September 4, 2025 • 16 mins
Jennie and Friday Night Lights and Northern Exposure star, Janine Turner continue their conversation about leaving Hollywood, being creative in new ways and finding love!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Hello, everyone,
welcome back to I Choose Me. Janine Turner and I
are having the best time sharing stories about Hollywood back
in the day and what we're spending our time on
now that our beautiful girls are grown. Let's jump back in.
(00:24):
I just love that being at this stage in our
lives where our kids are grown and they need us less,
and we're sort of stepping into these unknown, new, exciting
versions of ourselves, you know, like kind of rediscovering passions
and trying things out that we put aside for to
put the other person first. What me time? How does
(00:48):
me time look for you now these days?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I have my mother with me, so I don't
exactly have me time. Yes, that's a full time job.
She's eighty eight, in her eighty ninth year, and.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You're solely taking care of her.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, I'm her sole caretaker. She's going to go stay
with my brother for about ten days. Oh my gosh,
what are you going to do? I know, well, I
have a South Fork experience. I'm going to this Dallas
kind of convention and she I've taken her with me
to New York City. D c Tennessee, La. And I thought, well,
maybe it's my brother's turn. But I don't know what
I'm gonna do for a week without her, because I'll
(01:22):
worry about her.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But I think that I've written a musical. You know,
it's interesting, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I look back now and say, I wouldn't mind having
some career opportunities again. I do love to act. It
would be fun to book another role where I didn't have,
where I could actually put my heart and soul into
it again, like Northern Exposure. But also I've written a
musical about Bellevia Lockwood, who was the first woman to
actually run for president in eighteen eighty four on the ballot,
(01:49):
but she was the first woman admitted to the bar
of the United States Supreme Court. When they wouldn't allow her,
they kept saying no, so she took it to the
legislative branch and to the other branches of gum to
say you can't deny me. And then she ended up
taking one of the greatest cases and the most award
winning financial cases in history, which is for the Native
(02:09):
America is the Cherokee Nation versus the United States to
get their money for the trail of tears for the
land they had to give up. So she's a phenomenal
And you know, look, I started out as dancer and
a singer, but I really haven't done that in about
forty decades. So this is a bucket list challenge for myself.
I've written a book, I've written the lyrics and I
(02:30):
want to star in it. And I've had two readings
in New York where I actually had to sing in
front of people.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Are you not comfortable singing? Because I'm surely not comfortable singing.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well no, I mean it's not comfortable for me. No,
but I do love it because I started in dance,
in musical comedy and musical theater. And it's a bucket
list So it's one of those things, Jenny. You know
what it's like as people like, oh, sure, they roll
their eyes. You know you're going to You're gonna direct
and write a musical?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Oh roll in my eyes.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I'm like you, No, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But you people do people do like sure, sure, But
it's just like that that dry that that motivates me more.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, I'll show you. Yeah, I'll get it done. My
tall while.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You you have a very clear vision of the things
that you want, get married, have a wedding, and get
this musical to happen, Like you know what they say.
I mean, there's just more and more talk about this,
and it's more than manifestation. It's about like having your
what you want in your mind's eye and imagining what
(03:38):
your life will be like when you have what you want,
and if you can connect with that imagery, your body
and your world around you just takes you towards it.
The universe takes you towards Yeah, it's the energy this
I believe in that.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's funny I worked with.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I have that post on my Someone at the Comic
Con in Tennessee brought a picture of me when I
was on Happy Days and I was like twenty one
years old. It's when I was dating Alec and I
read my my wist.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
My waist was about this big, and I'm like, oh,
not fair.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You have to wring to a woman who's sixty two
but on Happy Days. Henry Winkler looked at me. It
was Gary Marshall, of course, you know. But Henry Luker said.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Do you know what you want? And I'm like, oh, yeah,
like sure, and.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
You said, write it down, write it down, write down
what you want. And then I was in New York City,
Molly and I ever heard it again, write down what
you want to accomplish, But I always add healthily, happily
and safely after it. Right. That's because you don't want
to manifest something into your life that's at the expense
of something else or someone else.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So it's I think you.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Have to be very cle You are right, you have
to be very clear about how you put it out there.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm writing that down healthily, happy, happily, and safely. That's
perfection because yeah, you just you know, the saying, be
careful what you wish for. But if if we add
that to the these these goals of ourselves, then I
think that that would cover all the the chances of
(05:06):
bad things happening.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, yeah, I put it in prayer because I just
wanted to happen the right way for the right reasons
and things that nature.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
But it's a challenge trying to get a Broadway show going.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh my gosh, the money you have to raise and
people they don't. I don't know about you, but in
my early early career, the first job I ever booked
was with David Jacobs, who created Dallas. That was an
easy booking for me, though I didn't really value it
because I wanted to be a movie star. I wanted
to be Nastasia Kinski. I wanted to eat strawberries, you know,
(05:34):
and the movie tests but look, But after that it
became quite the challenge, and all because General Hospital was
good for me, but maybe not so great because I
was blonde and I walked around for a year. Not
that blonde has anything to do with it, but I
was hypnotized by David Gray if you probably never watched it,
and all I said.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Was I don't know, I don't know. I just don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So it was sort of a role that didn't have
a lot of meat, and it took me a lot
of time, a lot of years to get.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Away from that. But all those people that looked at their.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Watches and casting sessions and rolled their eyes and didn't
believe in us, I mean, it's that world of ten
thousand no's.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So I'm very used to it. So when people look
at me and say, ye, I'm not going to be
able to accomplish that on Broadway, give.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Me some time, I think it's going to happen. I mean,
you're just like I said, you're just laser focused. I
think that that's the key.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Well, God give me the strength to sing it, that's
all I can say.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, what an amazing opportunity though, that's gonna be so
going back to me time though writing this musical. What
other things just like on the daily do you incorporate
into your lifestyle that keep you grounded or like you know,
(06:48):
that's your me time that's replenishing for your soul.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, Bible.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
First in the morning, I have a prayer group and
so we get on for thirty minutes and we don't
really cross talk. We just don't get on care and
we just pray over it with each other. And that's incredibly.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
God.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
On the days I miss it, I can tell I
created that based off a church. I did that with
a church in New York City, and I thought, oh,
I really like that, so I sort of created my own.
And then it goes back to you know, I have
a foundation constituting America, which is nonpartisan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We don't get involved in politics.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
We never taught politics because the Constitution was created before
the political parties.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I was going to ask you about this, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I created it in twenty ten, my daughter was
about twelve. She became the first National Youth Director for
Constituting in America. And I wrote eighty five essays on
the eighty five Federals papers Things that nature, and became
I became sort of academic in this field. But I
give over six I've given over six hundred speeches. And
(07:53):
it's great to go into the classrooms because what I
teach the kids is it's really remember it's we the people,
you know, and it's you vote that's important. But and
I ask them what they want to change in their neighborhood,
because I want to make it tactile for middle school
students or fifth grade students or freshmen. And they'll say, oh,
you know, I don't want it to pay twenty dollars
(08:13):
for the community pool pool key, you know what I mean.
Or too many dogs off leashes, we need too many drugs,
too much trash, We need more street lights, we need
people drive through.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Whatever they say.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I'm like, well, okay, let's learn how to write
a petition, and let's write you know, these these rights
of speech and things of that nature, speech, petitioning, freedom, assembly, press,
How important all that is. It's not just so we
can talk freely on social media. It's to utilize it
with our government, so the minorities can speak out, or
(08:45):
even someone in a majority, and so I'll take whatever
they and teach them how to write a petition. So
I'm very involved with that. I love to read, that's
me time. I love obviously to be out in nature.
I also I circle back to just the creativity. Whether
I wrote a book of poetry, I've written poet.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Gosh, you've done it all well. But it's focused on
creativity right right.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And I think that it doesn't matter if you're any
I have my mother draw and write, because it doesn't
matter if you're any good editor or not.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It's just the process of it is soothing.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'm not an artist at all, but I still love
to do that type of thing. But poetry really helps
to kind of take maybe the ankst that I'm feeling,
or the sadness or the where I'm overwhelmed. Just to
put pen or pencil to paper. That's me time. And
to be with my pets and to goad on the ranch.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Oh those are all so great.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
But during COVID, I wrote the music with for my musical.
During COVID.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I found a wonderful composer and she was in Florida
and we would just get on once or twice a
week and compose the music over Zoom.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Amazing Zoom is the best thing ever. I think, Well, yeah,
isn't isn't.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I mean we complying about COVID in the A lot
of negative things, But.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Isn't this amazing? This all came out of that.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
This amazing. So many good things have come out of
it for a lot of people. Unfortunately a lot of
people the opposite. But what a time. But I love
that you used it to sort of like dive back
into your creative self. I want to talk just for
a second about the constitution constituting America that you founded.
(10:25):
How Like there's so much political screaming happening right now
every time you turn on the TV. It's really hard
to feel settled, safe grounded with all of that going on.
How do you recommend people handle what's happening?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
You know, it just came to me, you're in with
the TV show just the facts man, Just the facts.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
No, I don't remember a TV.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Show was that it was, you said, just the facts man,
just the facts. So many listening will know it was
a detective story. It was a detective story, okay. And
he was like, just the facts, ma'am. And you know,
I think it boils down to that. I created a
program through I create all the programs with my foundation
const TOU in America have a great CEO, Kathy Lesbie's
(11:13):
my dear best friend. But one of the I was
brushing my teeth one day and I was having a
conversation in my head with say, someone in Hollywood, right,
and I could hear how they would negate everything. I
was trying to say. I'm like, but no, we just
need to have a conversation about it. And so I
created this program, which is how to have a civil
(11:34):
civic conversation. And we go into the schools and find
a hot topic, whatever it might be, whether it's immigration,
gun control, climate change, whatever it might be, and we'll.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Say, okay, we're going to talk about this today. Who
believes in it and who does it?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
And usually about twenty five students will say I believe
in global warming or you know, climate change, and.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Then two or three will say I don't know, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And I'm always stounded with those three just to go
against the grain, just to be brave enough to say.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Well, you know, I don't know, right.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
So we talk to them about where do you get
your news, how do you form your opinions? And then
we give them a pro and con sheet which has
pro and con on whatever topic it may be, and
I say, now you take the opposite if you believe
in it, take the con whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It may be.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Circle three things that you never knew, and let's talk
about it. And we're not trying to change our minds,
but it's just learning that there's a broad scope of
information out there, and let's try to listen to the
opposing points of views. And what starts to happen is
I think we get these fringe really radical on both sides.
And sometimes fringes are good because there's a balance. I
(12:50):
think there's always a swing in our government in our
history where we go back and forth.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
But there are a lot of us that just.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Want to be in the middle and have a real
conversation with you each other and to base it on
sort of the common core of common sense. And I'll
harken back to our founding fathers. If they had not
been able to negotiate with each other, whether it's during
the Declaration of Independence of the Constitution, and of course
there were things that were not solved at all, like
(13:19):
slavery and women's right to vote and things that nature.
But if they couldn't have a conversation, then we wouldn't
have anything, We wouldn't be anywhere, we probably wouldn't have freedom.
It's like trying to listen to their opposing points of
view is absolutely pivotal, and it's so hard because we're
force fed all this controversy. Yea, but what we hear
on the news and someone said it something really interesting.
(13:40):
Once we used to watch local news, and local news
dealt with our communities and when you got into your community,
which is why I love federalism, because our founders believed
if you watched Northern exposure and we had all these
town halls where the Alaskan people would come and have
a town hall, and they'd all stand up and do it,
because we might want something very different here than they
(14:01):
want in New York or Miami or Wyoming and wherever
it may be. And a republic can only really survive
in such a broad country if community can still have
their own sense of power. So coming together as a community.
It's nothing all about northern exposure. Everybody was out in
the town, they were out in the street, They're at
Hollings Bar, they were talking with one another. We can't
(14:21):
lose that sense of community in our own neighborhoods. I
think that that's incredibly, incredibly important, and our founding documents
give us ability with mayors, you know, PTA councils for education,
local local city government, state government, then national government. So
it's remembering that that there are other levels of government too.
(14:43):
I think everybody thinks when they vote for the president,
that's it, but like, wait, the president's never supposed to
have that much power. Your legislator and your neighborhood is
the person that can really help you. That's why the
legislative branch is first in the constitution. So it's really
about putting the noise out and finding common ground. Maybe
not but at least being able to have a discussion.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, a civil discussion. I think that, you know, the
key of what you just said is encouraging people to listen,
to hear the other person's perspective is so important. That's
just with politics or government, but with everything. Well, you're
just honestly of wealth of knowledge. You're delightful to talk to.
(15:27):
I feel like I've learned just by talking to you,
and I've enjoyed our conversation so much. But before I
let you go, Janine Heurner, what was your last I
choose me moment.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
To put the phone down for a little while, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
To say, I'm my mother's with me now, and it
gets very complicated, and I thought, we're just going to
put the phone away for a while to learn that,
you know, texting isn't always a great thing. Is a
conversation are still better and face is still better. And
so to kind of say, I am going to turn
(16:07):
this phone on when I know I'm at a place
where i can handle what I'm going to see, and
I'm at a place where i can handle what I'm
going to hear.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You know what I mean, and then I can cope
with it.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So I think a lot of times we've become overwhelmed
because we're just barraged with so many things at once.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And so it's the power to be able to say
I'm gonna put that aside, I'm going to wait for
a little bit. That's a huge I choose me moment.
I love it it's hard to do. Yeah, thank you
so much for me.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Thank you, You're terrific.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thanks for this fabulous podcast you have and everything that
you've You're shining in such light on all of us,
and God bless you. You're doing a beautiful, wonderful job
and with every aspect of your life, no matter what
you choose.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thank you.
You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Girl. Hello, everyone,
welcome back to I Choose Me. Janine Turner and I
are having the best time sharing stories about Hollywood back
in the day and what we're spending our time on
now that our beautiful girls are grown. Let's jump back in.
(00:24):
I just love that being at this stage in our
lives where our kids are grown and they need us less,
and we're sort of stepping into these unknown, new, exciting
versions of ourselves, you know, like kind of rediscovering passions
and trying things out that we put aside for to
put the other person first. What me time? How does
(00:48):
me time look for you now these days?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I have my mother with me, so I don't
exactly have me time. Yes, that's a full time job.
She's eighty eight, in her eighty ninth year, and.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You're solely taking care of her.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, I'm her sole caretaker. She's going to go stay
with my brother for about ten days. Oh my gosh,
what are you going to do? I know, well, I
have a South Fork experience. I'm going to this Dallas
kind of convention and she I've taken her with me
to New York City. D c Tennessee, La. And I thought, well,
maybe it's my brother's turn. But I don't know what
I'm gonna do for a week without her, because I'll
(01:22):
worry about her.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
But I think that I've written a musical. You know,
it's interesting, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I look back now and say, I wouldn't mind having
some career opportunities again. I do love to act. It
would be fun to book another role where I didn't have,
where I could actually put my heart and soul into
it again, like Northern Exposure. But also I've written a
musical about Bellevia Lockwood, who was the first woman to
actually run for president in eighteen eighty four on the ballot,
(01:49):
but she was the first woman admitted to the bar
of the United States Supreme Court. When they wouldn't allow her,
they kept saying no, so she took it to the
legislative branch and to the other branches of gum to
say you can't deny me. And then she ended up
taking one of the greatest cases and the most award
winning financial cases in history, which is for the Native
(02:09):
America is the Cherokee Nation versus the United States to
get their money for the trail of tears for the
land they had to give up. So she's a phenomenal
And you know, look, I started out as dancer and
a singer, but I really haven't done that in about
forty decades. So this is a bucket list challenge for myself.
I've written a book, I've written the lyrics and I
(02:30):
want to star in it. And I've had two readings
in New York where I actually had to sing in
front of people.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Are you not comfortable singing? Because I'm surely not comfortable singing.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well no, I mean it's not comfortable for me. No,
but I do love it because I started in dance,
in musical comedy and musical theater. And it's a bucket
list So it's one of those things, Jenny. You know
what it's like as people like, oh, sure, they roll
their eyes. You know you're going to You're gonna direct
and write a musical?
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Oh roll in my eyes.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I'm like you, No, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
But you people do people do like sure, sure, But
it's just like that that dry that that motivates me more.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Yeah, I'll show you. Yeah, I'll get it done. My
tall while.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
You you have a very clear vision of the things
that you want, get married, have a wedding, and get
this musical to happen, Like you know what they say.
I mean, there's just more and more talk about this,
and it's more than manifestation. It's about like having your
what you want in your mind's eye and imagining what
(03:38):
your life will be like when you have what you want,
and if you can connect with that imagery, your body
and your world around you just takes you towards it.
The universe takes you towards Yeah, it's the energy this
I believe in that.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's funny I worked with.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I have that post on my Someone at the Comic
Con in Tennessee brought a picture of me when I
was on Happy Days and I was like twenty one
years old. It's when I was dating Alec and I
read my my wist.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
My waist was about this big, and I'm like, oh,
not fair.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
You have to wring to a woman who's sixty two
but on Happy Days. Henry Winkler looked at me. It
was Gary Marshall, of course, you know. But Henry Luker said.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Do you know what you want? And I'm like, oh, yeah,
like sure, and.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
You said, write it down, write it down, write down
what you want. And then I was in New York City,
Molly and I ever heard it again, write down what
you want to accomplish, But I always add healthily, happily
and safely after it. Right. That's because you don't want
to manifest something into your life that's at the expense
of something else or someone else.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So it's I think you.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Have to be very cle You are right, you have
to be very clear about how you put it out there.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
I'm writing that down healthily, happy, happily, and safely. That's
perfection because yeah, you just you know, the saying, be
careful what you wish for. But if if we add
that to the these these goals of ourselves, then I
think that that would cover all the the chances of
(05:06):
bad things happening.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, yeah, I put it in prayer because I just
wanted to happen the right way for the right reasons
and things that nature.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
But it's a challenge trying to get a Broadway show going.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Oh my gosh, the money you have to raise and
people they don't. I don't know about you, but in
my early early career, the first job I ever booked
was with David Jacobs, who created Dallas. That was an
easy booking for me, though I didn't really value it
because I wanted to be a movie star. I wanted
to be Nastasia Kinski. I wanted to eat strawberries, you know,
(05:34):
and the movie tests but look, But after that it
became quite the challenge, and all because General Hospital was
good for me, but maybe not so great because I
was blonde and I walked around for a year. Not
that blonde has anything to do with it, but I
was hypnotized by David Gray if you probably never watched it,
and all I said.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Was I don't know, I don't know. I just don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So it was sort of a role that didn't have
a lot of meat, and it took me a lot
of time, a lot of years to get.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Away from that. But all those people that looked at their.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Watches and casting sessions and rolled their eyes and didn't
believe in us, I mean, it's that world of ten
thousand no's.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
So I'm very used to it. So when people look
at me and say, ye, I'm not going to be
able to accomplish that on Broadway, give.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Me some time, I think it's going to happen. I mean,
you're just like I said, you're just laser focused. I
think that that's the key.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Well, God give me the strength to sing it, that's
all I can say.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, what an amazing opportunity though, that's gonna be so
going back to me time though writing this musical. What
other things just like on the daily do you incorporate
into your lifestyle that keep you grounded or like you know,
(06:48):
that's your me time that's replenishing for your soul.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Well, Bible.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
First in the morning, I have a prayer group and
so we get on for thirty minutes and we don't
really cross talk. We just don't get on care and
we just pray over it with each other. And that's incredibly.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
God.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
On the days I miss it, I can tell I
created that based off a church. I did that with
a church in New York City, and I thought, oh,
I really like that, so I sort of created my own.
And then it goes back to you know, I have
a foundation constituting America, which is nonpartisan.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
We don't get involved in politics.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
We never taught politics because the Constitution was created before
the political parties.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I was going to ask you about this, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, I created it in twenty ten, my daughter was
about twelve. She became the first National Youth Director for
Constituting in America. And I wrote eighty five essays on
the eighty five Federals papers Things that nature, and became
I became sort of academic in this field. But I
give over six I've given over six hundred speeches. And
(07:53):
it's great to go into the classrooms because what I
teach the kids is it's really remember it's we the people,
you know, and it's you vote that's important. But and
I ask them what they want to change in their neighborhood,
because I want to make it tactile for middle school
students or fifth grade students or freshmen. And they'll say, oh,
you know, I don't want it to pay twenty dollars
(08:13):
for the community pool pool key, you know what I mean.
Or too many dogs off leashes, we need too many drugs,
too much trash, We need more street lights, we need
people drive through.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Whatever they say.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I'm like, well, okay, let's learn how to write
a petition, and let's write you know, these these rights
of speech and things of that nature, speech, petitioning, freedom, assembly, press,
How important all that is. It's not just so we
can talk freely on social media. It's to utilize it
with our government, so the minorities can speak out, or
(08:45):
even someone in a majority, and so I'll take whatever
they and teach them how to write a petition. So
I'm very involved with that. I love to read, that's
me time. I love obviously to be out in nature.
I also I circle back to just the creativity. Whether
I wrote a book of poetry, I've written poet.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Gosh, you've done it all well. But it's focused on
creativity right right.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
And I think that it doesn't matter if you're any
I have my mother draw and write, because it doesn't
matter if you're any good editor or not.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
It's just the process of it is soothing.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I'm not an artist at all, but I still love
to do that type of thing. But poetry really helps
to kind of take maybe the ankst that I'm feeling,
or the sadness or the where I'm overwhelmed. Just to
put pen or pencil to paper. That's me time. And
to be with my pets and to goad on the ranch.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Oh those are all so great.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
But during COVID, I wrote the music with for my musical.
During COVID.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I found a wonderful composer and she was in Florida
and we would just get on once or twice a
week and compose the music over Zoom.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Amazing Zoom is the best thing ever. I think, Well, yeah,
isn't isn't.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I mean we complying about COVID in the A lot
of negative things, But.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Isn't this amazing? This all came out of that.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
This amazing. So many good things have come out of
it for a lot of people. Unfortunately a lot of
people the opposite. But what a time. But I love
that you used it to sort of like dive back
into your creative self. I want to talk just for
a second about the constitution constituting America that you founded.
(10:25):
How Like there's so much political screaming happening right now
every time you turn on the TV. It's really hard
to feel settled, safe grounded with all of that going on.
How do you recommend people handle what's happening?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
You know, it just came to me, you're in with
the TV show just the facts man, Just the facts.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
No, I don't remember a TV.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Show was that it was, you said, just the facts man,
just the facts. So many listening will know it was
a detective story. It was a detective story, okay. And
he was like, just the facts, ma'am. And you know,
I think it boils down to that. I created a
program through I create all the programs with my foundation
const TOU in America have a great CEO, Kathy Lesbie's
(11:13):
my dear best friend. But one of the I was
brushing my teeth one day and I was having a
conversation in my head with say, someone in Hollywood, right,
and I could hear how they would negate everything. I
was trying to say. I'm like, but no, we just
need to have a conversation about it. And so I
created this program, which is how to have a civil
(11:34):
civic conversation. And we go into the schools and find
a hot topic, whatever it might be, whether it's immigration,
gun control, climate change, whatever it might be, and we'll.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Say, okay, we're going to talk about this today. Who
believes in it and who does it?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
And usually about twenty five students will say I believe
in global warming or you know, climate change, and.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
Then two or three will say I don't know, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And I'm always stounded with those three just to go
against the grain, just to be brave enough to say.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Well, you know, I don't know, right.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
So we talk to them about where do you get
your news, how do you form your opinions? And then
we give them a pro and con sheet which has
pro and con on whatever topic it may be, and
I say, now you take the opposite if you believe
in it, take the con whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
It may be.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Circle three things that you never knew, and let's talk
about it. And we're not trying to change our minds,
but it's just learning that there's a broad scope of
information out there, and let's try to listen to the
opposing points of views. And what starts to happen is
I think we get these fringe really radical on both sides.
And sometimes fringes are good because there's a balance. I
(12:50):
think there's always a swing in our government in our
history where we go back and forth.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
But there are a lot of us that just.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Want to be in the middle and have a real
conversation with you each other and to base it on
sort of the common core of common sense. And I'll
harken back to our founding fathers. If they had not
been able to negotiate with each other, whether it's during
the Declaration of Independence of the Constitution, and of course
there were things that were not solved at all, like
(13:19):
slavery and women's right to vote and things that nature.
But if they couldn't have a conversation, then we wouldn't
have anything, We wouldn't be anywhere, we probably wouldn't have freedom.
It's like trying to listen to their opposing points of
view is absolutely pivotal, and it's so hard because we're
force fed all this controversy. Yea, but what we hear
on the news and someone said it something really interesting.
(13:40):
Once we used to watch local news, and local news
dealt with our communities and when you got into your community,
which is why I love federalism, because our founders believed
if you watched Northern exposure and we had all these
town halls where the Alaskan people would come and have
a town hall, and they'd all stand up and do it,
because we might want something very different here than they
(14:01):
want in New York or Miami or Wyoming and wherever
it may be. And a republic can only really survive
in such a broad country if community can still have
their own sense of power. So coming together as a community.
It's nothing all about northern exposure. Everybody was out in
the town, they were out in the street, They're at
Hollings Bar, they were talking with one another. We can't
(14:21):
lose that sense of community in our own neighborhoods. I
think that that's incredibly, incredibly important, and our founding documents
give us ability with mayors, you know, PTA councils for education,
local local city government, state government, then national government. So
it's remembering that that there are other levels of government too.
(14:43):
I think everybody thinks when they vote for the president,
that's it, but like, wait, the president's never supposed to
have that much power. Your legislator and your neighborhood is
the person that can really help you. That's why the
legislative branch is first in the constitution. So it's really
about putting the noise out and finding common ground. Maybe
not but at least being able to have a discussion.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Yeah, a civil discussion. I think that, you know, the
key of what you just said is encouraging people to listen,
to hear the other person's perspective is so important. That's
just with politics or government, but with everything. Well, you're
just honestly of wealth of knowledge. You're delightful to talk to.
(15:27):
I feel like I've learned just by talking to you,
and I've enjoyed our conversation so much. But before I
let you go, Janine Heurner, what was your last I
choose me moment.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
To put the phone down for a little while, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
To say, I'm my mother's with me now, and it
gets very complicated, and I thought, we're just going to
put the phone away for a while to learn that,
you know, texting isn't always a great thing. Is a
conversation are still better and face is still better. And
so to kind of say, I am going to turn
(16:07):
this phone on when I know I'm at a place
where i can handle what I'm going to see, and
I'm at a place where i can handle what I'm
going to hear.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
You know what I mean, and then I can cope
with it.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
So I think a lot of times we've become overwhelmed
because we're just barraged with so many things at once.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
And so it's the power to be able to say
I'm gonna put that aside, I'm going to wait for
a little bit. That's a huge I choose me moment.
I love it it's hard to do. Yeah, thank you
so much for me.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
Thank you, You're terrific.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thanks for this fabulous podcast you have and everything that
you've You're shining in such light on all of us,
and God bless you. You're doing a beautiful, wonderful job
and with every aspect of your life, no matter what
you choose.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thank you.
Host
Jennie Garth
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