Welcome to the COVID Chronicles is that the COVID Chronicles or the kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of Minnesota. Nice. That it desperately needs, and maybe even give them the booster, a little kindness booster. Uh, I am John Schweitzer. I am joined as always by my pals. Kevin gorg. Hello, Kevin. Hello, Johnny and Steve brown. And then Steve, you have arranged for us a, a, a dear friend of yours. Why don't you tell us about who we got on with us today?
All right. I would love to. So I've been working on trying to get this friend on for a little while. It's hadn't the time he hasn't really worked out. Um, but he is, uh, an amazing dude. He's a, he's a young fellow that I met way back in St. Cloud when I was in school in St. Cloud or right after. Um, he was a young student there as well, and a musician in town. Um, and, uh, he, he is a very talented guy. He's a singer songwriter.
Um, he does many other things, but he and his brother had a band for many years in St. Cloud different variations of bands. He has a band I'll call the Mason Dixon line. He can tell us more about that, but why I wanted to have him on. So this is a cool show because we get to invite people that we liked, but really what's important. We're trying to highlight people that do something a little more beyond just being a good guy that we know.
Justin PLU is my friend that he's done something pretty amazing, and he's still continuing to do it. And we want to hear more all about what he's been doing. So a welcome Justin. Thank you. Well, that's one of the nicest centers I've ever had. I just kind of rambled there. Sorry I get in the mirror and yeah. So Justin, you welcome to the kindness.
We, uh, I was telling these guys about you and I played them, your song that you wrote for the Vietnam veterans for veterans day earlier this year, or last year they left here. And, uh, I just found it to be really great in many ways. So one as a songwriter, it's a great song. It tells a great story. I get, I get the chills every time I hear it, it's just really well done. You sing it incredibly well. Um, I know you play and you, you have lots of your physician friends.
I'm not sure if your brother played on it, you know, Jason, but, um, the production is amazing on it. The video is amazing. It's, it's, it's just a really well done thing. And you did it out of the, just out of the goodness of your heart and telling a story about your family, um, or just, uh, kind of a collage of many families stories, but tell us, so tell us what it is and. How it happened and where they people can find themselves. Yeah. Thanks.
Uh, so, you know, to give you the, as they call it the reader's digest version, um, I come from a long, long line of military, uh, family, um, and, uh, we have family that that's, uh, all the, all the way back to world war one and each major conflict. Throughout the years, the age, my parents were at the up during the Vietnam era. And a lot of their friends, um, were around and, or served in Vietnam. And so I've gotten to know those people.
And one of the things that always bothered me a lot was the way that these veterans were treated, especially when coming home and a lot of people, surprisingly, you know, if you didn't grow up in that era, know somebody, they've kind of forgotten about that and what they. Not only deal with when they were over there, but then they come home to a country that oppose the war and often times guidedly oppose the soldiers.
Um, and so, you know, hearing some of these stories firsthand from Vietnam veterans that I know, um, you know, just, you know, one of them up on that stuck out to me was, uh, one of my dear friends. Who's a veteran, Matt talked about, you know, on his way home, he was in Vietnam and. They didn't, he was out in the jungle or I think all but five days the entire year. And so they didn't know a lot of what was going on back at home.
And so on the way back, you know, he tells a story of, um, you know, basically they're applying these to flying into Oakland first and the person, uh, the flight attendants said, Hey, when we get back, you need to just hurry up and get to your gate. Um, it's not safe for you. Yeah. He couldn't figure out why that would, why that would be, and sure enough, he got off the plane in Oakland and he was physically assaulted by people. Well, the first mistake was going to Oakland.
Why did they bring them to Oakland of all places, you know? And, and he flew into Minneapolis and he thought, okay, I'm old now, Minnesota. Nice. Right. Well, no, even as a salsa again in Minneapolis, he said, thankfully, his father was there. Pick them up from the, from the airport and help you into the car.
But, you know, he was physically assaulted and they were called names and, another spurt of a veteran, I know that he was flying home and the stewardess served everybody, but him cause he was in uniform. So not only did they, not only. The horrors of war, but they came home just to add onto the psychological effects of what a nightmare, what a horrible can I just take a step back?
I have heard about, we've all heard about the, the fact that these guys came back from this war and were treated terribly by folks. I just don't get it. Help me understand why, what was it about these guys that people were so against? I think the big thing that we've maybe gathered from history is that, this war was not supported like previous wars were and it was a different time.
Keep in mind the average age of a soldier in Vietnam is 20 years old and those opposing the war were around the same age. Right. College-age kids. I don't know about you guys. I certainty probably wasn't the most sympathetic or empathetic as a 20 year old, you know, I'm not excusing the behavior obviously, but I think we can understand. part of it is, is those nuts back in that? I mean, let's face it, there was a lot of chemicals being consumed, sear all kidding aside.
I mean, I think people, the hippies, I mean, it, that was a nutty nutty time, right? I mean, everybody kind of got whipped up into a frenzy. What little soldiers were over there, you know, they are doing nothing wrong. They were just falling over. And you got Pitchfork nation back here talking about how bad this war is. And rather than protest just the government and what our interest level, who are in Vietnam, they took it out on the soldiers who had been through living hell over there.
So I think the narrative is changing. Dustin. I think some of the movies that have been out in the last couple of decades are helping shed some light on what those folks went through, but I still think there's work to be done. And so when I see something like this, And how beautiful that song is. Uh, that can go a long way. If I hope we can spread the word as crazy as the world seems to be today, it does seem like.
veterans and people that are serving seemed to be more off limits unfortunately there is a little more respect, I believe for, armed service members than there have been in the past. So it must be less chemicals. One of the things that always bothered me was just, that, that whole thing of, they never got the thank you that I thought they deserved.
And, based on people I know, and, stories that I've heard through, whether it be documentary or books or something inspired me to essentially write this. based on people I know, or, it starts with this young person that's, born in the midst of, patriotism a lot of these guys see that went there, they read a drafted or, have a sense of pride of doing this, this is for their country and their grandfather's fought in the first world war and dad fought in the second world war Korea.
And it, it just felt like there's something they're supposed to. Um, but then it tasting kind of through, Vietnam talking about, fighting this person they've never, ever met. And how do you gauge when more winning or not winning and, and following these orders and then coming home and, you know, being called baby killers and, uh, spit on or assaulted. And then, They hid what they did or that they serve, because it was so unpopular.
And, um, did the gentleman by the name of John Musgrave who appears in, I got Ken burns, who was one of my favorite documentary filmmakers came out with the Vietnam. Couple years ago and John Musgrave's is in there and I was searching for an end of the song and I wanted it to maybe be something positive.
And I remember that John had told the story and he wasn't going to go to a, when they dedicated the war Memorial and the wall in DC, but he went there and he, he stopped, but he said it was the most healing thing he had, he had done. And so the song ends with this person in my protagonist, in my song, going to the. And having reconciliation with one of those people that confronted him when he came home. Yeah. It's a great, great moment.
And so I just decided that I wanted to do this, but I wanted to take it one step further. Um, I didn't know this until I started looking into it, but the Vietnam war Memorial is completely relies on donations. And so I thought, okay, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna release this song, uh, I want it to not on. Hopefully hit the right people the way it's supposed to, but I'm also hoping that, we can raise money. And so, um, I funded this project myself.
I've had some other people donate their time, thankfully, uh, to help me with this. But every penny that is donated for this song is being, uh, donated back to the Vietnam veterans Memorial fund, which handles the wall. Um, and almost all of that money is put back into education and keeping the. And of course in the Vietnam veterans of America. And actually today I felt it was great. I was able to donate, um, people have been so generous and I was able to send them $1,200 to that.
Wow. We definitely want to share with our listeners. Um, so it's you, you need to find it on, tell, tell them the exact website, the exact Facebook page to look at, for sure. Make sure you tell them. Yeah, of course. on Facebook, I have a page, this song is called the weight they carried. And so if you look up the weight, they carried Vietnam song it's on Facebook, but you can also go to my website, which is just Justin, J U S T I N E P as in Peter, L O O F as in frank.com.
And there's a whole page that's dedicated strictly to. Uh, song and its mission. They can see the video on there. They can read the backstory and then there's direct links for, um, basically you could pay whatever you want to download it. Um, and you pay whatever you want. Why is something you can put together now in your, in your life, at your age with, because you have the ability now as a songwriter or tell us where that came from and when?
I'm a Christian Guy and I believe there's divine intervention and things happen when they're supposed to. And, you know, I think, like I said, just having family members that served and a lot of friends now that were not veterans. they're getting older and I wanted to make sure that this got out for them and their families, um, before it was too late. And so I just felt drawn to start working on it.
And, um, the song I feel like really was just sort of given to me and I'm sort of in charge of getting it out there and trying to do some good with it. But, you know, like I said, I think it's just, it felt like the right time. And, and again, they're all getting older and I wanted to make sure that. That they knew, um, that there is a country that does appreciate them and the sacrifices that they endured and for our country. So I want to just talk about you as a musician.
Can you give me your, like, I know I met you when you were pretty young, right out of high school, right? Actively still in high school, there was a sophomore or junior in high school I found out about you through Kurt blazing and through Stacy Matula, my bass player, our old sound friends. How did you start with the music business and, um, how did you form the Mason Dixon line?
Yeah. I think I got into playing music the same way that maybe a lot of people did is my brothers had a band and I was hanging out on the couch one Sunday afternoon and they just said, well, you want to join the band? And I said, sure. Um, I'd kind of just started playing guitar and singing. And sort of thrust into being a front man, which is, which has served me well. Um, but, uh, you know, it kind of happened like that. There's no amazing story.
I wish there was, um, I was the kid brother that needed a singer and I was there. Um, he definitely rose to the occasion. Yeah. So, so when you guys had a few different plans, right? A few different earliest iterations of a band before. My brother knew you obviously from the John clueless days. And I remember always thinking like, you know, I've told you this before, so, you know, I'm not full of crap here, but you know, I always said like you were the guy though that I really studied. Right.
Because I'd never been a fuck, man. I didn't know what it was like. And you wrote songs. And you had these cool red pants, red pants. That band was called Roger. And we, we had a go at trying to get a record deal and we were crisscrossing the country, New York, LA, all that kind of stuff and trying and we were hoping it would. And, and then I went out and did my solo stuff. I didn't sign a deal at one point with, uh, with.
Um, and you've got a record out, which would, you know, see if you can verify this data and she can get your record out to an accomplishment, but that, uh, also never materialized into what I was hoping. But yeah. So now I just do my, you know, my original music and I have a couple of different tribute bands. I'm part of, and then my, my country band mates and Dick Martin, which is a really cool country band.
And we just play all, all the big hits from, you know, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Alabama. Yeah. So the tribute band they're playing, it's called soup in the throwbacks actually. And we do tribute to like Creedence, Clearwater revival. Um, the, the beach boys. We have a Carol King when we bring a gallon for, um, he's, um, a bunch of really cool stuff like that. Yeah. So if you go, you can check out Justin as well. You want to see me? Yeah, these guys are talented guys.
They, they really, they, they bring in all the right instrumentation to make that stuff happen. And, um, and as a country that Mason Dixon line to do off the great covers, but they have a lot of fun doing it and they entertain a crowd. It's not just like a series of shoes and like, try to act like their countries. They're just playing great music. They're really good. Really fun guy. Justin, do you play music full time or do you have to go to work during the.
Well, I, yeah, I, I, I was like the sick, I feel very blessed. I get to go to work each day. Uh, I actually worked for the state of Minnesota. Uh, so I have that as my full-time job. And then I get to play music and play other really fun gigs that I want to play just because it's something I enjoy doing. I have a very lovely understanding wife who, who knows how important it is to me is to support that as just so those of you that are listening, this is kindness Chronicles after dark.
This is the latest we've ever done. This, um, kg is as is in his jammies. So you can all imagine this is late for KJ. I picked it up. I've got top on a flannel bottle. It's sad in the winter time it gets so dark. You know, at age 54, soon to be 55, it's a race to see what it's acceptable after dinner to get the pajamas. And it gets earlier all the time. It's now crept into. Six 30 time slot, which of course is wheel of fortune.
I mean like those commercials, I am literally turning into my dad and it's so depressing. Definitely blurred with regards to pajamas. These days stuff is affecting all of us. It's not that bad. Cause you, you had the early bird special, the long done with dinner. Yeah, good 0.5 30 is dinner time where I come from, all this has been always will be so, yeah, it's uh, maybe 45 minutes to an hour after that, but the time that Vanna white and pat Sajak are on the jam is routed.
It's it is honestly it's, it's getting more and more like the 1970s in Burnsville, my parent's house every day. Sometimes laugh, sometimes cry. When I think about his, yeah, his wild jammies before we get to the, uh, to the, uh, the, the, the highlight of the day, which is the clueless quiz. I, uh, have two things that I'd like to cover first. I would just like to mention our sponsor, uh, Brian Yeomans, uh, the state farm agent in Inver Grove Heights.
Um, I got a call from a friend of Brian's and Brian. We'll probably be, uh, uh, won't be too enthusiastic about the fact that we're sharing one of his secrets. But that friend mentioned to me that one of the things that Brian does and he does it without anybody knowing is whenever he sees a veteran. At a restaurant, he buys them their dinner without them knowing he will ask the waitress for their check. You know?
So if he sees somebody wearing a Vietnam vet hat, he will make a point of making sure that that person didn't buy their meal. Um, which I just think is super cool. And it, you know, that's supposed to be a private thing. And I guess I just wrecked it here to the, towards the thousands of people tuning into the kindness Chronicles. Uh, now, you know, the train. I'm sure Brian gentleman's asleep right now, too. Anyway, he's got, he's got his jammies on he's sound asleep while we recorded.
Yes. Like, uh, and what color do you suppose his jammies are? Cat. Well, I think you've probably got khaki pants on and a red golf shirt. It goes, guys has to be ready at all. Costs is uniform. They're going to be that guy working for state farm. But honestly it doesn't surprise me knowing him as long as I've known Brian and his character. He would not want us sharing this, but it is something I can see him doing. But to create a different and different stuff to be a good diet.
Just one of the difficulties of doing this in a, in the COVID age, when we're all in separate locations, as we kind of talk over each other. So to those of you listening, I apologize for that. But, uh, You know what deal with it? It'll be fine. Hey, um, I did want to share a quick story and I wanted to get your, a reaction and yours as well. Justin, um, this story was sent to me, uh, by a friend who thought that we might find some interest in this. And you may have seen this story.
Did you guys see about the speed skater who gave up their spot on the Olympic team for a teammate? Oh my God. Listen to this story. So, um, this was on the today's show apparently. And this is, uh, the stories it's written says there are good friends, there are friends and there are really good friends.
And on Sunday we learned just what kind of pals speed skater, Brittany Bowe and Erin Jackson really are the best kind of friends that's because Bo who is 33, who is one, three of, uh, she won three events at the recent us Olympic speed skating trials in Milwaukee. Gave up her Olympic spot in one of them to make sure that the top ranked female 500 meter scale.
A woman named Erin Jackson would be able to join the team at the 2022 Beijing Olympics during the trials, Jackson slipped in her race and finished third costing her a spot in the games. But Bo who've been friends with Jackson since childhood had an idea. She said that Aaron earned the right to be on this 500 meter team. She's ranked number one in the world. And she is more deserving than anyone to get this opportunity to bring team USA home a medal.
So after that unfortunate slip, I knew in my mind that I had to do something. And it came down to me, giving up a spot on the team and it was the right thing to do. She could have my place on the team. It flies in the face of the Tanya hurting story for one, once it's gone by it's one might say, it's the opposite of that story, I have had quite a few, people tell me about their bingo cards, their kindness, bingo. Uh, and I add some, uh, additional suggestions.
And if I would have written them down, I would have shared them with. But I didn't. So maybe next time, how about the clueless quiz so we can get Justin, uh, back to, uh, to his golden retriever in his jammies? John calls with the clueless quiz because of my band name. For some reason, it was just a little alliteration and it felt like the right thing to call. Well, I really, the only reason we call it, that is because of the person who's presenting the quiz. Let's be honest.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's true. Okay. So we'll just kind of rapid fire. I'll just throw your stuff and we do the best to answer as quick as you can. Don't think about it too long. This is all for you. This just so we can get a really brilliant understanding of how your brain works. Yeah, I'll do my best. I got the new ones in here, so they're gonna go out there. Um, but let's see. What do you think, um, Shirley temple or Arnold Palmer, which, which of those would you drink?
I'm thinking I'm going to see a Karaoke or bowling bowling, for sure. I love that he wants to do something else. If I, if I had pipes like you just Justin, I would be rocking the showing off. I'd be doing Neil diamond meals. We don't get talent. Like he gets done because we would abuse it. He's a gentleman. Um, okay. I'm changing gears from past. This is a new one. give me the saddest movie of all time, in your opinion.
I've got the right answer, but I'm going to wait for Kevin Brian's song is the right answer. I cried every time we've had to move all the time. Did you guys ever see the Mycoskie movie? Oh, yeah. He's like making films because he knows he's dying. If he's like, come on. That's pretty tough. Yeah. I like that. Pick out like the nineties. Yeah, I remember that one. That was good. Um, okay. George or Kramer? Uh, George.
Would you rather shovel the driveway one time in the winter when you were 10 years old or mow the lawn every day in the summer? When. Can I just ask a question, Steve, um, did you re, you recently had COVID right. It feels like there might be some brain fog going on here. Cause some of these questions are like what happened to you? You're going to be okay. Led band or DJ alive band. Thank you, man. Um, probably seen a lot. This is the clueless quiz, by the way.
I've seen a lot of great concerts in my life, but I'm going to go with this. 'cause it was my first one. It was 1993, the beats boys. And also as a guest there just stay. There you go. Yeah, I think he did have red pants on John Stamos. Yeah. Didn't he play like the bongos or something? Okay. Um, taco Tuesday or fish Friday, taco Tuesday. Um, uh, would you contest the driving ticket in court or just pay the ticket? I guess it would depend most likely. I'll just pay it all right.
Spring or fall, man. I love them both, but I'll maybe say spring because I know summer's around the corner. Okay. Um, what are you most productive am or PM? PM. Late night music guy lit lizards for fish. Hmm, you got to pick one. What would you rather have a lizard or a fish? You know, what for your interpretation, Mac and cheese or mashed potatoes. And I love them both, but, um, uh, Mac and cheese, you know, let's talk about Mac and cheese for a second, best Mac and cheese.
Where are you getting it? You know what I've I've really enjoyed. Uh, has it. Well, I haven't tried that. Hey, um, Panera, Panera has a Mac and cheese. It's a shells and cheese, and those shells just create these pockets. Oh, yeah, I think I'm going to have an accident. Oh baby. There is a restaurant just real quick. You're talking about carbs here for a second. So up in Duluth, have you ever heard of the Blackwoods the restaurant, the Blackwoods they have a Mac and cheese pizza.
I mean, you guess what? You're running a marathon the next day. You talk about carb loading. Okay. With some of our listeners, you could call it the Chronicles. Can I be in our mat? It'll be all of our, all of our guests would be our first round of invites. And then we'll go up to the special call out. I'll call out yet. Yeah. Kg. You can bring your stuffers. Good God. Okay. Back to the quiz.
Okay. Um, country or city living, uh, you know, the older I'm getting, I definitely love some country living. And if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you. Right next to Steve brown. There you go. Um, okay. I'm going to take that as a serious answer. Rich or famous. You got to pick one. Okay. At the risk of sounding cliche, but I sincerely mean it I've the rich so that I could continue to just like.
It's a, it's a reaction we're looking for while you're here to cracking your personality. We're trying to figure that out. Book smart for smart ass. So a little bit living next to Steve brown answer tells you, you are a smart ass. So I think that's good. Quick question kg. What's the last book that you read that wasn't assigned to you in high school? I'll tell you what I have probably written a written I'd probably. 15 different books in the last decade, all of the same subjects.
And it ties into the Vietnam war. It's all on the test of the Kennedy assassination, because in my opinion, uh, November 22nd, 1963 is where that Vietnam war, uh, took that pivotal turn to where we headed. And if John F. Kennedy was never assassinated, we were never going to be in Vietnam. He was going to pull the trigger. But the CIA had other plans. And so the books I've been reading are all on the very same subject. I used to read horseracing books or JFK assassination.
Um, and I don't want to, you know, get it. It's still up for debate who was involved, but it's. It's a, it's a dark moment in our, in our history. And then there's a lot of conspiracy theories and I try to read up on everything. Yeah, we'll do the conspiracy Chronicles next time. Um, how about you, Justin? What's the last book you read? The last book I read was I really enjoy, uh, bill Raley has this called the killing series, killing Lincoln, killing Kennedy.
Uh, and the lawyer that I read was killing Reagan. Although Reagan has been there really. I would say that even if you don't love bill O'Reilly personally, they're written very cool to get an actual novel, but it's a true story. Um, their grade book side of the left center is killing Reagan. Steve, I know you're asking the questions, but I am curious as to what kind of books people are. I'm not a huge reader. My wife makes fun of reading for me is a really great way to fall asleep at night.
But I do read like rock and roll biographies. I love the Tom petty biography. Yeah. But written by the guy from a Delta Lego resident. And that's a great book. Um, but I, I read a lot of, like, I got some Beatles books for Christmas, I'm reading some Beatles stuff. So I'm, I'm more of like biography kind of guy. I don't really read a lot of fiction, you know? Very good back to the quiz. Oh no, God, I don't read books. I've written more books in the last 10 years than I read.
Uh, maybe when you was talking about the books you, right. It was going to be like from misery to Mac and cheese is so him. Yeah. And he knows all about misery. So great call Justin. I love that. That might be something that I have to do and he was in Brian's. So it all comes back to Brian songs. That will be well, it'll get you every single time. Steve, is that a call back? Call back a callback yet?
Um, I just have a few more questions for the quiz and we're going to get Justin understanding, really understanding what he's all about. Um, just that I, I think I know you, but tell me, are you, would you say you're more of an extrovert or more of an introvert? I think it's as weird as it sounds. I would probably say I'm more of an introvert, but I, I can be an extrovert when I need to be like when I'm on stage.
But I think like, again, you'll probably understand that there's sort of a barrier when you're on stage. Um, and there's also sort of like this persona that you can kind of hide behind. Um, but I would probably say I'm more of an introvert I'm I'm way more content. Especially the days of hanging out at home with my wife and my dogs, and then going out in public. Yeah. When you, when you put on the red pants, you can become a character kind of only put on your jacket.
You put on your jammies and you just cuddle up with your dogs and your people, um, or. Ah, man, you know, I, I think I'm a, generally a glass half full kind of guy, and there's sort of always that optimism about new year's day. Not that I really buy into the new year, new me. I think it requires more than that, but I think that was on new year's day. Alright. And the last one, this is a new one boys.
Um, was there a moment you realized it was better to be kind something happened when you were your kid or something? What was that mobile when you went. I'm thinking I'm not go this way. Yeah. That's the tire like you remember, you know, I think, I think there's, um, I've had some really great friends and mentors in my life. Uh, one of them, uh, one of my best friends, uh, who passed away unfortunately last year, about a year ago.
Uh, his name is Stephen Johnson and, uh, one of the finest gentlemen that I I've ever known in my life. And, uh, he was the, um, humble and kind person. And there was an aura about him. And I believe that that aura, um, stemmed from his goodness, his kindness, um, his humility. Um, and so there's sort of like those people in your life that are that way. And so you strive to want to be like, And you hope that you possess even a bit of, of the, uh, uh, amazingness that those people were.
And so I, I don't know if there's a specific moment, but I think there's people and he being one of them that really made me want to be like him. And again, he was, uh, he was, uh, I loved the music cool in the world. That's fantastic. So, um, yeah, I, I think, uh, You, my friend are one of those people as well. You've just have a joy around you. And you're just a fun guy to be around in a nice kind, decent, uh, sunshine. I'm a guy.
So thank you for joining us on the kindness Chronicle, where other awesome, awesome show. The fact that you're using your talent, uh, you know, for writing music and performing and doing something that. I was telling Steve, before we called Jay said, I can't get that song out of my head.
If ear worm is one of The goals of writing a song like that mission accomplished because there's something to the cadence of that song that almost there's like a military cadence to it, which I, I don't know why if that was intentional or if I'm just reading into it, but it was. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I, and you know, uh, I want to thank, uh, well thank you guys for, for having me and, um, you know, and, and then allowing me to have a platform to share this.
And, um, no, I wanna, I want to give huge kudos to Casey Smith who produced that song and work with me on that. And, and, uh, Paul M. Holt who played on it and, um, Ryan implement who played on it. And then my good friend, Steve diamond, who produced the video. Um, you know, these, these guys really stepped up and, and, and put a lot of value into what this project is. So I want to give those guys a shout out, but sincerely, thank you guys for letting me be on here tonight.
It was an absolute, absolute joy, and the spot is Justin. Justin with a J pu P L O f.com. You can search the project called the weight. They carry beautiful song and then a link to help raise funds for these Vietnam vets. Folks. If you're out there listening, you're a part of this family that is the kind of Chronicles had adjusted fluke.com. It's a great tune and it's a great cause. Hopefully you can get involved before we, uh, before we sign off. Thank you Justin.
But before we sign off, Uh, those of you that tuned into the kindness Chronicles, uh, what I'd like to talk about next week, uh, on our program is, uh, I'd like to talk about our high school days. And, you know, Steve, when you ask the question, was there a moment, you know, in your life that really like you witnessed something that's that, that, that was just a compelling moment that said that.
The kind of person that I want to be, um, send your stories to us, you know, whether it's on Facebook or, Facebook seems to be the easiest one, but we'd love to hear, some of the stories of kindness that, uh, that you experienced in, uh, in high school that you still remember today. just very quickly, we just had our 35 year class reunion. And I was part of the group that organized it and the group of, uh, of people that put it together. There were seven of us. We weren't seven people.
I don't think anybody really hung around with each other when we were in high school, but we have had so much. Um, the one guy that's Mike McGinn, who's the captain of our football team was a good friend back then, but, um, just such a neat group of people. And, at the reunion, you go to the 10 year reunion and everybody's trying to outdo each other with how important they are and how impressive their lives are. And you get to the 35th reunion and all that BS just kind of goes away.
And it's, it's just all very real. So. Think about your high school days, kg. I know that you peaked in high school so that yeah. Johnny, I can tell you that should be some great idea though. And I think for me, it probably goes back to grade school. Some of the lessons you learned there that kind of carry over my mom was the secretary of St. John the Baptist, and I broke a kid.
Uh, young Emmanuelle, who was a foreign exchange student from Guatemala on one of the lessons I learned, uh, we were playing tackle pompom, pull away. I had a crush on this young lady and I tackled her from behind on the playground, in the middle of. And uh, after leg.
And so her parents had to fly in from Guatemala, my mom, the whole story, because she worked at the school, forced me to go to the hospital, bring her flowers and walk up to that room and apologize for, look, I got from her father in that hospital room. Uh, this had to be what, late, late seventies. Uh, it definitely struck a chord of maybe taking the high road and being a little more kind and. I'll never forget it.
So yeah, there's always going to be great stories to take us back to our school-based. That one was a turning point for me. I haven't broken any lesson learned now, wait, wait, one second. Here. You said it was Emmanuelle. I was thinking that it was a guy. So you broke the leg of a girl in grade school, or you tackled her. No. Yeah, you played tackle pompom pole and that's what happened.
I don't even know what that game is, but it sounds like a terrible idea for grade school, especially on a frozen cement playground. It was, um, it was like I said, it was a turning point that we were young seven door, anything. The back window or facing backwards. Remember that you were captain, captain, captain. Not on the, uh, on, on that, uh, that lead paint. Look out, look at how good you turned out. All right. Well, I appreciate you guys.
Uh, you know, we went a little long on this one, but with all the technical difficulties, we'll cobble her down to a decent amount. Alrighty. Well, thank you guys. And as we say off, we go.