It's nice eyes with Dan Ray. I'm gugging easy Boston's News Radio.
Thank you very much, Madison. As we reach the midpoint of the week and hopefully the end of the warm days or the hot days and the hot nights, good evening, everyone, and welcome on into a night side. I promise you. As the program goes on for the next four hours, the temperature will drop in some form of fashion. So maybe maybe by midnight you can turn off the air conditioning, you can open up the windows and allow God's good cool ear to float through your home. Boy, it's been
a tough couple of days. We at some point we'll talk about that this week for certain, But tonight, in the first hour, we have four very interesting guests and they really range the spectrum. Going to talk with you about a disaster that hit the US Marine Corps back in nineteen seventy nine, a much forgotten disaster. We'll explain how it correlates with what's going on in a run right now. Also, we will talk with Miss Massachusetts and we're going to give you some tips on a keep
how to keep your phone from overheating. At nine o'clock,
we originally thought would be ten o'clock. At nine o'clock, we're going to talk with former United States Senator Scott Brown, who announced today that he is running for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Jean Shaheen due to Hampshire Democrat, who Brown not lost to actually in twenty fourteen, so he is now going to basically compete for an open seat since Shen announced she will retire from the US Senate after she finishes this term, so we have
lots to do. We're also going to talk about the call by the jury foreman of the Karen Reid case to open a new investigation into what happened to John O'Keeffe. I have some strong thoughts on that. I suspect you might as well. But we are first going to start off tonight and talk with doctor Kelly Fisherman, a veterinary sports medicine rehab expert, founder of the Strut Animal Mobility Specialists. And the question, doctor Fishman, is how can we tell
if our pets are having a midlife midlife crisis? And why would that question even arise?
Good evening, how are you good?
Eavening? So they haven't stolen your credit card to go buy a Corvette. That's not the sign.
Tell you I appreciate that. I'll tell you my late grade dog, Charlie, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, who was I could describe me as a wonder dog. If any dog could have been able to steal my credit card to buy a corvette, it would have been Charlie. But Charlie has based on a few years ago. So it sounds to me like this is this is somehow related to what happened with COVID, but not necessarily medically.
So basically what happened is at all, Hello COVID puppies. So that puppy boom that we had and so much for ave, you know, cares focused on those puppies. Now they're all mid life and what does that mean. They're about the human age of fifty years old. Things are starting to slow down, aging is starting to set in, and they're going to just transition into some of their seeingior.
Years at five years of age. I've always thought that dogs correlated one year to seven years, so I would I'm assuming that dogs would be I don't know, thirty five years old if they're five years have I been misled? My entire life?
Well, the one to seven years things, unfortunately is a myss. And then it also I do have to tell you because you had a cavalier, so your dog actually didn't reach midlife as young. So a dog under fifty pounds or cavaliers are Frenchies, they're reaching their midlife around ten, so they reached it a little bit later because of the different aging rates between our big dogs and our smaller dogs. So I'm talking about when our middle You know, our dogs are bigger than fifty pounds, Our labs are
great gains. Those dogs are starting to reach the human efuivalent of fifty at five to seven. And then I can't forget it about my cats. They're also really reaching mid life about seven years old.
Okay, so let's talk generally then, because my great dog Charlie only lived ten years, and because calves have a relatively shorter lifespan, they have, as I'm sure you as a vetinaria no better than I, they have a number of problems that hit them, particularly heart issues impact just as you know German shepherds have problems with their hips. I mean, all of these dogs they are best friends and they don't live long enough. And we know that,
But what would people see what they is? It simply a question of slowing down and as opposed to being that puppy that what we call runs around the house and does zoomis up and down the stairs and just seems to be inexhaustible. Now they kind of move it a little bit of a slower pace like some of us do as we age gracefully.
Yeah, that's right. So the big signs are less, you know, less playful. Maybe they're gaining a little bit of weight, slowing down on walks, sleeping more. Those are some of the changes that I see in their behavior. Our cats are wanting to jump up less, or maybe they're taking doing little modifications to avoid doing those big jumps that they did when they're kittens, or maybe they're not playing as much. So certainly one of those bigger, biggest signs
is slowing down. And why I get nervous as a rehab that is because dogs lose muscle and as they age and as they reach midlife, and losing muscle means losing strength. Just like us when we're in our fifties, we're losing muscle. It's harder to stay fit and stay strong, and that's the same thing with our dogs and cats. So huge issue.
So what is there anything that we can do or is this just part of the natural aging process? And you just want us to be more aware of what our dogs and cats. I'm a dog guy, but what our pets? All dogs, all pets, pets, they all go to heaven. What they're doing in their later years before they head off to heaven.
Yeah, so first of all, be aware because and again that's why I love the midlife crisis, calling a midlife crisis because we haven't actually reached senior yet or not a frail dog or not a frail kitty. We're not so painful. But right now in this midlife period, I want people to know, first of all, it happens. Second of all, there are things you could do for it. You can smart supplement to actually make that easy change
a little bit better. So I kind of have a couple suggestions if you want to hear them for people who can, you know, do things.
I have all ears. I am all ears, as as is my audience. You have divided all.
Right, so you know everybody thinks about joint subblements. You go to the dog food aisle, it's packed. You know, glucosemine conjoint and fish oil. It's confusing. So the most evidence we have for joint subblements is omega three fatty acids, fish oils from a marine source. A lot of the other stuff we don't have great evidence for, so fit something like salmon oil great for the joints. All my midlife dogs should be on it. The other thing is
muscle health. They're losing muscles because they're older, or maybe they're slowing down because they have issues like a cavalier. Sometimes they get back issues, they start to lose muffle because of that. Our cats get kidney disease losing muscle. So I suggest somebody called portotropin, which has been proven in dogs and cats to maintain muscle loss associated with aging and injury. And it's someone you could find in a mios pet settlement, but it's called portotropin. That's number two.
The third one is actually probiotics. I think that our aging animals need a little bit of digestive support. So you know, when they're young, they got to the trash, no problems, you know, stomach of steel. And in these days, you know they kind of look at a tree the wrong way or it's not their favorite treat, and you
know it's bad news. So I love doing probiotics. And my only tip for the probiotics out there, because there are a couple of good brands, is make sure it's the one that's made for a dog or a cat. So you can't use anything for humans. So just make sure it's a dog or cat probiotic and it works for your pet.
Well, those are all great suggestions. I know with my cavalier, I used to have him bench press a little bit and it worked out. Not heavyweights, to do about fifty pounds, you know, and you know, ten reps at a time and I'd spot him and it was fine. He enjoyed that they only getting only getting bill.
You listen, you also don't forget the core. That's the most important part.
Oh. Absolutely, the sit ups were terrible anyway. Doctor Kelly Fishman, veterinary sports medicine rehab expert. What's your website and folks, in case folks want to check in with you, give us a website.
Yeah, Dan, So it's strut. So I always think of a happy dog or cat strugging, so st r ut animal dot com. I have a couple of recommendations for the supplements that I talked about today, fish oil, Forto, tropen probiotics, all of them on my website. And yeah, that's it.
Perfect, Doctor Fishman, Thank you very much. I think veterinarians are special people because they take care of the most special people in our lives. Our pets do become members of the family, there's no question about it. Thanks so much, doctor Fishman. Appreciate your time.
Thank you.
All right, good night. When we get back, we're going to talk about a horrific event that occurred in nineteen seventy nine and it's a fascinating book. I talked with the author today and I have him on tonight because the book has just come out. It's called The Fuji Fire, Sifty Ashes of a Forgotten Newest Marine Corps Tragedy. Where do you hear this story? I think many of you are going to want to purchase this book or order
it from Amazon. We'll be back on Nightside right after this with Chas Henry, a former marine by the way, who wrote this book and has chronicled this tremendous and unnecessary loss of young US marines back in nineteen seventy nine. And I will connect it to what's going on in Iran, in Iraq and all of that in the Middle East. Right after this break.
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZY, Boston's news radio.
Forty five years ago is a long time, obviously, it was forty five years ago in November that the US Embassy was taken captive by followers of the Ayatola Homeni. That story dominated the news for four hundred and forty four days as our hostages were held in captivity in Tehran. There was a tragedy that occurred just a couple of weeks before that at a marine base in near Mount Fuji, a marine training camp near Mount Fuji on October nineteenth,
nineteen seventy nine. It was a huge story, took the lives of some young marines and badly scarred and burned others. And to refresh your recollection, this is what Walter Cronkite reported on CBS Evening News October twenty second, nineteen seventy nine.
Friday, a typhoon toppled a huge fuel storage tank at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. The resulting fire swept the US Marines barracks there. One marine died instantly, but to day, it turns out the tragedy was greater than it first reported. Thirty seven badly burned Marines nineteen have less than a fifty to fifty chance of survival.
Joining me is the author of a book Fuji Fire, Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten US Marine Corps Tragedy. Chas Henry, an author, also a journalist, but even more importantly, a twenty year Marine Corps veteran, and in an article that was written by Jim Webb himself a former Marine who served in the Vietnam, former US Secretary of the Navy, and a US Senator from Virginia, Jim Webb Webb wrote, the complexity of this story makes it exceedingly difficult to
tell till now. It has been little remembered and in frequently taught in our military academies. Mister Henry's scholarly rigor knowledge of the military and storytelling skill may at last change that. Delighted to introduce to all of you, Chas Henry, Chas, Welcome to Night Side.
How are you so, I'm well, Dan, Thanks so much for the opportunity to talk about something that may well be the US Marine Corps worst ever peacetime tragedy, but is largely forgotten.
Yeah. Well, of course we often think of the US Marines who are killed in the Beirut bomb blast, but that was something that was man made. This was finally determined to be an act of God. But there may have been some judgments that were made by the higher ups in the Marine for having these these fuel facilities higher than the base camp set the stage for as you know more about this story, probably than anyone, So
I want to listen. And by the way, we will probably revisit this in longer form sometime in the next a week and a half or so. Go right ahead, Chazz.
Sure. So this is a lower sloping land. This is near the base of Mount Fuji, and they are about twelve hundred marines of this training camp. They'd come up from units in Okinawa to train big open spaces and ranges. Fuel bladders in rubberized fabric bladders were placed uphill of
where these marines were living in ramshackle quantt huts. And a storm here, not just any storm, but this is the still standing record the largest most intense typhoon ever, Typhoon Tip in nineteen seventy nine if you had taken it and places over the continental United States at its height, it would have covered between half and two thirds of the nation. It goes over the mainland. Japan drops more rain in a day than they typically would get in a month, and this created a breach in a berm
that had been built up around these fuel bladders. One of the bladders, filled with gasoline flows into the berm. Pumps that are still attached by hoses fall in and they slice a five foot slice in this bladder. Ballons of gasoline flows downhill on top of this flood that's already going into the quantu huts that are heated by open flame kerosene heaters, and as you might imagine, vapors
rise and fire breaks out. In the end, seventy three people were injured, of whom fifty four were burned, and over the next several weeks, thirteen died from those injuries.
And you've been in touch with a lot of these You've dedicated. I believe it was four years of your life to writing this book, right.
I fell into it during the pandemic in twenty twenty. I was looking for something to do. I just retired from daily journalism and I never would have imagined it
became what it did. But it involved interviewing more than one hundred and thirty people with direct firsthand experience of the events, and a continuum that included describing the storm, the events of the day at the camp, and then a long range of heroic and dedicated medical evacuation and treatment provided to these marines, and meeting many of these marines, and hearing quite a number of really phenomenal, inspiring survivor stories.
How difficult was it to track these men down? Obviously, this is in nineteen seventy nine. You start out on your pursuit of this story forty years later, so I assume many of them may have passed away. Above and beyond those who were killed in this horrific event. Was the Marine Corps? Was the Defense Department cooperative with you and said, oh, yeah, this is where these folks now live. How did you track them down? That's a journalist question to another journalist.
It was.
A challenge, and that made it kind of exciting. So there was a copy of the investigation that was done that was sort of floating around. It was highly redacted. I got a copy of that early on, but I came. Within the first few months of starting the research. I realized that a friend of mine in nineteen eighty six had filed the freedom of in act request thinking that he might write something about this, and he received about three quarters of an inch worth of photocopied materials to
include a mostly non redacted version of the investigation. Well, between the two that I had, I was able to page by page reconstruct a completely non redacted investigation. What that allowed me was names names were not crossed out, and fortunately not everybody's name was John Jones or Bob Smith. There were some that had sufficiently unique names that using search engines now people searches online, I would find perhaps five or six people that seemed to have that name,
maybe were about the right age. And I spent a lot of money. My wife complained about all the stamps I bought sending out letters probably for the first year, and eventually I started to get letters back, and that led me to conduct the interviews, and then sometimes people would say, well, I'm still in touch with this.
Other person who was there.
But it was a slow start, but very encouraging as it's sort of you know, the number of recipients to those letters grew well.
I assume that a lot of these men not only wanted the story told for themselves and to have a record of it, but also in memory of the young Marines who died or were severely injured in this this disaster.
It's true. So this is largely forgotten, and you know, the principal reason is because you know, just two weeks later the hostage is taken and around the national attention shifts. There was also some reticence on the part of the Marine Corps to talk about it. So this hasn't appeared in you know, many histories of the Marine Corps and such. I had an email just the other day from someone
who was not involved. I didn't interview for the book, but I had an email through my website from a fellow who said that because we never read about this, we feel almost ashamed and asking themselves, you know, did we do something wrong? And it was this motivation over time that inspired me to keep going with this project. These guys were all about my age, the younger guys.
It was really amazing. There were certainly people who had passed on subsequently, but I was able to interview even one guy who was a brigadier general in nineteen seventy nine. He since passed away, but I was able to interview him a couple of years ago and got some very interesting useful.
Was that General Robert Barrow.
No, General Barrow had passed away some time before. This was Joe mcmonagall, who was an assistant division commander in Okinawa, who came up the day after the fire to sort of see what was happening, and so to get his
perspective on what he saw was very useful. And his observations about the leadership and what marines were asking him and such a lot of guys were about my age, and so I called it, in fact, my first two years of of doing these interviews, my two years of crying with other men in their sixties.
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you the military often what do they say, you know, victory has a thousand mothers and defeat or disasters an orphan. One of my closest friends in the world was the commander of the U. S. S. Pueblo, Pete Booker Lloyd Right. And someday when we talk as we did earlier today, I will tell you the story of they tried to court martial Commander Booker. That was prevented by the Secretary of Navy John Chafey, and then they tried to prevent giving POW medals to the crew
of the Preblo. I got involved in that as a lawyer back in the nineteen eighties, and the story of what happened to the crew of the Preblo for eleven months in captivity in North Korea. The Preblo is now the only US naval warship in the hands of the enemy, is on display in peong Pang, North Korea. But as I was reading the materials that you said me, there were a lot of similarities to what happened to the
men of the Pueblo. They were promised air support which never came, and they as a results, spent eleven months in very tough captivity. So it was also about ten years. January twenty third to December twenty third of nineteen sixty eight became a big issue in the sixty eighth presidential campaign. But there should have been some heads that rolled on this one, and I'm looking forward. The book has just come out. It's published by Nebraska Press. I believe is that the public publisher.
University of Nebraska Press, it's on their Potomac Books in print.
Okay, so Amazon easy to get. I assume at this point came out just this month, yes, but not mistaken.
In fact, there's a hard hardcover kindle and an audiobook.
Really an audiobook as well. Okay, that is fabulous. Give us the title one more time. I've read it a couple of times. I want to hear it from you.
Thank you. It's Fujifire Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten US Marine Corps Tragedy.
Boy, that is a perfect, perfect title, Chas. We will do a longer interview on this, but I wanted to get something on the air, and I appreciate you being available tonight in such short notice. Thank you so much. We're talking the next couple of days.
I'm so grateful for your time and interesting.
Thank you all right, Chas Henry the author of Fujifire Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten US Marine Corps Tragedy. When we get back, we're going to talk. Some of you might have experienced this today. As a matter of fact, I think Chas actually experienced when I was talking with five tips to keep your phone from overheating. We will be right back on night's side, Keep with us, Stay with us. We've got a very interesting show coming up
for you tonight. Scott Brown will join us at after nine o'clock and then we're going to talk about the call and the jury foreman of the Karen Reid trial for a complete from from just from the get go investigation of the death of the tragic death of John O'Keefe. I'm not sure that that is doable legally, and I'm not even sure that it's wise, but I suspect all of you have some different points of vie. Owner. Here comes the news at the bottom of the hour.
It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio.
Like to welcome Peter Nixon. He's the director of retail sales in the North Northeaster for AT and T, and Peter has five tips to keep your phone from overheating. Peter, where were you two nights ago? Only kiddy.
Dan, I know you cover some pretty heavy subjects, So this this you gotta pay attention going into this one.
I will, I promise I pay attention to all the subjects, trust me.
So here's some simple facts to help you with your phone. Number one, Like, let let's use common sense and keep it out of direct sunlight. So a lot of times if we're in the car and we take it, we throw our phone on the dashboard, that sun comes in, heaps up your phone. Next thing you know, your phone's making funny noises and it's telling you that you know it's not gonna work. It's gonna shut down because it's
too hot. So if you have your phone in the car, keep it in a shaded spot whenever possible.
By the way, kids, sunlight and heat like we've experienced the last couple of days, could that actually kill a phone.
It can damage it, meaning it'll shut down, and who knows what damage it does to the phone it shuts down. Okay, so we always Another thing we say is avoid overuse in the heat. And what do I mean by overuse gaming? I know you and I are probably very big gamers, but our kids are.
There sadly, sadly, but no, I'm not. Go ahead.
Yeah, So as the game it heats up the processors, it makes it hotter. Video streaming, if you're on there checking Facebook video streams, that also makes it hotter. And then, believe it or not, if you're in the car using GPS, A lot of times can can make the phone hot, and we'll limit you know, limit the the way that it works. So you got to giff on that and watch it. So watch your high temperatures outside.
Okay.
Then if it does start to heat up and you start to see warnings on it, because most phones will give you a little warning, some simple things you can do, like take it out of the case because the case acts like a blanket and it keeps the warmth and the phone. So if you take it off, it should start to cool down a little bit.
One thing you should never do is put it in ice water. Correct, I just want to make make it make it clear on that, right.
Yeah, don't put it in the freezer, put it in a refrigerator, don't put it in nice water.
Okay, what else?
Yeah, so we say let it cool naturally. Right, if your phone overheats, power it down, let it rest in a cool spot. And we always say never put it in the fridge or a freezer. Let it return to its natural state naturally. So some common sense tips, but I think it's happened to all of us that our phone is overheated.
I think also there was some tips to disable Bluetooth, Wi Fi and background apps when not in use to reduce strain on your device. We have all become so dependent upon our phones, and we I I like everyone else. Probably you don't. You don't realize the miracle you You take it for granted that you can be standing in so many different places. I mean, I'm old enough to remember pay phones. I'm old enough to remember rotary dial phones.
And yes, I know you you should look. I should look at my phone every day and say, this is a miracle that in my hand I have all the phone numbers. Remember, I had no idea how old you are, Peter, but I suspect that you probably used to be able to remember phone numbers. Yeah, that was not uncommon. I would have like probably fifty numbers in my head of my friends and all of that. I still remember, you know,
the work numbers, businesses that you're called. Now, I have a tough time, right, we've trained ourselves not to remember. Or is that just the process of getting older?
Do you think? Oh? No, I think you're right on the money. You remember, you hear the phone number when you put it into your memory in your phone, and then you never think of it again. You look up Dan Ray Nightside and I hit send, and that's how I get you. I don't look up I don't look up your phone number.
Yeah.
So that's why it's important to have cloud backup because we probably all lost phones too, and how devastated we are when we lose a phone and all those numbers, all those pictures go with it unless you use some sort of storage or some sort of backup.
Yeah. I've had that experience, unfortunately. But what is amazing to me is I have been in Europe and have called friends of mine in the middle of the country, meaning in Kansas, from Europe, and it sounds like they're standing next to you.
It's crazy.
And I can remember as a as a young television reporter, having to find payphones to go through your pocket with dimes so you could call the desk and let them know that you were, you know, and then all of a sudden you had some phones in the in the vans, and again we just become so used to it. It's almost like refrigeration during the summer. You know, most of
us are lucky enough to have a refrigerator. So you go down and you want to have a hold, can't a twelve hours refreshment watching the ball game, and you know, you just you know, in the old days when people didn't have refrigerators, they had to walk all the way down to the corner right.
It's you think about a lot of times. I've kept this in my mind before you even walk out the door in the morning. A lot of us don't realize how much we depend on our phone. It wakes us up as an alarm clock. If you have a home alarm, you can shut it off right from your handset. So you shut off the home alarm in your house, you may go get a cup of coffee and use it at your favorite establishment to buy that cup of coffee. It's just endless. If you leave your phone at home, it's a tough day.
Oh or if you if you do misplace it and and you're and you're in a panic. I'm always trying when did when did I last use my phone? Where was I? Was I in the car? Was I downstairs? Was I down cellarted? I just think that they are a modern miracle. There's a lot of things that are miraculous. The automobiles a miracle. We used to have horse and buggy,
but we take phones for granted. And thank you for what you guys, do you know keeping keeping those phones working for us at AT and T, Verizon or whomever your phone service happens to be provided by. Thanks for the suggestions I had one other questions. First, was set up through a public relations manager named Karen Toomey at AT and T Corporate Communications. Is that the same Karen to me here?
It sure is?
Well. Please give her my best.
Will Dan. And one funny story when she said started working for us. We're in a meeting and I said to her, Karen, can you do me one favor before we leave the meeting? Can you just say and this is Karen Toomey for w b Z And she.
Did, Dad. Well, she's she's a great reporter, great colleague. Our losses as AT and T's gain. And if she's not listening, please let her know that she's remembered well in the busy newsroom.
Okay, I sure will, Dan. Thanks your nice talking.
You, thank you very much, Talk soon, all right, good night? All right. We got one more guest coming up, and I wish this was television. It's Miss Massachusetts, the newly crowned Miss Massachusetts. Will join us on the phone and we will talk with her about becoming Miss Massachusetts. Her name is Kayla Griffin, and we'll talk with Kayla Griffin and some causes that she is working. She works hard on behalf of Right after this quick break on Nightside.
It's Night Side with Boston's news Radio.
All right, I am delighted to introduce to my audience the you, Miss Massachusetts, Cayla Griffin, Miss Massachusetts, Kyla Griffin, Welcome to Nightside. How are you hi?
I'm good.
How are you?
I'm wonderful. So tell us a little bit about how you were. You were named Miss Massachusetts, I believe as recently as last weekend.
Yes, well, firstly, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here, Miss Massachusetts.
Thank you.
Miss Massachusetts was this past weekend and I was crowned on Saturday. So it's still very very fresh for me. And it was a long week, but it was so worth it and I had a great time.
Now you will serve as Miss Massachusetts for a year. And I guess one of the issues that you're very concerned about is homelessness here in Massachusetts. How did you get interested in that issue in the first place? I said, give us an idea about what you hope to do.
Yeah, So, like you said, I will be serving as Miss Massachusetts for an entire year. And in the Miss America Opportunity Organization, we have something called a Community Service Initiative, and mine is the Purple Blueprint creating solutions for unhoused Americans.
So I'm currently a healthcare worker and it kind of started during covid Era when I was working at the hospital and a lot of our unhoused community members would come in and I really dawned on me how vulnerable this population is and the little platforms that they have, and I just figured, you know, if I have a voice and I have the means, I should do something about this. So that's kind of what got me started.
And ever since then, I've been trying to figure out ways to help our housing crisis and our homelessness crisis. And once I was crowned Miss Cambridge first this year, I decided I really wanted to start that because there's a lot going on in Cambridge and Boston with this, and now that I am in Massachusetts, my hope is that I can further elevate my platform really work with a lot of organizations. When I volunteer with weekly right
now as horizons for homeless children. They are amazing and my goal is to make some change and work with policy leaders and local and state officials as well.
Now you're a graduate of Northeastern University and you said you work in the healthcare industry.
Yes, so, go Huskies. I graduated from Northeastern in twenty twenty two and now I work at mass General Hospital in downtown, So that's kind of been my shift since post graduation.
And great facility. What do you do there? If I could, Are you on the floor, are you work What exactly do you do at Mass General?
Yes? Yeah, so I used to work on the floor at Beth Israel as a patient care technician, and now I do cardio vascular research through the Cardio Center at Mass General. So I do a lot of lab works. It's really exciting and interesting, and I've partnered with the American Heart Association through both my job and as a titleholder now is miss Massachusetts. So I'm an advocate for heart health and we do a lot of cool nerdy stuff figuring out.
Ways to you.
That's greatcation comes helps all of us. And by the way, I noticed that you were crowned last Saturday at the Hanover Theater, which is a beautiful facility in Worcester. You said at one point you would miss Worcester. Did you grow up in Worcester?
No, I didn't, But Worcester was actually the first title I've ever had, So sometimes you can go to different pageants in the state even if you're not from there, as long as you're a resident of Massachusetts. Yeah, but Hanover is incredible.
I love everyone there, so yeah.
Great facility. I remember being there for a program helping kids with autism. Back this is going to be be pre pandemic. So tell me a little bit more about yourself. Did you grow up obviously in Massachusetts.
Actually it didn't. I was a military kid, so I grew up everywhere. Okay, yeah, my dad was in the Air Force, so I grew up all over the place. But Massachusetts, I always say, is a state that raised me because I came here when I was seventeen, eighteen years old, and I've been here ever since. Itce the longest place I've ever been consecutively, and it's been home for a near a decade now. So I love Massachusetts and it's given.
Me so much.
Does your dad still active duty?
No, he retired, so he is a veteran now and my parents currently are in Virginia.
Well, when you talk to you dad, thank him for his service to our country. I must tell you that I am always so impressed. I know the word is military brats, and I know that's not a nice him necessarily, but I am so impressed with young people like yourself who not only come from families with the military background, because I'm sure the dad is still a lot of
discipline in the home. But in addition to oh yeah, you have to when you're a member, your mom and your dad is in the military, and you're moving around, making new friends, adjusting to new places, new climates, sometimes overseas,
sometimes back here in the States. It's a great challenge, and I think that it's real blessing for someone to experience that, because you've already seen large a large swath of this country, and you've all probably also seen a little bit of the world that most kids who are your age, young people who are your age, have yet to have a chance to see. Now you're going to be competing in the Miss America competition in September. I'm
in Orlando, Florida. Tell us about that because I know that that that's I hope it's still published televised nationally and then we'll be able to watch this competition. Tell us how how much of what? What do you have to do and prep for that other than I guess show up and be smart, smart and look sharp.
Well, yes, I'm so excited. It's going to be in Orlando, Florida in September. And yeah, the preparation is just a lot of activism in my community because I just want to show the country what Massachusetts is made of, Like this is who we are. And of course, you know, like making sure your mind is right and you've got your style down and your dresses and your talent and and all of that. So there's interview proportions as well.
So just being fully prepared and going to have a good time and meet a bunch of really incredible women.
What when you when you talk about you have to do some sort of a musical instrument if I'm not correct, or sing or dance or something. What?
Yes, what is that's?
Is that called the talent? I just don't want to misname it. What is that called?
Yeah, no, you got it? Yeah, that's the talent portion. So we have different sections. We have on stage question talent, fitness, evening gown, and then we do a private interview. Okay, so talent, I play the piano.
You play it. Oh my god, you do it all, you do it all.
Oh my gosh, no, I love piano.
Miss Massachusetts, twenty twenty five. Congratulations, Kaylae. You sound obviously you are a very beautiful young woman, but you also seem to exude all the qualities of someone who's both beautiful externally but also internally.
And oh, thank you you you.
Are bright as a north star. So thank you so much for and best of luck. Not to much, no, but you have a great time and have fun and bring home one more crown.
Okay, I'll do it all right, Thank you guys so much for having me.
You're very welcome, Kayla Griffin, Miss Massachusetts, with a platform focused on solutions for homelessness, or as they are currently called, the unhoused. My name's Dan Ray. We're going to be back with former Massachusetts senator now Republican candidate for the US Senator in New Hampshire, Scott Brown, and he'll be taking your phone call, so line up your questions. Coming back on night side right after this