 Aloha and welcome to At the Crossroads. I am your host, Keisha King. We bring you conversations that are real and relevant. Today is no different than a real and relevant conversation. However, it is the last conversation of the year, hence the title Year in Review. We're gonna take a look at this whirlwind of a year for 2019 and then we're gonna touch base on our second half of the show and tell you what you can expect for 2020. There will be some changes that I'm excited to share. But first, before we tap into that, I want to say thank you. Thank you to all the guests who have spent time with me right here at this very table in our studio to talk about conversations that mattered to you, that mattered to Hawaii and that mattered to me personally. I've had a great run. Starting in January, I hosted, or yes, I was the host and had wonderful guests that joined us for our inaugural show where we talked about life and the changes that happened throughout our life and how we should navigate through those changes. My guest at the time was Florenda Denise Lee and she shared with us some of her ideas and what she does as a life coach and as a children's book author. One of the things that she shared with us was the importance of keeping your priorities in their proper perspective. We went from carrying that conversation to moving forward and talking about mental health and mental health awareness. During that show, we had Sherri White. She is a counselor in the state of Florida. She is a family and marriage therapist and she spends a great deal of time speaking with our youth about their feelings, about feeling safe enough to be vulnerable. She taught us the importance of allowing little boys to cry when they needed to so that they wouldn't grow up to be toxic males. She told us what it meant to be a toxic male. She expressed the importance of therapy and mental health awareness in the African-American community. Through that show, we learned the importance of going to therapy and seeking out counselors, not only counselors and therapists for children but for adults too. It was during that episode that she shared a little bit about herself and her personal work and the reason for her work and I also shared. That conversation led to another guest who came on board with us to talk about mental health awareness, specifically depression. It was during that episode that I shared my personal experience in caring for a loved one who battles with depression. I talked about the importance of being a caregiver and knowing how to care for someone who's battling with mental health issues or mental illness as a whole. I took that episode very personal and because I'm going through it even now and I still stress the importance of seeking help, getting the therapy that is so needed in all communities but especially in an African-American community where there are at plenty of times this disregard for mental health awareness because of that dreaded seaward no one wants to have as their label. We moved on and we had conversations in the month of February about love. We talked to two love coaches and it was a wonderful experience to have a husband and wife team come on and share their experience as love coaches and as marriage counselors specifically. They shared with the Brouchard family, shared with us their experience in life in their own marriage. They talked about everything from compromise, from saving and spending and finding out who was the saver and the spender in their marriage. But we also talked about difficult subjects such as infidelity and reconciliation. It was during that episode that we shared with you, all of our viewers, the importance of forgiveness and we taught the lesson and the greatest takeaway that forgiveness is not for the other person, it is for you. See when you learn to forgive someone it says more about you and it helps bring peace in your store and it allows you the very necessary opportunity to move forward because oftentimes until you express forgiveness to someone, you're still holding on to something that maybe they have even let go of. So forgiveness has to do with you and your personal growth. They expressed in that show that if you have unforgiveness it's as if you're drinking poison expecting someone else to die and it just doesn't work like that. We know that now, we knew it then when they shared that with us. So we thank them and all our other guests for being on the show sharing those ideas and that very important topic of forgiveness and healing and growth. It all dealt with grit in a growth mindset but then we switched gears and we talked about entertainment and we had none other than Steven Hill, one of the stars of the Magnum PI reboot that is now in their second season. When he was our guest, he was here talking about that series and it was in its first season and we were hoping that the show would come back on for its second season and lo and behold, it did. And now we watch Magnum PI every Friday night at eight o'clock now instead of nine o'clock on Fridays on CBS. So if you don't have time, if you're not at home you can always get the CBS app and I don't know if I'm allowed to advertise that but that's just something that if you wanna watch Steven Hill who was a guest on our show that's how you can find him. What we also talked about during that show was his own family member who has special needs and he talked about the caregiver in his special in his sister's life and he talked about how it's important to surround yourself with people who are caring and loving and can help and support especially those with special needs. We also had as a secondary guest on that show someone who also was an author who specifically worked with those who were in special needs and it was a wonderful dynamic to have someone who is living in that type of situation and then someone who can write about it she came from the point of view of an educator an educator in New York City. So she had a lot of experience and a great book to share which you can check out on our website if you go back to that episode which you can watch all of the episodes of At the Crossroads on our YouTube channel at thinktecawai.com slash YouTube and then you can find the At the Crossroads playlist there or you can go to youtube.com thinktec slash thinktec slash At the Crossroads. You can find us simply by going anywhere on thinktec thinktecawai that is. So we switched gears a little bit that was in March so then March is women's history month and boy when I tell you I was really excited because we had the civil rights attorney Daphne Barbie Wooten on our show and that was such a fun episode. We talked about powerful women past and present. She took us way back to Egypt and we talked about women who were queens and leaders of their nations and leaders in their households and we went into talking about the history of some women who were from Greece and other eras and then we got right here in the 19th and 20th and 21st century right here in America and we talked about all the women pioneers that we could fit into one show and we talked about the significant impact that they had right here in Hawaii even. So that was a fun and exciting and very educational show which I was happy to really just kind of sit at her tutelage because she's a wealth of information and quite frankly I said it to her then and I'll say it again. We could have talked about her for the entire 30 minutes because she has a plethora of awards and other accolades that we could talk about for hours on end. So she was a wonderful guest to have. As we moved along throughout the year I must take a break and tell you that that first quarter I was extremely nervous. So there were mistakes that I made. There were times when like even today I made some wonderful mistakes but every time I get on the air I make mistakes and we all do but I think there was an episode where we got on and we talked about how to overcome your mistakes and challenges and how to continue to press forward toward the mark instead of getting stuck and making continuous mistakes over and over and so we had another life coach that got on and talked to us about moving forward and overcoming and reinventing yourself. We talked about issues but then we also talked about happy coffee. This was a funny episode to me now that I look back on it because the three guests or two guests and myself we all unknowingly dressed alike and the colors that we wore if you go back to the episode about happy coffee you'll see we all look like minions. Now I wish I could show you the pictures but that's the mistake I made today. I didn't bring our pictures ahead of time but I had on blue and white and yellow and my guests had on blue and white and yellow and hers was a jumpsuit and so we look like minions on that episode and that's what happens when you're on live TV. You just kind of laugh at yourself and we laughed and laughed and laughed during that episode. It was fun but our laughter was not induced by the coffee even though the coffee is called happy coffee. We learned about one woman's experience in her life when she was remodeling her home and her children were of a certain age where they were very energetic if you know what I mean and so they were running around and her home was under construction and she felt overwhelmed and she was gaining weight and she started to have health concerns and someone told her about a company that sells other products in addition to the coffee and while she was taking those special nutrients and vitamins that she told me all about she eventually got in touch with the coffee and maybe some therapy and she regained her life. She regained stability and control over the things that she could control and she eventually learned how to let go of the things that she could not control and so for her it was about finding her flow again and finding the coffee which she began to sell and make money off of which supported the remodeling of her home and fingers crossed because that was a long time ago so this year is almost over and I hope the construction of her home is almost over as well. As we get to the halfway mark of our show right now I wanna say that during the halfway mark of the year we honored some of our local, I wanna say local celebrities but local premier women organizations we honored our very own Sharon Thomas Yarbrough and we gave her a award just for acknowledging the work that she's done for women here throughout the community in Honolulu. We also spent time with another woman's organization, Arborne, we made sure that we honored those women who were selling a product again but also they had overcome some severe challenges in their life and they learned how to press forward which was the whole essence of at the crossroads from the very beginning. We wanted people to find out what we had to offer here in Hawaii and make sure that they were aware of what was available to them and also how to reach out for help and give help. So when we come back we're gonna talk about how our show took a shift and got into service and we did that through some of our nonprofit organizations. So we're gonna talk about that right after this break you're watching at the crossroads, we'll be right back. Hi guys, I'm your host Lillian Cumick from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 p.m. and this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health regarding your health and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier and have fun at the same time. So do join me, I look forward to seeing you and aloha. Aloha, my name is Wendy Lo and I want you to join me as we take our health back. On my show, all we do is talk about things in everyday life, in Hawaii or abroad. I have guests on board that will just talk about different aspects of health in every way. Whether it's medical health, nutritional health, diabetic health, you name it, we'll talk about it. Even financial health, we'll even have some of them is Hawaii's on board and all the different topics that I feel will make your health and your lifestyle a lot better. So come join me, I welcome you to take your health back. Mahalo. Aloha and welcome back to At the Crossroads. I am your host, Keisha King and today we're taking a look back at where we've been with At the Crossroads and we're gonna shift toward the end and talk to you about where we're going. So when we left off toward the halfway mark of the year, we started talking about service organizations. I got a little bit more involved with our community as I'm getting around and getting to know everyone and so I decided that the best use of my time was in service to others. I've always been that way and here in Hawaii as I've been making my way around and getting to know different people, I found that the only thing that I could do in my life that would last are things that help other people. It's been my life's goal to be, honestly it's been one of my life's goals to be a philanthropist. Now as an educator, I don't make a ton of money but I've always taught my own children that the ways that you give are by giving your time, your talent and your resources. So I certainly had the time to give and I have some abilities. So I won't say I have some talent in a braggadocious way, but I had something to offer and then whatever resources that I had, I did the best that I could to give what I could and so that became my focus. I wanted to give more and I used the slogan, giving is living and I live to give and truthfully I love to give and when I started to give more it took away some of the challenges that I faced when I had my down days while caring for my loved one who battles with depression. And I began to teach that, that the more you give, the better you will feel. Even though it's not my intent to give so that I feel better, it was really an after effect and that it just, it works for everyone. It's a win, win, win. And so I started to focus my shows more on the organizations who were giving. So we spent time talking with Veloja and Christine Bush and we talked about that organization and how they give to the homeless. They give to needy children. They give everything. They give school supplies. They give books. They give, let's see, clothing and right now they're doing a toy drive. So look up Veloja giving. We also spent time talking to the diaper bank, the Aloha diaper bank. I bet you didn't know that we had a diaper bank. You know about the food bank but you probably didn't know about the diaper bank. And what I liked about that organization is that they gave diapers, pampers to organizations who fed the homeless because we often think about feeding the homeless and we also think about housing the homeless. But we forget that sometimes homeless families have homeless children and babies need pampers and diapers and other needs as well. So we spent time talking with them. We also talked with other organizations. Some of them were Greek lettered organizations. We talked about how they raised funds to give scholarships to children right here locally. And they give scholarships to children who are typically graduating from high school and on their way to college. Sometimes these scholarships are enough to take care of their entire books for a full semester, a full year or they're ongoing. So if you are not familiar with any of the Greek lettered organizations here in Honolulu, I suggest you look them up and you can find them by looking for the Divine Nine or Greek lettered organizations in Hawaii or in Honolulu and you can find a whole plethora of them. Well, you can find nine of them but you can find a whole plethora of what they do. They do great things. They work with our children, they feed the homeless, they mentor, they have after school programs. I also spent some time working with and getting involved with the NAACP locally. And in fact, I serve as the education chair for the NAACP. And one of the things that is the focus that we had a guest on for is our 2020 census which is coming up in 2020 and we have some special dates about that that you can find out more about because we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. But that organization has a long history of working with all minorities to ensure that we are treated fairly and that we are counted which is what the census is all about. Wanting to make sure that every person on Island and throughout the state is counted because your count matters, okay? And there is a direct flow for how many people we have determines the amount of federal funding that we get through some of the organizations that are so necessary here. So when you think about housing, when you think about WIC, when you think about those types of programs it correlates with how many people we have in our state. So if you're not counted, you might not get funded for some of those programs in the way that you have in the past. So that's something else that we talked about at Great Link. I just wanna say though, thank you so much because there were a bunch of other guests that we have had on our show, Ballet Hawaii, one that's one of my favorites because I love the art. I'm leaving out a ton of people and a ton of guests who spent time on our shows but overall the goal was simply to say thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you to our sponsors and thank you to our viewers. Those of you who watch me here and those of you who watch me when I'm doing my Facebook live on the way here those were fun shows too. What we're going to do in 2020, let's talk about that. I'm excited to talk about 2020 because so many slogans are coming up for it. First of all, people are saying oh, in 2020 I'm gonna have perfect vision or I can see clearly in 2020, whatever the case, whatever your slogan is for 2020, so be it. What I'm saying is that I'm very excited about the year. I'm excited for every day that comes but I'm excited about what the show is going to look like. We will be back January 6th, 2020 and this is the last episode for this year but this is also the last episode for At the Crossroads, The Way You Know It. The way you've seen it, with me speaking with guests that may be here in the studio. It's gonna look a little bit different because our studio is relocating. So I decided that this would be a good time to put a fresh new look and to talk about one specific thing that matters to me a lot, a lot, a lot. And that's education. For those who don't know, I am an educator by trade. I have a master's degree in special education and I work for the Department of Education right here in Honolulu and I've been doing that for the past five years. I've been an educator for a dozen years but I've probably been a teacher all of my life. You see, I am the first born of nine children. So for those of you who've met my mom, for those of you who've heard me talk about her on my Facebook Live, she has nine kids and I'm number one. I love to say that. So for my sisters and brothers who are watching, yes, it took the opportunity to say it again. I'm number one, I'm number one. But in essence, I've been a teacher all my life. All my siblings have followed and had to do what I say. But as I became an educator, I've learned that it's more about getting obedience from people. I'm not a dictator, right? Really, in education, I'm working with people to help them become critical thinkers. And I just so happened to work with the most unique group, exceptional children, children who some say have special needs, others say have are exceptional learners, okay? I love what I do. My students and I have a great time in my classroom learning in a different type of way. I teach community based instruction. So there may be times when you'll see me throughout the city with a group of children and adults and we're learning in the natural environment. So you might see me at Safeway one day teaching my students how to make a purchase, how to count change, how to collect a receipt and make sure that you have the right change. That's what I do for a living. It's some people call it functional living skills or just living skills. I think I know what I do is important and it makes a difference in the lives of, I wanna say the most needy or most exceptional people every single day, my students and their families. Which is why I take what I do so very seriously because it's important. So we've decided to switch our show to talk about education as a whole, not just on the local level, not based upon what's happening in my classroom alone, but we are gonna take a national look at what's happening in education. We're gonna talk to decision makers, policy makers, policy enforcers. We're gonna talk to people who make the difference, the movers and the shakers in education and all this week and last, I've been reading about some of Hawaii's very own movers and shakers in education and my goal for this new show that will start in January 2020 is to make you aware of what's happening in education. And as always, my goal is to get you involved. I don't want you to have information for information's sake. That's what Google is for. I want you to have information that will move you to action. I haven't decided on a title for the show, but I am loosely considering the education. It's a little bit funny because it has somewhat of a negative connotation, but it's not negative at all. Have you heard the term instigator? An instigator is someone who moves people to action and you typically use that term when you're talking about two people who are in a fight. Oh, she's instigating the fight. Well, no, not necessarily. They're instigating you to move you to action. So I'm not sure if that's gonna be the title of the show or not, but the education instigator is something that I'm considering. Maybe you can help me. At any rate, I want to move you to action and education. I want you to find out and to know what's happening across the nation and in our state in education so that you can get involved and help make a difference. Teachers need you, students need you, and your lawmakers need to hear from you. So I wanna say thank you for watching at the Crossroads and I hope that you'll be back with me next year for our education show, whatever we decide to call it. And I'm hoping that you'll be ready to move, to take action, to get involved and remember that service is essential, right? Serving and giving is living. Thank you so much for this dynamic year and I'll see you in 2020. Aloha.