You're listening to Civic Media.
You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.
Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime, anywhere.
Just a couple of minutes from now we'll be talking to Dr. Mary Walden.
She's got a PhD in clinical social work.
Gonna talk about the mood of the country, but hopefully we're gonna brighten your mood right now.
We're going to take a break from the heavy news of the day, at least for a couple of moments.
and offer you a chance to stay overnight at Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells.
We've been doing this all week long, but we have one condition you need to give us a call and tell us something good that's gone on in your life recently, like maybe a kid shoveled your wok or...
Oh,
Yeah, things like that.
So give us a call right now, 855-752-4842, and we'll pick a winner, and that winner will get to go overnight to Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells, and they'll also get a chance to take some friends along.
A few friends can join you, and you can enjoy the water park all day long, and then stay overnight at Chula Vista in Wisconsin.
All right, pools.
They've got hot tubs.
You've got everything you ever need.
They got all that stuff.
They do.
I'm doing well.
I don't know if this should really qualify because, uh, this really means it was lucky for me, but I'm retired and my wife works.
And, uh, Wednesday of this week, she wanted to go out for a few drinks after work and I said, no, I don't want to.
because when I get to the bar, sometimes I put honey in the machine, you know, okay.
And I had $25.
I put my last five in.
And I hit the grand Jan pock by luck for $2,500.
Oh,
No,
good.
At least until September.
See, it all worked out.
Well, congratulations.
All right, now that's a great story.
Yes, it's terrific.
Very good.
All right.
So you are a big winner and stay on the line here.
Dom is going to get all the information we need to get from you and congratulations from John and Gordy and everybody here at Civic
Media.
The money's going into bank when I pick her up from work in a while.
Okay.
All right.
Very good, Augie.
Congratulations.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Is that from Windsor?
Oh, from Windsor.
All right.
Thanks for calling in.
Okay, now let's get to Dr. Mary Walden.
Mary is with us now and again, she's
the clinical social worker and uh married good to have you with us this afternoon thanks for being here thank you so
good to be here and congratulations all of you
That
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I would, I'd like to start with the fact which
you know may seem obvious but you know it's not in your head these are tough times these are tough times and because they are you really do have to be active about managing yourself and managing your mind managing your body managing your attention and it really is something that requires our proactive attention and and that can be anything from
you know setting your routine day to day that includes some quiet time certainly some time away from your phone away from the the noise and the news um and really and really kind of uh unplugging a little bit if you can so that's a great place to start for sure
My theater seat.
Barco lounger.
And then just kind of laying there with my phone on my chest.
You know, everything is fine.
You know, I have communication with anybody who wants to contact me and I can sit there and relax and not have to get up and answer a phone.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, I would encourage you to maybe when you have that phone on your chest, maybe tune into a little spa music.
know what?
You're
I love
That's how I that's actually how I put the show together You know I have to go through all these clips and listen to all this stuff really depressing stuff and realize that I'm gonna repeat it all the next day So I listen to spa music different kinds of spa music and it relaxes me while I listen to those clips Now the first thing
well?
Yeah, I try to delay and eat you with my phone But you know also I do some meditation each day to kind of you know down regulate I want to emphasize though.
So we definitely need to attend to our physiology in this way Attend to our mind our mindset or you know, just how we're managing our stress, but
Let's also not forget that these are very stressful times and in order to feel better, we may need to take some action too, right?
So we want to be able to calm ourselves down, but we also want to meaningfully engage with what's going on in
a
way that feels doable for us.
You know, we certainly see our brothers and sisters taking to the streets and protesting, but that may not be the level of engagement that any particular individual may feel comfortable with, but that does not mean they still can't take action.
So starting locally with local political representation and, you know, making phone calls, writing letters, those kinds of things really are meaningful.
I'm not willing to
kind of surrender and say those core parts of our democracy are no longer valuable.
I believe that they are and that kind of action can make a person feel more empowered and feel less sort of lost and feeling like everything is just terrible and they can't manifest change.
ahead.
I'm good.
I'm already feeling better.
Just hearing your voice,
I gotta tell you.
But also, meditation.
Come on.
I need more information about meditation on its own.
That's the first question, because to a lot of people's ears, mine included.
And I've gone yoga, so I know meditation isn't that far off from that kind of mindfulness and all that, but talk to the layman who's like, I don't have time for that crap.
But it doesn't take that much time.
Well, how easy it is, that's the first question.
The second question is, my brother and sister are not getting along politically and it's devastating.
I would love it
get a chance to talk about how to help family members patch it up.
Let's talk about meditation.
Katherine knows I love to talk about meditation.
Look, it doesn't have to be complicated.
It really doesn't.
You can actually
I have a number of tracks that I've recorded on an app called Insight Timer.
You can download it for free.
You can search my name.
There's actually a single track that runs for three minutes and 33 seconds.
It's been listened to over, yeah, over a half a million times because it's just that easy.
It's just that easy.
It's literally guiding you through 10 mindful breaths.
That's all that it is.
And it really is.
You just sort of check in with yourself before you do it.
You
flip on
that audio.
You follow the prompts.
And by the end, check in with yourself again and notice the down regulation of your nervous system.
So that's about as simple and down and dirty as it is.
We can also get much more complicated about it because there's all different kinds of meditation, everything from mindfulness, like Catherine mentioned, to mantra-based meditation.
But you really don't have to sort of sit in the dark by yourself for hours and hours to get the benefit of meditation.
The app is called Insight Timer.
Insight Timer.
It's totally free.
Of course, there is always, you know, a souped up version you can get, but I'm telling you, you're going to get...
you know, 95% of everything they have on that app for free.
And if you search my name, or you search 10 breaths meditation,
you can find it.
Yeah, you can find that that particular track.
Plus, there's tons of others.
Yeah.
right.
There's another meditation actually in the block that I recorded called walking meditation
literally
can do your meditation walking down the
right.
Yeah,
mention
Well, she did mention the whole family thing.
So that's really important
You know, the reality is that whether it's within your family or even with your neighbors, you're not necessarily going to be on the same page politically.
And certainly those kinds of conversations can really blow things up, right?
And
we
really want to be able to set kind of rules and limits and maybe even just limit our time interacting even with our loved ones.
I sure can.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
Yeah, especially during holidays, you know, a lot of a lot of us have had experiences with a relative that doesn't
Exactly see eye to eye.
In fact, you know
I had an experience with my brother and we all get along on just about everything.
He's a little more on the conservative side, but we get along with on everything.
And all of a sudden he comes out and he's very, very irate about transgender students in schools using restrooms.
And it's the only thing he would focus on, no matter what we talked about, he would focus on that.
How do you like disarm that kind of situation?
So, you know, before the break, we talked about sort of taking a break and limiting our interactions with folks, right?
But at the end of the day, our family, we want to stay connected and we have a long history.
And, you know, for better or worse, in many cases, we're stuck with them, right?
So there's sort of two elements that you want to kind of engage with.
One is listen more.
and talk less.
So letting the person talk it out because at the end of the day, what they feel versus what you feel in the context of that conversation is certainly not going to impact policy or things actually changing or allowing the person to just continue to talk and to hold space for them by listening can go a long way.
The other part is really searching for the grain of truth in what they're saying.
If there's one thing, one tiny part of what they're talking to you about that you can say, okay, I can empathize with that.
I can have compassion for your sense of
upset around this particular experience or this particular point of view.
Even if you don't agree with the point of view, you can at least connect with their feeling state about it.
Meaning I have empathy for you for being so upset about this, right?
And so you're kind of disarming, you're not engaging in a debate, but instead you're listening and you're providing some empathy and compassion.
And so the warmth can help disarm.
Does
the
In fact, that's what I brought up to him.
I said, really, is that really that big an issue for you?
because this is really something the students have to deal with, the parents of those students have to deal with, their friends in school have to deal with.
This isn't something you have control over.
In fact, it's really something that's been misinterpreted in the media.
And I tried to get through it.
Man, that just made him angry.
Yeah, for sure.
Yes, yes.
When we try to approach sort of unreasonable positions with reason.
That often falls flat.
Hi, Bob.
question.
Okay.
First of all, Tai Chi is a very devastating martial arts.
People don't understand.
In any martial art form, you know, it's like a floor exercise.
Yeah.
No matter what you're doing, it's breathing is key.
Yes.
Okay.
Very breathing and key.
How much you weigh?
Gordy, how much you willing to admit?
And put them on my little finger.
And I stood still, you could not budge me.
Okay.
And you push and push the sergeant.
I did martial arts for 33 years.
Yeah.
and shorn room.
You will never be able to move me because
my kemi, which is two inches below your navel.
Okay.
I'm going with this is that Mega Man
to do
Man.
Mega or mega?
Okay.
But again, I would like to demonstrate the grain of truth.
And that is, yes, in fact, breathing is essential to martial arts and for what Vince, was it?
Yes.
Yes.
Vince was in terms of consolidating
power and strength, fueled by managing your breath.
And so Vince is exactly right.
Thank you, Vince.
weekend.
Yep.
Madtown, that's where we broadcast from, the capital city of Wisconsin, Madison.
And wow, we've been live streaming a protest that went down State Street, right past the studios here.
And they're going up to the capital.
If you had a chance to see it, it is unbelievable.
We did capture some of this on our phones, so we'll be posting that on Facebook.
fairly soon as well.
This is a national protest, the Ice Out Walk, a demonstration today, and they'll be at the Capitol in 330s.
That now, and a big rally up there.
Right.
And a couple of, by the way, a couple of businesses reduced their hours and everything, working draft ruin and Madison sourdough.
are helping out as much as they possibly can to support this cause.
So it's always good to see a lot of people out there supporting the ice out here in Madison.
Right.
It
Good afternoon, guys, with the arrest of Don Lemon for trying to report on what was going on in that church there.
And apparently they couldn't get at charges.
They dropped on him in Minnesota.
So the arrest in California where they apparently they went judge shopping.
That
get it get a judge do that and since I checked out the law and since it's illegal to You know deter somebody from going into church.
I mean to to interfere with people accessing their Yes, what about that?
Yeah, that's what it sounds like.
Well, then the thought occurs to me that it that and states can actually enforce federal law so if There are people if ISIS congregating outside a church
There's
obviously an attempt to interfere with people's access to their place of worship arrest them and throw their asses in jail and And let Trump bail them out because yeah, you know that what's good for the goose is good for the gander and that the people should be able to freely freely access to their places of worship and Not have to be had not have to worry about running the cordon of well, I say just whether they're whether because they're sitting actually probably citizens that are
hesitant to go to church because these ICE agents are there so any kind of just say that's interfering and and what Pam Bondi defend that and that and this this way you strip those guys of their weapons temporarily and that their asses are in jail.
The pastor David Easterwood is one of the field office immigration and customs enforcement agents there.
Minneapolis and that's why they were protesting.
That's why they interrupted his service because he's an ice agent and by the way, didn't they allow people to be arrested in churches and schools?
Right?
Yeah, I mean then they opened up quite a few different places that are normally off limits.
No, Pam body would have arrested Jesus because he actually disrupted the temple.
Don't he turn the tables with the money changers that?
Mark thanks for that call.
out in LA I guess We've got our phone phone lines back open if you want to jump in now's a good time eight five five seven five two four eight four two I know that Catherine Lake is out there at the protest and I expect she may be checking in with us in a few minutes She's headed up to the Capitol right now and
We'll get that report
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's like the largest crowd I've ever seen here, but I wasn't here during the Walker days.
So it may be less than that, but it's a good size crowd.
The signs
make U.S.
kind again, justice for all, killed by ICE.
ICE is a domestic terrorist organization.
Times like that, people are passionate.
They are very passionate.
There's a speaker I can't hear.
There's chanting still going on.
They have filled the West Side Capitol, State Street Side Capitol steps.
and all the way down into state space still.
more people coming.
out.
And well taken care of.
Yes, absolutely.
right.
This is from
What do you think about the shooting at Kent?
The people weren't behaving properly and apparently they have...
That's for that sort of thing.
So you think the guard was justified?
Yes, I do.
I'm sorry, they didn't keep more.
Really?
Yes, because they were warned and they knew what was happening and they should have moved out.
If that's what it took to break them up, well, then that's what it takes.
Wow.
Right after the shooting, we were ordered off campus.
We had to leave.
So I got home.
My mother wasn't there.
My father walked in the back door and he looks at me and he says,
They should have shot all of them.
And I said to him, and I never talked back to my father.
I said, don't you know then that one of them, those people would have been me.
And he just walked into another room.
The two young women and two young men killed yesterday are described by those who knew them as quiet and not at all radical or revolutionary.
Sandy Scheuer was 20 from Youngstown, Ohio, not much interested in politics and mainly liked to cook.
Jeffrey Miller was 20 from Plainville, New York.
William Schrader of Lorraine, Ohio.
Allison Krause, 19, from Pittsburgh.
Today, her father read a statement.
She resented being called
a bum because she disagreed with someone else's opinion.
She felt that war in Cambodia was wrong.
Is this dissent a crime?
Is this a reason for killing her?
And we come to such a state in this country that a young girl has to be shot because you disagree deeply with the actions of her
They were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of violating the students civil rights.
However, in 1974, a federal judge acquitted them and ruled that the prosecutors failed to prove that the guardsmen intended to deprive students of their rights.
So they got off.
They got
Yeah.
They took the firearm before they even started shooting.
Some say that the firearm was fired by one of the agents who took the firearm away and that.
Alerted everybody of the fact that there was a gun a loaded gun being fired and that prompted the agents or somebody yelled out Gun right and and that created the situation.
I don't know Maybe they'll find out on their body cam footage right and be able to determine what actually happened in regards to that but you know, this is a concealed carry right and this administration is coming out against concealed carry
or they're trying to create new rules for concealed carry or open carry that you can't take them to protest because anything can happen, right?
And there are a lot of people, a magazine included, who are objecting to all of this now, and we have a very insensitive Republican...
that's driving me nuts.
He is proposing legislation to loosen the open carry or concealed carry laws in this state.
We'll get to that in just a few
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Yeah, that's it.
John and Gordy, along with Dom at the controls, and I was mentioning that, you know, because of the shootings,
in Minneapolis and because Alex Pretty had a firearm that was reason enough to shoot him, at least according to them.
So to have a Wisconsin Republican propose legislation to loosen the requirements on concealed carry in the state is brutal, as far as I'm concerned.
Let's listen to the story
here.
There are 29 states in the US that allow constitutional carry, meaning an individual can carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
A new bill going through the state legislature would make Wisconsin the 30th state on that list.
Republican State Representative Chance Green says Wisconsin's concealed carry laws are too restrictive
as a gun owner and a proud advocate for the Second Amendment.
I don't feel that me having to get a permit to conceal and carry should is necessary.
Green doesn't think the actions of those who don't use firearms safely should be held against responsible gun owners.
I don't want to
punish good behaving gun owning citizens in Wisconsin because bad actors can get their stuff together.
Because I guess to register to have that firearm, it's a punishment.
It's a punishment.
He's calling it a punishment to register your firearm.
Now here it is.
We have to register to vote.
Okay, if if having a gun is constitutional, it's part of the Bill of Rights, then I guess maybe why do we have to register to vote?
Right?
I mean what?
I think what is that?
Why are they punishing us
to
or
and to mention the history of peaceful protests are just that part of the power of peaceful protest is that weapons are not brought to that protest.
Look, I agree.
I don't agree with carrying firearms at all in society.
All right.
Yeah.
So I'm with you on that.
But again, it's legal now.
This is the way things are and we can do it.
Let's go to Adam
Hey, thanks for taking my call.
First of all, I'd like to thank everybody that's at the Capitol today.
Protesting and exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.
But also as a Democrat and a licensed physician in this state, I also took Conceal Carry and obtained a license to own a handgun and carry it if I wished to.
The one thing I learned from the Conceal Carry coursework was
I really don't want to ever use a gun ever against a human being.
I strongly disagree with any move to loosen things.
Anybody that handles a gun regularly should still have to be responsible enough to take the coursework to get the license to do it.
So that's what I have to say about that as a responsible citizen and a gun owner who basically
Did it to merely exercise my right and but I know broader sense I will say this yeah today's news with Don Lemon yesterday's news with this that and the other the day before that every day we have new news
right
this is all part of the Trump playbook to create a chaotic distracted public.
I mean we have left
some of the biggest issues behind because every day we're inundated with another one of their planned attempts to distract us.
The public needs to literally take notes and stay organized to be able to recognize what's going on and focus on still what is important.
Our children, our educations,
our systems that have already been functioning that need to be maintained, social security, et cetera, et cetera.
Thank you for your call.
But I think at the same time, and we remember the first Trump term, it was absolute chaos.
Every day was something new.
This I don't consider.
a distraction or a creation of distractions, it is how he runs the country.
Mayhem.
It's total chaos.
Every day we have to kind of deal with it.
I
don't want to interrupt, I just thought
very active show you're doing today.
You have thousands of people outside your window literally going to the Capitol and the callers are coming in, they are thinking, they are acting, they
are
talking.
I wonder if you would like to tell me
or ask your listeners, what kind of poll we could put up this weekend?
I'm gonna put a poll on the site right now.
And if a listener would like to come up with the question, what should the question be?
I'd love to do that
We have somebody who wrote, you don't register firearms.
I'm not talking about that.
You're just registering the fact that you're gonna carry a firearm.
And there's no punishment.
involved in any of that.
You know, I want to get to something in relation to all of this that
Chris Hayes went on last night and he had opened a show with this particular observation he made while he was at Minneapolis.
And I think this is really important that we all should hear this.
And then I have a follow up from some kind of wacko right winger who has has a different viewpoint and you will be stunned by it.
He goes back to the Old Testament, by the way.
So we'll go.
to those two clips after after we take a little break here at the top of the hour.
The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.
Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.
With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.
Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.
