[00:00:14] From the natural state. This is Public Facing the podcast.
[00:00:20] Hello and good day to each and every one of you across your respective time zones and locations, uh, dotted around the world. I want to welcome you.
[00:00:29] Please allow me to introduce myself. I, um, am your host, Joe Holman and it's my very distinct pleasure to meet you again. Welcome to Public Facing the podcast, where culture and community meet, sharing everyday voices and extraordinary stories.
[00:00:49] Now, this is the talk show that deep dives into the true stories that are really shaping our everyday voices and shedding light on the positive issues that shape our world.
[00:01:03] So we openly welcome the conversations, testimonies and personal stories that impact the lives of so many.
[00:01:12] Because these stories should always be public facing, our episodes are that of a scripted yet unscripted talk show.
[00:01:22] Regardless of what you hear shared during our time together, my sincere hope is that you can find truth and hope inside the stories that we share.
[00:01:31] Not every story is gonna hit this quite the same, but every story will hit.
[00:01:37] Folks, how you doing?
[00:01:40] How you doing? How you making it?
[00:01:44] Are you struggling?
[00:01:47] Are you concerned about maybe how you're going to get your next meal for you or for your family?
[00:01:57] How's that?
[00:01:59] How's that working out?
[00:02:01] Are you gonna, are you even going hungry even now? M.
[00:02:09] How about you?
[00:02:10] Do you have a shelter?
[00:02:12] Are you warm?
[00:02:15] Can you get to your medicine if you run out?
[00:02:19] See, I don't have all the answers to life's trials and such, but I do know how to connect you with people and organizations that can better serve your needs.
[00:02:32] The folks
[email protected] have created a great resource for you and your family, uh, heck, even your neighbors with a variety of services that are within reach.
[00:02:45] So how does it work?
[00:02:48] Well, for those with an Internet, uh, connection, head over to findhelp.org and once there, enter your zip code into the box and hit search.
[00:03:03] Then you'll observe the categories available from left to right. Areas like food, housing, goods, transit, health, money, care, education, work, and uh, even legal.
[00:03:26] These are the available categories, but each category has a drop down menu that shows the, uh, options for that particular zip code.
[00:03:40] From those options you have direct contact info for the agencies, organizations and other providers in your area.
[00:03:52] Now, I checked the zip code for a southern portion of Memphis, Tennessee.
[00:03:58] There are more than 2,000 programs available and serving this particular section of community.
[00:04:08] So visit findhelp.org for yourself and see how many programs are available in your neck of the woods.
[00:04:19] Do not do without unnecessarily.
[00:04:24] This valuable tool will link you with the right resources.
[00:04:29] Visit them today.
[00:04:31] Findhelp.org okay, so do I welcome your feedback on the topics that we discuss and share here on Public Facing, the podcast, and at any time as well?
[00:04:53] Well, the answer is I do. I take them all into consideration.
[00:04:57] You've heard my voice, now let me hear yours.
[00:05:02] Join the conversation and send me your comments, questions, etc.
[00:05:07] Share those comments and story ideas. Even, um, just to say hello, Send me an email at hello at Public Facing Pod Stream.
[00:05:21] We're gonna kick things off with a short list and the topic is the top 10 fall activities USA version.
[00:05:34] So get ready.
[00:05:37] Game on the top 10 fall activities in our USA version are to essentially, uh, go apple picking, which is a popular fall tradition, especially in the New England states like Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode island and Vermont where you pick orchards often offer fresh seasonal fruit.
[00:06:12] You can witness the changing fall foliage, a spectacular natural event occurring from late September to early October, uh, and across much of the US with peak colors visible in regions across like the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest.
[00:06:42] In November, you can still catch a glimpse, navigate a corn maze, maybe A fun outdoor activity ideal for families and individuals that are seeking entertainment during the fall season is just what you're looking for and popular locations including Connors Farm in Danvers, Massachusetts.
[00:07:09] You can attend a fall festival which celebrate local culture and community pride, such as the National Apple Harvest Festival in Pennsylvania, uh, the Warrens Cranberry Festival in Wisconsin, and the Half Moons Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival in California.
[00:07:37] Now we've just passed it, but celebrating Halloween, Uh, there's a major autumn tradition involving pumpkin carving, trick or treating, costume parties, and events like the Haunted Happenings in Salem, Massachusetts that are drawing large crowds.
[00:07:57] If you missed it this year, maybe plan on that for next year.
[00:08:02] You can visit the Pumpkin Festival such as the Keene Public Excuse me, Keene Pumpkin Fest in New Hampshire, which features a massive tower of carved pumpkins on lit in a climactic event or the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival, known for its giant gourd carvings and pumpkin way off Explore scenic drives and outdoor adventures including hiking, mountain biking and ziplining through fall colored forests in destinations like be Big Bear, California Park City, Utah and Lake Tahoe, California.
[00:08:50] Attend a music or cultural festival such as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico, which features hot air balloon ascensions, live entertainment and drone light shows or the Muertos Fest in San Antonio, Texas, which honors Latin American traditions with music, art and an open altar exhibition.
[00:09:21] Experience a themed event like Leavenworth Oktoberfest in Washington, which brings Bavarian culture to life with German brewed beer, uh, live music and traditional food.
[00:09:39] Or the Trailing of the Sheep in Idaho, a unique celebration of moving sheep from mountain pastures to winter grazing areas.
[00:09:52] Participate in seasonal community events such as Veterans day parades on November 11th honoring our US military service members.
[00:10:02] Or attend a, uh, Thanksgiving celebration which includes gathering with loved ones for a traditional feast featuring turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.
[00:10:17] Let me ask you, did your favorite activity make it onto this list?
[00:10:22] If not, what is your favorite fall activity and where does that put you on the map? Pop off an email to me at helloblicfacingpod.
[00:10:35] I'll add your response into a follow up episode later this month.
[00:10:41] If you're looking for any of our previous episodes, head over to our new website at Public Facing Pod Stream so more and more people, it seems, are opting for dumb phones or getting rid of them altogether.
[00:11:05] So I was curious about this.
[00:11:10] I hate my phone.
[00:11:12] That's how comedian Eddie burback began a 46 minute YouTube video that would go on to accrue more than 4.3 million views.
[00:11:23] He goes on to say that I'm constantly using my phone to see things that I don't want to see.
[00:11:30] Burbach, age 28, continued, Like a lot of people my age, my smartphone has attached itself to nearly every aspect of my daily life, and it's really starting to make me feel like it's having a negative effect on me.
[00:11:47] What did he do?
[00:11:48] So he got rid of it.
[00:11:51] For 30 days, Burback kept his iPhone and Apple watch in a locked safe.
[00:11:59] He invested in a corded landline with an answering machine.
[00:12:05] He wrote down bus routes with a pen and paper exclusively, used a computer during work hours, and swapped out Instagram doom scrolling for paperback books.
[00:12:21] Burback's experience wasn't seamless by any means or easily replicable.
[00:12:29] His answering machine was filled with loving messages from friends and family, but it was also constantly ringing from spam calls.
[00:12:40] He missed the inherent safety that smartphones afforded, especially when commuting at night.
[00:12:50] And it was impossible for people to reach him on the go, a uh, luxury he wouldn't be able to manage if he were a parent or caretaker.
[00:13:00] Still, despite a few hiccups, he said that the experiment did wonders for his mental health.
[00:13:08] I'm, uh, not exposing a problem that was hidden in the shadows, burback admitted as his video drew to a close. We all know it.
[00:13:19] We feel it every day.
[00:13:22] Burback speaks to a growing trend of Digital detoxing, A movement that has inspired people of all ages to delete social media apps, set screen time limits and even trade their smartphones in for dumb phones.
[00:13:41] That's what Vox journalist Swati Sharma did in May when she ditched her iPhone for a pink ninety dollar HMD Barbie flip phone.
[00:13:55] My life felt more full because of the burst of spontaneity encouraging deeper connections with my friends and family, sharma reported after her month long detox.
[00:14:09] My attention span also no longer seemed like it's the size of a small pea.
[00:14:16] Sharma then quoted a UH study from the CDC which found that symptoms of anxiety or depression were higher among teens who spent four hours or more on their phones every day.
[00:14:34] While I didn't start this experiment out of concern for my mental health, it did help me to feel more socially connected. Sharma noted that hunger for social connection lies at the heart of the Offline club, a concept dreamed up by three friends, Jordy van Beneken, Valentin Clark and isla Nepelhout In 2021, after a week living as Luddites in the uh, Dutch countryside.
[00:15:15] Today Offline Clubs presence can be found all over the world in phone free pop ups across London, Barcelona and beyond.
[00:15:28] In September, the Offline club did uh, a 24 takeover at a cafe in Jumeirah, Dubai.
[00:15:41] We're always connected with each other virtually, but not in real time, Sylvia Farina, one of 70 attendees, told the company Kelly Times.
[00:15:54] She said that events like this, they bring back that balance we aspire to because our digital and non digital life, excuse me, between our digital and non digital lives.
[00:16:12] In the last four years, Offline Club co founder Nepelhout has seen the club grow in real time from their first event in Amsterdam to a whopping 27 meetups all over the world in a single month.
[00:16:34] He enjoys seeing people come together to swap their phones for novels, easels and knitting needles as they strike up conversations with other club members who on any other occasion would be dismissed as passing strangers.
[00:16:54] I think the primary reason is that the world is screaming for more authentic and meaningful connection with other people, but also with oneself, nepelhout told Ankar Azora, UH magazine.
[00:17:14] And next to that, I think people are becoming more aware that their phones are really negatively impacting their lives and that they're spending more time on their phones and behind screens than they want to, but they don't know how to get away from them.
[00:17:37] I think the Offline club giving them the opportunity to go back to the old days but in modern jackets. Knppelhout noted as we say in Dutch.
[00:17:51] To get more information on this story, um, go to our X account that is, uh, x.com publicfacingpod. We have a link to this story there now.
[00:18:09] Wi Fi apps In times of war, it seems that they're saving lives. As a matter of fact, uh, in this story they say, I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that WhatsApp can be life saving.
[00:18:31] In May, this American Life, a weekly public radio program, and podcast correspondent Chana Jaff Walt checked in with Yusuf Hamish, a humanitarian aid worker from Gaza who fled to Egypt in 2024 with his wife, mother and children.
[00:18:53] His four sisters and their extended families hope to join them soon after.
[00:19:01] Then the blockades tightened and since that time almost no one has been able to leave Gaza.
[00:19:10] Now Hamas clings to his last refuge of communication, the family's WhatsApp group chat.
[00:19:21] Sometimes it's jokes, hamish said.
[00:19:24] Sometimes they're crying.
[00:19:26] It depends.
[00:19:28] They send voice, text, photos, everything.
[00:19:34] Joth Walt observed that leaving Gaza made Hamish the newest member of a well established club.
[00:19:44] There are about 5 million Palestinians living inside the west bank in Gaza, jopp Walt reported.
[00:19:52] And the rest about 9 million Palestinians living all over the world.
[00:19:57] People who are trying to maintain family and connections across countries and time zones and bad cell connections.
[00:20:07] In modern warfare, Crisis and Strife.
[00:20:13] WhatsApp has increasingly served as a bastion of hope, not just for refugees like Hamas Family, but for healthcare workers, aid workers and all boots on the ground personnel in disaster zones. Down Cell towers render mobile phones useless, but the messaging app uses Internet service to enable texts and calls between users.
[00:20:45] Plus, its compression algorithm reduces the size of the files and data, allowing the app to function in areas with poor connectivity.
[00:20:58] I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that WhatsApp can be life saving, juliet Tooma, director of communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, told rest of world.
[00:21:15] When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria in 2023, over 20,000 people were killed, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the last decade.
[00:21:34] In the immediate aftermath, um, the White Helmets bullets volunteer Fida Mactower said that WhatsApp was the group's only means of communication in northern Syria.
[00:21:50] Without it, he wouldn't have been able to field calls from the many people under the rubble and Dispatch ambulances.
[00:22:00] Without WhatsApp, Maxor said, it would be very, very difficult to to do his job.
[00:22:08] We've talked to a variety of humanitarian NGOs and said, uh, Christina Bonegro, WhatsApp's director of global communications.
[00:22:23] A lot of the things that we are concerned with is how they can use our app to get their information out most effectively.
[00:22:34] How do they get information out to affected populations in a place where they already are?
[00:22:43] How do you message where they are?
[00:22:46] Uh, and a lot of the times they are on WhatsApp at large Internet based messaging has proven vital in times of crisis. When Skype shuttered in May10, tech journalist Chris Stoeckle Walker mourned the loss, saying that it had been a lifeline that helped him call home from Ukraine during a Russian invasion.
[00:23:14] I'm able to call home, explain what happened and keep them from panicking when I don't step off the plane. Back in the UK as expected, Stoeckle Walker wrote for Fast Company.
[00:23:32] Our lives and our families are increasingly scattered to the four winds, he continued. And in the two decades since the 2003 founding, Skype has helped those families stay connected.
[00:23:47] It's also helped a good number of people whose jobs involve international interactions to do so at a manageable cost.
[00:23:59] Around the same time that Skype shuttered, the Signal app soared in popularity when Serago Ali, a humanitarian aid worker from Quamishly Syria, arrived in Ukraine to start a new role with the German NGO Wealth Hunger Life, which translates uh to world hunger Relief.
[00:24:33] His peers told him to download the encrypted messaging service right away.
[00:24:40] I'd never used Signal before, ali told rest of world.
[00:24:45] We've had staff who arrived new after me and they didn't have Signal.
[00:24:51] We asked them to download it.
[00:24:54] In addition to coordinating travel and aid, Ali explained that wealthwungerleaf uses Signal to relay crucial safety information, like how to respond to air raid alarms and airstrikes.
[00:25:14] However, signal WhatsApp come with strings attached.
[00:25:20] Although they both use end to end encryption signals, security is only as strong as the user's device security, as seen with recent data breaches within the Department of Defense and Meta, Company with a history of data privacy concerns, collects metadata from WhatsApp users.
[00:25:47] Still, when cities go dark, WhatsApp Signal and previously Skype have served as technological life rafts that keep aid workers afloat and families in touch.
[00:26:05] In January, Hamas received a voice message from his sister aseel, who is 10 years his junior.
[00:26:18] I forgot to say Happy New Year, she said.
[00:26:22] I hope that next year no, no, this year. Yes, this year we will see you all.
[00:26:30] I hope you'll be looking forward to seeing us and we'll be looking forward to seeing you.
[00:26:38] For more information on this story, you can head over to our X account again@uh, x.com forward/public facing pod Now New York City's first free food vending machine offers eggs, meat and fresh produce to people in need.
[00:27:05] For as long as many of us have encountered vending machines on college campuses, waiting rooms, workplace lounges, they've been a reliable place to get a chocolate bar or, um, um, perhaps some soda.
[00:27:24] But between hygiene items such as pregnancy, uh, tests and even Narcan, vending machines have quickly become a tool to get essentials in the hands of people who otherwise would not have access to them.
[00:27:44] In the Bronx, New York, non profit Change Food for Good is getting even more creative with these vending machines.
[00:27:54] The group, uh, just installed its first free food vending machine at Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club.
[00:28:03] According to a social media post, the machine will be stocked once or, uh, once to twice monthly rather with free quality grocery items including eggs, fruit, vegetables and more.
[00:28:23] Many of the items are, uh, sourced from local vendors or cooperatives as well.
[00:28:30] All you need to do is walk up to the machine, select your item, let it vend and remove it from the chute. The organization shared in a caption.
[00:28:43] After over 15,500 pounds of free food distributed to more than 1100 families in New York City.
[00:28:54] We're hoping this new model for distribution can provide folks with good food easily and when they need or want it.
[00:29:08] Uh, there's also a QR code available for people to leave requests for food they might want to see in the machine. But the organization also noted that some items like milk, plantains or juices were difficult to accommodate and actually fit into the machine.
[00:29:28] Still, plenty of delicious selections were added to the machine, and organizers said that they will do their best to accommodate any orders.
[00:29:43] Items will also be labeled with dates so people can keep food safety in mind.
[00:29:50] Some items are also taped, um, manually to keep them from opening during the vending process.
[00:29:59] Even items like garlic are included but vacuum sealed to keep the other neighboring goods from taking on a garlicky order.
[00:30:10] Um, a lot of thought and research went into the process to make sure we can do this right, the organization's founder, Samuel Fadli, uh, said in the social media video.
[00:30:26] The items also bend slowly, taking about 15 seconds to fully reach the user so that eggs can land gently in a carrier and as lymphatically shared, to hopefully deter people from taking more than they need.
[00:30:49] But outside of the mechanics, uh, of the machine, there are no limitations to anyone wanting to access what inside.
[00:31:03] In fact, organizers are encouraging other people in the community to take their idea for themselves.
[00:31:13] With rising grocery prices affecting everyone, we truly hope that this machine can help families that need it. But also the group shared that change makers, community organizations and activists can take this model for free food distribution and run with it to place free food vending machines in schools, hospitals, anywhere that they think it'll be best served.
[00:31:47] Uh, organizers acknowledge that no solution to an unjust food system is perfect and that they're still trying to figure out the kinks to ensure there is always enough available, uh, you know, to the vending machine visitors.
[00:32:09] So regardless, they hope that this is going to uh, maybe help will alleviate some challenges for uh, people that are most in need.
[00:32:23] Now one of the main goals of the Good Food for All program is to ensure that individuals, even if they're struggling, still have their dignity and agency, uh preserved through food choices, lampfadli said in a follow up video.
[00:32:43] Say a single parent is able to walk up and get what they need.
[00:32:49] No muss, no fuss, no stigma, no means testing.
[00:32:56] Now those interested in visiting the vending machine can find it at Kips Bay Boys and girls club at 625 Castle Hill Avenue in the Bronx, New York.
[00:33:11] Anyone interested in donating to the effort can do so online at Change for Good.
[00:33:19] I'm sorry change foodforgood.org and if you'll also uh, once again you can follow over to our uh x account at x.com forward/public facing pod.
[00:33:37] You'll be able to get more information on uh, this story.
[00:33:45] Now let me say, just say that there have been a lot of feedback by a lot of news outlets and all over the socials. Really that many? Not all, but necessarily uh, not even uh, it's not necessarily the majority even, but still many who have been worried due to food insecurity or food availability.
[00:34:18] You see, there are many who live in what's called a food desert.
[00:34:25] Now for those of you who do not know what that means, it primarily means that the residents in a community are left with little to no options for accessing groceries or other needs commonly found in a grocery store.
[00:34:44] This means that often the groceries that they need are available outside of their area.
[00:34:52] Residents are then relegated to buying more expensive and less nutritious items which often do not stretch or last in the way that fresh groceries can.
[00:35:05] To think about this, I live in a community that has no available grocery store.
[00:35:15] I prefer not to spend my precious funds at say a convenience store that uh, is still within, you know, a 35 minute walk one way for less healthy items and usually a little more pricey My only other alternative is to access transportation.
[00:35:39] That's a conversation for another day, but access transportation, be it a ride or a bus or whatever, which will take more than an hour to reach the store, the grocery store, and then shopping time, and another more than one hour, maybe even two hours to get home with my groceries. Because, let's face it, um, you know, these buses, they don't run on my schedule. I've got to run on theirs.
[00:36:14] Now, perishable items are a gambler.
[00:36:19] Eggs, milk, cheese, meats, they can all degrade and possibly spoil, subjecting them to potential foodborne illnesses. And do you know what the kicker is?
[00:36:35] More times than not, that happens in a majority of communities with residents of color.
[00:36:45] How are we all supposed to come together and be united when the cards are stacked against those who live there?
[00:36:53] Access to care, food, schools and more, even wages are affected in these areas.
[00:37:03] I won't be silent on these matters. I'm, um, bringing a voice for the communities that live the this out every single day.
[00:37:15] Food insecurity is real.
[00:37:17] Food deserts do exist and people do matter.
[00:37:23] I've heard the stories and I've witnessed this with my own eyes.
[00:37:28] There is help.
[00:37:31] There is hope.
[00:37:34] Both are available.
[00:37:36] If you act and then receive regular listeners and non regular listeners alike.
[00:37:46] Speak up.
[00:37:47] Say something.
[00:37:49] I am listening and I do hear you.
[00:37:54] That might sound like a bit of a broken record revising pieces of the same message in many episodes. My input is from the heart.
[00:38:06] I am consistent and persistent and my words are true.
[00:38:15] Public facing. The podcast is powered by Castos.
[00:38:21] Castos offers a number of free tools and other resources to launch your brand new podcast.
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[00:40:03] That's C-T O S.com you'll be glad you did.
[00:40:12] Well, we have.
[00:40:13] We've really covered a good bit of geography today, have we not?
[00:40:19] If you need help find help, go to findhelp.org that's going to do it for today's episode of, uh, Public Facing, the podcast where culture and community meet.
[00:40:35] Thanks for tuning in today. And remember, the stories that impact the public should should always be public facing.
[00:40:44] If you enjoyed our time together, find us at Public facingpod Stream.
[00:40:51] Be sure to follow us and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts and share this episode with someone today.
[00:41:01] Connect with us on x that's x.com pod public facing pod and send us your comments. Or just say hello at hello at Public Facing Pod Stream.
[00:41:21] Thanks for listening and until next time, share those everyday voices and extraordinary stories.
[00:41:28] Keep things upright and Public Facing.
