May 15, 2025 • 39 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
National Police Week – Raising Awareness about why more Police Officers Die by Suicide Than in the Line of Duty… with Karen Solomon – President and Co-Founder of First H.E.L.P., a nonprofit that honors police service of first responders who died by suicide and supports the families.
What running with a jogging stroller does to your body, with Allison Singles, PhD - Associate Professor of Kinesiology & Mechanical Engineering at Penn State Berks.
Why "Good Enough" Is Ruining Your Life - We have created a culture of mediocrity. We're addicted to it! We settle for far less than is possible. Kellan Fluckiger – author, speaker & transformation coach checked in with Dan.
New Report from FIRE finds Harvard punished more student speech than any other school this decade… With Ryne Weiss - FIRE Director of Research.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
National Police Week – Raising Awareness about why more Police Officers Die by Suicide Than in the Line of Duty… with Karen Solomon – President and Co-Founder of First H.E.L.P., a nonprofit that honors police service of first responders who died by suicide and supports the families.
What running with a jogging stroller does to your body, with Allison Singles, PhD - Associate Professor of Kinesiology & Mechanical Engineering at Penn State Berks.
Why "Good Enough" Is Ruining Your Life - We have created a culture of mediocrity. We're addicted to it! We settle for far less than is possible. Kellan Fluckiger – author, speaker & transformation coach checked in with Dan.
New Report from FIRE finds Harvard punished more student speech than any other school this decade… With Ryne Weiss - FIRE Director of Research.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night's eyes Dan Ray. I'm going Mazy Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good evening everybody, and welcome on in. My name is
Dan Ray. Thank you very much, Madison. As we work
our way all the way until midnight. Rob Brooks back
two nights in a row for Rob here right, it
was this is your third night back. What am I
talking about? Third night back? You're back in the swing
of things at this point. Rob is all set. I
(00:28):
am off tomorrow night, so feel free to call in tonight.
Morgan White will be here tomorrow night, but we'll get
you more information on that a little bit later. My
name is Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nights I
with Dan Ray and delighted to be here. Is always
normally here every Monday through Friday night. I think I
had a streak right now about sixty nine. This is
my first night off Tomorrow night, personal matter. Just taking
(00:53):
a Friday evening off to spend some time with some friends,
and I've had sixty I think I've worked every day
since early February, every weekday. So I think Rob, with
your blessing and your benediction, I will he gave me
the I deserve it. Okay, Rob I appreciate that we
have a great show lined up tonight. A couple of
(01:14):
interesting and different guests. Going to be talking with the
owner and founder of Cityscapes, which is a wonderful, wonderful
business in Boston, Jan Goodman. She really is an amazing individual.
I call her the Queen of Plants. We'll explain that.
And we're also going to talk with a gentleman by
the name of Kevin Sorilli. He is a futurist. His
(01:40):
he will stun us, I think with conversation and ideas
about what we are all going to interact with in
the future. So enough said about our nine o'clock and
ten o'clock hour. Let us get now to our eight
o'clock hour. We have four guests, interesting topics, different topics.
Going to start off with Aaron Solomon, who's the president
(02:01):
and founder of First Help, and nonprofit that honors police
service of first responders who die by suicide and support
their families. This is National Police Week and we want
to raise awareness about why more police officers die by
suicide than in the line of duty. This is a
frightening statistic. Karen Solomon, thank you for being with us tonight.
(02:23):
But let's talk about it, and let's find out what
we might be able to do about it to make
people more aware that more officers take their own life
than lose their lives in the line of duty.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Great, thank you so much for helping me. I love
this topic because I love raising awareness about it, and
the more people that talk about it, some more that
understanding there is.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So Look, I have police officers in my family, a
brother who is a state police lieutenant, a sister in
law who's a former state police trooper. I am well
aware of the pressures that these folks feel, not only
in terms of what they do in the line of duty,
but how it impacts their family life. What you know
(03:08):
more about it, probably than I do from the from
a broader perspective. Tell us what you have seen in
your capacity.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
As you said, more officers died by suicide than in
the line of duty. And typically, you know, we talk
about police officers who are killed in the line of duty.
If you look at the statistics, sixty percent of them
are feloniously killed, meaning they're killed are assaulted by another person.
The other forty percent are things like heart attack, he stroke,
COVID COVID. You know, COVID is the number one cause
(03:41):
of law enforcement deaths is twenty fifteen. Second to that
is job related illness, and third is being shot by
someone another suspect. You have accidental shootings, you have drownings,
you have falls. There's all kinds of things that are
categorized as a line of duty death. So you don't
have to be killed by another person. You just if
you die on duty and it's you know, you're performing
your job, that's a line of duty deaths. Now you
(04:03):
can go to your work waiting police station and your uniform,
sit in patrol car on duty, and take your life
in your car, and that is not a line of
duty deaths, you know, And typically we don't see that
very often. We do see it, and those officers are
currently making a statement if they're doing it at the
station or in their patrol car, but most times it
happens at home. And with even worse about this is
(04:25):
most of those families either witness the death or find
as a body, so they're traumatized by the suicide. They're
traumatized by the job, they're traumatized by the death, and
then they're further traumatized by the treatment afterwards. So you
have stress of being a law enforcement officer, the regular stress,
the stigma that the culture has put upon them of
not being able to get help, or if they get help,
(04:46):
they're seen as weak. So there is just such a
complicated issue. So you have all of that, and then
after the death, families are treated poorly. There is very
little support nationwide when we started this in twenty sixteen.
Now that supports has grown, but it's not where it
needs to be. There's still not enough support for the
family's afterwards. There's not enough support for the officers while
(05:08):
they're on the job, and there's certainly not enough qualified
mental health professionals to help them make their way through
these careers wholes.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So how can people help your organization? Your organization is
first help spelled capital H, capital E, capital L, and
capital P with a period after each of those capital letters.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Helps is an acronym for honor, educate, lead, and prevent,
because we honor the officers who gob by suicide, We
educate people about the topic. We lead the country as
we are the only organization in the country that collect
law enforcement suicide data. In twenty twenty two, the FBI
started collecting it, but they haven't collected quite as many
as we do. We have a rolling number that you
(05:52):
can see on our website, and then the P is
for prevent because we try to prevent law enforcement suicides obviously,
so people can help by going to our website one
st ht LP dot org and learning about what we do.
People can help by reporting first responder suicides to us
so that we can support the families. Obviously, as a nonprofit,
(06:13):
we you know, obviously take your nations, but our main
thing is to get people aware of the issue, to
make them understand and to have idea as a whole
be better about mental health and the knowledge of mental
health and what it means to have mental health issues
or to be depressed, or to have push traumatic stress
and to take your life, because once we as a
(06:35):
mainstream culture start handling it better, then it's going to
roll into all of these other subcultures, such as the
first responder profession.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Has anyone or any organization ever done a study, and again,
this is one of those questions that's just popping in
my mind, So anyone ever done a study as to
what occupation has the highest percentage of deaths, vice sor
I mean, I'm sure that there are people who commit
suicide in lots of uh, you know, occupations, vocations, professions,
(07:08):
whatever you want to call them. But I have to
think that probably the percentage of people who are police
officers who commit suicide has to be right up there
if any such studies ever even been attempted.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh, there's been plenty of studies, and surprisingly law enforcement
is not at the top. First responders is not at
the top. But what but first responder profession and law
enforcement profession do have They are they have more from
post traumatic stress, more oppression, They are two to four
times more likely to have all of that. So it's
definitely you know, it's their their actual trauma is higher
(07:43):
than other professions.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Okay, well, well that explains that you gave the website.
I want to just slowly one st like the number
of if you write as opposed to first it's right
what s T and then the word help all one
where it's so it's the numeral one s P H
E l P dot org uh, and that is the
(08:09):
that is the website that if you happen to be
a police officer of police officer family, you certainly should
be aware of the group and the organization if you're
someone who would like to contribute. Now, it's funny and
I'm gonna mention this because it's something that bothers me.
All of us get these phone calls from these groups
(08:29):
that claim to raise money for police agencies and organizations,
and you get the slick talking guy on the phone, Hey, good, good,
how are you calling from the Police Officers Assistants organization?
And we're hoping that you'll send some money. And I
always asked them, I said, well, what are the administrative
cost your agencies and all of these that are doing
(08:51):
this telephone solicitation? You're not one of the groups that
does the telephone solicitation.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I'm sure, well are not?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And it's called question?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, we word of mouth, We have fundraisers.
Most of our funds come from individual donors and believe
in not many of the families. But also we only
have one full time and whilst you have a part
time employee. So so we're an all volunteer organization. We've
done this as a volunteers.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Some of these weeps, what's your administrative costs? Well, our
administrative costs or ninety seven point three percent oh, so
that means two point seven percent actually goes right right
right truth bizarre. They'll say, well, well, I don't understand
the question. What do you mean by administrative costs? At
that point, I know they know what the question is.
The answers they just don't want to answer.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Look, I really do Can I just tell you what
we do? I'll just quickly say we.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Got to do it quickly because I'm running up to time.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Here, go ahead. Yep.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
College scholarships for the kids of the officers who done
by suicide. They don't get that anywhere else. We do retreats,
we do care packages, we do all kinds of stuff,
so our money is going right back to those families.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Okay, that's great, that's great. Look, thank you for what
you do on behalf of a lot of people in
my audience who are police families who listen. Thank you
what you do, and keep up, keep up your great work.
Karen Solomon, President, co founder of First Help and again,
that website is the numeral one st so it's like
first and then H E L P. All those that
(10:23):
letter that the number and the letters all you have
together dot org. Thanks very much, Karen, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Thank you have a great night.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Okay, you do. We get back. We're going to talk
with an associate professor of kinesiology mechanical engineering at Penn
State University. We're talking about when you jog with a stroller.
It's great because you're getting some exercise and you're getting
some fresh air, but you might be doing some harm
to your body. We'll be talking with Alison Singles right
(10:50):
after the break here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, all of us have done this if you have kids,
and all of us probably have seen others doing it.
And what am I talking about? I'm talking about running
with a jogging stroller, getting yourself a little exercise, and
getting your young child who's able to buckle in the stroller,
the fun of kind of zooming along with mom or
(11:19):
dad both. But but but, bod, maybe there's some damage
we're doing to our bodies while we think we're getting
ourselves in better shape. Joining us is Alison Singles. She's
a PhD and Associate professor of Kinney's Kinesiology and Mechanical
Engineering at Penn State. Go Nitley lions Hi Alison or
professor singles, how are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (11:42):
I'm good, Hi Dan, I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I'm doing great. I did this with my kids a
long time ago. Put them in the stroller, get out
to get a little exercise. But oftentimes we're not running
straight up. So I think I understand where you're going
with this, but I want people to pay attention because
the last thing we want to do is while exercising
inadvertently injure ourselves. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, So we've been doing some research on how the
runner behaves differently when they're pushing a stroller. There's a
lot of work out there about the kid and the
stroller and making the ride safe, and nobody really thinks
about the person pushing it. So we did some research
to see what was happening, and we've seen that runners
(12:30):
tend to lean a little more forward when they're pushing
a stroller. Like you mentioned, they tend to kind of
hit the ground a little less hard, which might actually
be protective of injury, but they have to spend a
lot more effort into controlling the stroller and that kind
of puts some extra twisting forces underneath their foot, which
(12:51):
might lead to increased risk. Of overuse injury, especially bone injuries.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
So I'm assuming that I'm a baby boomer, and I
don't think the baby boomer generation that many of us
were pushed in strollers by our World War two, you know,
vintage parents from the greatest generation. This is something that
probably has come into vogue. I suspect after the nineteen
(13:19):
seventies when the jogging craze kind of swept the country.
So how much information do we have over time or
have I underestimated that when people started pushing, pushing the
little ones in strollers, I.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Think you are. You kind of hit the nail on
the head there. So running strollers, I don't know much
about regular strollers. I think that they've been around a
bit longer. But running strollers kind of came into popularity
in the eighties and nineties, but they weren't very commonly
used until much much more recently. You know, now it
seems like you see everybody's got a jogging stroller, But
(13:59):
I don't think that technology was really there, you know,
more than ten years ago for it to be a
nice ride.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The statistics that you have, maybe you've got some studies done,
but I guess you don't have necessarily the long term
stats that you'd like to develop.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Aysome right, we don't really have long term statistics on
anything yet, but we are trying to follow some people
long term, so we hopefully will know that in a
few years. But ultimately, nothing we're seeing is incredibly worrisome
for long term effects. It seems to be a mixed bag.
And it does seem that when people push a stroller
(14:41):
and then stop pushing the stroller, they're running mechanics go
right back to normal after they finished pushing a stroller. Okay,
so we don't think that this is having carryover effect.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So are we talking about primarily maybe the hips are
going to be a little mis sore, or maybe the
lower back. What areas you know from a kinesiology perspective,
do you think would would likely be impacted, if any,
if any areas were going to be impacted.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yeah, I think you're right. The lower back certainly, if
you have that hunch of posture or leaning forward of it,
you might have some effects on the lower back. And
like I mentioned, with the twisting forces, that could be
indicative of stress fracture risk. So like stress fractures or
shin splints, you might see that happen more more commonly
(15:30):
when people are pushing strollers, but the stress fracture risk
risk goes away right away when you stop running with
the stroller. The lower back is a tougher one. Right
backs are tricky, and.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
We get a lot of running. When my kids were young,
and I'm sure that on occasion we didn't have running
strollers per se. There was no one had marketed those.
This would have been back in the late eighties early nineties,
but just a regular little stroller as long as they
were strapped in that much resistance. Now that I have
my grandson who's three, well least not three until July,
(16:06):
but most of the activity that he likes is to
take a ride in a golf cart. That's easier. I
don't think there's any impact from the kinneesiological point of
view as I sit in the golf cart, So that
that is that's good good news. Before we scare people,
I just want to clearly this is not something that
(16:27):
people should lose sleepover. I will say that one of
the things I learned that as great as jogging is,
it does have an impact later on in life on
your on your knees and on your ankles just from
the impact of running it if you were in well.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
One thing could be that strollers could actually be protective
of that. We saw less less impact when you're running
with a stroller. You're kind of sharing the load between
your legs and your arms because you're holding onto the
handlebars with the strollers. So there is a possibility that
running with a stroller is actually protecting you from some
of that long term can be and arthritis risk later
(17:07):
in life.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
What I hope you could do with some sort of
a study on ellipticals. About ten years ago, I discovered
ellipticals and there's no impact and they really do help
people of a certain vintage. And I am one of
those of that vintage. So I hope that you're not
doing it. I hope you're not doing a study that's
suggesting that of use of ellipticals three or four or
(17:31):
five times a week is going to be problematical at
some point to have a.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Line, I hope not. I don't think so, though, Okay, great, Yeah,
I also don't think that running with a stroller can
be really problematic either. I think that I think the
mental health and physical health then if it's really outwigh
anything that I'm looking at. But you know, it's important
to consider that the mechanics of the runner that's pushing
(17:56):
the stroller, not just the safety of the of the baby.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And I'll tell you the little ones love it. They
love to feel the reason and their hair at that
or whatever heir they have at that point, they love.
They love the movement and the motion. Allison, I appreciate
very much. Thanks very much for being back. We missed
you the other night. I hope all is well. I
know you were dealing with a family matter and I
hope everything has worked out fine on that and thanks
(18:21):
for coming back.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
All's well, that ends well, and thanks so much for
having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's all that matters. Alison Singles, Associate Professor of Kinesiology
at Penn State. If folks want to get in touch
with you and ask a question, I see that there's
an interesting article that was in the Washington Post. Do
you want to give out a you know, an email.
If anybody does have a question that they'd like to
run by you, they certainly can read this article, which
(18:47):
was May third in the Washington Post by you and
a colleague, John Mahoney. Does what running with a jogging
stroll it does to your body, which is why we
reached out to you so they can find that. And
are you a periodic writer for the for the for
the Walpo Walpole As we say.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
No, this was just a one off. I actually wrote
it initially for another publication called The Conversation, and it
got picked up by the Washington Post.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That's great.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You can find me at State Burks. You can Google
me and my email address will be right there. Feel
free to reach out if you have any questions.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Penn State Berks, b E r Ks. Thanks so much, Allison,
appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Happy running, Happy Running. When we get back right after
the News at the Bottom of the Era, we're going
to be talking about a very interesting theory that have
we created a culture of mediocrity in America where good
enough is ruining people's lives. We will talk with an
author and speaker and transformation coach. I'll also remind you
if you haven't found the iHeart app at your app store,
(19:51):
please do take advantage of this. This is free. It's
a new and improved iHeart app, and the great part
about it is when you put it on whatever device
you or as many devices as possible. Make us your
first preset, so no matter where you are, anytime of day,
any place at all, you're only a fingertip away. My
name is Dan Ray. This is Nightside to listen to
WBZ ten thirty and your am dial, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
It's night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Well we continue along with our Thursday night edition of
the Nightside News Update, and with us is Kellen Flukeeger.
He's an author, speaker and transformation coach and the issue
that he's going to talk about is our culture of mediocrity. Kellen,
Welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I'm just fantastic, Dan, thank you for having me on tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You're very welcome. I have never seen a last name
like yours. We see people with Smith and Brown, but
Flukeeger are the many Flugers in the country. I'm guessing
that it's a small.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Clan, very very small. Three brothers came over in the
late eighteen hundreds from Switzerland, and everyone I've ever met
in North America can be traced back to those three.
So no, it's very unusual in North America.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That's great. So you are a business coach and a
life coach in Los Angeles, as I understand that correct?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yes, actually, yes, I am okay?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Was it quite sure? Did I overstate or understate either
of those?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Me to one? I'm actually an Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and
the Los Angeles may have come because I have an
LA talk radio show called Your Ultimate Like, but I
actually live in Edmonton, Alberta and that's why I.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So you must be you must be an Oiler fan.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
I'm assuming right, we're just freaking out because they won
last night four to one and they're going on probably
to meet the Stars. But yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, well, you know, look the Jets. Did they knock
the Jets out? Is that is that who they were playing?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
But it's three to one. The Stars are out three
to one, and so I'm thinking, I don't know if
Winnipeg can pull that off.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, well we'll see. We'll see. So let's talk about
what the culture of mediocrity, why good enough, is ruining
your life. We're addicted to a culture of mediocrity. I
don't disagree with you, by the way, I got to
tell you, I happen to agree. How did we get
here and how did we get out?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Of here, Well, addiction to mediocrity learned helplessness. We're sort
of raised that way. We settle. We just we get
the idea that we see fabulous things that other people do,
and then we have this story, well, I can't have that.
I'm not good enough. I really can't. And then we
also make that words by teaching ourselves and our kids
(22:45):
and culture that everything's got to be easy to solve,
like in the length of a TV sitcom, and if
it's harder than that, then people just give up. And
so we end up settling for way less than we're
capable of doing, and it just goes on.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Okay, so can you trace the origins of this? Uh,
this addiction to mediocrity? Is there is there a period
a time period will we as a society fell into this?
Obviously I believe in the mil curve of life and
not I. If this seventy five percent of the people
who are addicted to mediocrity, you have there's going to
(23:23):
be some people who, frankly are not addicted to mediocrity.
This is we're talking about a trend here, not an
absolute number that that is are that's that's affecting everybody? Right?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Oh, absolutely. There's always going to be those that say
I can do this, I can do it, and then
they go there no matter what the obstacles.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay, So, so when did this start? Can we trace
it or or is it just something that has evolved
and it's it's an imprecise starting point.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Well, you know, life used to be harder, like when
those three Flukiger brothers came over from Switzerland. I mean,
you made your living off the lane and you had
to work, and people were taught to work. And in
the last who knows, thirty forty fifty years, we sort
of gradually have gotten easier and easier and more people
take care of us kind of thing, and we've lost
(24:14):
a lot of our drive and a lot of the
belief that we can create something. So I think it's
come along with the ease and development of technology. It
wasn't required and by how we view, you know, the
separation between people that have stuff and don't, and then
we adopt the story of yeah, but I could never
dot dot dot and it doesn't matter what comes after that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Is the solution that all of us should take a
couple of weeks in the woods every year and leing
to live off the land. I assume that's not the solution.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
No, it isn't the solution. It's all in the mind.
And what I mean by that is you don't just
sit and say some affirmations. It starts with the choice
and the knowledge that we each really create our own lives.
Like if you develop and some parents do this, but
if you developed the idea that you can create what
you want and if it's not obvious, I'm going to
(25:05):
go figure out what how Like, I'm going there no
matter what the obstacle, instead of I'm giving up the
first time I get kicked.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And is this something obviously, since you're in Edmonton, is
this something which is endemic to North America or is
it the American culture? Is that the Canadian culture? I
think our cultures are pretty similar. Frankly, obviously we're geographically contiguous.
And I don't want to start a Donald Trump just
In Trudeau debate here.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
But.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Is this something that is this something that is more
endemic to a more comfortable we have We're two fairly
comfortable societies. I mean, we have pretty much everybody has
indoor plumbing and heat and stuff like that. We're not,
you know, living on the equator and in one hundred
and ten degree temperatures nine months out of the year.
(26:00):
Is this a Canadian thing, an American thing or is
it a North American thing.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Well, I think it's both, and I think it one
of the key and not the only, but one of
the key determinants is how easy it is to get
by with life. In other words, have CABLETV and aough food,
et cetera, et cetera. So it is certainly North America.
I mean in Canada and the US, and there are
some cultures in with the western part of Europe where
(26:25):
we make life easy and it isn't just quote the
Western culture everywhere where life seems to be created easy
and there's a big safety net to take care of
you if you don't feel like it or if you fail,
we sort of move into the well then I really
don't have to create much, do I sort of mindset?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, Well, that of course is also I think you're
alluding to sort of these social safety nets that we
talk about in Western Europe. And we look up at
Canada and say, oh, they're almost a socialist state up there.
We we got plenty of quasi socialism going on down here.
Am I getting close to the nerve when I when
I mentioned those those three elements.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yeah, And I don't want to sound like I'm anti
any of that. There are safety nets that we are
privileged and blessed to be able to provide. What we've
done is we've made it too easy to be lazy,
We've made it too easy to not I mean, look
at the school tests. And I'm both I'm both dual national,
so I was born in San Francisco, I'm you and
my wife and I are both US and Canadian citizens,
(27:31):
So we watch everything down there with great interest. And
I think that the more we create the situation where
you can be you know, I won't say only lazy,
but where you don't really have to be innovative and work,
then we learn helplessness and we learn to expect that
the external things are going to come to my rescue
(27:51):
and solve my problems in some way.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, Sah, I was in a supermarket line today and
I saw a woman in front of me, and I
have no idea how old she was, but she was
clearly elderly and she had a basket, you know, full
of items, and it took her she struggled a little
bit to get the items out of her cart, But
I just thought to myself, what an amazing woman that
(28:17):
she obviously was not. Again, well, I don't think it
was just old age. I think I think that there
was some complications for her physically, but it wasn't going
to stop her from going to the store. And I
walked away from that experience just having an admiration for her.
And at one point one of the clerks actually helped
her empty her wagon. And she's tiny, not a big
(28:40):
woman physically, so she had a little struggle to reach
into the basket and pull heavy items out, if I've
depicted it clearly, But that spirit that she had I
wish all of us had. That she was going to
get to the store today and she was going to
do what she was needed to do today, and that
was to fill her pantry and all of that. So
(29:02):
I had that experience today and I walked away saying, Tom,
I hope that I would have the courage to do
that and fight through whatever limitations she was dealing with.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I love that. And one of the things in the
business and personal coaching world that I do is I
have to begin to address when someone comes to coach,
no matter what the problem is, they want help overcoming something.
And one of the first things that we have to
figure out is is there a real barrier or are
you making this up? Meaning you're experiencing a barrier? But
(29:35):
is it in your head? Have you tried this? Have
you tried that? What responsibility have you taken for yourself
in the creation of the success you say you want.
I'll ask people often, so how bad do you want
this whatever it is is, And they'll say, oh, I'll
do anything. And then I'll say, okay, good, let's start
with these three things, and inevitably, oh, well, I didn't
(29:56):
know I had to do that. That's the kind of
simple Kellen.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I like your approach, I like your philosophy. How could
folks get in touch with you if they would like
to avail themselves of your guidance?
Speaker 5 (30:10):
So I'm running a book challenge right now and it's
helping people tell their stories of resilience. So the easiest
way to get a hold of me right now is
a website Www dot dream, build right it dot com.
And it has to do with mighting your life, figuring
out the value you can create with your life stories.
(30:32):
Of overcoming and then doing something with it. That's www
dot dream build right it dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Kellen, thank you very much, appreciate it. I enjoyed the
conversation and go Oilers. Okay, since the Brewers out in it.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
All right, Thanks Dan, I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You're very welcome. We get back. We're going to talk
with a representative of FIRE, one of my favorite organizations,
the Foundation of Individual Rights and Education. A new report
finds that Harvard has punished more students speech than just
any other school this decade. That's not good news for Harvard.
We'll talk about it on the other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's Night Side Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Delighted to welcome Ryan Weiss, the director of research at
the Foundation of Individual Rights and Education. Ron. I gotta
believe you're from Chicago and you were named after Ryan Sandberg?
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (31:28):
Yeah? That's true.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Well, the only reason to look I totally guess that
because the only other person who I knew with the
name R. Y n. E. Was the great uh Chicago
Cub baseball player.
Speaker 5 (31:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
Yeah, And I actually got my current job at Fire
the same week the Cubs won the World Series, so
it was a big week for my family.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Wow, but you they did name you after Sandberg. You're
not pulling I was just having fun with you. You're
not pulling me leg right.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
No, No, that's that's that's true. And in fact, my
dad got the WGN broadcasters to announce my birth on
it in the same dair.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Now, how many times has anyone else in your life
when they met you came out at the box with
I assume you were born in Chicago and you're named
after Ryan Sandberg? Does that happen you a lot?
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Well, God, go to the universe of Chicago and Oaks
would always ask me that question. Then I moved to
Philadelphia and Ryan Sandy a short and not very good
stint as the general manager for the Phillies. So a
couple times people would ask me that with a little
(32:39):
bit of a more aggressive tone than in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I got you. Well, okay, so I wasn't the first,
but that's okay. So let's I'm a big fan of Fire.
Harvey Silverglade, who was one of the founders of Fire,
is one of my closest friends and Harvard fantastic stats
here more than six hundred college students and student groups
have been punished to invest gated for speech in the
last five years. At Harvard. What's called. I mean, look,
(33:03):
I know that it's not.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
No that's in the nation as a whole. At Harvard
we've tracked eighteen of those in the last five years,
which is more than any other college.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well, the way this is written, the way this is written,
I'm thinking to myself, Harvard has become worse than I
ever would have imagined. Both of my kids went to Harvard,
and wow, So all those eighteen we all know that
Harvard claims, or I believe it has been attributed that
ninety seven percent of the professors at Harvard considered themselves
(33:35):
to the left of center. About three percent of them
consider themselves to the right of center. If you break
down the eighteen instances at Harvard, is there a proclivity
one way or the other as to who's being you know,
censured or in some form of fashion punished.
Speaker 6 (33:55):
So I can't speak to Harvard on those, but we
do have those stats for the universities as a whole.
And one of the interesting things about this report is
it shows a change in the trend over time. So
if you look at twenty twenty to twenty twenty three
attempts to sanction students speech broadly, we're coming from the
(34:16):
left of the students being targeted. Coversten.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Let me make sure I understood what you just said,
that the administrators were sanctioning, suspending, whatever, you know, whatever
they did conservative speech.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Broadly. Yes, we have a little more complicated coding there,
because you know, it's sometimes hard to tell. We usually
do it whether or not the direction is coming relative
to the speaker. So if someone you know, to the
left of a centrist, center leaning speaker is targeted for
(34:58):
we then coding on the left the case, we code
that as being from the right.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
So yeah, so so, so what's so you said the
trend is switched? Is it is now that there's been
a lot of activity on campuses as I'm sure you know,
particularly left uh throw Palestinian, anti Israeli and often sometimes
viril and anti Semitic activity. Is is that the trend
(35:27):
that we have seen and that the administrators now have
had to get a little backbone against the the progressives.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
Yeah, we've seen a switch in the trend so that
now most of the speak speech is being targeted from
the right of the speaker, and this is you know,
largely on the topic of Palestine. So you have pro Palestine,
sympathetic protest being targeted more for their speech than what
(35:58):
was happening before.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So okay, so, how does fire distinguish between pure speech
someone who is who's who's criticized for making a writing
an op ed piece in a newspaper or or speaking,
or someone coming on campus, as opposed to somebody who
engages in action activity such as blocking a doorway, impeding
(36:19):
progress of other students, maybe taking over a building, something
like that. Do you distinguish between the type of activity
that elicits the sanction or the suspension.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Yes, we absolutely do. So we hold to the Supreme
Court precedents on what is protected versus unprotected conduct. The
examples that you gave, as far as you know, keeping
people from entering buildings, building occupations, that kind of stuff
is not protected speech. We exclude that our database. We
(36:54):
have lawyers who are in the intake meetings making sure
that the things that we're including in the database our
entirely speech that would be protected by the First Amendment.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Okay, how is fire doing these days on campus? I
mean Obviously, there's there's a there's a bit I did
an hour a couple of weeks ago. There are now
I guess, three hundred members of the Republican Harvard Republican Club.
So the Boston Globe been a big front page story
on their Sunday magazine about the return of Republicans to Harvard.
(37:27):
How is there any trend across the country that shows
that the campuses are becoming a little more balanced or
there's the imbalance that we came to either know or
at least endure is stable.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Well.
Speaker 6 (37:49):
One of the things that I think our report shows
is that the tenor of the problems on campus change.
Their amounts fluctuate from year to year. But we've seen
in a lot of cases just a changing of the sources, like,
for example, in the early years, as I mentioned, most
of the attempts to get students sanctioned for speech came
(38:11):
from other students. Now the majority is coming from administrators.
So it doesn't seem that things are getting much better.
We're also having to deal with Gougle interference.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Beach.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
We see you're.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Breaking up on me here. Ryan. I don't know what's
going on with your phone, but you break it up
on me. So if folks want to get in touch
with Fire, give us the website because it's a great organization.
I always want to give you a chance to plug
it was. I hope hopefully your phone will will hold
through this. What's what's the Fire's website?
Speaker 6 (38:49):
The tire or.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah, you know what, next time you do this, we
got to get we got to get you a better phone.
I believe it's the F I R. E dot org,
thefire dot org if you can hear me, and I
think that's correct, and if not, we'll we'll double check that.
Coming out of the nine o'clock news, Ryan, thanks very much.
I'm sorry that the phone deteriorated. I don't know if
(39:13):
you're in a car, if you've moved around, but I
think we've lost you at this point. Thank you very much.
Always nice to meet someone who's named after Ryan Sandberg.
We'll be back right after the nine o'clock news here
on Nightside, and we're going to talk about flowers and
what they mean to us and how they impact people.
We are going to be delighted to be joined by
Jan Goodman of Cityscapes Boston. Coming back
It's Night's eyes Dan Ray. I'm going Mazy Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good evening everybody, and welcome on in. My name is
Dan Ray. Thank you very much, Madison. As we work
our way all the way until midnight. Rob Brooks back
two nights in a row for Rob here right, it
was this is your third night back. What am I
talking about? Third night back? You're back in the swing
of things at this point. Rob is all set. I
(00:28):
am off tomorrow night, so feel free to call in tonight.
Morgan White will be here tomorrow night, but we'll get
you more information on that a little bit later. My
name is Dan Ray. I'm the host of Nights I
with Dan Ray and delighted to be here. Is always
normally here every Monday through Friday night. I think I
had a streak right now about sixty nine. This is
my first night off Tomorrow night, personal matter. Just taking
(00:53):
a Friday evening off to spend some time with some friends,
and I've had sixty I think I've worked every day
since early February, every weekday. So I think Rob, with
your blessing and your benediction, I will he gave me
the I deserve it. Okay, Rob I appreciate that we
have a great show lined up tonight. A couple of
(01:14):
interesting and different guests. Going to be talking with the
owner and founder of Cityscapes, which is a wonderful, wonderful
business in Boston, Jan Goodman. She really is an amazing individual.
I call her the Queen of Plants. We'll explain that.
And we're also going to talk with a gentleman by
the name of Kevin Sorilli. He is a futurist. His
(01:40):
he will stun us, I think with conversation and ideas
about what we are all going to interact with in
the future. So enough said about our nine o'clock and
ten o'clock hour. Let us get now to our eight
o'clock hour. We have four guests, interesting topics, different topics.
Going to start off with Aaron Solomon, who's the president
(02:01):
and founder of First Help, and nonprofit that honors police
service of first responders who die by suicide and support
their families. This is National Police Week and we want
to raise awareness about why more police officers die by
suicide than in the line of duty. This is a
frightening statistic. Karen Solomon, thank you for being with us tonight.
(02:23):
But let's talk about it, and let's find out what
we might be able to do about it to make
people more aware that more officers take their own life
than lose their lives in the line of duty.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Great, thank you so much for helping me. I love
this topic because I love raising awareness about it, and
the more people that talk about it, some more that
understanding there is.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So Look, I have police officers in my family, a
brother who is a state police lieutenant, a sister in
law who's a former state police trooper. I am well
aware of the pressures that these folks feel, not only
in terms of what they do in the line of duty,
but how it impacts their family life. What you know
(03:08):
more about it, probably than I do from the from
a broader perspective. Tell us what you have seen in
your capacity.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
As you said, more officers died by suicide than in
the line of duty. And typically, you know, we talk
about police officers who are killed in the line of duty.
If you look at the statistics, sixty percent of them
are feloniously killed, meaning they're killed are assaulted by another person.
The other forty percent are things like heart attack, he stroke,
COVID COVID. You know, COVID is the number one cause
(03:41):
of law enforcement deaths is twenty fifteen. Second to that
is job related illness, and third is being shot by
someone another suspect. You have accidental shootings, you have drownings,
you have falls. There's all kinds of things that are
categorized as a line of duty death. So you don't
have to be killed by another person. You just if
you die on duty and it's you know, you're performing
your job, that's a line of duty deaths. Now you
(04:03):
can go to your work waiting police station and your uniform,
sit in patrol car on duty, and take your life
in your car, and that is not a line of
duty deaths, you know, And typically we don't see that
very often. We do see it, and those officers are
currently making a statement if they're doing it at the
station or in their patrol car, but most times it
happens at home. And with even worse about this is
(04:25):
most of those families either witness the death or find
as a body, so they're traumatized by the suicide. They're
traumatized by the job, they're traumatized by the death, and
then they're further traumatized by the treatment afterwards. So you
have stress of being a law enforcement officer, the regular stress,
the stigma that the culture has put upon them of
not being able to get help, or if they get help,
(04:46):
they're seen as weak. So there is just such a
complicated issue. So you have all of that, and then
after the death, families are treated poorly. There is very
little support nationwide when we started this in twenty sixteen.
Now that supports has grown, but it's not where it
needs to be. There's still not enough support for the
family's afterwards. There's not enough support for the officers while
(05:08):
they're on the job, and there's certainly not enough qualified
mental health professionals to help them make their way through
these careers wholes.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So how can people help your organization? Your organization is
first help spelled capital H, capital E, capital L, and
capital P with a period after each of those capital letters.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Helps is an acronym for honor, educate, lead, and prevent,
because we honor the officers who gob by suicide, We
educate people about the topic. We lead the country as
we are the only organization in the country that collect
law enforcement suicide data. In twenty twenty two, the FBI
started collecting it, but they haven't collected quite as many
as we do. We have a rolling number that you
(05:52):
can see on our website, and then the P is
for prevent because we try to prevent law enforcement suicides obviously,
so people can help by going to our website one
st ht LP dot org and learning about what we do.
People can help by reporting first responder suicides to us
so that we can support the families. Obviously, as a nonprofit,
(06:13):
we you know, obviously take your nations, but our main
thing is to get people aware of the issue, to
make them understand and to have idea as a whole
be better about mental health and the knowledge of mental
health and what it means to have mental health issues
or to be depressed, or to have push traumatic stress
and to take your life, because once we as a
(06:35):
mainstream culture start handling it better, then it's going to
roll into all of these other subcultures, such as the
first responder profession.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Has anyone or any organization ever done a study, and again,
this is one of those questions that's just popping in
my mind, So anyone ever done a study as to
what occupation has the highest percentage of deaths, vice sor
I mean, I'm sure that there are people who commit
suicide in lots of uh, you know, occupations, vocations, professions,
(07:08):
whatever you want to call them. But I have to
think that probably the percentage of people who are police
officers who commit suicide has to be right up there
if any such studies ever even been attempted.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Oh, there's been plenty of studies, and surprisingly law enforcement
is not at the top. First responders is not at
the top. But what but first responder profession and law
enforcement profession do have They are they have more from
post traumatic stress, more oppression, They are two to four
times more likely to have all of that. So it's
definitely you know, it's their their actual trauma is higher
(07:43):
than other professions.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Okay, well, well that explains that you gave the website.
I want to just slowly one st like the number
of if you write as opposed to first it's right
what s T and then the word help all one
where it's so it's the numeral one s P H
E l P dot org uh, and that is the
(08:09):
that is the website that if you happen to be
a police officer of police officer family, you certainly should
be aware of the group and the organization if you're
someone who would like to contribute. Now, it's funny and
I'm gonna mention this because it's something that bothers me.
All of us get these phone calls from these groups
(08:29):
that claim to raise money for police agencies and organizations,
and you get the slick talking guy on the phone, Hey, good, good,
how are you calling from the Police Officers Assistants organization?
And we're hoping that you'll send some money. And I
always asked them, I said, well, what are the administrative
cost your agencies and all of these that are doing
(08:51):
this telephone solicitation? You're not one of the groups that
does the telephone solicitation.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
I'm sure, well are not?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
And it's called question?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, we word of mouth, We have fundraisers.
Most of our funds come from individual donors and believe
in not many of the families. But also we only
have one full time and whilst you have a part
time employee. So so we're an all volunteer organization. We've
done this as a volunteers.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Some of these weeps, what's your administrative costs? Well, our
administrative costs or ninety seven point three percent oh, so
that means two point seven percent actually goes right right
right truth bizarre. They'll say, well, well, I don't understand
the question. What do you mean by administrative costs? At
that point, I know they know what the question is.
The answers they just don't want to answer.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Look, I really do Can I just tell you what
we do? I'll just quickly say we.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Got to do it quickly because I'm running up to time.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Here, go ahead. Yep.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
College scholarships for the kids of the officers who done
by suicide. They don't get that anywhere else. We do retreats,
we do care packages, we do all kinds of stuff,
so our money is going right back to those families.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Okay, that's great, that's great. Look, thank you for what
you do on behalf of a lot of people in
my audience who are police families who listen. Thank you
what you do, and keep up, keep up your great work.
Karen Solomon, President, co founder of First Help and again,
that website is the numeral one st so it's like
first and then H E L P. All those that
(10:23):
letter that the number and the letters all you have
together dot org. Thanks very much, Karen, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Thank you have a great night.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Okay, you do. We get back. We're going to talk
with an associate professor of kinesiology mechanical engineering at Penn
State University. We're talking about when you jog with a stroller.
It's great because you're getting some exercise and you're getting
some fresh air, but you might be doing some harm
to your body. We'll be talking with Alison Singles right
(10:50):
after the break here on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's
news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Well, all of us have done this if you have kids,
and all of us probably have seen others doing it.
And what am I talking about? I'm talking about running
with a jogging stroller, getting yourself a little exercise, and
getting your young child who's able to buckle in the stroller,
the fun of kind of zooming along with mom or
(11:19):
dad both. But but but, bod, maybe there's some damage
we're doing to our bodies while we think we're getting
ourselves in better shape. Joining us is Alison Singles. She's
a PhD and Associate professor of Kinney's Kinesiology and Mechanical
Engineering at Penn State. Go Nitley lions Hi Alison or
professor singles, how are you tonight?
Speaker 6 (11:42):
I'm good, Hi Dan, I'm doing great.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I'm doing great. I did this with my kids a
long time ago. Put them in the stroller, get out
to get a little exercise. But oftentimes we're not running
straight up. So I think I understand where you're going
with this, but I want people to pay attention because
the last thing we want to do is while exercising
inadvertently injure ourselves. Tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Yeah, So we've been doing some research on how the
runner behaves differently when they're pushing a stroller. There's a
lot of work out there about the kid and the
stroller and making the ride safe, and nobody really thinks
about the person pushing it. So we did some research
to see what was happening, and we've seen that runners
(12:30):
tend to lean a little more forward when they're pushing
a stroller. Like you mentioned, they tend to kind of
hit the ground a little less hard, which might actually
be protective of injury, but they have to spend a
lot more effort into controlling the stroller and that kind
of puts some extra twisting forces underneath their foot, which
(12:51):
might lead to increased risk. Of overuse injury, especially bone injuries.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
So I'm assuming that I'm a baby boomer, and I
don't think the baby boomer generation that many of us
were pushed in strollers by our World War two, you know,
vintage parents from the greatest generation. This is something that
probably has come into vogue. I suspect after the nineteen
(13:19):
seventies when the jogging craze kind of swept the country.
So how much information do we have over time or
have I underestimated that when people started pushing, pushing the
little ones in strollers, I.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Think you are. You kind of hit the nail on
the head there. So running strollers, I don't know much
about regular strollers. I think that they've been around a
bit longer. But running strollers kind of came into popularity
in the eighties and nineties, but they weren't very commonly
used until much much more recently. You know, now it
seems like you see everybody's got a jogging stroller, But
(13:59):
I don't think that technology was really there, you know,
more than ten years ago for it to be a
nice ride.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The statistics that you have, maybe you've got some studies done,
but I guess you don't have necessarily the long term
stats that you'd like to develop.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Aysome right, we don't really have long term statistics on
anything yet, but we are trying to follow some people
long term, so we hopefully will know that in a
few years. But ultimately, nothing we're seeing is incredibly worrisome
for long term effects. It seems to be a mixed bag.
And it does seem that when people push a stroller
(14:41):
and then stop pushing the stroller, they're running mechanics go
right back to normal after they finished pushing a stroller. Okay,
so we don't think that this is having carryover effect.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So are we talking about primarily maybe the hips are
going to be a little mis sore, or maybe the
lower back. What areas you know from a kinesiology perspective,
do you think would would likely be impacted, if any,
if any areas were going to be impacted.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
Yeah, I think you're right. The lower back certainly, if
you have that hunch of posture or leaning forward of it,
you might have some effects on the lower back. And
like I mentioned, with the twisting forces, that could be
indicative of stress fracture risk. So like stress fractures or
shin splints, you might see that happen more more commonly
(15:30):
when people are pushing strollers, but the stress fracture risk
risk goes away right away when you stop running with
the stroller. The lower back is a tougher one. Right
backs are tricky, and.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
We get a lot of running. When my kids were young,
and I'm sure that on occasion we didn't have running
strollers per se. There was no one had marketed those.
This would have been back in the late eighties early nineties,
but just a regular little stroller as long as they
were strapped in that much resistance. Now that I have
my grandson who's three, well least not three until July,
(16:06):
but most of the activity that he likes is to
take a ride in a golf cart. That's easier. I
don't think there's any impact from the kinneesiological point of
view as I sit in the golf cart, So that
that is that's good good news. Before we scare people,
I just want to clearly this is not something that
(16:27):
people should lose sleepover. I will say that one of
the things I learned that as great as jogging is,
it does have an impact later on in life on
your on your knees and on your ankles just from
the impact of running it if you were in well.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
One thing could be that strollers could actually be protective
of that. We saw less less impact when you're running
with a stroller. You're kind of sharing the load between
your legs and your arms because you're holding onto the
handlebars with the strollers. So there is a possibility that
running with a stroller is actually protecting you from some
of that long term can be and arthritis risk later
(17:07):
in life.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
What I hope you could do with some sort of
a study on ellipticals. About ten years ago, I discovered
ellipticals and there's no impact and they really do help
people of a certain vintage. And I am one of
those of that vintage. So I hope that you're not
doing it. I hope you're not doing a study that's
suggesting that of use of ellipticals three or four or
(17:31):
five times a week is going to be problematical at
some point to have a.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Line, I hope not. I don't think so, though, Okay, great, Yeah,
I also don't think that running with a stroller can
be really problematic either. I think that I think the
mental health and physical health then if it's really outwigh
anything that I'm looking at. But you know, it's important
to consider that the mechanics of the runner that's pushing
(17:56):
the stroller, not just the safety of the of the baby.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And I'll tell you the little ones love it. They
love to feel the reason and their hair at that
or whatever heir they have at that point, they love.
They love the movement and the motion. Allison, I appreciate
very much. Thanks very much for being back. We missed
you the other night. I hope all is well. I
know you were dealing with a family matter and I
hope everything has worked out fine on that and thanks
(18:21):
for coming back.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
All's well, that ends well, and thanks so much for
having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
It's all that matters. Alison Singles, Associate Professor of Kinesiology
at Penn State. If folks want to get in touch
with you and ask a question, I see that there's
an interesting article that was in the Washington Post. Do
you want to give out a you know, an email.
If anybody does have a question that they'd like to
run by you, they certainly can read this article, which
(18:47):
was May third in the Washington Post by you and
a colleague, John Mahoney. Does what running with a jogging
stroll it does to your body, which is why we
reached out to you so they can find that. And
are you a periodic writer for the for the for
the Walpo Walpole As we say.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
No, this was just a one off. I actually wrote
it initially for another publication called The Conversation, and it
got picked up by the Washington Post.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That's great.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
You can find me at State Burks. You can Google
me and my email address will be right there. Feel
free to reach out if you have any questions.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Penn State Berks, b E r Ks. Thanks so much, Allison,
appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Happy running, Happy Running. When we get back right after
the News at the Bottom of the Era, we're going
to be talking about a very interesting theory that have
we created a culture of mediocrity in America where good
enough is ruining people's lives. We will talk with an
author and speaker and transformation coach. I'll also remind you
if you haven't found the iHeart app at your app store,
(19:51):
please do take advantage of this. This is free. It's
a new and improved iHeart app, and the great part
about it is when you put it on whatever device
you or as many devices as possible. Make us your
first preset, so no matter where you are, anytime of day,
any place at all, you're only a fingertip away. My
name is Dan Ray. This is Nightside to listen to
WBZ ten thirty and your am dial, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
It's night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Well we continue along with our Thursday night edition of
the Nightside News Update, and with us is Kellen Flukeeger.
He's an author, speaker and transformation coach and the issue
that he's going to talk about is our culture of mediocrity. Kellen,
Welcome to Nightside. How are you.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
I'm just fantastic, Dan, thank you for having me on tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You're very welcome. I have never seen a last name
like yours. We see people with Smith and Brown, but
Flukeeger are the many Flugers in the country. I'm guessing
that it's a small.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Clan, very very small. Three brothers came over in the
late eighteen hundreds from Switzerland, and everyone I've ever met
in North America can be traced back to those three.
So no, it's very unusual in North America.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That's great. So you are a business coach and a
life coach in Los Angeles, as I understand that correct?
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yes, actually, yes, I am okay?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Was it quite sure? Did I overstate or understate either
of those?
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Me to one? I'm actually an Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and
the Los Angeles may have come because I have an
LA talk radio show called Your Ultimate Like, but I
actually live in Edmonton, Alberta and that's why I.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So you must be you must be an Oiler fan.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
I'm assuming right, we're just freaking out because they won
last night four to one and they're going on probably
to meet the Stars. But yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, well, you know, look the Jets. Did they knock
the Jets out? Is that is that who they were playing?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:58):
But it's three to one. The Stars are out three
to one, and so I'm thinking, I don't know if
Winnipeg can pull that off.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Yeah, well we'll see. We'll see. So let's talk about
what the culture of mediocrity, why good enough, is ruining
your life. We're addicted to a culture of mediocrity. I
don't disagree with you, by the way, I got to
tell you, I happen to agree. How did we get
here and how did we get out?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Of here, Well, addiction to mediocrity learned helplessness. We're sort
of raised that way. We settle. We just we get
the idea that we see fabulous things that other people do,
and then we have this story, well, I can't have that.
I'm not good enough. I really can't. And then we
also make that words by teaching ourselves and our kids
(22:45):
and culture that everything's got to be easy to solve,
like in the length of a TV sitcom, and if
it's harder than that, then people just give up. And
so we end up settling for way less than we're
capable of doing, and it just goes on.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Okay, so can you trace the origins of this? Uh,
this addiction to mediocrity? Is there is there a period
a time period will we as a society fell into this?
Obviously I believe in the mil curve of life and
not I. If this seventy five percent of the people
who are addicted to mediocrity, you have there's going to
(23:23):
be some people who, frankly are not addicted to mediocrity.
This is we're talking about a trend here, not an
absolute number that that is are that's that's affecting everybody? Right?
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Oh, absolutely. There's always going to be those that say
I can do this, I can do it, and then
they go there no matter what the obstacles.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Okay, So, so when did this start? Can we trace
it or or is it just something that has evolved
and it's it's an imprecise starting point.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
Well, you know, life used to be harder, like when
those three Flukiger brothers came over from Switzerland. I mean,
you made your living off the lane and you had
to work, and people were taught to work. And in
the last who knows, thirty forty fifty years, we sort
of gradually have gotten easier and easier and more people
take care of us kind of thing, and we've lost
(24:14):
a lot of our drive and a lot of the
belief that we can create something. So I think it's
come along with the ease and development of technology. It
wasn't required and by how we view, you know, the
separation between people that have stuff and don't, and then
we adopt the story of yeah, but I could never
dot dot dot and it doesn't matter what comes after that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Is the solution that all of us should take a
couple of weeks in the woods every year and leing
to live off the land. I assume that's not the solution.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
No, it isn't the solution. It's all in the mind.
And what I mean by that is you don't just
sit and say some affirmations. It starts with the choice
and the knowledge that we each really create our own lives.
Like if you develop and some parents do this, but
if you developed the idea that you can create what
you want and if it's not obvious, I'm going to
(25:05):
go figure out what how Like, I'm going there no
matter what the obstacle, instead of I'm giving up the
first time I get kicked.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And is this something obviously, since you're in Edmonton, is
this something which is endemic to North America or is
it the American culture? Is that the Canadian culture? I
think our cultures are pretty similar. Frankly, obviously we're geographically contiguous.
And I don't want to start a Donald Trump just
In Trudeau debate here.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
But.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Is this something that is this something that is more
endemic to a more comfortable we have We're two fairly
comfortable societies. I mean, we have pretty much everybody has
indoor plumbing and heat and stuff like that. We're not,
you know, living on the equator and in one hundred
and ten degree temperatures nine months out of the year.
(26:00):
Is this a Canadian thing, an American thing or is
it a North American thing.
Speaker 5 (26:04):
Well, I think it's both, and I think it one
of the key and not the only, but one of
the key determinants is how easy it is to get
by with life. In other words, have CABLETV and aough food,
et cetera, et cetera. So it is certainly North America.
I mean in Canada and the US, and there are
some cultures in with the western part of Europe where
(26:25):
we make life easy and it isn't just quote the
Western culture everywhere where life seems to be created easy
and there's a big safety net to take care of
you if you don't feel like it or if you fail,
we sort of move into the well then I really
don't have to create much, do I sort of mindset?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, Well, that of course is also I think you're
alluding to sort of these social safety nets that we
talk about in Western Europe. And we look up at
Canada and say, oh, they're almost a socialist state up there.
We we got plenty of quasi socialism going on down here.
Am I getting close to the nerve when I when
I mentioned those those three elements.
Speaker 5 (27:09):
Yeah, And I don't want to sound like I'm anti
any of that. There are safety nets that we are
privileged and blessed to be able to provide. What we've
done is we've made it too easy to be lazy,
We've made it too easy to not I mean, look
at the school tests. And I'm both I'm both dual national,
so I was born in San Francisco, I'm you and
my wife and I are both US and Canadian citizens,
(27:31):
So we watch everything down there with great interest. And
I think that the more we create the situation where
you can be you know, I won't say only lazy,
but where you don't really have to be innovative and work,
then we learn helplessness and we learn to expect that
the external things are going to come to my rescue
(27:51):
and solve my problems in some way.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, Sah, I was in a supermarket line today and
I saw a woman in front of me, and I
have no idea how old she was, but she was
clearly elderly and she had a basket, you know, full
of items, and it took her she struggled a little
bit to get the items out of her cart, But
I just thought to myself, what an amazing woman that
(28:17):
she obviously was not. Again, well, I don't think it
was just old age. I think I think that there
was some complications for her physically, but it wasn't going
to stop her from going to the store. And I
walked away from that experience just having an admiration for her.
And at one point one of the clerks actually helped
her empty her wagon. And she's tiny, not a big
(28:40):
woman physically, so she had a little struggle to reach
into the basket and pull heavy items out, if I've
depicted it clearly, But that spirit that she had I
wish all of us had. That she was going to
get to the store today and she was going to
do what she was needed to do today, and that
was to fill her pantry and all of that. So
(29:02):
I had that experience today and I walked away saying, Tom,
I hope that I would have the courage to do
that and fight through whatever limitations she was dealing with.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
I love that. And one of the things in the
business and personal coaching world that I do is I
have to begin to address when someone comes to coach,
no matter what the problem is, they want help overcoming something.
And one of the first things that we have to
figure out is is there a real barrier or are
you making this up? Meaning you're experiencing a barrier? But
(29:35):
is it in your head? Have you tried this? Have
you tried that? What responsibility have you taken for yourself
in the creation of the success you say you want.
I'll ask people often, so how bad do you want
this whatever it is is, And they'll say, oh, I'll
do anything. And then I'll say, okay, good, let's start
with these three things, and inevitably, oh, well, I didn't
(29:56):
know I had to do that. That's the kind of
simple Kellen.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
I like your approach, I like your philosophy. How could
folks get in touch with you if they would like
to avail themselves of your guidance?
Speaker 5 (30:10):
So I'm running a book challenge right now and it's
helping people tell their stories of resilience. So the easiest
way to get a hold of me right now is
a website Www dot dream, build right it dot com.
And it has to do with mighting your life, figuring
out the value you can create with your life stories.
(30:32):
Of overcoming and then doing something with it. That's www
dot dream build right it dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Kellen, thank you very much, appreciate it. I enjoyed the
conversation and go Oilers. Okay, since the Brewers out in it.
Thanks very much.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
All right, Thanks Dan, I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
You're very welcome. We get back. We're going to talk
with a representative of FIRE, one of my favorite organizations,
the Foundation of Individual Rights and Education. A new report
finds that Harvard has punished more students speech than just
any other school this decade. That's not good news for Harvard.
We'll talk about it on the other side of the break.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
It's Night Side Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Delighted to welcome Ryan Weiss, the director of research at
the Foundation of Individual Rights and Education. Ron. I gotta
believe you're from Chicago and you were named after Ryan Sandberg?
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Correct?
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (31:28):
Yeah? That's true.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Well, the only reason to look I totally guess that
because the only other person who I knew with the
name R. Y n. E. Was the great uh Chicago
Cub baseball player.
Speaker 5 (31:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (31:43):
Yeah, And I actually got my current job at Fire
the same week the Cubs won the World Series, so
it was a big week for my family.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Wow, but you they did name you after Sandberg. You're
not pulling I was just having fun with you. You're
not pulling me leg right.
Speaker 6 (31:58):
No, No, that's that's that's true. And in fact, my
dad got the WGN broadcasters to announce my birth on
it in the same dair.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Now, how many times has anyone else in your life
when they met you came out at the box with
I assume you were born in Chicago and you're named
after Ryan Sandberg? Does that happen you a lot?
Speaker 6 (32:18):
Well, God, go to the universe of Chicago and Oaks
would always ask me that question. Then I moved to
Philadelphia and Ryan Sandy a short and not very good
stint as the general manager for the Phillies. So a
couple times people would ask me that with a little
(32:39):
bit of a more aggressive tone than in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
I got you. Well, okay, so I wasn't the first,
but that's okay. So let's I'm a big fan of Fire.
Harvey Silverglade, who was one of the founders of Fire,
is one of my closest friends and Harvard fantastic stats
here more than six hundred college students and student groups
have been punished to invest gated for speech in the
last five years. At Harvard. What's called. I mean, look,
(33:03):
I know that it's not.
Speaker 6 (33:04):
No that's in the nation as a whole. At Harvard
we've tracked eighteen of those in the last five years,
which is more than any other college.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Well, the way this is written, the way this is written,
I'm thinking to myself, Harvard has become worse than I
ever would have imagined. Both of my kids went to Harvard,
and wow, So all those eighteen we all know that
Harvard claims, or I believe it has been attributed that
ninety seven percent of the professors at Harvard considered themselves
(33:35):
to the left of center. About three percent of them
consider themselves to the right of center. If you break
down the eighteen instances at Harvard, is there a proclivity
one way or the other as to who's being you know,
censured or in some form of fashion punished.
Speaker 6 (33:55):
So I can't speak to Harvard on those, but we
do have those stats for the universities as a whole.
And one of the interesting things about this report is
it shows a change in the trend over time. So
if you look at twenty twenty to twenty twenty three
attempts to sanction students speech broadly, we're coming from the
(34:16):
left of the students being targeted. Coversten.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Let me make sure I understood what you just said,
that the administrators were sanctioning, suspending, whatever, you know, whatever
they did conservative speech.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
Broadly. Yes, we have a little more complicated coding there,
because you know, it's sometimes hard to tell. We usually
do it whether or not the direction is coming relative
to the speaker. So if someone you know, to the
left of a centrist, center leaning speaker is targeted for
(34:58):
we then coding on the left the case, we code
that as being from the right.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
So yeah, so so, so what's so you said the
trend is switched? Is it is now that there's been
a lot of activity on campuses as I'm sure you know,
particularly left uh throw Palestinian, anti Israeli and often sometimes
viril and anti Semitic activity. Is is that the trend
(35:27):
that we have seen and that the administrators now have
had to get a little backbone against the the progressives.
Speaker 6 (35:36):
Yeah, we've seen a switch in the trend so that
now most of the speak speech is being targeted from
the right of the speaker, and this is you know,
largely on the topic of Palestine. So you have pro Palestine,
sympathetic protest being targeted more for their speech than what
(35:58):
was happening before.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So okay, so, how does fire distinguish between pure speech
someone who is who's who's criticized for making a writing
an op ed piece in a newspaper or or speaking,
or someone coming on campus, as opposed to somebody who
engages in action activity such as blocking a doorway, impeding
(36:19):
progress of other students, maybe taking over a building, something
like that. Do you distinguish between the type of activity
that elicits the sanction or the suspension.
Speaker 6 (36:30):
Yes, we absolutely do. So we hold to the Supreme
Court precedents on what is protected versus unprotected conduct. The
examples that you gave, as far as you know, keeping
people from entering buildings, building occupations, that kind of stuff
is not protected speech. We exclude that our database. We
(36:54):
have lawyers who are in the intake meetings making sure
that the things that we're including in the database our
entirely speech that would be protected by the First Amendment.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Okay, how is fire doing these days on campus? I
mean Obviously, there's there's a there's a bit I did
an hour a couple of weeks ago. There are now
I guess, three hundred members of the Republican Harvard Republican Club.
So the Boston Globe been a big front page story
on their Sunday magazine about the return of Republicans to Harvard.
(37:27):
How is there any trend across the country that shows
that the campuses are becoming a little more balanced or
there's the imbalance that we came to either know or
at least endure is stable.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Well.
Speaker 6 (37:49):
One of the things that I think our report shows
is that the tenor of the problems on campus change.
Their amounts fluctuate from year to year. But we've seen
in a lot of cases just a changing of the sources, like,
for example, in the early years, as I mentioned, most
of the attempts to get students sanctioned for speech came
(38:11):
from other students. Now the majority is coming from administrators.
So it doesn't seem that things are getting much better.
We're also having to deal with Gougle interference.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Beach.
Speaker 6 (38:28):
We see you're.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Breaking up on me here. Ryan. I don't know what's
going on with your phone, but you break it up
on me. So if folks want to get in touch
with Fire, give us the website because it's a great organization.
I always want to give you a chance to plug
it was. I hope hopefully your phone will will hold
through this. What's what's the Fire's website?
Speaker 6 (38:49):
The tire or.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Yeah, you know what, next time you do this, we
got to get we got to get you a better phone.
I believe it's the F I R. E dot org,
thefire dot org if you can hear me, and I
think that's correct, and if not, we'll we'll double check that.
Coming out of the nine o'clock news, Ryan, thanks very much.
I'm sorry that the phone deteriorated. I don't know if
(39:13):
you're in a car, if you've moved around, but I
think we've lost you at this point. Thank you very much.
Always nice to meet someone who's named after Ryan Sandberg.
We'll be back right after the nine o'clock news here
on Nightside, and we're going to talk about flowers and
what they mean to us and how they impact people.
We are going to be delighted to be joined by
Jan Goodman of Cityscapes Boston. Coming back
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