The main things I have written about lately are only related to Covid and politics. This has me on total overload as we find ourselves in month seven of the pandemic. For a good change of pace, I recently I had an opportunity to talk with Danny Raskin, owner of Manny’s Deli about the issues that have faced his iconic restaurant during this time and felt the need to share his story. Keep in mind, it’s not just his story, it’s that of restaurants everywhere that have experienced the impact of the pandemic.

Manny’s opened for business in 1942 and has sustained 78 years of serving some of Chicago’s favorite deli delights. Corned beef stacked high, homemade potato pancakes, delicious soups, lox, bagels, you name it. Although a recent tweet in July and the Jewish Holidays helped give Manny’s a well needed spike in business, there are too many other factors that Raskin is up against that can’t afford him a decent night’s sleep.

After the tweet in July which was featured on the news, people lined up in droves to support the Deli. He emphasizes his gratitude for that and how much it meant to him. Then the unthinkable happened: the looting and riots in Chicago began and hence, business came to a screeching halt. Manny’s is located in the South Loop and amidst the unrest was considered an unsafe place to go. Highways were closed; people were afraid.

Another huge factor in the drop in business are those that worked in the city and have now been relegated to working at home. Many of these people live in the suburbs. To counteract this, Raskin has set up suburban pick ups in many areas that would normally never have had the pleasure of dining on a Manny’s meal. People as far as Michiana, Michigan and Elburn, Illinois have volunteered their driveways as pick up spots as Danny and his staff work tirelessly to prepare the meals for delivery.

As he awaits a permit for outdoor seating in front of the restaurant, he has set up dining in the parking lot. Despite being equipped with heaters that will prolong the inevitable drop in temperatures, his outdoor dining capabilities days are numbered. And this factor alone is what Danny, as well as all the other restaurants in Chicago are dreading. Which is why supporting the Deli and your other favorite spots is so important in the other ways offered.

Remember, there are no Government bailouts for the industry despite their importance to the economy. His initial round of PPP was used to keep all of his employees working however, at 6 weeks he had to cut hours. Then fortunately with the bump due to the tweet, the Jewish Holidays and the suburban pick ups, he has been able to remain fully staffed. This doesn’t mean that the restaurant is making money though – it’s just keeping his head slightly above water. With winter looming, he is afraid of drowning. The costs of maintaining and running a restaurant are staggering; Rents, payroll and taxes don’t go away.

Curbside pick up has become a life saver for many spots but it isn’t enough. We started the pandemic when temperatures were only getting better and there was hope that we would have a vaccine by summer. Now as we face the possibility of having to live through 2021 in the current manner, panic has set in.

No one wants to see a restaurant that has been in business for almost 80 years close.

With a recent approval by the city, indoor dining capacity has been increased to 40% and Raskin would like to reassure his customers of the safety measures he has taken now and looking ahead to the colder weather.

Tables are spaced appropriately for social distancing. All tables, chairs and surfaces are cleaned and disinfected after every patron. Anyone walking in must be masked until seated.  His employees are masked at all times and he is thrilled that not a single employee has tested positive in the seven months of the pandemic. They are all careful and follow all protocol measures.

Danny does recommend that if you are comfortable dining indoors, you do it with only the people that you are either living with or see everyday. Remember, he doesn’t want people contracting the virus in his restaurant. He wants you to go about it intelligently and with thought.

In addition to increasing his indoor dining capabilities, they are working on upgrading their technology for better online ordering for local pick and and delivery. This should be done by the end of the month; keep an eye out for these improvements!

So, if you are not comfortable dining indoors ask yourself this: Do you like Manny’s? Do you love their food? Do you love the fact they have been around for as long as they have and their quality of food remains as good as it was in 1942? Your answer to all these should be yes. And to help them survive, place your curbside orders. Your catering orders. Every occasion you have, Manny’s can help with your food. Order and do a suburban pickup. Volunteer your driveway for a pickup. Keep dining outdoors until it’s absolutely not possible. SPREAD THE WORD. And if you’re comfortable and willing to dine indoors give it a try. Support, support, support. Let’s keep this Chicago treasure around for many years to come.

And may we all get through this by eating a great corned beef sandwich whenever we can.

Sen. Dick Durbin (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Perverse because Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin’s ignorance about the law, the Supreme Court and the Constitution is astonishing, and dangerous.

That ignorance was on full display today when he was making his opening statement in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings into the confirmation of Appellate Court Judge Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court.

It has become a cliche that judges are not supposed to legislate from the bench; that’s the job of Congress and state legislatures that are elected by the people and that reflect the electors’ wills. The courts’ job is to follow the law as set by the legislative bodies. But it is necessary to repeat this fundamental principle of the Constitution so often that it has become a cliche–nevertheless one that is true.

Instead, Durbin tried to turn the hearing into a debate about policy–something that’s totally outside the judicial branch’s assigned purpose. In this, Durbin was a handmaid for the approach prescribe by the ideological left to turn the hearing into a debate over health care and, by implication, abortion. In essence, Durbin’s argument came down to: We must not confirm Barrett because most Americans favor Obamacare.

Arguing policy has been the preferred ploy of Democrats going back to when they crushed the nomination of Robert Bork because–gasp–he believed that courts should follow the law. The idea that Bork or Barrett would legislate from the bench by making law about healthcare, abortion and many policy issues is a lot of bunk because that is precisely what such judges disdain. In this, conservatives have been entirely consistent.

The always compliant Durbin did a fine job of reading what was written for him and committed high irony when he criticized Republicans for blindly following their leaders by agreeing to vote on the nomination prior to the next term. Nobody is better at following the leader than Durbin.

Durbin’s argument and that of his fellow ideologues is dangerous because it creates a competing legislative branch of unelected, lifetime members. Not at all accountable to the public will. In this, the Democratic standard for selecting high court justices is in itself supremely anti-democratic.

Should I be tested for covid? You’ve probably asked yourself that during the last several months, and maybe thought, why not? But then perhaps you considered that there aren’t enough tests available for everyone, and labs are overburdened with processing tests.

I certainly wouldn’t have asked for a test out of curiosity. But I had symptoms — maybe. So perplexing is everything about the coronavirus that I wasn’t sure what to make of sleeping longer than usual.

About a week and a half ago, I awoke after 10½ hours and still felt tired. There was also a mild cough. Before last March, neither of those “symptoms” would have received a second thought.

What prompted me to ask my doctor’s opinion was that I was due to see my mother in four days and didn’t want to put her or the other residents of her assisted living home at risk. Either be tested or isolate for two weeks, my MD replied via email. Being tested seemed preferable — potentially a shorter isolation.

My doctor’s office doesn’t test. I was on my own to navigate stage two of the testing quandary: where to be tested.

The Illinois Department of Public Health’s testing sites are nowhere near me. Neither are Walgreens’. Physicians Immediate Care locations had no appointments available for more than 24 hours. A clinic within walking distance would not accept my HMO insurance. I couldn’t locate a nearby CVS site (but later learned of one near the Illinois Medical District, as well as a Rush Medical Center site).

The appointment and insurance details were a surprise. After seeing images of cars and pedestrians lined up at drive-through and walk-in locations, I expected to be able to show up and take a place in line. I also thought the tests were free. In fact, Illinois residents are not paying out of pocket, but if they have insurance, it is billed. Many sites require a screening phone call.

After more than two hours of searching online and on the phone, I found a clinic in Lakeview that would tele-interview me the next day before scheduling a test.

I was instructed to quarantine while waiting three to five days for the test result. I canceled my reservation for Sunday church services and told my mother I’d see her another time.

We keep hearing that testing is key to controlling the spread of covid, so why is testing so complicated and inefficient almost eight months into the pandemic?

Resources are still limited. The United States does not have the capacity, of supplies or staffing, to test widely, so the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has prioritized who should be tested.

You’ve heard numerous times about the failure of the federal government to plan and coordinate a national response to the pandemic. Although more than willing to fault the Trump administration, I was still baffled by people being left to their own devices about whether and where to be tested.

If covid had hit a year ago, when my dad was living, my parents would have been confused about what to do had either shown symptoms. Their experience was that a doctor ordered medical tests and told them where to get them. If the doctor had told them to choose between getting a test or isolating for two weeks, and didn’t tell them where to be tested, would they have known what to do?

My test results came back negative. I wondered whether I had overreacted to a cough and fatigue.

“Most public health officials and infectious disease doctors will say that if you feel you have a reason to be tested, you should be tested,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist, commented. “I can’t think of any reason why somebody shouldn’t get tested.”

That sounded reassuring and helpful. Good to remember if another judgment call is needed about how much coughing qualifies as a symptom.

*****

ANTI-TRUMP COMMENTS: 133RD IN AN ONGOING SERIES

“[I]t’s kind of amazing that conspiracy theorists have lined up so supportively behind Trump, when he’s really the most convincing proof yet of all their worst fears.”
Marina Hyde, The Guardian

Republicans and most particularly President Donald Trump have screwed up politically by failing to come up with a replacement health care plan for Obamacare that is believable, comprehensive, affordable and practicable.

The usual GOP excuse is that the Democrats in their blind partisanship would kill any such plan. Except Republicans never came up with a realistic plan that was appealing to and understandable by the public. At one time, Republicans held the White House and both houses of Congress, yet… nothing.

Republican incompetence has enabled Democrats to label the GOP as insensitive and as tools of special interests, such as the insurance industry. Democrats at this moment are clubbing Republicans over the head with this failure during the Senate confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Barrett.

And it’s working. The voting public doesn’t care about the intricacies of judicial philosophy on which the confirmation vote should hinge. They care about the people who need to be protected, including themselves, from the inability to find affordable health care.

One more reason that Trump possibly has blown his re-election chances.

Here is a question that ought to be contemplated:

But since the quincentennial celebration (1992) progressives have been harshly denouncing the event [Columbus Day celebrations] as resulting in deliberate genocide of the peaceful, ecology-minded, indigenous peoples. According to the new conventional wisdom, Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the Americas is an epochal catastrophe that should be scorned and vilified. But what was it like in the New World at the time of Columbus arrival?

Here are a few of the details:

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the Arawak Indians (also called Tainos) were the relatively peaceful inhabitants of the Caribbean islands whom we associate with pastoral native scenes. But they were not the only native tribe. In fact, the Tainos were preyed upon and suffered as much from the Carib Indians as at the hands of the conquering Europeans. Throughout the many islands, the peaceful male Arawaks were hunted, killed, and even cannibalized by the ferocious Caribs who ultimately ended up exterminating the peaceful Arawaks from many of the Caribbean islands in the Lesser Antilles. The female Arawaks were taken as wives and slaves by the male Caribs. Atrocities by the Carib Indians were infamous and today these atrocities are often discounted or ignored in the protrayal of the New World as a pristine paradise.

A conclusion:

In other words, European historical accounts, indigenous codices, and even pictorial and archeological evidence had been suppressed or misinterpreted by liberal-minded scholars and politicians because it did not square with their socialist views of indigenous peoples. It took relatively recent by fully incontrovertible and irrefutable archaeological evidence to prove what had been evident and argued by other honest and truth-oriented scholars of Mesoamerican culture for years.

This is not to say that Columbus didn’t commit his share of atrocities. But the idea of Native Americans as innocents and victims is warped by progressive ideology.

In the midst of these uncertain times, there is the ever-changing moon. Every night, a different face.

Perhaps the most familiar is the round full moon. It is the bane of werewolves!  It is older than humans, and the inspiration of music and myth, stories, paintings, photographs and poetry.

The month of October offers crisp clear nights and two full moons!  The  full moon on October 1 is also called the harvest moon, as this  was the full moon closest to the fall equinox on September 22.  You can read more about the harvest moons here.

The second full moon in October will occur on October 31, a Halloween moon!  Halloween  is about midway between the fall equinox and the winter solstice.  This full moon  is also called a blue moon.  Why? You can read more about blue moons, here.

A full moon on Halloween doesn’t happen every year, either.  According to Earth Sky—

Every 19 years, the phases of the moon recur on (or near) the same calendar dates. Sure enough, looking 19 years into the future, we find the second full moon in October 2039 falling right on Halloween (October 31, 2039).

Yes, the moon has a schedule. You can find out when  the next lunar eclipse will be. You can find  the moon phase for the day you were born.   And yet, the moon has magic and mystery, still.  To see the waning crescent moon in the morning sky, as it has been for the past few days, is a surprise–like a wisp of cloud in cloudless blue.

There will be a new moon on October  16.  And then,  a thin waxing crescent in the evening sky, increasing  every night until the full moon on the 31st.  This is the wonder of the moon–waxing and waning, old and new again.
 
 
 
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—–

In his lively book about the English language, “A Civil Tongue,” former newsman Edwin Newman describes what he called “the hopefully disease.” Since the book’s publication in 1975, the word “hopefully” has continued to be misused so badly that I have been feeling rather lonely in supporting its proper use — to my way of thinking, it is more a stage direction than part of conversation. But now that I’ve rediscovered Newman’s examples, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed finding them.

I hope that you will remember this post about fellow word maven William Safire’s own mention of “hopefully” in his book “On Language.”

Newman’s characterization of “hopefully” as a disease is a clever one — we’ve all been exposed to it so often in recent years that “I hope” and “It is to be hoped” are beginning to sound stilted.

But even in the 1970s, when Newman was writing, the disease hit some people worse than others. He mentions seeing “an advertisement for a California Riesling that was ‘regretfully available only in very limited quantities.’ That is the hopefully disease spreading,” wrote Newman, “but no variation is likely to approach the majesty of the announcement by the president of the Green Bay Packers. Dominic Olejuiczak, when discussing the hiring of a new coach. ‘We hope,’ he said, ‘to have an announcement before the end of the week, hopefully before that.’ “

Maybe the disease of using words so casually helps other diseases spread. These days, it’s hard to tell. Use your words carefully, pay attention to the words of others, and stay safe.

It started as a routine flight. It ended with Kyle Kinane booted out of Canada, escorted past curious onlookers at the Calgary airport onto a plane back to L.A. Because it was Canada, the guards who “Green Miled” him onto the flight were both burly and relentlessly polite. Because it was Kyle Kinane, it is one of the most hilarious stories on any album in memory. If 2020 has us parched and thirsty for laughter, Kyle’s new album Trampoline in a Ditch is a miraculous oasis.

Describing Trampoline in a Ditch, Kyle says, “It’s like a buffet. There’s got to be something on there you’ll like.” I say it’s like a buffet because you’ll keep coming back for more.

Kyle Kinane is one of comedy’s great storytellers. Trampoline in a Ditch is his fifth album, adding to a canon that includes three comedy specials and numerous film and television credits. He is also known for his eight-year stint as Comedy Central’s announcer and, of course, for starting out at Chicago’s legendary venues: Zanies, The Lincoln Lodge and Chicago Underground Comedy.

Although his gravelly warmth and wit are entirely his own, the Addison, Illinois native hails from the “Mitch Hedberg School of Comedy Physicists,” as I like to think of them; virtuosos who perceive molecules of comedy that we mortals would otherwise miss. Seen through the lens of Kyle Kinane’s agile mind, life is a minefield but it’s filled with comedic potential.

Trampoline in a Ditch, recorded at Comedy on State in Madison, WI, is “a collection of B-sides and rarities,” many previously unreleased. It clocks in at an hour and forty-five minutes, all of which flew by and sparked my new Kyle Kinane addiction. Listen to the album and you’ll be treated to uniquely Kinanaanite insights and shenanigans. Every story is a model of how to find comedy in this fraught, sometimes joyful thing called life.

In one of my favorite tracks, he covers the misery of an “Urgent Care” visit.  Questions arose. Was the staff at “Urgent Care” appropriately concerned? Did they know what they were doing? The answers were “no” and “no.” But Kyle Kinane has the situation covered to perfection, even if your insurance doesn’t.

Another memorable bit describes how dark thoughts punctured his nature hike, leading him to perceive waterfalls in a way that is unprecedented in human history. He also reveals serious issues with the name “Kyle.” A bit later, he details an odyssey with a stuffed man that will leave you breathless with laughter and primed for Halloween. It began with an invitation from a shadowy figure in a van and ended with an epic prank on Kyle’s then-roommate, comedian Matt Braunger. There are heavier topics, too. In his fearless, thoughtful style, he also addresses what it means to be a white male comedian in 2020.

Kyle kindly gave me some behind-the-scenes insights by phone about his early years in Chicago, honing his creativity, his excellent new album and the robots who are coming for us all.

IN THE BEGINNING: HBO & PARKING TICKETS

Teme: How did your stand-up career begin?

Kyle: My very first time, not counting the fifth grade talent show at Fullerton Elementary School in Addison, was an open casting call for the big HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. It was 1999 and I was working at a gas station in Wood Dale. Funny enough, I read about that audition in the Daily Herald, which is who I just had an interview with and I didn’t tell that story. There were open auditions at Zanies. Everybody got three minutes. I had always wanted to try comedy, but I never knew how to start comedy. I didn’t know about open mics. So I went and did three minutes of material in the middle of the day. I think I got about $150 in parking tickets.

A year later at Columbia College, I recognized somebody in my class from that show. His name is Johnny Berger. A shout-out to Johnny Berger and Jake’s Pizza, his business in Franklin Park! (I love plugging my friends.) I asked him, “You did stand-up?” He told me all about open mics and about the Red Lion, which at that time was run by Mark Geary who runs the Lincoln Lodge now. That was my introduction to the world. Once I found out about that, that’s when I was hooked.

Teme: What is your favorite memory from those years?

Kyle: It was such a great time because nobody was trying to be famous. They were just trying to be good. There was really no audience for stand-up, especially in the early “oughts.” In the last ten years, there’s kind of a rock star thing around stand-up. But at the time it wasn’t popular, so you were seeing everybody only because they wanted to be good at it. Now, lo and behold, here we are with people like Pete Holmes, Cameron Esposito and Kumail Nanjiani.

Everyone knew what hack comedy was. They wanted to avoid it. We saw Kumail right after September 11^th, being from Pakistan with an accent, going up and not addressing 9/11 and just being this great comedian. Watching, every other comic understood, “Look at that guy just writing great jokes while we’re relying on easy punchlines. Maybe we should be better.” So it was that kind of stuff and the experimentation that people like Nick Vatterott and Brady Novak would employ just because there wasn’t a talent scout watching or anything like that.

Teme:  How did you know when it was time to leave and move to L.A.?

Kyle Kinane/Photo credit: Evan Mays andBudd Anthony Diaz

Kyle: Well, I still don’t know if I did that one right. I left in 2003. Matt Braunger was going at the same time. So I figured, alright, I got a friend that’s going out there. In New York there’s more stage time, I knew more people, and it was a better option. But as far as I was concerned, if I was going to leave Chicago, I wasn’t going to see snow ever again. I’m going west. It’s harder to be sad underneath palm trees. I’m going to go struggle somewhere near a beach. I wasn’t ready. I could have used a couple more years of getting my chops. But you got to take a plunge in life. If you wait until you’re ready on most things, you’re never going to do it.

Teme: Did you and Matt drive out to L.A. together?

Kyle: No. He went to Oregon first where his family was and wound up sticking around there for a bit. That bought me time. I was working at a warehouse. I got a couple of extra months of saving up money, which I was appreciative for. I’m not built like, “I only moved there with $20 in my pocket.” I don’t have that kind of faith in myself. I’m like, “No, let’s have some money saved up. Try and do it with a little common sense for once in my life.”

A DOCTORATE IN COMEDY PHYSICS

Teme: You’re one of the comedians I think of as a comedian-physicist because you see things that are invisible to most people’s eyes.

Kyle: Ohhh? Go on!

Teme: There are so many things like that on your new album Trampoline in a Ditch. Like you describe a waterfall in two opposite ways that are both devastating and hilarious. Is a person born with the ability to see things in extremely creative, original ways or is it possible to develop that ability?

Kyle: Blushing in my car here doing this interview. I went to Columbia College for creative writing. I learned how to dissect everything and explore every corner of the imagination when describing something. I put that into comedy. But definitely the comedians that I had always admired do that, like Mitch Hedberg. That was my guy.

Teme: Yes, he’s one of my favorite physicists! As I listened to your album, I was thinking that you and he have that ability in common.

Kyle: At open mics, you can tell the [comic’s] influence that got them into stand-up. Like you can see where the Attell guys are. Wendy Liebman is a comic who I don’t think gets enough credit for her influence. Once you watch Wendy Liebman you’ll hear her influence on so many other comics.

Teme: I love her! Also a great physicist! So how do you learn to see the world in imaginative, truthful, hilarious ways?

Kyle: Man, I hate to give away all the tricks and give myself up! The whole waterfall joke was centered around a waterfall being like water jumping off a cliff trying to commit suicide. Then I reverse engineered it from a story about how I saw waterfalls because I like to get away from all the nonsense of the world. That’s how it became the joke. I think everybody has a thought during the day, a weirdo observation that they just keep to themselves or don’t write down.

It’s a bit of a mental illness that I have to write down all these thoughts that aren’t jokes yet. That’s what crazy people do. Somebody sitting under an underpass with a stack of notebooks feverishly scrawling is doing the same thing I’m doing. Like, “Here’s all the thoughts! I can’t forget ‘em!” If I forget them, I’m out of a job. So, for every “waterfall is a river committing suicide,” there’s about ten pages of utter garbage. It’s not clever. It’s a numbers game.

TRAMPOLINE IN A DITCH

Teme: Of course I want to ask you about Trampoline in a Ditch which I loved! How did you come up with the title Trampoline in a Ditch? I thought, wow, has anyone ever described my life as well as those four words?

Kyle: It’s from a Twitter account called “Sheboygan Scanner” which transcribes the police scanner in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. There’s no editorializing. It’s all just like, “There’s a cow in the road.” “Drunk man stumbling in front of a grocery store.” One of them was “Trampoline in a ditch.” I thought, “That’s beautiful.” There’s so much more to it than that literal report. I heard it three or four years ago and wrote it down. There’s so much poetry that I thought, “I got to employ this somewhere.” I’m glad you saw it for the poetry that it is, too.

Teme: It really struck a chord with me. It should be the name of my autobiography. How did it resonate with you?

Kyle: Well, the idea is that a trampoline is a fun thing in the yard and you use it to get a new perspective by jumping as high as you can to see things that you wouldn’t normally see from the ground. But if it’s in a ditch, you try your hardest and you still just get to see the same thing that everybody else gets to see. It’s like expectations cut short. Unrequited effort. There’s so much to it. I’m glad it resonates with people other than just me.

THE COMEDIC PROCESS

Teme: When you have an experience like getting thrown out of Canada or being underwhelmed at “Urgent Care,” is your mind at the time speaking to you in a comedic way or does the comedy come later as you reflect?

Kyle: Everything’s kind of funny all the time. Not that I make light of situations, but I thought the failing of the healthcare system is going to speak to anybody in America. To go to urgent care and realize that everyone in there is kicking back real relaxed, like the guy not being able to figure out my blood pressure. The whole thing just seemed silly, so [the comedy process is] like, “Alright, let’s get some bullet points down and throw a little more flourish, a little more color on the details, and you got a story.” Nothing epic happened. It was just, “Oh, this place isn’t anywhere close to being a hospital. I don’t know why we’re here thinking we’re going to get better. Because they’re not really doing much here!”

THE SECRET BEHIND THOSE TRACK NAMES

Teme: The way you name your album tracks is very unconventional. I’d love to hear more about it!

Kyle: That’s where I shoot myself in the foot for my own enjoyment. A little masochism. In earlier albums, I was taking track names from other albums. My first album’s [tracks were named from] Cheap Trick Live at Budokan, and then the next one was KISS Live.

Then some legal department caught wind of what I was doing and they were like, “You can’t do that!” and I’m like, “Well, I’ve been doing it, so really you’re just showing that you were bad at your job.” Then the last special that came out, the tracks were named for all the ingredients of all beef hot dogs. This one, the tracks are just a Myers-Briggs personality test. There’s nothing to do with the jokes and it’s frustrating for people trying to find it online. I don’t know why that makes me laugh. I’m just being a brat. That’s all it is.

“YOU GOT TO LIVE WITH NO REGRETS”

Teme: Do you have a favorite track on the album?

Kyle: The story about buying the “stuffed guy” out of a van. I’m glad I got that one down. That was just a funny story. I liked my own stupidity throughout it.

Teme: That’s a great story. The guy in the van offered you an opportunity that was impossible to turn down.

Kyle: You got to live life with no regrets. It doesn’t mean you need to go parachuting or swimming with sharks. Sometimes it’s little things like saying “yes” to a weirdo in a van trying to sell you some trash. Another bit that I liked that actually didn’t get all the laughs that I wanted to was the idea that people who play the lottery aren’t afraid of lightning. I thought that was very uniquely Midwest.

PANDEMIC SURPRISE

Teme: Have you made any surprise pandemic purchases?

Kyle: The purchasing thing has gotten a little bit nuts. Well, I didn’t even buy a telescope. I just had enough credit card points saved up. I love the idea of paying off credit cards and the idea that a bank gets no money out of me. So I had enough points to get a nice telescope from Capital One. Thanks, suckers! So yeah, I got a giant telescope.

You know what I hate admitting more than anything? How much targeted ads on Facebook figure me out. Everybody wants to feel that they’re better than artificial intelligence. Like, “You’re not going to get me, robot!” And I’m wearing a belt made out of a climbing rope right now to prove myself wrong. The robot figured me out and I bought a $25 piece of rope that’s a belt.

CREEPY ROBOTS KNOW THINGS ABOUT YOU

Teme: What was the most recent thing that that made you laugh?

Kyle: What caught me really off guard was the other night. I’ve been watching a show with the missus here called Alone. It’s a survival show. They drop contestants off and they have to survive in the wilderness by themselves.

We have an Apple TV and she used the little remote to say “Alone” into it to search for it. So she just went, “Alone,” and Siri, Apple TV, responded, “Are you?” We got freaked out and laughed real hard at that.  I said “Alone” and the robot’s asking me if I am? That’s real creepy. Robots. Oh, they’re not even kidding anymore. They’re in your house. They’re watching you. They’re taking stock of everything you’re watching and eating and it’s getting a little weird. The algorithm is going to get every one of us sooner or later.

WHEN CAN I SEE KYLE IN PERSON?

Teme: Absolutely anything else that you would like to include about this wonderful album, upcoming tour dates, or where people can find you?

Kyle: Upcoming tour dates. I would love to have some permanence on those, but they seem to keep moving and I don’t want to put anybody in jeopardy for the sake of my selfish need to perform. So tour dates are when they happen. That’s all I can say right now. I got some set up for next April now. If there’s a real world left in April, then hey, I’ll see you out there.

———————————-

Visit Kylekinane.com to listen to Trampoline in a Ditch and more.

Follow Kyle at:

https://twitter.com/kylekinane

https://www.instagram.com/kylekinane/

https://www.facebook.com/KyleKinane/

 
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Victoria Randle is a nurse entrepreneur who came from very humble beginnings. At the age of 15, she witnessed the murder of her own mother and become orphaned. Struggling to graduate high school while working fulltime and living on her own by the age of 16, Victoria made a way out of no way.

After enrolling in night school, Victoria was able to graduate high school and moved from Indiana to Georgia at the age of 19 on her own. Unsure where life was leading, she became a CNA to help make ends meet. Excelling in her chosen career, she enrolled in college by the age of 23 to become a registered nurse. Three degrees later, Victoria is now a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner giving her the ability to provide Georgian’s with access to healthcare.

For years Victoria always had the desire to start her own entrepreneurial endeavor but without any guidance felt very defeated. With perseverance and sleepless nights of research, she finally started the nonprofit organization New Beginnings Career Center in 2015, an education center devoted to helping others with similar stories obtain an education.

Victoria is also the CEO of The Secret Cocktail® founded in 2018. The Secret Cocktail® is a business consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs develop CNA schools in all 50 states. In the past 3 years, Victoria has been able to grow this company to national recognition touching over 100 CNA Schools in the United States. Becoming a CNA was the foundation for Victoria’s new life and this company has enabled her to bring everything back full circle. By empowering other entrepreneurs with the knowledge they need to be successful and helping to develop CNA’s all over the nation, Victoria is finally living in her purpose.

We sat down with Ms. Randle to The Secret Cocktail…

Victoria was going into the final quarter of the year. How do you plan to finish strong?

One thing about me is that I treat every quarter like it is the final quarter. It is my goal with my company The Secret Cocktail® to enroll 15 more women into my CNA School Business Building Mentorship Program by December. The Mentorship Program is a self-paced blended course with online video instruction and one on one guidance for clients. To date, I have helped women in over 10 states who are in the program gain approval and open their own healthcare training schools. Those who have completed the program have a 100% school approval rate. I can’t wait to help the next group of women open their schools in 2021. 

What can people expect for you in 2021?

I am so excited about the growth of the company in 2021. Our company timeline is full of innovative ways to solve problems current school owners face. We will be launching a directory of CNA instructors all over the nation. Many of my clients have problems finding qualified candidates to help them teach due to the federal regulations surrounding the program. Since our company has already built such a strong network with the CNA school community, we want to use that commodity to create a directory that will help connect school owners with instructors all over the world. 

We will also be hosting our second annual Mastermind Retreat in July 2021. This is a three-day conference where CNA school owners from all over the US come together to learn strategies to grow and enhance their school. We bring legal experts, marketers, and analytical gurus to help the school owners protect their business and find ways to increase their revenue for the following year. In entrepreneurship, I really want everyone to reach an income level they never thought they could achieve. 

What advice do you give to the woman who wants to give up?

Just when you are at a place where you want to give up, keep pushing yourself. That means something huge is on the other side. I have wanted to quit so many times, I lost count. The two darkest places I have ever been was when I lost my mother to domestic violence at 15 and in nursing school when I went homeless. Both times I could not see the light but something deep down told me to push through. Your journey is a part of your story and your story is meant to give someone else hope and courage. If you give up then you are taking away so much from the people you were meant to touch and who they were meant to touch and so on. Remember that! Your story has a purpose even if you don’t see it at that moment. 

What is the mantra that you live by?

“Can’t” is not even a word in my vocabulary. I tell myself that often and I tell my kids that daily. I never limit myself by telling myself I “can’t” because I know that is not true. I always have the option to give up and say that I can’t  or I can keep at it until I figure out how to break the code. Giving up and saying I can’t is NEVER an option. If you practice that and believe that, you are going to win every time. 

Get It Done Right the First Time!

Watch Jesus Solorio (R-South Side of Chicago), a 33 year old proud son of Mexican immigrant parents and 4th  CD candidate taking on 4th CD Dem Chuy Garcia.

4th Cong District Republican candidate Jesus Solorio is running on (1) sending kids safely back to CPS for in person learning  and (2) sending adults safely back to their jobs so their families can prosper and stay together.

The show airs in Chicago on Cable Ch. 21 (CAN TV)  tonight at 8:30 pm and midnight and tomorrow night at 9:02 pm

Jesus accuses Chuy Garcia of being a captive of their teachers’ unions and doing nothing to further the education of the kids and the employment opportunities of the adults in the 4th CD.

Jesus says Garcia has endorsed Speaker Madigan for everything and Madigan is responsible to 4th CD residents paying high taxes- and having to put up with corruption and unsafe streets.

You can also watch, 24/7, Jesus Solorio, 4th CD Candidate, on the web interviewed by show host Jeff Berkowitz.