Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBS Boston Radio.
Speaker 2: I thank you very much, Madison. My name is indeed
Speaker 2: Dan Ray, the host of the appropriately named Nightside with
Speaker 2: Dan Ray, believe it or not. Tonight we do our
Speaker 2: three thousand, nine hundred and ninety ninth program Nightside, well
Speaker 2: probably ninety nine per I did a few programs before
Speaker 2: it was christened Nightside in October of two thousand and seven,
Speaker 2: but kind of proud of that. So there will be
Speaker 2: a night next week when we will do our fourth
Speaker 2: thousandth program, and I'm proud of that, and I wanted
Speaker 2: to share that with all of you who listen to Nightside.
Speaker 2: We have four really interesting guests in the first hour,
Speaker 2: then we have a couple of guests later on tonight,
Speaker 2: and a final fourth hour at nine o'clock tonight. We're
Speaker 2: going to be talking with a couple of folks Boston
Speaker 2: Hill reported Gayla Cawley, who has written a lot about
Speaker 2: what's going on at White Stadium in Boston. And we'll
Speaker 2: also talk with a gentleman who is the head of
Speaker 2: a group, someone that I have known of many for
Speaker 2: many many years and have inviewed many years ago. Lewis Eliza,
Speaker 2: the president of the Garrison Totter Neighborhood Association, about their
Speaker 2: concerns over the project that's going on at White Stadium.
Speaker 2: We'll get to all of that, and then we're going
Speaker 2: to talk at ten o'clock with a couple's theorist, the therapist.
Speaker 2: We are approaching Dallentine's Day. It's actually, I believe two
Speaker 2: weeks from today, two Fridays from today, and the couple's
Speaker 2: therapists is going to talk about reigniting relationships, and I
Speaker 2: think you'll enjoy listening to her at ten o'clock Carolyn Sharp.
Speaker 2: And then in the twentieth hour, I think the one
Speaker 2: month during the year that bothers me the most it's January.
Speaker 2: And January only has four hours left in and so
Speaker 2: I am very happy to say goodbye to January, and
Speaker 2: for a whole by reasons, I'd love to know what
Speaker 2: you think about the month of January. It's the coldest,
Speaker 2: it's the longest. As far as I'm concerned, it's a
Speaker 2: depressing month. But anyway, we are going to open up.
Speaker 2: We'll get you all the way to February, which is
Speaker 2: I think one of the nicer months you've got Groundhog Day,
Speaker 2: Valentine's Day, start of spring training, all sorts of things
Speaker 2: to look forward to in February. But first off, we
Speaker 2: are going to talk about one of the remnants of January. That,
Speaker 2: of course, is the New Year's resolutions that some of
Speaker 2: us have kept and some of us have failed to keep.
Speaker 2: And with us is Bob Anderson to talk about keeping
Speaker 2: your New Year's resolutions, the value in that. He's a doctor,
Speaker 2: Bob Anderson, Doctor Anderson, Welcome to Night's Side. And first
Speaker 2: of all, percentage do you think of New Year's resolutions
Speaker 2: are actually kept? Has anyone ever done a real study
Speaker 2: on that?
Speaker 3: Not that I know of, Probably about twenty percent I
Speaker 3: would guess something like that.
Speaker 2: You think twenty that's pretty good. That's a big number.
Speaker 2: I would have guessed more like two percent. But that's good.
Speaker 2: That's great. Obviously, all the goals we set for you know,
Speaker 2: when we do that on New Year's Eve or a
Speaker 2: couple of days before New Year's and great, great goals,
Speaker 2: tough to accomplish, just human nature. How important is it
Speaker 2: for those of that twenty percent or the ten percent
Speaker 2: or whatever, how important is it for them to keep
Speaker 2: it going?
Speaker 3: Well? I think it's really important because it just helps
Speaker 3: your self esteem and you know, many times their health
Speaker 3: related and just improve your overall health and your ability
Speaker 3: to enjoy life.
Speaker 2: Now you are with the Center for Vain Restoration, and
Speaker 2: I guess there's a bit of a relationship between New
Speaker 2: Year's resolutions which people pledge to and if they keep
Speaker 2: many of the resolutions actually have a positive impact on
Speaker 2: blood circulation. I believe that that is the nexus for
Speaker 2: this interview.
Speaker 3: Correct, Yes, that's right, tell us about it. We have arteries,
Speaker 3: of course that always benefit from exercise because they're what
Speaker 3: drives blood to our muscles, and then the veins return
Speaker 3: the blood from the muscles up to our heart and
Speaker 3: lungs areas. And the nice thing about exercise is keeping
Speaker 3: the weight low so that the added pressure of weight
Speaker 3: doesn't weigh on your veins so to speak, and cause
Speaker 3: them to become varicos over time.
Speaker 2: Well, you're making me feel better. I exercise today. I'm
Speaker 2: somebody who tends to get into the gym as much
Speaker 2: as I can. There was one year before COVID where
Speaker 2: I actually was in the gym three hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: three days out of the year twenty nineteen I've admittedly
Speaker 2: backed off that a little bit after COVID. There's other
Speaker 2: some of the other traditional resolutions that people make, the
Speaker 2: dry January resolution, other resolutions that I assume also has
Speaker 2: a physical benefit, just from you know, kind of backing
Speaker 2: off the alcohol and the beer and the wine a
Speaker 2: little bit correct on circulation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because alcohol, of course, is considered empty calories. They
Speaker 3: really don't provide any nutrition for you, and they just
Speaker 3: add extra calories that you don't really need and that
Speaker 3: we'll add to increased weight over time.
Speaker 2: And again, if we were to cut back on drinking,
Speaker 2: is there any physical benefit, I mean, you know, is
Speaker 2: there a physical I mean, obviously weight loss, You've described
Speaker 2: that very well, but I got to assume that there's
Speaker 2: a little bit of a physical benefit to cutting back
Speaker 2: on alcohol on a consistent basis. Yes, I'm not a doctor,
Speaker 2: so I'm shooting in the dark here. Doctor helped me out. Well.
Speaker 3: One of the other big effects of alcohol, of course,
Speaker 3: is that it kills your brain cells, and you only
Speaker 3: have so many of those, and they don't regenerate. So
Speaker 3: the more you drink, the more you're killing your brain cells,
Speaker 3: and you only have so many. So they know that
Speaker 3: doesn't help at all with your cognitive function, especially later
Speaker 3: in life.
Speaker 2: So it's fear for me to conclude from our conversation
Speaker 2: that the one resolution that physically helps you the most
Speaker 2: physically and also medically is losing some weight if you're overweight.
Speaker 2: Any of the other traditional resolutions also have a medical
Speaker 2: benefit that you could share with us.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 3: Obviously smoking is another big culprit artery disease. Yeah, number
Speaker 3: one cause for hardening of the arteries, and so giving
Speaker 3: that up is definitely for your best thing for your
Speaker 3: health you could ever do, probably other than do everything
Speaker 3: else in moderation kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, the other thing is never start. You know.
Speaker 2: I was blessed. My dad was a World War Two veteran,
Speaker 2: two packs a day, camels, unfiltered. I hated cigarette smoke
Speaker 2: and I've never smoked a cigarette in my life and
Speaker 2: I was. I just it just appalls me. It doesn't
Speaker 2: appeal to me. It appalls me that that is for sure,
Speaker 2: and that's one. But the weight loss is so is
Speaker 2: so important. So I would say anyone who has kept
Speaker 2: a resolution for what thirty one days, now, there's no
Speaker 2: reason to stop it. You can continue it on, particularly
Speaker 2: if you feel a benefit from it. I encourage people
Speaker 2: to do that. The one that I did many years
Speaker 2: ago was I gave up drinking in January. I'm not
Speaker 2: a heavy drink or a coarse light and red wine
Speaker 2: here and kicked. I said, now, let me get the
Speaker 2: Valentine's Day, got the Valentine's dais, let me get to
Speaker 2: Saint Patrick's Day. Got the Saint Patrick's dan and said,
Speaker 2: let me get daple first. Well, May twenty fifth, I
Speaker 2: had kidney stones. Never had had kidney stones in my
Speaker 2: life before, and I was told it was not in
Speaker 2: taking enough fluid. So that's one that it was a little.
Speaker 2: Kidney stones were unpleasant as I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: never had them anyway. Yeah, well that's a good thing
Speaker 2: to avoid. That's a good resolution to avoid. I've never
Speaker 2: had him since Doctor Bobby Anderson. Your organization called Center
Speaker 2: for Vane Restoration. I assume people can get some information
Speaker 2: there if they go to your website, yep.
Speaker 3: And if they want to make an appointment over the phone,
Speaker 3: they can do that as well, calling twenty eight hundred
Speaker 3: six legs and our website is CVR dot com.
Speaker 2: Yeah are you We're in Boston, as you know, we
Speaker 2: have a pretty big audience across at the eastern half
Speaker 2: of the US.
Speaker 3: Where you located, Well, I'm in Springfield, Massachusetts, but we
Speaker 3: have offices in Wuburn and Framing and great.
Speaker 2: Okay. The reason I ask you that, I'm delighted to
Speaker 2: hear that. I'm glad I asked that question because I
Speaker 2: see the book appointment number says two four zero, and
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, to myself, where's that that. Okay, so you're
Speaker 2: a New England based organization. Excellent. That's good to know
Speaker 2: people who have problems with veins send it for van restoration.
Speaker 2: And you said CVR dot com. That's pretty simple. Yeah,
Speaker 2: thank you very much, appreciate it. Thank you doctor.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 2: Good, thank you, You're welcome. Okay, we get back. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about today. In case you missed, it was
Speaker 2: National have Fun at Workday. I hope you had fun
Speaker 2: at work today today. I have fun at work most days. Actually,
Speaker 2: I like my job, so it's not hard for me
Speaker 2: to have fun at work. But I think I was
Speaker 2: thinking today I was rainy, and I was thinking, how
Speaker 2: lucky am I to have an inside job. I don't
Speaker 2: worry about cold weather or hot weather. So we're going
Speaker 2: to talk on the other side with a fellow named
Speaker 2: Joel Zeph. National have Fun at work Day sounds great
Speaker 2: coming back on night side. My name is Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is WBZ in Boston. We're ten thirty in the
Speaker 2: AM dial, Boston's Radio, Boston's news radio station. You can
Speaker 2: always get us on the iHeart app to new and
Speaker 2: improved iHeart app. Listen to us anywhere in the country
Speaker 2: anywhere in the world twenty four to seven, three sixty five,
Speaker 2: or just check out ten thirty on your AM dial.
Speaker 2: My name's Dan Ray. Back more interesting topics right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray line from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, for those of you who might have missed it
Speaker 2: today was I guess it still is if you're working
Speaker 2: somewhere like me, National have Fun and work Day. The
Speaker 2: importance of having fun in the job with us is
Speaker 2: Joel Zeph. Joel's a workplace culture expert. Joel, you sound
Speaker 2: like my sort of guy.
Speaker 5: How are you tonight, I'm great, Thanks for having me, Dan.
Speaker 2: He was afraid for a second, there was the delay.
Speaker 2: I thought, have we lost him? So how do you
Speaker 2: become a workplace culture expert. Are you a writer? You're
Speaker 2: a speaker and an author. You've written a book called
Speaker 2: What Make the Right Choice? Lead with passion, elevate your
Speaker 2: team and unleash the fun and work you sell. You
Speaker 2: think exactly like I do. I have funded work every day.
Speaker 2: I'm a talk show host. I don't have to lift
Speaker 2: everything heavy. I don't have to climb on steel beams.
Speaker 2: I don't have to hang off of roofs. I'm I'm happy, man.
Speaker 5: We're very lucky.
Speaker 4: I can't do math, so I was limited in what
Speaker 4: jobs that appealed to me. And I was a newspaper journalist,
Speaker 4: and then I went into advertising in PR and I
Speaker 4: started doing improv comedy just for fun. And one of
Speaker 4: my clients said, hey, we know you do that improv
Speaker 4: on the weekend.
Speaker 5: Can you do that with us? And that's how my
Speaker 5: career started.
Speaker 4: And twenty five hundred events later, I wrote a book
Speaker 4: and now I'm talking to you, Well, you.
Speaker 2: Know you had twenty five hundred events. I do my
Speaker 2: four thousandth show on this radio station next week. Tonight
Speaker 2: is three three thousand, nine hundred ninety nine, So welcome,
Speaker 2: Welcome to Night Side.
Speaker 4: So I'm pretty excited.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'm always excited. So let me ask you,
Speaker 2: what is who decides today January thirty first, one of
Speaker 2: the most depressing days of the year. By the way,
Speaker 2: it's a long month January. Who decides it's National Have
Speaker 2: Fun to at Workday? Did President Trump do executive order
Speaker 2: that I missed somehow?
Speaker 4: I don't know who created that day, but I'm guessing
Speaker 4: they felt just like you did.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 4: January was a long month and we're kicking off the year,
Speaker 4: so it's probably a good day to focus on fun
Speaker 4: and creating passion and being fulfilled at work. Because when
Speaker 4: you're happy at work, that's going to lead to success,
Speaker 4: and that's gonna be you're gonna be a better leader,
Speaker 4: a better communicator, a better teammate.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, I don't want to get real serious on
Speaker 2: me here, because I think you I think what you
Speaker 2: just said I agree with the same day, the same thing.
Speaker 2: What percentage of workers do you think? How can we
Speaker 2: make this more accessible, more available a year from now?
Speaker 2: I don't know how many people I had not heard
Speaker 2: of National Have Fun at Workday until tonight. What what
Speaker 2: can we do going forward next year? Let's do something
Speaker 2: early in January, so we get people give up.
Speaker 5: Dan, I'm with you one hundred percent. I'm not gonna
Speaker 5: lie to you. I didn't know his National Fun at
Speaker 5: Workday either.
Speaker 4: Someone told me and said, hey, you'd be great on
Speaker 4: the radio with some of these hosts because you're all
Speaker 4: about fun and energy, And I said, sounds great to me.
Speaker 4: And because so here we are together, it's more in
Speaker 4: National Fun and Work Today for the first time together, Dan,
Speaker 4: So we'll always have today, yes.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Well, what I'm wondering I was figuring that
Speaker 2: maybe you'd be able to tell me some stories that today,
Speaker 2: you know, people were able to bring hula hoops to work,
Speaker 2: or they were able to bring their bikes and ride
Speaker 2: around the office, or they had water balloon fights. That's
Speaker 2: really not what we're talking about here. We're talking about
Speaker 2: how do you get happy? How do you get excited
Speaker 2: and want look forward to going to work for fun
Speaker 2: and accomplishing something as opposed to looking at yourself in
Speaker 2: the mirror and say, oh God, not again. It's seven
Speaker 2: point thirty in the morning and I got to get
Speaker 2: to go to work.
Speaker 4: Well, we've all been I've been there too, right, And
Speaker 4: it's about what's going to fulfill you, what's going to
Speaker 4: make you happy? And you know, what is that opportunity
Speaker 4: that you need to be happy? And fun means a
Speaker 4: lot of different things, and some of the things that
Speaker 4: you mentioned Hulu hoops and karaoke and dancing and all that,
Speaker 4: that's part of it. Sure, why not, you know, creating
Speaker 4: that energy and doing something fun as a group. I
Speaker 4: have a friend that is a runs an ad agency
Speaker 4: and they do a lot of give back.
Speaker 5: They go to pet shelters or food bank.
Speaker 4: And they donate their time as a company because that
Speaker 4: brings them joy and it connects people together. I have
Speaker 4: another friend work for a telecommunications company. They have a
Speaker 4: four foot chess piece, a four foot chess.
Speaker 5: Piece that goes around the office.
Speaker 4: If somebody's having a bad day, all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: you go on a break, it shows up in your
Speaker 4: cubicle because they know you're having a bad day and
Speaker 4: it just kind of brings a little fun, a little spirit.
Speaker 4: And what's funny is that four foot chess piece. My
Speaker 4: friend was called up.
Speaker 5: This was a few years ago.
Speaker 3: He's called up.
Speaker 5: He's in the hes in the Army Reserve, went to
Speaker 5: go serve.
Speaker 4: In Kuwait, and the company mailed the four foot chess
Speaker 4: piece to the army base that he went around took
Speaker 4: pictures uh, you know, with his uh with his troop
Speaker 4: and on tanks and uh in the latrine and the
Speaker 4: mess tent. And so it created happiness for the people,
Speaker 4: the soldiers that he's serving with, and it created happiness
Speaker 4: back at his telecommunications company. And so you know, it's
Speaker 4: all about maybe sometimes a surprise, doing something different, finding
Speaker 4: that opportunity to just kind of bring joy into the office.
Speaker 2: That's great. There were a lot of companies, a lot
Speaker 2: of individuals here who reached out to some of the
Speaker 2: US service personnel who had been deployed to places like
Speaker 2: Afghanistan and Kuwait and and all of that. And and
Speaker 2: that's always a touch of home when you're in the military,
Speaker 2: to to say to to be able to say, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I know what this is. So that's that's great. Well, look,
Speaker 2: so where where do you practice your comedy?
Speaker 4: So I do. I'm focused on the corporate market, and
Speaker 4: so I work with all different types of industries, companies, associations.
Speaker 3: UH.
Speaker 4: This week I was in Louisville speaking to a company
Speaker 4: that helps law enforcement officers.
Speaker 5: With a with a with a software that helps them
Speaker 5: for online investigations.
Speaker 4: And I have a property management company coming up, an
Speaker 4: insurance company. Uh So, it's a lot of different industries.
Speaker 4: And I use improv to bring that fun and energy.
Speaker 4: So it's all about humor, and we play some improv
Speaker 4: games and laugh and then we talk about these choices,
Speaker 4: how we deal with change, how we work together as
Speaker 4: a team, how we stay in the game.
Speaker 2: And by the way, the Louisville Police departmentism sure. You
Speaker 2: know a couple of years ago had some real serious
Speaker 2: issues and hopefully you've been able to help them work
Speaker 2: together as a team. Rob, how much time we got
Speaker 2: before the CBS cut in? You said a minute? Five?
Speaker 2: Is that what I got? Minute five? One minute? Okay? Perfect?
Speaker 2: So if folks would like to get in touch with you, Jeff,
Speaker 2: what's the easiest way for folks. You've got to have
Speaker 2: a website.
Speaker 4: I'm sure, sure, sure, I think we're contractually obligated to
Speaker 4: have websites in this day and age. Yes, Joel's f
Speaker 4: dot com j O E l z e f F
Speaker 4: dot com and the new book Make the Right Choice
Speaker 4: is available Barnes and Noble, Amazon, wherever you get your
Speaker 4: books and lots of ideas and ways to energize, keep
Speaker 4: the fun going, and you know, elevating that that your
Speaker 4: team and unleashing the fun at work that's part of
Speaker 4: the subhead and just enjoying work and kind of being
Speaker 4: fundamentally filled at work.
Speaker 2: Perfect, Joel, Thank you very much. We'll have your back. Sell.
Speaker 2: We can tell jokes to each other. I think I
Speaker 2: think you're a great guest. Appreciate your time. Thank you, sir. Hey,
Speaker 2: thanks again. All right, we are going to cut away
Speaker 2: now for a CBS News report on a second airplane crash,
Speaker 2: this one in Philadelphia. Pre CBS News.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Or there's a very interesting development and order that was
Speaker 2: issued by the Consumer Protection Safety Commission. And we have
Speaker 2: the lawyer who has actually been the person here who
Speaker 2: has forced Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the world,
Speaker 2: into a position where Amazon is now being ordered to
Speaker 2: reveal dangerous products. Don Fountain. He's a trial attorney, leading
Speaker 2: product defect attorney whose landmark cases to transform safety standards
Speaker 2: across multiple industries. Counsel Or, welcome to Night's Side. This
Speaker 2: sounds like a big victory for the consumer.
Speaker 6: Thank you for having me. Yes, and you're right, it
Speaker 6: is a big victory. I can't take credit for this.
Speaker 6: This is the Consumer Product Safety Commission finally bringing Amazon
Speaker 6: to the table to make them a critical part of
Speaker 6: product safety in this country.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm misread, and I might have been under the
Speaker 2: impression that you were representing parties in the case. Explain
Speaker 2: to us. Well, let me just kind of cut to
Speaker 2: the chase a little bit here. Obviously, Amazon sells everything,
Speaker 2: and they're a huge, huge company, one of the biggest
Speaker 2: companies in the world. And this order from the Consumer
Speaker 2: Protection Safety Commission basically says to Amazon, if you ship
Speaker 2: something and it's a dangerous product, you have a responsibility.
Speaker 2: It's just not the person who sells the product. You
Speaker 2: have become the conveyor of that product, and therefore there
Speaker 2: is an obligation for you to be involved in the
Speaker 2: remediation of hazardous products. As I understand it, am I
Speaker 2: fairly accurate in what I've just described.
Speaker 6: Yes, term is Amazon is now an official legal distributor
Speaker 6: of products. That's an important term because under the law,
Speaker 6: a distributor now has an obligation to keep track of
Speaker 6: safety trends. Keep track of recalls and to notify their
Speaker 6: customers about them.
Speaker 2: Okay, so how does Amazon get hooked into this? And
Speaker 2: let me just play Devil's advocate for a second, because
Speaker 2: you know more about this case than I do. I
Speaker 2: am a lawyer, but this is your area of expertise.
Speaker 2: How does Amazon get hooked in where, let's say I
Speaker 2: don't know UPS or FedEx, or for that matter, of
Speaker 2: the US mail as I read the materials that were
Speaker 2: sent to me are not impacted.
Speaker 6: That's a good question, and for years Amazon said, we
Speaker 6: don't want to be a part of the safety program
Speaker 6: in this country. We're just like the United States Postal
Speaker 6: Service or FedEx. We just deliver goods to consumers. And
Speaker 6: this has been going on since twenty twenty one. The
Speaker 6: Consumer Product Safety Commission said, no, your online marketplace qualifies
Speaker 6: you as a distributor, and as a distributor, you are
Speaker 6: now part of the safety matrix in this country. You
Speaker 6: need to keep track or recalls and you need to
Speaker 6: let the consumers know about them.
Speaker 2: So that's the distinction that was drawn, which is interesting.
Speaker 2: I'm kind of proud of the fact that I've raised
Speaker 2: an issue that at least it's been part of the
Speaker 2: consideration in this case. So the reality is, let us
Speaker 2: assume you order something from Amazon, and let's say it
Speaker 2: costs fifty bucks and it's a toy or a product
Speaker 2: that is found to be dangerous. Amazon then has to
Speaker 2: refund the money you didn't you paid Amazon, and I
Speaker 2: assume they in turn paid the producer of the product
Speaker 2: some monies. So Amazon now as the middleman, has to
Speaker 2: reimburse the buyer and then probably chase the producer the
Speaker 2: original seller for their money. So there's a lot of
Speaker 2: obligation now on Amazon here. Maybe this is going to
Speaker 2: force Amazon to reconsider the type of products that it
Speaker 2: advertises on its website.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're right. So Amazon now has the contractual ability
Speaker 6: to make sure the manufacturers are ultimately responsible and to
Speaker 6: encourage them to make their products safer. What I do
Speaker 6: want to want you to know is that right now,
Speaker 6: if you go to Google and you type in Amazon
Speaker 6: recall and safety Alerts, YEP, it'll take you directly to
Speaker 6: the Amazon website page and it will tell you click
Speaker 6: here to see if any of the products you have
Speaker 6: purchased have a safety recall or a safety alert. It's
Speaker 6: a one click thing you can do.
Speaker 2: It great for the consumer? Did Amazon try to litigate
Speaker 2: the whole concept of privity of a contract here and say, look,
Speaker 2: we're really not involved in this in any way, shape
Speaker 2: or form. I assumed that they must erased that as
Speaker 2: an issue. Unsuccessful.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 6: For many years, Amazon took the position that they are
Speaker 6: not a distributor, They're simply like FedEx in the post circus,
Speaker 6: so they don't have this obligation, and they were fairly
Speaker 6: successful in many of the courts around the country. And
Speaker 6: in twenty twenty one, the Consumer Product Safety Commission stepped
Speaker 6: in and litigated the issue and finally resolved it in
Speaker 6: the consumer's favor.
Speaker 2: Is Amazon obviously is going to have to comply? Do
Speaker 2: you think that there's further appeals that Amazon, obviously an
Speaker 2: administrative agency, has made a determination. I assume that determination
Speaker 2: is always going to be potentially appealable in federal court.
Speaker 6: I guess they could. But here's what I'll say. This
Speaker 6: became effective on January twenty sixth of this year, just
Speaker 6: a few days ago.
Speaker 2: Three days ago, five days ago.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 6: And I've already seen, you know, a change in Amazon's
Speaker 6: website since then. So and so I'm hoping that, you know,
Speaker 6: they're just going to let it go and be a
Speaker 6: part of the safety matrix to keep us all hopefully safer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as I understand it, even in this and
Speaker 2: I didn't read this deeply, I apologize for that, but
Speaker 2: I do a lot of stuff. I drink from the
Speaker 2: fire hose every day that if let us say, the
Speaker 2: product that Amazon has shipped you, uh, there's some knowledge
Speaker 2: of public knowledge that the product is dangerous and if
Speaker 2: someone discards the product throws it out. And I guess
Speaker 2: some of this was you know, what would be the
Speaker 2: pajamas that that sometimes are flammable. I assumed there could
Speaker 2: be some food stuffs that Amazon would would would would
Speaker 2: ship even if the the the end of the line
Speaker 2: consumer destroys the product, Amazon is still going to be
Speaker 2: in the hook for that because if the if the
Speaker 2: consumer destroys the product, there's no product for Amazon to
Speaker 2: send back to the distributor. So Amazon's going to have to,
Speaker 2: I assume, build this into their costs of doing business.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think you're right, and I want you to know
Speaker 6: that Amazon has probably already done that. The ruling originally
Speaker 6: came out in January of twenty twenty four, but the
Speaker 6: Consumer Product Safety Commission gave Amazon a year to kind
Speaker 6: of get the system in place, So during the last
Speaker 6: year they've probably already taken care of this contractually.
Speaker 2: Fascinating case. It's amazing and it sounds to me like
Speaker 2: something that's going to benefit consumers at a number of levels.
Speaker 2: But I'm hoping that as a consumer that Amazon is
Speaker 2: a little more careful about what products they advertise, they
Speaker 2: and they ship. I would hope that that is the
Speaker 2: big win for consumers here.
Speaker 6: Same hope, and I also hope that Amazon will use
Speaker 6: as tremendous power over its manufacturers to say, you better
Speaker 6: make your stuff safe because we have an obligation now
Speaker 6: to report defects and problems and we don't really want
Speaker 6: to be doing that every day.
Speaker 2: That's great. Uh well, Attorney Fountain, great to talk with you.
Speaker 2: You A lot of attorneys don't do well in the media,
Speaker 2: but but you explained it so well. You've got you've
Speaker 2: got to be really good in a quote. Along with
Speaker 2: that that ability to articulate and simplify and make people understand.
Speaker 2: I bet you're pretty good in front of jury's Thank
Speaker 2: you so much.
Speaker 6: My mother, My mother says I am so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we all learned to expect that. But no,
Speaker 2: I really mean that, and that's not an off the
Speaker 2: cuff call comment. I I deal with lots of lawyers
Speaker 2: who are pretty good litigators, but sometimes on the radio,
Speaker 2: they lose that ability to succinctly explain the issues in
Speaker 2: front of them or in front of the audience. And
Speaker 2: you did it exceptionally well. And that's not and that
Speaker 2: is not an off the hand compliment. That's genuine, genuine
Speaker 2: compliment for my end. I do this professionally as a broadcaster,
Speaker 2: and I was never very comfortable in court. I was
Speaker 2: always on watching my p's and q's. This is the
Speaker 2: court of public opinion, and I'm real comfortable here. I
Speaker 2: wish I was discomfortable in trial cases. Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: Counselor appreciate your time.
Speaker 6: I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. When we get back, we're going to
Speaker 2: talk about a new school called the Stars School and
Speaker 2: Learning Center for kids who are dyslexic, and we will
Speaker 2: be talking with doctor Jennifer Curtis right after a break
Speaker 2: here on Nightside. That was an interesting segment. I enjoyed
Speaker 2: that back right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to be joined by doctor Jennifer Curtis. She's the
Speaker 2: CEO of South Shore Stars, a nonprofit is starting a
Speaker 2: new school in tell kids with dyslexia. Welcome, doctor Curtis.
Speaker 2: How are you this evening.
Speaker 7: I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me
Speaker 7: here tonight.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. Why did you explain dyslexia? I think
Speaker 2: most people have heard about it, but I always assume
Speaker 2: that there might be some people who are confused by, uh,
Speaker 2: this this set of circumstances that I'm not sure how
Speaker 2: many kids face it, but I know that it's it's
Speaker 2: it's rare, but but there's there's still a lot of
Speaker 2: kids that are dealing with this. Explain explain that.
Speaker 7: So everyone is on the shore absolutely, So there are
Speaker 7: a lot of children and a lot of adults that
Speaker 7: are impacted by dyslexia.
Speaker 8: It's a disability.
Speaker 7: Typically you see about one in five people the head
Speaker 7: of a diagnosis of dyslexia. It's what's called a language
Speaker 7: based learning disability. And what that really means when you
Speaker 7: break that down is people who have dyslexia have a
Speaker 7: hard time with things that spelling, writing, to coding.
Speaker 8: So the reading pieces of.
Speaker 7: Literacy, mapping the print the letter itself to what the
Speaker 7: sound might be and being able to do that in
Speaker 7: a very easy manner, that doesn't happen. And so frequently
Speaker 7: what we find with people that have a disability such
Speaker 7: as dyslexia, they need really specific instruction to help them
Speaker 7: break that code or maps the sounds.
Speaker 8: To those letters.
Speaker 7: And when we think about, you know, our English language,
Speaker 7: there are lots of rules to it, and if you
Speaker 7: are taught those rules very systematically and repetitively, so to
Speaker 7: a point where you're mastering those skills, people with dyslexia
Speaker 7: can be very very successful. And you know, we have
Speaker 7: so many high functioning adults in you know, careers that
Speaker 7: are out there that are dyslexic. It's not it is
Speaker 7: a disability, I will say that, But the other pieces,
Speaker 7: it doesn't mean that it's something that's going to impact
Speaker 7: you from you going in the direction you want to
Speaker 7: go for your dreams or your goals. And frequently there's
Speaker 7: a lot of literature out there right now about how
Speaker 7: dyslexic thinkers are sometimes a bit more creative and think
Speaker 7: outside the box.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let me make sure I understand that I
Speaker 2: always understood dyslexia to be primarily a reading limitation, and
Speaker 2: that people and I focused. I realized adults have it,
Speaker 2: but I focused upon kids. That they would see a
Speaker 2: word and they would somehow see it differently, maybe the
Speaker 2: letters would be misarranged. Is that a hold of an
Speaker 2: old explanation of dyslexia that is now out of style?
Speaker 7: Yes, so frequently. I think it's often been dramatized as
Speaker 7: things are letters are backwards all the time, and that
Speaker 7: that's how everything always looks. That's not accurate. People me
Speaker 7: with dyslexia may have issues with reversals of letters, especially
Speaker 7: letters that are similar. Like if you think about your
Speaker 7: b's and your.
Speaker 8: D's, they look almost the.
Speaker 7: Same, they just facing different ways. But once someone with
Speaker 7: dyslexia is taught specifically how to make sure you're differentiating
Speaker 7: between those two letters, that that's a skill set that
Speaker 7: they can have under their belt and move forward in
Speaker 7: a positive manner. So yeah, so what you talked about
Speaker 7: is really an older lens of looking at dyslexia, and
Speaker 7: it's much more complex than that, but it is. Actually
Speaker 7: it's something that with the right methods, it can be
Speaker 7: something that you can move on from. It never goes away.
Speaker 7: It's a disability that stays with you forever, but you
Speaker 7: can learn different skills to be able to cope with it.
Speaker 7: And most aslexics have a very high IQ average, a
Speaker 7: high IQ and as I said before, a very high
Speaker 7: functioning adult as we get older.
Speaker 2: Okay, is the is the problem with dyslexia somewhere deep
Speaker 2: deep inside the brain.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: It does have to do with the processing and information.
Speaker 7: When someone looks at the letters, they may not identify
Speaker 7: that letter right away. The brain may not really say, oh,
Speaker 7: that letter is a B, and when I see that B,
Speaker 7: it has that sounds that goes with the books. They
Speaker 7: may not naturally be able to connect that and it
Speaker 7: has to be really identified and spelled out specifically for them.
Speaker 2: Okay, So tell us about your school. That's sure. I
Speaker 2: think we'd really like to learn about Is this school
Speaker 2: just opening or has it just opened?
Speaker 7: So we're working to open our doors this coming September,
Speaker 7: so September twenty twenty five, and we have done a
Speaker 7: lot of work to get to this point. We're in
Speaker 7: an enrollment phase right now, so we're working with families
Speaker 7: to enroll their students in what it is. It's for
Speaker 7: students that will be in grades one through five initial opening,
Speaker 7: depending upon the need for what we find out there
Speaker 7: in the areas around the south Shore, Massachusetts, or anyone
Speaker 7: that wants to come to us from another area. If
Speaker 7: we want to expand down to kindergarten and up to
Speaker 7: sixth grade, we can.
Speaker 8: Do that as well.
Speaker 7: But to start off, we want to make sure we
Speaker 7: have our doors open with at least twelve kiddos in seats,
Speaker 7: and at full build out, the school would max out
Speaker 7: at one hundred students. It's very it's a small program.
Speaker 7: It is in Weymouth, it's in a brand new facility
Speaker 7: that's been built for this purpose. And as I said,
Speaker 7: we're doing our moments right now and we have a
Speaker 7: lot of people.
Speaker 2: Let me let me ask you a course, which is important. Okay,
Speaker 2: if there are families in Weymouth or surrounding communities or anywhere,
Speaker 2: but obviously you're going to draw more people I assume
Speaker 2: from your surrounding communities. Are they able to enroll your
Speaker 2: school at a cost that is covered by what they
Speaker 2: you have from their public school. Generously, what I'm saying
Speaker 2: is I understand the private school. You know, if you
Speaker 2: choose to send your child to Belmont Hill or to
Speaker 2: bb and N, that's considered a private school and you
Speaker 2: have to pay whatever tuition is charged in addition, of
Speaker 2: course to your real estate taxes, and you do not
Speaker 2: receive any benefit from your town, your hometown, even though
Speaker 2: you have taken some pressure off the school system. How
Speaker 2: is your school being categorized?
Speaker 7: So that's a great question. So I'll say, with what
Speaker 7: you just describe, we're a bit of a hybrid. So
Speaker 7: if someone wants to send their child to us through
Speaker 7: as a private mechanism, they can do that. There there's
Speaker 7: definitely an option to do that. But we have worked
Speaker 7: really hard and we recently received our initial approvals through
Speaker 7: the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as what is
Speaker 7: called a seven sixty six school. A phasics school is
Speaker 7: a specialized school for students that have some sort of
Speaker 7: special needs or disability, and we have approved as a
Speaker 7: school working with kids with a slexia or language based needs.
Speaker 7: Now what does that mean? So what is the benefit
Speaker 7: of being approved as a seven six yeh by.
Speaker 2: The way, about a minute left.
Speaker 7: So okay, well, well that is what that does mean
Speaker 7: is that if a team, if the school department feels
Speaker 7: as though this is the best placement for a family's child,
Speaker 7: they can access funds through the school department that are
Speaker 7: called circuit breaker funds to help alleviate that tuition for
Speaker 7: the families. So there are mechanisms to do that. And
Speaker 7: if you want to have people, come on our website,
Speaker 7: so for stars dot org you can find more information
Speaker 7: about the school and information about everything else, talking about
Speaker 7: the open houses coming up and the zoom sessions.
Speaker 2: Great. So again, you have the balance of this school
Speaker 2: year to get yourself ready for September of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: And the children who you would enroll, do they have
Speaker 2: to be shown to be dealing with dyslexia? Is that
Speaker 2: the one and only disability that that could make them
Speaker 2: eligible for your school?
Speaker 8: Is your schilah?
Speaker 7: Yeah, that is our focus area. That's what we're specializing in.
Speaker 7: Kids they come in without the diagnosis, but they may
Speaker 7: have all of the markers and we're here and ready
Speaker 7: for them.
Speaker 2: So without the can you help them get the diagnosis
Speaker 2: to make them to make them eligible for either enrollment
Speaker 2: or financial assistance. That's my last and most important question.
Speaker 7: Yeah. So we have a team that's a very highly
Speaker 7: skilled team of enrollment staff that are also evaluators that
Speaker 7: can help point the families in the right direction to
Speaker 7: get that diagnosis if that's what is needed, and then
Speaker 7: to kind of guide them through what does it mean
Speaker 7: now I have that diagnosis, and we also want to
Speaker 7: work with the school districts, so if we're right, we
Speaker 7: would work with them to have them come on our way.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, look, appreciate you. You're doing great work, doctor
Speaker 2: Jennifer Curtis. I hope a lot of people who may
Speaker 2: find themselves in the need for special education like this.
Speaker 2: We'll get in touch with you. Best way to reach
Speaker 2: you is give us the website real quickly and then.
Speaker 7: We got to go sure social stars dot org. Thanks
Speaker 7: so much.
Speaker 2: That's great. You're very welcome, doctor Jennifer Curtis, south Shore
Speaker 2: Stars dot org. We'll be back right after the nine
Speaker 2: o'clock news. We're going to talk about a controversy dealing
Speaker 2: with white stadium. You probably know something about it, but
Speaker 2: we're going to dive deep into the controversy revolving around
Speaker 2: this venerable Boston Public School. Location White Stadium in Franklin Park,