The Graduate Caterpillar's Summer Dance Party

Belly up to the table, my friends! Join Mr. B as he serves up delectable morsels for the mind in review of the classic 1967 film "The Graduate" and a documentary review of "The Caterpillar" followed by the classic disco and sexy songs of the Queen of Disco: Donna Summer. And, fill up on part 2 of Step 4 in his spiritual journey of recovery as well as his thoughts on the classroom and the 70/30 rule, key months in the educational year and more all at the banquet table with Mr. B!

Email queries about Sunnyside Biographies to troy@sunnysidefarmstudios.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_08 0:02

It's time for dinner. Ding dung ding ding ding dung. From the creative mind of Scott Bertelson, after four decades of teaching our impressionable youth, the dinner belt, you are invited to enjoy conversational morsels for the mind at Mr. B's dinner party.

SPEAKER_03 0:20

Yeah, dinner!

SPEAKER_07 0:23

On the air again. I can't wait to get on the air again. And welcome! Welcome to Mr. B's dinner party. Mr. B's got a table so wide.

SPEAKER_10 0:38

Pull up a chair, let your worries slide. School days, tales, and a movie or two. He's serving up wisdom with a side of stew. Belly up to the table, my friend. The feast of thought will never end. From travels far to a spiritual climb. Morsels of music served in rhyme.

SPEAKER_07 1:13

Just when they said that I couldn't do it again, here I am. Of course, we're just starting. I may not make it. But anyway, I'm hoping that you will enjoy the little tidbits that I will be sharing today. I have a plethora of items I'm going to talk about today, as long as I can hold out and keep talking coherently, which is always a challenge. So without further ado, it's time to belly up to the table, and it's time for Mr.

SPEAKER_08 1:42

B's dinner party. For the next course, come one, come all. Nothing spoiled here, from Comfort Classics to What's Hot Now. Film reviews from Mr. B's Rewatchables.

SPEAKER_07 1:56

For my rewatchable film this week, folks, you know I covered the gamut. Films from the 40s, the 50s, the 70s, present day, all over the place. But I told you a couple podcasts ago I was going to talk about a movie, and then uh having a slight uh advancement of dementia. Uh I shouldn't ignore, but I did not talk about the graduate, the film, the 1967 film that I said I was going to. So I thought I'd better do that today. So, The Graduate, 1967. Where were you in 1967? It's a romantic comedy drama, and it was directed by, once again, one of my favorite directors, Mike Nichols. And it stars Dustin Hoffman, I believe it was his first starring role, as a recent college graduate whose name is Benjamin Braddock. And he is lost in his life. He doesn't know what to do upon graduation, where to go, what do I want to do? What's happening with my life? And then, so what happens? He gets seduced by an older married woman, of course. And that woman is the famous Mrs. Robinson, which is capitalized in the song by Simon Garfunkel, who, by the way, did the soundtrack for this film, which is absolutely absolutely, absolutely amazing. Go to Spotify and listen to the soundtrack to the graduate. Anyway, Ann Backcroft plays Mrs. Robinson. But the twist is that Benjamin falls in love with her daughter. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Elaine, played by the beautiful, beautiful Catherine Ross. And the soundtrack, oh my gosh, the song Mrs. Robinson, Sound of Silence. Oh, there's so many great, great, great Simon and Garfunkel songs to listen to. Anyway, released in 1967, it grossed$104 million in the United States, making it the highest grossing film of 1967. So people were interested in this story. Absolutely. In 1996, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. And then the American Film Institute ranked it as the seventh greatest American film. Seventh? It is widely regarded as one of the most influential films ever made. And it's a type of movie that you can find quite often on uh TCM. And I come back to it at least once a year because of the themes, the performance of um Dustin Hoffman, who has made so many wonderful, wonderful movies. And of course, Anne Bancroft is Mrs. Robinson. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. So what's the story? Well, Benjamin, he graduates, moves back to his parents' home in Pasadena. Mrs. Robinson is the wife of his father's law partner, uh, who lives in the neighborhood, goes to the graduation party and asks him to drive her home. Once he drives her home, uh we find out that she's an alcoholic and likes to sleep around. What do you think of me?

SPEAKER_11 5:41

What do you mean? You've known me nearly all your life, you must have found something.

SPEAKER_13 5:47

Well, I always thought that you were a very nice person.

SPEAKER_06 5:52

You know, I was an alcoholic.

SPEAKER_07 5:57

What? And try to seduce him. That famous scene of Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Maybe my producer can show you that clip.

SPEAKER_13 6:09

There we are. You got me into your house. You give me a drink, you put on music, now you start opening up your personal life to me and tell me your husband won't be home for hours.

SPEAKER_11 6:17

Oh.

SPEAKER_13 6:18

Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?

SPEAKER_07 6:24

And she just giggles and laughs. And he's very, very defiant that he's going to uh be involved with her, but that doesn't last. He does resist her advances. But later she invites him to a hotel.

SPEAKER_11 6:40

Did you get us a room? Have you gotten us a room yet? I have it. Do you want? Well, I don't. I mean, I could. Or we could just talk. You want me to get it? Oh no, no, I get it. Do you want me to get it? I don't know. I don't think I will.

SPEAKER_07 7:09

And where he registers under a surname Gladstone.

SPEAKER_12 7:14

Do you have any luggage, Mr. Gladstone? Luggage? Yes, yes, I do. Where is it? What? Where is your luggage? Oh, it's in the car. It's it's out there in the car. Very good, sir. I'll have a porter bring it in. Oh no. I mean, I I I'd rather not go to all the trouble of bringing it all in. I just have a toothbrush. I can get it myself, that's all right, of course.

SPEAKER_07 7:39

And um she challenges him that he uh isn't up to performing, so to speak, and we're not talking about playing an instrument. And um he gives in and they start the affair. Uh he just spends the summer by his parents' swimming pool and meeting her at night. Uh that's where his life is going. Um during one of their encounters, she, Mrs. Robinson, reveals that she and her husband married after she accidentally became pregnant with her daughter Elaine. And Benjamin says that he would like to date Elaine, and Mrs. Robinson angrily, angrily says, You will never date my daughter. But anyway, Benjamin does ask Elaine out. Of course, Elaine's not aware at all about the affair. He takes her out, uh takes her to a strip club, I remember that, and she leaves in tears because you know that's not what Elaine had in mind for a date. Uh but anyway, Elaine is still going to Berkeley. And um Elaine finally discovers that Benjamin is having an affair, and he does admit to an affair with a married woman, but he doesn't give the name. He tells Elaine the affair is over and asks to see her again. Um Mrs. Robinson is just absolutely livid about the two of them dating. So to prevent Benjamin from dating Elaine, she threatens to tell her about their affair. But to stop this, Benjamin just goes to the Robinson house and tells Elaine that the married woman is her mother. Well, you can probably guess Elaine didn't take that very well, and throws him out of the house and goes back to school at Berkeley. Well, he follows her there, and she starts dating a medical student. And then uh Elaine finds out that her mother lied. She says that Benjamin raped her. Then she gets back together with him. And he pushes for marriage, but she's like, I don't really know if I want to. You hit have an affair with my mother. Will you marry me?

SPEAKER_04 10:20

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 10:25

But you might I might. You might marry me?

SPEAKER_10 10:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

I don't know. I don't know what's happening.

SPEAKER_07 10:46

Guess that could make you think twice. And anyway, um so with Benjamin going to Berkeley following Elaine, uh we find out that Mr. Robinson forces Elaine, her father, to leave college to marry this man named Carl. They'll do anything not to have Benjamin uh involved. So Benjamin drives to Pasadena looking for Elaine. He finds Mrs. Robinson, who says that he can't stop Elaine's marriage to Carl, and calls the police. He flees the house, he finds out the wedding is in Santa Barbara that day, he goes over 300 miles to Santa Barbara. But the car runs out of gas, of course, just a few miles from the church, and then he runs to the church where the ceremony is ending. So what he does is makes his way into the church and goes into a glass church gallery overlook overlooking the seated area and screams her name. Not this Carl guy, and she escapes with him from the church, and they lock the door so nobody in the church can get out to pursue them. And they leave on a city bus, Elaine's in her wedding gown, and one of the best scenes of the film is they're sitting in the back of the bus, breathing heavily because of all this chaos, and their smiles slowly change into looks of bewilderment and sadness. So you don't know if they do get married, will it last? All these questions come up which you don't get an answer for, and you're not supposed to. You're supposed to just have you figure out what you think happens to these two. And the film was so great because it dealt with young people not having direction. You have a BA degree, what do I do with it? Is it usable to me? Am I going to find a place? Can I can I pay that my huge student loan? All these things. Do I want to look forward to working with somebody in my field for the next forty-fifty years? And so he's at a turning point where I just don't know he just doesn't know what to do. And so he thinks Elaine personally is the answer to his prayers. But is she? Can you find happiness contentment through another person? Can't you or shouldn't you find that in yourself first? Anyway. Did they stay married? Did they get married? And personally I don't have a a very optimistic view of even though they think they did the right thing by locking everybody in the church and running off and getting on a bus and her and her wedding gown. Uh I don't think it turns out well. And I'm not a pessimist. I'm not. I'm very much an optimist. But just because you are a certain age doesn't mean that you have all the answers. You just don't. And Benjamin is a very much of a lost soul. So what brings me back to the film over and over is uh how Benjamin cloaked his unhappiness and depression, I guess I would call it, by having an affair with an older woman. I I don't know if you want to get psychological looking for a mother figure, whatever the deal is. Um but realizing that this woman he's having an affair with is also the mother of the girl he really, really loves. That that's a very, very, very, very sticky situation.

SPEAKER_14 16:23

I'm trying to tell you I have no personal feelings about you, Mr. Robinson. I'm trying to tell you I do not resent you. You don't respect me terribly much either, do you?

SPEAKER_06 16:32

No, sir. Why? No, sir. Don't shout at me, Ben. I may not be as young as you, but I still have pretty good hearing. Mr. Robinson have the decent state to wait until I finish. I do think you should know the consequences of what you've done. I I do think you should know that my wife and I are getting a divorce soon.

SPEAKER_14 16:50

But why? Why? Listen for me. What happened between Mrs. Robbins and me was nothing. It didn't mean anything. We might just as well have been shaking hands. Shaking hands? Well, that's not saying much for my wife, isn't it? You missed the point. I guess I do. The point is I don't love your wife. I love your daughter, sir.

SPEAKER_06 17:13

What are you going to do about that? You'll pardon me if I don't shake hands with you. I think you are filth. I think you are scum. You are a degenerate.

SPEAKER_07 17:27

So, anyway, I would highly suggest sometime to see The Graduate, the 1967 film, with the uh film debut of Dustin Hoffman and um also Anne Bancroft, who is absolutely brilliant as Mrs. Robinson. It was uh a major event of nineteen sixty-seven of what it dealt with and um the content and the ambiguity of where this is all going. And then you supplement that with the beautiful songs which I probably should go into detail sometime, of Simon and Garfunkel, who were immensely popular at the time. And the songs really fit the theme of the movie just makes it a time capsule of what it was like for many graduates at that time, and maybe even today. What do I do with this degree, as I said? How is this going to make me happy? How do I really find happiness? Did I go to college, did I go to university just because my parents said I had to? I had to keep it darkness in the family.

SPEAKER_10 19:03

I've come to talk with you.

SPEAKER_07 19:05

Anyway, ponder that, think about that vision and make time to see the classic film, The Graduate.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

I listen to it in the morning when I'm getting ready for the day, and I am also in love with your new theme music. I sing and dance while I'm getting ready. Keep up the good work.

SPEAKER_07 19:42

Alright, my happy viewers. I have never really talked about a documentary. I've talked about sitcoms, uh dramas on television, but this time I'm mixing it up. And there is a documentary on HBO Max. I'm not sure how long it's been on. They have many, many, many documentaries on there. This one is called Caterpillar. Caterpillar. And it is a true story about a man, a gay man, who figures if he changes the color of his eyes, it will make him a butterfly. That's what I said. It's really a journey of self-discovery and also an attack in my mind on cosmetic surgery when it's taken to the extreme. Now this true story involved David Taylor, who is a Miami hairdresser, uh who is very, very dissatisfied with the way he looks when the documentary starts. He doesn't like anything about himself. He never has. He grew up in a very, very negative environment. His mother treated him badly. Uh, I don't believe he ever really knew his father, and so he has carried around this um very distorted view of what he looked like. Now in the film, in my estimation, documentary, he is rather attractive looking as a man. Uh he's muscular, uh he's biracial, so what? Who cares? Um but he can't seem to find the answer to happiness. He wants to feel good about himself and change the direction of his life. So He comes upon a site on the internet called Bright Ocular, which is in India, that does implants that give the recipients different eye colors. It's a very they show the procedure, it's a very simple procedure. Uh, and you can choose virtually any color that you want for your eyes. Now, it's not done in the United States, only in India. And so right away you're thinking, this sounds a little sketchy, just a little sketchy. But anyway, David pursues it and gets accepted and flies to India to have this surgery done because changing the color of his eyes will change his life. Everything will change miraculously with the changing of the color of his eyes. So, anyway, he's offered this service free in exchange for online endorsements, and he meets men and women from other cultures who do this, and you meet them in the film too, people from all cultures who want this quick fix of um plastic surgery, and so he meets these people who have had Botox, dental work done, um, lots of different things, and they're just not satisfied with the way they look. So, anyway, he arrives there, he has a surgery, and they do three patients in one sitting in a room, which personally myself, that should be a warning sign that something's not right about this. Anyway, so he has the surgery done and finds out that they put in the wrong color of eyes. And so they take them out and they give him finally the right color. Miraculously, he looks like a different person. They say that in the future you may have complications with this, you may not. Uh, you're going to have to go to an eye doctor occasionally to have them checked. But he thinks that he has uh discovered the pot of gold, so to speak. And he comes home and he moves from Florida to New York City, reinvents himself, starts engaging in better relationships with uh dating and friends, and thinks he has the world in his hands. But what happens? A few months in, he starts having trouble with his eyes, and he cannot be in sunlight, uh, they're watering. Uh he goes to an eye doctor, and the eye doctor says, These have to come out, or you will go blind. And then he finds out that many of his friends that he was with at the institute in India have had the same problem. So it was a scam. And he takes him out and he has his regular eye color again. But by this time, he has changed so much internally that it doesn't really matter. He's come to grips with his troubled childhood, his relationship with his mother. He has come to grips with the fact that he is who he is, and he should be happy with who he is. And that's why I really recommend this documentary, Caterpillar. Because I see all these famous people, so to speak, doing the Botox and doing the facials and doing the facelifts and uh doing other distorted items to their bodies. Again, that's a person's right. But if you're not happy with your soul, if you're not happy with yourself, I don't care how many times or where you go or what you pay, and in this case, changing your eye color, you're not going to find a miraculous gift of change. It has to come from within. And he was a caterpillar and he wanted to become a beautiful butterfly. Where he was a butterfly all along. And so it really spoke to me because I have many times gone on these um quick fix diets because I wanted to change. And that only took care of the outside for a short amount of time. That did not help with what was going inside, going on inside. And that's what you had to get attuned with. And this guy did finally do that. Now you might say, well, that story's been told many times and in many ways. Probably has. But if you really want to see uh what I consider a well-done documentary about a lost soul who finds himself and has nothing to do with the color of his eyes, instead, it deals with finding who he truly is and what he truly wants in life. Then I suggest HBO Max, the documentary, Caterpillar.

SPEAKER_08 29:21

Let's have a seat round the proverbial table. Like I said, Grace, with a nod to our higher power and Mr. B's spiritual journey.

SPEAKER_07 29:32

Spiritual friends, uh, this week I am back to sharing a detailed explanation of the steps. We have talked about steps one, two, and three, and we are now discussing step four. Step four is when you do the personal inventory that you share with a sponsor or somebody that you trust, and this is a very pivotal part of your program that you have to do, or you're not going to sustain your food sobriety. That's how I feel about it anyway. So I'm going to be reading from this book about step four, part two. One good way to inventory ourselves is to ask ourselves questions about our character traits, and then we need to examine them and how they affect our lives. For instance, we might ask ourselves if we have been prideful. Have arrogance and false pride characterized our behavior? If so, we need to list them in our inventory. Here are some of the questions proposed in this chapter that you might want to try to answer. And this all relates to, for me anyway, the issue of overeating. This is why I overeat, why it became an obsession. Here's a question you might want to answer. Are we power hungry? Do we like to control others? How have we tried to control our spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, children, colleagues, friends? Do we manipulate people? I spent an immense amount of time on my inventory on this part because I loved control. I tried to control my two wives. That ended disastrously. I tried to control my children, I tried to control anybody I could, and now totally to the best of my ability and turning over to my higher power, have let go of that. Here's another question. Have you been jealously possessive of a partner or a friend? Why is that? What are you getting out of that? Next question. How do you react when you don't get your own way? Do you throw a fit? Do you just accept things for what they are? I used to overeat. Any excuse that I could find to overeat, that's what I did. And one would be not getting my way because I was so immature. Here's another question. I'm not going to share all of them with you, but I'll share the ones that I think are very valid. Well, they're all valid. Are we intolerant of differences in people? Their sexual orientation, their religious orientation, their race, their values. Do we think we're better than some other people? I'm hoping that you are saying that you are not that type of person. Here's another one. Have we insisted on being the center of attention? I can say yes for myself. I like to be the center of attention. And if you don't pay attention to me, then I'm angry. Here's another question. Do we fear that we won't get our share of respect or we won't be listened to? Are we status seekers? Do we think if we have a lot of money and time and energy that we can use that to impress other people and show ourselves better than others? If that's why we're doing it, it's all wrong. That's not what this program's about. Have we sought to put people down or put them in their place? Because you're not worthy to be in my presence or I'm better than you. Do we indulge in gossip or listen to the gossip of others? Wow. Oh wow. Oh. Gossip is so inviting when you're self-centered and you don't have a higher power working in your life. Because it makes you stand out, it makes you better than those other people. That's the way I see gossip as being now. Did I engage in it as a person? Oh gosh, yes. Absolutely, absolutely. Do I find myself still slipping into that practice? Oh, absolutely, absolutely. But it's a much shorter amount of time. And I pray to my higher power and say, I am no better than anybody else. Ever. Ever. And I never have a right to judge. Let's look at a couple more questions for today. We'll probably continue with step four next time we get together. Are we willing to claim responsibility for the problems we've caused? Or do we just shift the blame to others? It's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. He made me do it. He made me do it. Do we rationalize our misbehavior? Think about that. If you have caused something, you need to take responsibility. Probably touched upon this one in some way before, but are we bigoted? Do we deny someone fair treatment because of their, as I have talked about, race, religion, politics, gender, disability? Do we tell racist, ethnic, or sexist jokes?

SPEAKER_04 37:13

Think about that.

SPEAKER_07 37:16

People can say, Well, I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding. But are you really? Do you mask that condemning people in humor to try to save face? Are we people pleasers? Do we need to have everybody like us? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I absolutely had to have all students love me and all teachers love me and always be liked. I just couldn't understand it if somebody didn't like me. And I've met some students throughout my career who just didn't care for me. I couldn't understand it. Or teachers or adults couldn't understand it. But yet, aren't there some people in my world that I may not like? That doesn't mean that I condemn them, but I may just not find that I want to be around them that much. That's okay. And I have accepted the fact that not everybody can be liked 100% of the time. I'm not going to sell my soul anymore to be liked from to be liked by somebody. I have to be me. I know that sounds like a cliche. I've got to be me. I've got to be me. Well, it's true. It's true. Be yourself. Are we defiant? What's our attitude about laws, rules, and people who have legitimate authority over us when it comes to politics? Our boss, our employee employers. Do we look for the best in them? Do we trust them? I had many moments I know that I have made amends to these people. When I was in education, where I just felt like I was unfairly treated. They don't recognize me. They don't like me. Well, well, well. Just because they didn't send me a congratulatory email every day or or bring me flowers every day doesn't mean they didn't think I wasn't doing a good job. And if I'm basing my life on those items, then my life is empty. And so I've told these people that I was wrong. I was wrong in acting that way. I have to know within myself that I've done something good, something worthwhile. So that's one of the items of your personal inventory that you would have to investigate. Now there is the next category would be, and we'll do just one more category today, and then we'll finish up next next time, would be fears, worry, anxiety. This robs us with joy and keeps us from fulfilling our dreams. It is not until we take inventory in step four that we begin to realize that we don't have to live with fear. First, we need to list the people, places, and things that have caused us fear. Then you have to look at how fear has affected us. And for me, fear was always an open invitation to overeating. Here are some of the questions you might want to answer. Are we anxious about the future? Do we worry too much? If you are truly HP centered, you don't worry. You don't feel anxious about the future because your higher power is going to take care of it. You have to turn it over. You have to believe that. Are you afraid of people? Do you isolate yourself from others because you don't think you measure up or you're not good enough? Or whatever the reason would be? Are you afraid to reach out to new people? Because you're worried about whether they'll like you. Oh, they won't like me. They won't like me. Why would I reach out to somebody and I know they won't like me? That's an excuse. If they don't like you, they don't like you. Then move on. Do we repeatedly get into relationships with the kind of people who mentally or physically abused us? When I married for the first time, I treated my wife the very same way that I saw my father treat my mother. I love both my father and my mother, but my father was emotionally abusive to my mother. And that's what I became. And I said to myself, I would never, never, never be like my father. And what happened? I became my father. And I was emotionally abusive to my first wife and my second wife, and tried to control every aspect of their lives, as I saw in my parents' marriage. Two more questions. Are we afraid to express ourselves to tell others how we feel? Are you honest with people? Or do you lie?

SPEAKER_04 43:35

Isn't it better to be honest?

SPEAKER_07 43:38

Because lying can make you want to overeat. That's what this is this disease thrives on are our imperfections. We all have them. But some people don't suscumb to uh overeating or drinking or uh too much sex or too much gambling or whatever the case. Would be But I have that disease. And the last question is before we look at uh another component next time. Are we so afraid of conflict that we accept abuse rather than risk asserting ourselves? Do you accept abuse from other people? Verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, whatever the abuse would be. And not do anything to try to stop that from happening. That's an invitation for you to be engaged in your disease. So folks, step four is pivotal in you becoming a clean slate. And in order to rid yourself, so to speak, on a daily basis of these imperfections, you have to believe that a higher power will take them from you. Believe it. Grab on to it. And know that that is true.

SPEAKER_08 45:30

Hello, friends and neighbors. Welcome to the Sunny Side of Life Bible in a year experience. Join me each day as I read the Bible from start to finish. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. These are the instructions for the guilt offering. If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. Do you really think these men are coming here to honor your father? Now, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices beside me. You who have understanding, everyone knows that God doesn't sin. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. He tore his clothes and put on burlap and went into the temple of the Lord. This is what the sovereign Lord says to Israel. How long, O Lord, must I call for help? The word was with God, and the word was God. But by Jesus Christ Himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, he who is the faithful witness to all these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's holy people. Its own podcast, January 1st through December 31st, every year. The Sunny Side of Life, Bible in a Year Experience. For free from Sunnyside Farm Studios. I pray this daily reading will bless you as much as it does me. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_07 47:01

Happy, happy music lovers. Oh, Mr. B has shared some of his favorite artists with you. Oh, I have so many more to discuss. I've talked about the Bee Gees, of course, I've talked about the uh classic master, Elton John, and I've talked about some others, but I would be a miss if I did not talk about the Queen of Disco, who unfortunately has passed away years ago. But fortunately, I did have a chance to see her in concert in her later years. Her name is Donna Summer. Donna Summer was a singer, a beautiful singer. You can go on YouTube and find all of her um videos, and a songwriter. Now she did gain most of her popularity during the 70s and was given the title of The Queen of Disco. And at that time I was a great person. What's that pause for? Anyway, who liked to go to the discos and I love dancing to Donham Summer Music. I have her albums yet. I have her eight tracks. I still occasionally will go to YouTube and watch uh videos of her in concert. And the one song that's recently been in my mind that I just think is absolutely brilliant is MacArthur Park, which has been done by many artists, but nobody, but nobody performed MacArthur Park like Donna Summer. She was raised in Boston, dropped out of high school, uh then moved to New York City. She spent several years performing in musicals like Hare. Then she um released the groundbreaking disco theme Love to Love You Baby, which was quite um risque at the time, if you've ever heard the song Love to Love You Baby. It's uh you've got a woman who's moaning uh throughout the whole song, and um definitely has some sexual overtones. But it was a big hit, big, big hit. And then she became quite famous on the Casablanca uh label and then she released a plethora of hits. For example, the classic Last Dance, which comes from the film Thank God It's Friday. That was a disco film. I saw it was recently on T T and I couldn't really watch it. It was so ridiculous. But I did watch her performing that number because that song is one of my favorites. My cake is melting out in the rain. The lyrics, I'm not sure what they mean. If anybody knows what it means, let me know. But she sings MacArthur Park Suite, which is really a compilation of, I believe, four to five songs, and it goes on for almost 20 minutes. Oh yes, oh yes, so you could go to Spotify and uh try to find the MacArthur Park Suite, and you could hear this amazing uh number of songs all tied together. And if I could dance for that amount of time today, which I can't, I would gladly be on that lighted dance floor in my white outfit just like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Uh heaven knows hot stuff about prostitution, bad girls about prostitution, dim all the lights. Then, of course, the classic duet with one of my other queens that I will talk about her song someday. Barbara Skystand. No more tears. Enough is enough. Go to Spotify and find that song. Oh my gosh, talk about two heavenly voices. The story of a woman saying, I've had enough of you. Jerk off, you're gone. It's a great women's liberation song. Uh also the song on the radio, which talks about the beauty of finding success as an artist on the radio. I tell you, uh Donna Summer, and I saw her uh perform at uh Mystic Lake Casino many years ago in Shaka P, Minnesota. Um, and that was in part in her later years. Uh but she played all the the hits. She was immensely beautiful. She had three children, she was married, and whatever she touched became gold. And she had a voice like bada. That's right. Bada. And I still today will get into what I call my Donna Summer mode, and I will go to Spotify and I will play her greatest hits, and I am having the time of my life. Now, majority of her songs were disco songs, but not all of them. Not all of them. But that's the time era that she was in, and that's the type of music that catapulted her to so much success. Uh then after she was done with the disco era, she uh also did some songs like She Works Hard for the Money. Which is uh a tribute to working women who work really, really hard, have all these jobs, try to keep the family together. And then she also did Love is in Control, Finger on the Trigger, one of her uh last songs that she performed. And I guess what I'm saying is, Donna Summer, if you like dance music, if you like to listen to something while you're exercising, uh if you're walking or jogging or working in a gym, if you want something that's just going to make you tingle with excitement, then you need to think about finding Donna Summer. Hot stuff. MacArthur Park. I've mentioned these before, but they're worth mentioning again. She works hard for the money on the radio. This time I know it's for real. I feel love. Bad girls. All of these songs are classics, and you say, I don't like it. Let's go. You don't have to look at it that way at all. You can just look at it one listening to one of the greatest singers of our generation. So please find Donna Summer on your media platform and listen. Go to YouTube and see her videos, read about her, see pictures of her. Gorgeous, gorgeous woman, gorgeous, gorgeous voice, gorgeous, gorgeous performer.

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Sit still. I said, I can't. Something's tickling me. She thought I was crazy. She said, Well, open your coat. I unbuttoned my coat and opened it up, and there was a mouse.

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Stories. Everybody has them. The stories of our parents, grandparents, and our friends remind us who they are.

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That's kinda what I think it is, too, is memories. I re-growing up, my dad did a couple, my dad was an English teacher.

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How they got here and what they've learned on the way. What if you could collect as many of your loved ones' stories in a high-quality audio format to keep forever? What if you could share the sound of your loved one's voice, their laughter, and their thoughtful manner with your children? Or when you are simply driving to work.

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He spent literally three months in North Dakota freezing buckets of ice water to make this awesome ice fort that we never spent time in, but it was amazing for the moment it was done.

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Well, you can with a Sunny Side of Life biography. Produced here at Sunnyside Farm Studios. I'll sit down with your loved one for one, two, or several sessions to record their stories.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:40

I think my students are gonna have good memories of me.

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You'll receive the full raw recording, an edited selection arranged in audio chapters for easy reference, and produced segments you can use for family gatherings, special moments, or any time you just want to hear your loved one's voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:58

And those are probably my most cherished things.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:01

Share it with your family and make it a keepsake. Because that's what stories are keepsakes of the time we had together. Never forget that.com. The email is also in this show's notes. Let me record your loved one's story so you can share the sunny side of their life in their own words for years to come.

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I actually do kind of remember that now.

SPEAKER_08 1:01:34

And now, school days with Mr. B.

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For my educational segment, I've talked about so many different things since we started this podcast. Uh today I'm going to be looking at a number of issues dealing with education. And just clarify some things for my audience. First of all, what's a 70-30 rule in teaching? 70 slash 30 rule. Which is primarily used in my estimation in classes today. It's a student-centered approach where learners engage in active practice discussion for 70% of the class with the teacher providing instruction or feedback then for the remaining 30%. Now some aspects of this 70 slash 30 rule is that the students, in theory, should do 70% of the talking or the doing. It makes it much more actively engaging for the students. And teachers should spend seventy percent of their planning time on how they will teach the activities for the students. Now how can you do this? You can use a system called the think pair share, where you pose a question, you allow individual thought, followed by pair discussions. You can do small group activities, breakout groups, group work. Or you can do something called reduced teacher talk time. Or you actively monitor and limit direct instruction to ensure students have space to speak. What are the benefits of this 70 slash 30 rule? Supposedly higher retention, which is always something you want to strive for, increase confidence in speaking and sharing ideas, and what I think is most important, enhanced critical thinking. Because that's really what I think the basis of school should be to enhance your critical thinking. Not memorizing lists, but pushing yourself as a thinker and backing up why you feel the way you do. Here's another small tidbit I wanted to share. What do you think is the number one reason that teachers quit? Now we know today we seem to live in a world of a shortage of teachers. Uh many people will not even consider going into education. According to research, the number one reason teachers are quitting is stress. Burnout. Burnout related mental health exhaustion. Not the pay. No, it's the stress. And this has come from a combination of things such as overwhelming workload, lack of administrative support, what I think is the biggest one is challenging student behaviors. This can all lead to a loss of passion for teaching. Let's face it, my happy friends, the classroom today is much different from the classroom many, many, many years ago. We have many, many more students with needs that need to be addressed for whatever reason. Emotional needs, physical needs, academic needs who need And should have more individual attention. And you put that together with all the other demands on teachers today. And that is why ultimately s so many quit because of the stress. What is the unhappiest month of the year for teachers? What do you think? Any thoughts out there? For me, it was May. Because I was burnt to a crisp. The students were highly, most of the time, unmotivated. And the days just would drag on and drag on and drag on. But according to this, January is usually the most depressing month of the year. With longer nights that have an impact on our body rhythms. Darkness. The weather conditions depending on where you live. Now I did not find that to be true at all. It was just the opposite for me. Because I was highly involved with extracurricular speech that time. Because that was January was or sometimes December was the advent of the speech season. And so I was a happy little camper being involved with going to school in the dark and coming home in the dark. That didn't affect me in any shape or form. But I know that I'm strange. Uh-huh. He's strange. But I'm okay with that. I am okay with that. So just think about it for yourself. Do you have a month that you think is more depressing than another? And if you do, what can you do to make that better? Instead of saying, Ugh, I think I'll just call in sick for the whole month of January. So anyway. Um keep that in mind. And the last one I'm going to look at today is the question is which month is usually the most anxiety filled for teachers? Well, it's the holidays. Which I can't really say that I agree with that, but according to this, that's what it is. November through January is the most stressful time of year. Because during this stretch we have joy, celebration, togetherness. But along with that it can also bring stress, anxiety, emotional strain, uh, with all the celebration, all the money being spent, all the extra items that we have added to our list. So if the holidays, particularly the the Christmas holiday, is a stressful time of the year for you, then maybe you need to cut back. Maybe you need to change some things. Go to a few other uh fewer open houses, maybe give up the gift exchange, maybe don't go to some so many um uh parties. I don't know. It's just a thought. So I just wanted to share some of those things about teaching, uh, because teaching still is highly relevant to me. And as a substitute teacher, I still see uh the way it works in the classroom with how students interact with each other and how they treat each other, and uh I get to witness all these different uh techniques that teachers are using to engage with students, which I find really exciting, and it just brings me joy. So we'll come back to education again because it's in my blood always. Don't you forget this? All right, my loved ones, it's time for me to retire. Mr. B has so much enjoyed having you at the dinner party. I hope that you go home with a full stomach and you feel happy. Because if you are light on your feet and are feeling happy, and you've got Donna Summer lyrics running through your head, you can't go wrong. So there you have it. So until we meet again or talk again, this is Mr. B saying, I so much enjoyed sharing a meal with you, and I look forward to seeing you again.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:13

Bye bye. Television dramas and comedic reviews, pet peeves buzzing like honeydew blues, poetry sprinkled like salt on a dish, every word served with a twist and a switch belly up to the table, my friend. The feast of thought will never end. From travel spar to a spiritual climb.

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Mr. B's dinner party is hosted by Scott Burkelson, edited and produced by Troy Thompson, recorded and distributed at Skyside Farm Studios, and platformed by Buddhist.

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A banquet of life where you can unwind the table, my friend. The feast of never end from travel's five to a spiritual club.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:35

Subscribe so you never miss an episode and share with your friends. Listen and enjoy every other Wednesday. Conversational Morsels for the Mind on Mr. B's dinner party.