Wake up, it's Monday, the sun's on the rise.
Home room's the place where we sharpen our minds.
Grab your coffee or notebook, your pen.
Home room, home room.
Let's do
it again.
Aw, man.
How could you not be so happy in the morning?
After that wake up call, it is Dr. Tim Slicker and Jacob Chairman of the Boards.
Yeah, Johnny, I think he's sleeping in for this Monday homeroom.
But don't you worry, we'll give him detention and make sure he's back for classes and session or something like that.
But Jacob, I'm telling you, I, you know, I love the new homeroom intro music, my friend.
Thank you.
Well, thank you, Tim.
I think it's a pretty jaunty tune, something to get us going.
And hey, I feel for Johnny.
It's the first Monday after Thanksgiving.
All
that turkey.
We're all still tired.
So I get it, Johnny.
It's a tough thing.
Turkey hangover, I think they call it, right?
Even though it was Thursday, but there's Thursday is the main day.
Right.
And then there's Friday leftovers, right?
And you're digging into those.
And then, um, you know, throughout the weekend, people are trying to get rid of whatever's left.
And then you're eating out or you're doing all those things.
And man, Monday morning, you wake up and you go, yeah, you know what?
Other than me and you, Jacob, trained excellent professionals that we are.
Absolutely.
A lot of people say, you know what, I think I'm going to take one more day.
To get ready and maybe do some kind of a detox or something like that.
That's what I heard, you know, crazy people are doing nowadays
it makes sense to him because if you know I love it first of all I love the turkey I love the delicious tryptophan chemical within it that makes me fall asleep because life's hard enough Tim without a bird that makes you fall asleep I think that's a welcome reprieve from you know having the relatives in planning all your black Friday shopping that's a lot I need a bird that makes me fall asleep till Monday
Exactly.
I was just thinking that I'm like, you know what though?
I'm concerned that lately, somebody's been lacing like everything I eat with trip to fan because I find myself at odd moments, you know, kind of in that space between awake and not really.
And sometimes that's, well, sometimes it's in like, you know,
sometimes like meetings, you know, like those meetings where you're there, you're not really being asked to contribute.
And so you're kind of, and then, you know, a little bit of time goes by and next thing you know, you're like, I feel the trip to fan kicking in.
Yeah,
you know, that's
when
I'm producing a show where I don't talk.
I'm
just, oh,
there's what's that?
Oh, that's an interesting news story.
Oh, just get a
little sleepier.
And then typically a ridiculous host would go like, Jacob, what do you think?
That's the
big mistake that you made, Tim.
And
now
here I go.
Yapp it again.
Well, I, um, what were we talking about?
Well, what you got to say, Tim, is
I agree.
You've been saying this whole time.
Frankly, I can't find any new words to describe how right you are, sir.
Oh, well, Jacob, you know what?
The homeroom.
Interesting though, you know, I was thinking about this when I bring this, you know, to people to be thinking about.
And if you are potentially not hearing this own room, because you might be one of those people.
In fact, Jacob, I will tell you that home room in 1981 through 1985.
There were lots of students.
who didn't make homeroom, but were in school on time.
They were somewhere else.
Well, wait a minute, Tim.
If they're not in homeroom, but they're at school, what could they be up to?
Yeah, I mean, they were not skipping, but you know, homeroom, it's like that last, well, back in the 80s, 20 minutes or so before the day gets moving.
Well...
And that's a good time if you're, well, you know, boys or girls, but girls don't do this in the boys' room.
But there was a lot of smoking in the boys' room, Jake, and going on in the homeroom in the 80s, my friend.
No way.
Tim, you're telling me that sometimes in the past, I'm sure this doesn't happen anymore, but in the past, high schoolers would break the rules and misbehave?
My goodness, this is hard for me to believe.
Oh, it's either misbehaving or, you know, getting loaded up on that nicotine because it was going to be a few hours before lunch.
The next time the bathrooms got clogged with lots of smoke, though, too.
And I, you know, it's funny, thinking about this, we'll get to the main topic here.
Like, why are you guys talking about smoking in the boys room in the 80s?
Don't you worry, it's connected to what's going on.
right now today.
But it was interesting, just to say, how was smoking or the not smoking in school in the 80s enforced?
Picture this, Jacob, you're in the cafeteria.
You know, the boys room is down the on the, you know, the side, you know, down around the corner from the cafeteria.
And then in the cafeteria, there's another room.
off of the cafeteria where there's a door that's the teacher's lounge, right?
And so the teacher's lounge is on the opposite side of the restroom facilities that are on the other side of the cafeteria.
The cafeteria is in between those two places.
And right about the time lunch was over for the students, that was the time.
to get to the bathroom, light up and get those drags going, pushing them around.
And that was also the time that the teachers were done and got on bathroom patrol.
But to me, the hypocrisy was the plumes of smoke that were emanating from the facilities of the boys and girls' rooms.
And the plume of smoke that followed the smoke enforcers, the teachers,
out of their teacher's room, too.
So there was a lot of smoking going on in the teacher's room in those days, too, Jacob.
So, you know, again, Motley Crue and God, I can't remember the very first band right now did smoking in the boys room.
But sadly, there was never a song smoking in the teacher's room,
Jacob.
Tim, we talked about Brownsville Station.
Oh, there you go,
Jacob.
Smoking in the boys
room.
Smoking in the boys room, you know, I checked my cassette rack here and the answer.
Yeah, good.
Cassette or vinyl
cassette.
We're a radio station, Tim.
All right, we got to plug these things in nice and quick.
Get these songs going.
Okay, good.
Now, and so I just always thought and look back on that is kind of funny because you can be smoking in there and actually some of my more creative and a little bit, yeah, on the edgier side friends would, you know, obviously throw back and go, how come you're allowed to smoke over there then?
And well, it was
the answer, Tim.
Because we're allowed and you're not.
That's a good point.
Tim,
smoking
is good for adults.
It's bad for children.
Yeah, it was like, you know, anyway, but so Jacob, you know, thinking about that and coming across an article in the 75 or 75, 74, big investigative piece, vaping is everywhere now in schools.
And how can surveillance tech thwart it?
and a very, very extensive piece investigation on vaping.
And, you know, because actually, Jacob, there's not a whole lot of smoking going on in the boys' rooms nowadays.
I don't know that I was surprised by that, but going through this piece was interesting to find out that
that, yeah, the kind of coolness and the quick flicking it into the toilet as the enforcers were coming in, you know, wasn't me, wasn't me.
That's over because, well, teens aren't using cigarettes.
So smoking is actually down according to this article.
However, Jacob, a vice vaping
is now the new kind of smoking in the boys room.
And I think what's interesting here is that they're doing a whole lot, at least according to this piece, to try to catch vapors and punish the vapors.
And this is, to me, is the parallel of the 80s.
Not a whole lot of, maybe you shouldn't be...
long-term vaping there's no kind of education or treatment for the nicotine addiction that occurs with the vaping and You know, so I lay that out right there for you Jacob because I had to give the historical smoking in the boys precedent for you being of the the younger generation You know, but what you're kind of in that odd place
was what was going on in high school?
I mean, vaping, smoking, what did you see?
Well, first, Tim, let me say I'm surprised that they have to spend a lot of money trying to catch people vaping because unlike the humble cigarette, it's a lot harder to flush your D cell battery powered giant vaping machine down the toilet.
So you'd think it'd be pretty easy to catch.
But maybe I'm no Colombo.
That's just what I'm thinking.
But for me, my my cigarette smoking
generation is kind of right there in the middle where a lot of people were not smoking cigarettes anymore, but the vaping was just coming on the scene.
So I remember in high school, there were people getting caught vaping on the bus or in
the
bathroom, but it was very rare.
It was not widespread throughout the school.
And it was the point at which it was so new and weird that I have always hated it because I was like, this is stupid.
This is a new dumb thing.
And I always thought,
You know, this is bad for you.
And if you're going to do things that are bad for you, you should look cool like Joe Campbell, not like this weird guy from Star Trek with a big thing up to his face puffing out water vapor.
I just think if you know, what's the point in that?
You know, if you're not going to be cool and you're going to do some unhealthy vice, that's just sad, Tim.
I feel bad.
There's no there's no winning there for people.
Oh, that's an interesting
take.
So if you're going to be unhealthy, do it the cool way.
Yes.
If you're going to be unsafe on your dirt bike, don't just run into a wall.
Do a flip or something.
Do
something cool.
I don't know.
I don't know.
OK, so first of all, Jacob and I, for the listener, we are not advocating any vice.
But you're talking about going like, when you're trying to look cool,
or you're in that situation, and you can see this in movies, you know, when you're able to, you know, put that cigarette in, light that lighter going on, and then, you know, kind of hold it the way you get to hold it.
There's a sense of, you know, you're dangerous.
You're sophisticated.
If you're a doctor in the 50s, you're healthy.
You know, I can't picture
Judd Nelson with a big vape thing up against his face.
That doesn't seem cool to me.
But oh, the breakfast club and all this stuff.
That was Tim.
My point is it's not that I endorse it because I think that you shouldn't do these things.
I'm saying as an outside observer trying to wrap my head around why are people doing these things?
I was like, you know, oh, well, I get why they're doing it because it makes them look.
like these cool dudes in the
movies.
But the vaping, I just don't even understand it at all.
But maybe today we can talk a bit about why young people are being driven towards these nasty habits.
Well, yeah, I mean, and you know, I don't have the to know like, I would love to see the comparison research about like why people start started smoking in this.
But you know, the piece in the 74 here really highlights particularly a couple case examples of, you know, the
a stress situation, family issues, depression, anxieties, and that, you know, this kind of kicks in as a way to help you deal with those feelings, those sensibilities.
Go ahead.
So in that sense, it's nothing new, right?
I mean, these are pressures that have existed on young people through all time, and there have been different things that crop up.
that young people do to get away from these feelings.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Man, I'm so glad you're here today for this.
Thanks, Tim.
I mean, you put that out there.
But, you know, I was thinking about this piece, like what they really did, you know, again, is, you know, put a lot of emphasis on the truly millions that are being spent by schools and places to catch vaping, right?
um and and still in the 80s right you know it was um the reason for catching the smokers in the boys room was uh a punishment right it was to catch them it was surveillance um it was never um put into a going I wonder why kids are doing it yeah you know and and
I got to bet and think that, you know, on top of yeah, being cool and things like that, but it is a mental health issue.
And you just really, yeah, thinking about treatment.
I am concerned about the fact that we have surveillance that then results in punishment, but doesn't result in some form of.
treatment to help curb nicotine addiction.
But maybe even more importantly, Jacob, this really lays out, again, the fact that why do people start and what are the mental health solutions that could be occurring to curb the need for chemical assistance in dealing with
emotions.
Let's just call them emotions right now.
Yeah.
You know, I think when we first we're going to talk about this, I kept thinking, yeah, we're going to get really onto the surveillance state.
And, and I do I, you know, again, anytime you're, quote, punishing without any type of, you know, readjusting reintegration.
Typically,
enforcement without any type of learning, understanding, integration, just reinforces the need to continue using.
Well,
yeah, I mean,
think about it.
If you're someone in high school and you get in trouble for smoking and now you're stuck in detention or whatever in school suspension, the first thing you do when you get out is, man, that sucked.
I need a smoke.
Yeah, I mean, the whole, you know, let's call it a form of incarceration itself kind of puts more pressure on to continue needing a chemical substance to deal with the anger, the frustration, the boredom.
Right, you know, I mean it's even now you think about that.
It's like, you know smoking inside of prisons, you know, it's still cigarettes are a huge currency internally and When you hear from interviews sometimes it's just like well, you know being quote incarcerated.
It's just a whole lot of boredom
Well, I don't want to get too far off in that tangent.
But anyway, looking at this, and so I'm just thinking, you know, Busted Pencil Listener, home room, and yeah, we're keeping you for the whole 20 minutes in this home room today, people.
If you're, you know, are your schools spending a lot of time enforcing the anti-vaping?
Are there any conversations about, you know, prevention, investing in, you know,
programs.
Here's the other thing to, you know, what is it about just the idea of, you know, how can you potentially curb some of this?
And I'm going to come back to one of the my old throwbacks, which is, well, you know, if we would take care of the human aspect of
What do you need?
Well, you know what, if you're coming to school hungry, in other words, if hunger exists in your house, if you're coming to school from a household with lots of trauma, anger, disassault, you know, if the inability to get, you know, regular health care, the inability to stay in stable housing, you know, maybe we might, as Johnny always points out, an investment in those areas.
could probably reduce a lot of entering to school already stressed out.
But then, yeah, the true mental health issues that kids are dealing with, what is it that makes it so hard to talk about, I would say this from healthcare in this country to begin with, the whole idea of investing in prevention.
It's just not something our society does, is it, Jacob?
Yeah, I mean, it's
the problem there Tim I think is it's and I don't know if it's just Americans or if part of it is just a human thing I think it's easier to say look at this thing that you've seen happen and here's me dealing with the repercussions versus saying hey what I did is preventing something that you never saw happen because I stopped it from happening people value that less because they they haven't witnessed those the effects
And now they want to solve it.
I think it's just kind of a difficulty in seeing the relationship between cause and effect there when you don't have the big problem that already happened.
I know, I know.
And you know what, here's the other thing though.
You know, my vaping surveillance startup company, I'm sorry, but I'm going to need continued vaping.
beginning because I mean, I've invested a lot of my time and effort and, you know, my own money into creating these surveillance systems.
So I'm going to need kids to keep vaping, man.
And I'm going to need them to keep vaping in schools where they're not allowed because I got a lot more of these machines I got to be selling Jacob.
Hey, man, this goes deeper than I ever thought
Tim.
Whoa.
And no, sorry on this homeroom.
Tim does not have a vaping surveillance startup.
Yes, Johnny.
Johnny's not even here.
That was Tim sarcasm.
And for any of the Johnny fans gone.
Whoo, that was sarcasm.
But Jacob, hey, again, referring people and check it out in the show notes.
Check out the vaping is everywhere in the 74.
I think it's a topic, you know, in homeroom.
And for those of you in who got stuck in homeroom before you got to vape, hey, you know, just be careful.
There's probably a vape surveillance system somewhere.
So watch it.
And the question, Jacob.
If you start smoking cigarettes, does that avoid the vape detection?
Yes, we're incentivizing that.
Whoa, Tim, maybe these vape detection guys are owned by Big Tobacco, and
they're trying to
actually drive us back towards cigarettes.
Oh, my God.
I don't think Joe Camel, well, actually, no, but you know what?
There's lots going on, homeroom, but now it's time.
for your moment of zen.
Real heroes are not on national television or in the headlines.
They are the nurses, the doctors, the teachers, the social workers, the janitors, the hospital orderlies, construction workers, you know, the people who keep society going and who help people in need.
Hey, thanks for joining us in homeroom.
And if you're in the bathroom smoking, hey, that's okay too.
Make sure you come back on Wednesday for classes and session Friday.
Producer Jacob, yeah, it's his choice show where, you know, Tim and Johnny get to be guests on their own show.
And Saturday, remember, one full hour, 3pm central time across all civic media radio stations out there, you can catch one hour of your favorite.
blue collar scholars, Tim and Johnny, and keep busting
pencils.