
But I just want you to know, Dan, that I've
learned more in the past numbers of years from listening
to your program and then when I thought I could
to contribute. But I just want to thank you that
(36:43):
you have spurred such an interest in me learning about
history that I have now spent hours and hours of
listening to history documentaries.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
Yeah, I just listened to one terrific one with Walter
Cronkite and General Eisenhower returning to D Day. It was
just it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
If so with Eisenhower and Cronkite returning to D Day.
What year were they returning after Eisenhower's presidency.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
This was nineteen sixty seven. I believe that the documentary, Yeah,
I mean, I think you would love it. I've listened
to it, God, quite a few times because I just
I'm just so impressed with both listening to the humility
(37:47):
and you know, the impacts that they have both made.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Well, I'll tell you, would you. I mean, I think
Dwight Eisenhower was the right guy for the job. I'm
not an expert on the in D Day, but I
do know that there was no certainty of success that
the Allied troops were guaranteed. Uh. And there were people.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Who he.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
Just takes you right up into the bunker where they
could look out over over the ocean and uh parked
to Hank Is, his thought processes for these for the
strategy are just uh, you know it's and you got
me there, so that that's the point.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, that was parked a hawk
on Normandy where the German pill boxes had their machine
guns mounted. Uh. And they they were able to cut
down many of the Allied troops Americans, Canadians and others
as they came ashore. That that the morning of June sixth,
again there were no safe spaces on the beaches of Normandy,
(38:56):
and there were there There were there were no support
animals or teddy bears that people were clutching. They had
an m one run.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
Oh my god, that's all they and the.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
Confluence of contributing factors that they had to decide upon,
the weather, the current, you know, which day could they
possibly predict for?
Speaker 1 (39:22):
And the run I got you up to I got
close to time, but I think you what you have
done now is you have encouraged a lot of other
people and documentary with Walter Cronkite and Dwight Eisenhower on
D Day from nineteen sixty seven. Thank you, Ron. As always,
we will talk soon, thank you, maybe sooner than anyone
realizes we're going to take a break. I'm going to
(39:42):
end it all tonight. I'm going to end the program
by telling you not doing a postgame tonight, so don't
worry about that. I'm getting to bed a little early.
All dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's
why Pal Charlie Raims were passed fifteen years ago in February.
That's why your pets are past. They loved you and
you love them. I do believe see them again to morning.
I hope to see you again tomorrow night, Rob Brooks,
(40:02):
A nice job, Marita as well. Back on tomorrow night,
which will be Thursday. Have a great Thursday, everyone,
It's nice side with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Boston Radio,
we have two guests. We're holding them over a courtesy
of their willingness to be held over. The former Chief
Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, John Broderick, and
Jeffrey Levin. He is a therapist, a life coach. What
(00:23):
else have you done, Jeffrey? I know you mentioned it
and I might have missed it, so you were I.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Taught junior high school in the plastic seen age.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Yeah, okay, a middle school middle school teacher, amongst other skills,
and also have coached sports teams. And we are talking
about young people. I watched today a Ted talk. I
don't know if most of you know how to find
a Ted talk, but just go to Ted talk slash.
John Broderick, the former Chief Justice at the Hampshire Supreme Court.
(00:52):
It was nineteen minutes of I thought compelling information. I
knew he was going to join us tonight. There's just
so much to take out of that nineteen minutes. You
told one story, Judge about oh about kids of experiencing
(01:13):
failure and kids' days are two scheduled and it's okay
not to be okay, and you told one quick story
about talking to kids about social cultural stress, and you
talked about asking them about the difference between in eighty
nine and in ninety or a test. And if you
(01:34):
can tell that story in the meantime, I'm gonna give
people a chance to join the conversation. If there are
some high school students out there tonight who would like
to join the conversation, we'd love to have you call.
And if you are interested as a parent, we want
to hear your perspective as well. Just that quick story
I thought was interesting. And then the kid who raised
(01:55):
his head, the third child that raised his hand, Go ahead, judge.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Just thank you that No, it's illustrative of what Jeff
Levin was saying. What I've been saying about achievement, and
that it's starting at a younger and younger age. Jeff
and I actually were out on Nantucket Island. It's one
of the most beautiful places on earth, and we went
there in November a couple of years back. And if
you go to Nantucket November to speak, they think it's serious,
(02:22):
and in July they say, oh, I know, are you here.
So it was a beautiful day. We were out behind
the school and we were talking to Jeff and I.
The kids from the fifth to the eighth grade so
pretty young, and they're on Nantucket Island, that's where they live.
And so I said, I have a question. I want
to ask you guys, if I could promise you in
(02:43):
eighty nine on your next test, you wouldn't have to
study anymore. You can pick the subject you'll get to
eighty nine. Or if you want to study all night
long before the test, you'll get in ninety. And then
I said, how many of you would say all night long?
Please raise your hands? He said, fifth to eighth graders
(03:05):
on Nantucket, Every handwep every handwinner was stunning. And then
when the hands went down, the boy raised his and
he said, I'm in the seventh grade. I have a
question for you. I said, true, what's your question? He said,
what would I need to do to get one hundred
on your test? And I wanted to say, go fishing.
(03:28):
You're on Nantucket? Are you kidding me? When I was
in the fifth or sixth grade, if you said you
get the eighty nine and go out and play or
study all night long. At one more point, that's what
Jeff and I were talking about. It doesn't matter. But
to these kids, because they're being taught, that's where it's
coming from. And eighteen nyes are good enough. A ninety
(03:50):
one point is worth all those hours were going to sleep,
and that translates as they move ahead. Then, and I
didn't grow up like that. I'll bet you didn't either,
and Jeff didn't, and we did okay in life. I'm
just worried that kids are expected to do more than
they really should be doing. I'm not against achievement, but
(04:12):
my goodness, I had a girl and may come up
to me one day. She waited forty minutes then to
tell me she was an all Advanced personal class and
she was a junior, and she's so sad looking, and
she said to me, I have no life. I was
not my junior or in high school. And I said,
(04:33):
have you talked to your parents? Who should talk to
your parents? I'm sure they love you, do they know that?
And she didn't answer me. She just moved closer to
me and hugged me like a life jacket and then
ran down the hallway and to her parents, who I'm
sure lover her. She's there, all advanced placement class, high
school junior that girl was so sad. That's what I'm
(04:56):
talking about.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay, let's let's pick up some clothes that been patient
that waited, let me go next to Warren joins us
from Fall River. Warren next on nice side with former
Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Justice John Broderick,
and Jeffrey Levin, who's middle school teacher therapist on a
life coach.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Go right ahead, Hey Dan, Yeah, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Thanks.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Yeah. You know, I remember like when I was a kid,
you know, and didn't have all the computers, and didn't
have the phones and this and that, and I'm comparing
it to my son's life now, all right, and people
that I work with their lives now, and everyone's on
(05:43):
the phone, and everyone is more depressed, more stressed than ever.
And like when I was a kid, we me and
my friends were problem solved. We would get into situations
and we were problem problem solves our way out of
(06:05):
those situations, if you know what I mean. Kids. I
don't feel that kids today know how to problem solve.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Well. The funny thing about it is that think the
computers and the cell phones that we've talked about are
supposed to make people's life life easier. I can remember
when you had to type a high school paper, you know,
five page paper or something. I would go through a
gallon of white out. Yeah, kids kids today don't know
(06:35):
what whiteout is.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
They don't. But but I also think it's you know,
I think it's very psychological the these so the social
media as you know that I'm sort of a content
creator myself on online with my music pages, and and
(07:00):
it's just I think that kids look at it and
I think they've traded in what used to be our
friends when I was growing up for likes on on
a social media page. Yeah, and I and I really
think that they, you know, I think they put way
(07:21):
too much pressure on themselves. And I think when they
look on these social media pages, they're looking at people
that that are doing better than them, and it's comparing contrast,
comparing contrast all the time in their head, even when
they don't even know that they're comparing and contrasting.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
All right, let me get a quick comment from I
think you're saying you're singing from the same song page
that we all kind of agree upon, but you did
raise them very interesting points, and Warren, I thank you.
Stay right there, Justice broaduct your comments and what Warren
had to say.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, I agree with them one hundred percent. Look,
I'm not suggesting there is Jeff Levin that we go
back thirty years and forget technology. Technology is usually important,
but what's happened to it. It's become a tunnel where
people go in and they're in there for days. It's
(08:18):
changing the way we relate to each other. And I believe,
from my own life experience all the way to the
President by the way, that eyeball to eyeball really matters.
Jeff Levan and I spoke to a pediatrician that Jeff
knows and he's been doing it twenty five years, and
we had dinner with him one night and I said
(08:40):
to him, what's the difference docts between kids twenty five
years ago these kids today? And we didn't coach the answer,
and he didn't hesitate that. He said, kids today don't
look in the eye. They're not comfortable there. They look down.
And I think there's a lot of truth to that.
These kids are not comfortable in the world all that
we grew up in, and they're overstretched in the world
(09:03):
they live in. I mean, that's kind of where we
find ourselves.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
N can I jump in real quick? A year ago
this July, I had a three very upsetting phone calls.
And I don't say this to be alarmist, but I've
been a counselor of some shape for forty years and
a teacher for five years before that. The three calls
I received were from athletes where I had worked with
(09:28):
their team, in one case a boy in New Hampshire,
football player, a hockey player from Rhode Island, and a
private school kid and the athlete and so on, and
the three calls where these boys were crying and what
happened Alex, what happened Mac? What happened to And they're
a close friend of this had committed suicide the day
(09:50):
or a couple of days before, and when I received
these calls, and the justices that it was statistics, and
I he knows the exact statistics around suicide, loneliness and
so on, and and something inside me snapped in. And
I've done a lot of thinking about why we are
where we are, and it's no one's fault, but we're
(10:12):
seeing we're seeing sort of the death of imagination and
intestinal fortitude and independence and intimacy and integrity, and you
need all those where they happen to all begin with I.
But you need those insufficient quantities for your identity to solidify.
You have to go through adversity and figure it out.
(10:33):
Like the caller said, you know, we'd we'd problem solved
at this point, and I don't want to. I really, John,
and I do not blame anybody. I'm sure I would
have done the same thing as a parent, but it's
really we're not doing this right. And we implore people
the call is Dan or anybody who's listening, to get
(10:54):
in touch with us, because we want to broaden the conversation.
And we've we've we we have solutions for this. It's
not rocket science. We can the skills, the skills that
we learned as most of us on the playgrounds and
so on in the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties. We can
teach kids imagination and intestinal fortitude. I do it when
(11:17):
I work with sports teams and there, as we say
around Boston, wicked hungry to learn what makes them tick
and to learn how they can be confident and feel
more connected to their friends and themselves.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
All right, boy, thank you for the call. Appreciation.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Can I just add one one little small comment. Sure, okay,
I do think that, like if we do, you know,
we're you know, Rhode Island is taking the phones out
of the classroom. I don't know if Massachusetts.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Has Massachusetts, I think the.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Doing it. But I'm gonna but I'm going to make
a prediction that test scores are going to go way
up with the with the phones out of the classroom
because they're gonna have to learn how to problem solve
on their on their own.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Okay, we will see. That's an interesting comment. Thanks for
thanks talk. Sure, Okay, we're gonna take a quick break.
This is a very quick break. We can back up
Matt and Brighton, I get some of the lines. If
you'd like to join the conversation again, I'm looking for
one other parent to fess up. Come on, some of
you have some courage. And also if you're a high
school or a college student, who can talk about what
(12:26):
pressure you felt and whether or not it's interfered in
your mind with your development within society. Uh, and whether
you feel that you have been over regulated, overscheduled uh
and maybe that your childhood or your teen years are
slipping away. We'd love to hear that perspective as well.
(12:47):
Back on night's side right after this six one seven, two,
five four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three
one ten thirty. Back right after this, it's night Side with.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Fast News Radio.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Okay, back to the calls, and gentlemen, I may let
you go at eleven thirty. I so appreciate the time
you spent with us tonight. I think a lot of
people are listening. I wish more we'll call it Matt
and Brighton. Matt, you're next to Nights. I appreciate you
checking in. Matt, you're on with former New Hampshire Chief
Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court John Broderick and
(13:22):
Jeffrey Levin gord a hit Matt.
Speaker 5 (13:26):
Pleasure to be acquainted to both of you.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
All good to have you back.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Then, I'll say to somebody who's a younger individual, somebody
who can understand the modern age of kind of technology
and stuff like that in the classroom, I do want
to say, and somebody who's had my own foundation of
(13:55):
issues when I was in high school, which I long,
you know, made out and made out very well.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I do have to say part.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Of it from where I went and I Honestly, I
went to Newton schools and I went to private school
and it's a great school system.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But it's also.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
About driving the trip and the kids in. You know,
it's about that too.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
I mean, by driving the kids, what do you mean
by that man describe? I don't understand that phrase.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Absolutely bringing the people, the kids, the students, the young men,
young women in on interest of the subject. If somebody
is going to put on and I and I have
this many times people teachers were put on a video
they didn't really put in the effort. I'm not trying
to shoot anybody down here.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
You're when you're talking to what I'm hearing mat is,
you're talking about the teachers interacting and keeping kids interested.
How does that relate to what we're talking.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
About, Because as you're talking about people who are having
dilemmas and students who may not and have huge pressures
coming from home, and the teachers are not able to
fulfill that. And many times, from what I experienced, it
made me feel worse by some of those teachers. Some
of these kids, especially in sports. As the other gentleman
(15:22):
was said saying, you know, these athletes have huge pressures
put on them. And going home to that at eighteen
seventeen sixteen. And as you're saying, they hear them crying,
they can't outreach. So if there's not a teacher or
professor or necessary not professor, but that my point is
(15:44):
that driving them in and having a good solid outreach
and something that they somebody they can trust and somebody
where they if they break down when a teacher asked
them one or two questions, how well is the school
or the system doing. Is taking away a phone? Is
that going to make it all the different? Is that
(16:05):
going to bring their sport?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I'm honestly not sure that we're on the same page here.
I'm what they're talking about are kids who are being overstressed, overscheduled,
with pressure being put on them by parents, and and
that's what they're talking about here. I just don't understand
(16:29):
how it relates to what you're saying. Give another shot
at this for me, please, Matt Wish.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I'm very happy to I had a father who was
very tough on me, very tough, who was rigid on me,
who never made me feel good about myself. He wanted
me to go to case Western Reserve just like him,
and go to n y U and then go to
another school. And if I didn't, that was the pressure
(16:54):
putting me back in two thousand and seven. I didn't
have a teacher to go reach out to. I didn't
have accounts starting to reach out.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Okay, okay, I get now, I get to the point
you're making. Let me get Roberts and Matt and uh
and Jeffrey Levin to comment. Matt, you stay there. Okay,
I get you a point. Yeah, okay, I.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Truly do you.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
No, You've you've connected the circle for me, and I
get it just as Broderick I. I I assume that
did you get the point that this young guy had
pressure from his dad to succeed uh and had no
one else to talk to.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
I think that's a common malady, to be honest. Uh.
I've talked to too many kids then who are living
someone else's dream and they don't want to tell their parents.
Jeff and I spoke one night to a young woman
who was at an Ivy League school, and Jeff said
to her on this podcast, what is your passion in life?
(17:56):
She was going to be a junior at the school,
and she looked at him, what are you talking about?
Your passion? He said, what motivate you? And he said,
you mean my hobbies? He said, don't know what's the
driving force in your life? And she said helping people?
And I said that's pretty noble. And I said, what
are you doing this summer? So I'm going to be
an intern an investment bank on Wall Street? Okay, maybe
(18:21):
she'd be helping rich people. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
And so she didn't. She didn't have the wherewithal to
say to her parents, I don't want to go to
investment banking. So that young man who called you tonight,
he didn't have any outlet and he was disappointing his parents.
And it sounds like he's done just fine. But it's
(18:41):
stress on kids. They don't need trust your child, let
them grow, and if you have a good relationship with them,
they'll tell you how they're feeling.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah in your tea. Yeah. In his Ted talk today,
Matt the Judge said that essentially, see the child in
front of you and enjoy the time with that child
that's in front of you, and don't look at that
(19:14):
child and try to visualize who that child might be.
I'm paraphrasing Judge, but I think I'm close to what
you said. You said it much more particularly than I did.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
No, I think that's true, Dan, and it wasn't. As
Jeff Levin said, We're not here to blame people. Believe me,
being a parent today is hard. It's harder for parents
today than it wasn't my parents. I get that, But
at some point certain principles of childhood are agutable, and
so stop building resumes from the seventh grade. Let your
(19:46):
kids grow, find out what they like, and support what
they're interested in. And I just think we love our
kids so much we're afraid they'll make the wrong choice,
and therefore we drive the choices that they have, and
it's not helpful.
Speaker 5 (20:02):
All right, Matt, thanks for you let me very very
quickly if I can, and it really does relate on
I'm sorry, you know I couldn't connect it originally. I
did have two loving parents, one of which never gave
me that feeling. And when that kind of stuff happens
and you have no one to reach out to in
(20:25):
your school system is when I start to feel the
whole thing fails. And then things like addiction. I'm not
saying it's relating to me per se. You know, things
early on, hanging around the wrong groups in.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
High school, et cetera. That is where you.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Find your group and there's not any outreach, and these
things do pervase, and these things do happen, and then
it's very hard to bring that student back in. That's
where you need to find that for teacher, that counselor all.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Right, Matt, you said you said it, well, thank you
very much. I appreciate you, all right, all right, I
also very much much appreciate Justice Broderick your time and
Jeff Levin your time. Again. I hope many in our
audience will seek out your Ted Talk, Justice Broderick. Simply
(21:14):
it's John Broderick, b R O D E r ic
K and Ted Talk. They should be able to find it.
It's nineteen minutes that I would hope every parent would
have an opportunity to watch in the not too distant future,
particularly if the kids are now either very young or
(21:35):
even more importantly, if they are passing through their preteen
or teen years. And I want to thank you Justice Broderick,
and also thank you Jeff Levin for joining us tonight.
I think a lot of people were listening to what
you had to say to I and a lot of
people probably identified with everything you said but did not
want to be associated with if via a phone by
(21:56):
a phone call.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
Thanks for the opportunity, and as Jeff said, we really
want to start community conversations. We don't want to you know,
we don't want to have this issue go away. We
can fix it, we can solve it, but we need
to be honest to me to start talking locally about
what we're seeing and what we're doing. And I hope,
I hope it does connect with people because it's so
(22:22):
important that the kids have talked to.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Gentlemen, and go ahead, Yeah, thanks very much. We do
want to We're happy to talk to folks. This isn't
a plug personally, but my website is Jeff levincoaching dot com.
And if you want to get in touch about parenting
and kids and families and any of this stuff, John
and I would both love to hear from me.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
Well, thank you both, gentlemen for you the general will
safe your time tonight, and you're also willingness to be
available on a more one to one basis. We will
we'll do something like this again at some point in
the not too distant future. I think it's such an
important subject and pray. I think a lot of people
benefited from it tonight, but they benefited by listening. We'll
be back right after the news at the bottom of
(23:06):
the hour. Running a couple of minutes late, apologize about that.
I want to thank my guests profusely. We'll be back
right after the news.
Speaker 5 (23:16):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Well, I want to thank my guest the last hour
and a half, John Broderick, the former Chief Justice of
the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and jeff Levin. Jeffrey Levin,
a former middle school teacher, therapist, life coach, and also
sports coach Sham. Both of them have spent a lot
of time with middle school students and high school students,
(23:41):
and they have come to the conclusion that we as
parents have overstressed them, overscheduled them, and basically pushed them
in areas that have taken away wide swaths of time
of their childhood. If you'd like to comment on what
you heard ten thirty or six one, seven, nine, three,
(24:03):
ten thirty, I have open lines. And speaking of open lines,
I'm going to give you an opportunity. We get about
twenty two minutes left here. Feel free if there's some
subject out there that you would like to explore, that
you'd like to talk about. A lot has happened in
the last two weeks I was away. I am going
to get to all of these topics in some depth
in the next week or so. I'll remind you that
(24:24):
Tomorrow night at nine o'clock we will have Boston mayor
candidate Josh Kraft. He lost or two of his longtime advisors,
or at least long time advisors in terms of this campaign.
He's not been running for a long time. Two people
who were married, Eileen O'Connor and Will Kaiser, have left
the campaign. The We will certainly ask Joshkraft about that
(24:49):
tomorrowt nine o'clock. So if you want to talk with
Meyrill candidate Josh Kraft Tomorrow night at nine o'clock, and
then on Friday night at nine o'clock, we will present
the other part of the story that we talked about
earlier tonight, which is the group that are the two
groups that are vying for the Massachusetts Service Plaza contract.
(25:11):
That's one that has already been decided, it has not
been finalized. But the group that we had on this evening,
Eric Slifka, and the president and CEO of Global Partners.
They are hoping that they can resurrect and get this
commission Department of the Committee on the Department of Transportation
(25:34):
to look at the two contracts, and they claim that
their contract would be of about a billion dollars more
in revenue here in Massachusetts. But in the meantime, there's
lots going on around the country. Donald Trump is fighting
battles everywhere. We talked last night a little bit about
the whole concept of more police in certain communities. I
(25:59):
think the Democrats actually have a legitimate point. And now
again some of you are going to say, well, there's
day criticizing Trump. I'm not criticizing President Trump. I think
that there are a lot of cities in America that
are out of control. And I think that if the
same crime that occurred in some of the poor cities
(26:23):
in America. Again, whether it's a city in a state
like Illinois, Chicago, which is obviously a deep blue state,
or Boston, which is a deep blue state, or or
some of the red states. Certainly there are cities Memphis, Tennessee,
(26:44):
apparently on a per capita basis, has a significant amount
of crime. Saint Louis and Kansas City are both two
states in Missouri, which has a Republican governor and has
voted Republican in recent years. They I think President Trump
would be very smart, and I'm not sure that he
(27:05):
would be willing to do this, but why not ask
a Republican governor or two or three Republican governors he
can certainly you see some of the crime that goes
on in Texas cities. These are cities that need some
attention and need some help. And the more that President
(27:26):
Trump tries to trude it into a partisan issue on crime,
I can't imagine any Democrats who would say, you know what,
I live in a crime riddle neighborhood here and fill
in the blank whether it's Washington and Baltimore or Chicago
or wherever, New York, Boston, who are going to stay?
(27:48):
But I enjoy living in a high crime neighborhood. I
can't imagine anyone Democrat Republican, whatever background, political or otherwise
you might have, would want to live in community this
high crime. Because one, you're not a safe, your family's
not a safe. You may not be able to move
(28:09):
somewhere and pay more in rent, or move somewhere and
buy a home to get your family out of there.
But I know that you'd prefer more security, more safety.
And it's got nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans.
It has a lot to do with democratic leaders. In
(28:31):
my opinion, there are Democratic leaders who do not want
to be shown up by any Republican, most specifically Donald Trump.
Now the mayor of Washington, D C. Muriel Bowser, who
had expressed a great deal of concern with the federalization
of troops. The introduction of federal troops, she now seems
(28:51):
to be reconciled to it, and actually more than reconciled.
The comments that I have seen her make, at least
of recent date, seem to be so motive of it. Again,
look at Los Angeles, overwhelmingly democratic city. Now they had
some problems, and President Trump, I think did the right
(29:14):
thing once ICE agents were coming under attack. Now again,
if you're going to say, well, the ICE agents shouldn't
be there, I guess there's not much of a conversation
we can have. I want to know if there's anyone
out there, And I challenge you, if you live in
a crime ridden neighborhood. And you'd like to tell me
(29:34):
how comfortable you are to live in a crime riddle neighborhood,
and you prefer it that your neighborhood remain crime riddled
as long as there were no federal troops in your neighborhood.
I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Now.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The other thing is that Democratic presidents have used federal troops,
and they have used federal troops to integrate segregated schools
in Arkansas and in Alabama. I can remember Nicholas katzenback
then the Attorney General and the Kennedy administration going and
confronting George Wallace who wanted to keep the schools in
(30:11):
Alabama segregated. I remember President Eisenhower confronting Ville Fobas with
National Guard troops in nineteen fifty seven in Arkansas, in
Little Rock, Arkansas. These are things that clearly existed. So
the idea of federal troops in American cities is not novel.
(30:32):
I do know that many of you say, well, there
are laws that suggest that federal troops cannot go into
cities and perform police activity. I get that. I get that,
But if you're going to introduce FBI agents, if you're
going to introduce state police and if they need to
(30:52):
be protected, I think that's a legitimate role of the
US federal government. You can agree to disagree six one seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six one seven, nine three one
ten thirty. Got a quick commercial break coming up. We'll
take it a little early. Give you an opportunity to
jump on board. I want to hear from you. Is
(31:13):
Donald Trump making a mistake by not acts asking Republican
governors in red states, including Governor DeSantis in Florida. Uh,
maybe no governor wants to admit that they need some help.
But I think it would be a way in which
Donald Trump could diffuse this politically and still accomplish what
(31:37):
he wants to accomplish. But I'm not sure that's where
he would take this conversation. Wide open lines six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six one seven, nine, three one
ten thirty. I'll be back in two minutes. I hope
to hear from some of you. Will be right back
on Nightside. You're on night Side with Dan Ray on
w b Z, Boston's news radio. Well, everybody's so, you
(32:00):
know what, I'm going to talk for the next ten minutes,
and I if maybe some of you would like to
make a suggestion as to what subjects you would be
interested in. I thought that tonight and last night we
put together two pretty good shows which would attract interest.
(32:24):
And for some reason, and I don't know why, sometimes
this happens. When I returned from a vacation, I hadn't
had a vacation in well, I hadn't had a long
vacation in a long time. I pretty much for the
most part of lest fore youears have been doing a
week's vacation. I decided to think two weeks vacation and
tackle on a Labor day for good luck. And it
(32:48):
was great. Did lots of interesting things, relaxed, which is
I think very important. Didn't go anywhere to speak of,
kept within probably I don't know a ten or a
fifteen mile radius, which again most people would say, well,
don't you want to go somewhere. No, I like to
(33:09):
stay home. If you are a vacation person and want
to tell me how if you had two weeks vacation,
what you would do with it. Love to hear from you,
that's fine, But no, I said to myself, I'm going
to just kind of relax, kick back, and I'm glad
I did now one of the things that I did
(33:31):
during the vacation, which frankly, I treated myself and my
family to a lot of family time. We had some
relatives come down, and we had some lovely meetings, lovely meals,
and there was some more than a few opportunities to
(33:53):
at night have a coarse light or red wine, my
two intoxican of choice. And yesterday I had the reality
that I had to weigh in for wake in one
eighty and I got it done. It was great, it
was absolutely great. Weighed in in about one sixty seven.
(34:15):
I don't have the precise number in front of me,
but well below what I considered to be my marginal line,
which is one seventy. So so I had a successful
vacation weighed in despite the fact that you know, my
weight had gone up pound pound and a half. But
the beauty of a wake in one eighty is that
(34:35):
the weight comes down again with little effort. With little effort,
you just kind of kicked back, pushed back from the
table a little bit. I was not doing any pushing
back from the table during my two weeks vacation, and
it was great. I enjoyed it, and I hope that
(34:55):
you folks enjoyed my my substitute host. As I mentioned
last night, I'm both Bradley Jay and my good friend
Morgan White allowed me to spend some time off and
to do something other than doing this talk show, because
people don't realize that when you're doing a talk show
(35:16):
five nights a week, four hours a night, it's a
lot of work. Believe me, it's a lot of work.
And I enjoy doing it. But sometimes when I don't
hear from as many of you as I like to
expect to, I wonder if maybe somehow I have picked
the wrong subjects. Let me go to wrong and see
(35:37):
if we're picking the wrong subjects. Hey, Ron, appreciate your
calling in.
Speaker 4 (35:41):
How are you damn doing?
Speaker 6 (35:43):
Okay? Calling in late because just returning from work actually,
But I just want to say that this, among many
of the shows, was are the finest hours that spent.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
I thought we had two. I thought the two guests
were really good. To be honest with you, they wore
their hearts on their sleeves. And if you get a
chance to see Justice Brodercts, Ted talk, knowing you run
as I do, I think you would really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Oh, yes, I really enjoy those, and I can't wait
to I mean, I'll do that before I go to sleep. Connect.
But I just want you to know, Dan, that I've
learned more in the past numbers of years from listening
to your program and then when I thought I could
to contribute. But I just want to thank you that
(36:43):
you have spurred such an interest in me learning about
history that I have now spent hours and hours of
listening to history documentaries.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
Yeah, I just listened to one terrific one with Walter
Cronkite and General Eisenhower returning to D Day. It was
just it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
If so with Eisenhower and Cronkite returning to D Day.
What year were they returning after Eisenhower's presidency.
Speaker 6 (37:24):
This was nineteen sixty seven. I believe that the documentary, Yeah,
I mean, I think you would love it. I've listened
to it, God, quite a few times because I just
I'm just so impressed with both listening to the humility
(37:47):
and you know, the impacts that they have both made.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Well, I'll tell you, would you. I mean, I think
Dwight Eisenhower was the right guy for the job. I'm
not an expert on the in D Day, but I
do know that there was no certainty of success that
the Allied troops were guaranteed. Uh. And there were people.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Who he.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
Just takes you right up into the bunker where they
could look out over over the ocean and uh parked
to Hank Is, his thought processes for these for the
strategy are just uh, you know it's and you got
me there, so that that's the point.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, that was parked a hawk
on Normandy where the German pill boxes had their machine
guns mounted. Uh. And they they were able to cut
down many of the Allied troops Americans, Canadians and others
as they came ashore. That that the morning of June sixth,
again there were no safe spaces on the beaches of Normandy,
(38:56):
and there were there There were there were no support
animals or teddy bears that people were clutching. They had
an m one run.
Speaker 4 (39:04):
Oh my god, that's all they and the.
Speaker 6 (39:08):
Confluence of contributing factors that they had to decide upon,
the weather, the current, you know, which day could they
possibly predict for?
Speaker 1 (39:22):
And the run I got you up to I got
close to time, but I think you what you have
done now is you have encouraged a lot of other
people and documentary with Walter Cronkite and Dwight Eisenhower on
D Day from nineteen sixty seven. Thank you, Ron. As always,
we will talk soon, thank you, maybe sooner than anyone
realizes we're going to take a break. I'm going to
(39:42):
end it all tonight. I'm going to end the program
by telling you not doing a postgame tonight, so don't
worry about that. I'm getting to bed a little early.
All dogs, all cats, all pets go to heaven. That's
why Pal Charlie Raims were passed fifteen years ago in February.
That's why your pets are past. They loved you and
you love them. I do believe see them again to morning.
I hope to see you again tomorrow night, Rob Brooks,
(40:02):
A nice job, Marita as well. Back on tomorrow night,
which will be Thursday. Have a great Thursday, everyone,
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