- Coming up on "Extra Credit," we meet a teenager who owns his own business, get fit with cardio kickboxing, and learn about self-portraits.

Stay tuned!

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Mrs. Pizzo, and I'm so happy you've joined us.

Welcome to "Extra Credit," where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas, and discover fun places together.

Today's theme is our stories, and we have so many wonderful stories to share with you.

But first, let's say hi to our cohost.

- Hi friends, my name is Sarayu, and I'm so excited to be with you today.

Today's theme is our stories.

You may be asking yourself, "What is my story?"

Part of telling your story involves sharing what you love about yourself.

Let's hear from the Diatribe teaching artists about the strong love they have for themselves.

(upbeat music) - I love my sense of humor.

I think I'm so funny.

(chuckles) I love my capacity for empathy and compassion.

As much as I hate it some days, I love it.

I love my goofy faces.

A lot of what I love about myself is just being goofy.

I love the way that my brain works.

It's like the things that I have hated about myself are the things that I also love about myself.

Having mental illnesses and stuff, it feels like your brain is your enemy, but the mental illnesses are the shadow to the light that is how creative and imaginative my brain is.

So I guess, I love you brain.

(chuckles) - I love the fact that kids feel safe coming to me with anything.

I also love the fact that I not only have the respect of the youth, but I have respect from those who may be in the streets and not doing the most glamorous things, and I also have a great relationship with those who are mayors and CEOs.

And so, I like the fact that I'm able to bridge that gap between all of them by being who I am.

- I love my sense of humor.

I think it can be very, very dark, at times, but it's like 99% true.

I love being surprised, right?

You know, like we talked about stereotypes.

Say you prejudged somebody that walked in, right?

Or you had no expectations, and then, all of a sudden, they just surprise you, and they just have a great talent, or they hit you with a quote that lasts a lifetime, right?

That I love, right?

Just the art of being surprised.

Something that just puts a smile on your face for days to come.

I love that.

And I love being a dad, man.

I never expected that.

Not that I was like, "Yeah, man, I hate my kids" growing up, or nothing like that.

No, I just never expected the amount of love I have for a little human.

And to just hold her, to smile, to get her to smile.

I love seeing my mom around my kids.

I love seeing my family.

Yeah, man, and I love to do stuff for people, man.

Like, I am constantly surprised when somebody says, "Man, yo, you told me such and such and this, "and it's always stuck with me."

And then for someone to take what I've learned and to use it for themselves and try to better themselves, I think that is one of the most gratifying feelings on the planet.

- Something I love about myself is my name.

Very rarely will you come across another Sarayu, and that's what my parents intended.

They wanted a unique name that set me apart from everyone else.

And growing up, I didn't love it.

I wanted to be a Sarah.

But I eventually grew to love that I was different, and that I was named after a beautiful river in India, connecting me to my culture.

What do you love about yourself?

I wonder how you can share that story with others.

In this next segment, we'll learn what counselors do, and how they help other people tell their stories.

(upbeat music) - Hi, my name is Dr. S. I am very proud of my job, because I care for how people feel, think, and behave.

I am a counselor.

(slide whistle glissando) Counselors help people of all ages explore their feelings and goals.

There are many types of counselors.

Mental health counselors help us understand our big feelings.

They help people when they are feeling sad, angry, scared, or worried.

They listen, help us understand what happened, and work with us on how to feel better.

Grief counselors help you understand and cope with your feelings if a loved one or a pet in your family dies or goes away.

School counselors help with understanding your feelings, how to make good choices with your friends, and how to set goals in school, and planning your future.

(slide whistle glissando) Counselors work in a doctor's office, (bubble popping) a hospital, (bubble popping) your school, (bubble popping) or even sometimes a community center or library.

A counselor's office is a safe place where you can learn about feelings and talk about the things that make you you.

When you go into a counselor's office you might sit in a chair and talk, work with a group of other kids, or even play with toys.

(slide whistle glissando) In addition to counselors, there are many other helpers like social workers, psychologists, and therapists who all work in mental health careers.

I like my job because I get to help you on your journey through life.

(slide whistle glissando) Counselors are important helpers in our neighborhood because we help people learn about themselves and the world around us.

So what's my job?

To help you feel better about yourself.

What's your job?

To share your feelings.

- [Announcer] To meet other helpers in our neighborhood, go to meetthehelpers.org.

- [Announcer] Meet the Helpers is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

(upbeat music) - I think it's really important because it's almost like you don't know if you're allowed if you don't see it, which is really strange.

Like one of my mentors is this guy, a lot of people hearing this aren't gonna know.

Guy's name's Daniel Williams.

He used to be the executive director of this nonprofit called WMCAT.

And besides myself, I don't know any Black executive directors, especially Black men, especially ones that aren't scared to speak about the world, or their city.

And if not for him, I would think that all the executive directors, or people who work in non-profits have to look a certain way, or operate a certain way.

And I think that, again, by seeing people like that, it shows me that I can not only do that, but I can also push farther, that I could be even more radical, or even more unapologetic to where when I get to wherever I get, that people around me are gonna see that that's possible, and that they might be able to do that and take that even farther.

- You want to see people that look like you so that it gives you the strength and courage to do the same thing.

And then also when you don't see people that look like you, it gives you the strength and the courage to be the first to do that.

I hope that I'm doing that for somebody because I have so many people doing it for me.

- I think that I used to really identify with Ellen DeGeneres and felt inspired by her as someone who was a performer, who was a comedian, who became really successful, who had a downfall because of her coming out, and then rose back up to have a really successful career.

I feel like I identify with her a little bit less.

She's become a little bit less personable.

Things have come out about her recently that she's not as nice as she seems, and things like that.

And jokes about how we need a new Supreme, a new role model.

So we used to watch "The Ellen Show" her sitcom, when I was a very young person.

And when she came out on the show, and when she came out in real life, well, her show was canceled, for one, but even if it hadn't been canceled, we would not be allowed to watch it anymore anyway.

So I remember that specifically, and that message coming across in my home of like being queer was not okay.

And so then I remember as an 18-year-old taking my nephew with my mother to see "Finding Nemo" and hearing Ellen's voice as Dory.

And I remember this moment of connection and like, wow, she's doing it again.

They're letting this person who they know is queer have this big role.

She is funny, she is like the biggest part of this movie.

And that's really what launched into her talk show.

And so I definitely felt that at the time, that I was like, this is cool.

This is really cool, and I'm starting to believe in myself a little bit more, and starting to be okay with myself a little bit more.

- Hey mathematicians, are you ready for our daily math challenge?

Today we'll help out Mr. Lineberger figure out where to hang a banner on his wall by using math.

Let's check it out.

(upbeat music) - Hi there, everybody, I'm Mr. Lineberger, and today we're gonna do some pretty amazing math.

You're gonna help me solve a problem.

But first, a little music.

(cheerful music) Maybe you don't think of the ukulele as a rock and roll instrument, but you've probably never heard one like this before.

(ringing rock chord) Whoo!

See, my band just had this giant banner made to go behind us on stage.

When we're not playing, we want to hang it in our practice room.

See that big wall back there?

That's where we want to hang it.

The thing is, I don't know how tall the room is.

So I'm gonna need to do some math to figure out whether I can hang the banner.

But first, let's start with something easier.

Just a quick review.

You all know what a rectangular prism is, right?

In this case, I have a prism that is four meters wide by five meters, high by two meters deep.

If I want to find the volume of this prism, in other words, how much it can contain if it were filled with something like air, or whipped cream, or strawberry syrup, I would multiply the length and the width, and then multiply that product by the height.

In this case, we can represent this as an equation.

Volume, we'll call that V, is equal to length, that's two meters in this case, times width, that's four meters in this case, times height, five meters.

So two multiplied by four is eight, eight multiplied by five that's 40, 40 cubic meters would be the volume.

Here's another way to think of it.

Imagine that the whole prism is filled with cubes, cubic meters.

The bottom row would be the length times the width, eight cubes, and I'd have five layers of cubes to get to the top of the rectangular prism.

Five times eight, that's 40 cubes.

40 cubic meters?

Slick, right?

Let's take things to the next level.

What if we only know part of the information?

Check out this rectangular prism, imagine that we don't know the height, length, or width of the prism.

Maybe all we know is the total volume, and, let's say the area of one side.

Let's imagine that the total volume of this is 36 cubic meters.

We also know that the area of the bottom of the prism is 12 square meters.

How can we determine the height of the figure?

Can we?

You bet we can.

When we look at our volume equation, V equals L times W times H. In other words, volume equals length times, width, times height.

There's another way we could write that: length times width, that's the same as area.

If we have a rectangle, we determine the area by multiplying the two sides of the rectangle.

So instead of volume equals length times width times height, we could think of the volume equation as volume equals area of a side times height.

Now let's tackle our sample problem.

We know the area of one side is 12 square meters, and we know the total volume is 36 cubic meters.

V is 36.

So 36 equals area of one side, 12, times height.

36 equals 12 times H. How many twelves does it take to make 36?

Two twelves is 24, so one more is 36.

Our answer is three.

The height in the sample problem is three meters.

Let's do one more sample problem just to be sure you've gotten the hang of things.

Imagine we have a rectangular prism with a total volume of 70 cubic meters.

We know the prism is five meters long and seven meters wide, but we don't know the height.

We can still figure that out because we know volume equals the area of a side times the height.

In this case, the volume is 70 and the area of a side is 35 square meters.

Seven meters times five meters equals an area of 35 square meters.

What can we multiply by 35 to get our volume of 70?

Two.

35 times two equals 70.

So the height of our prism must be two meters.

Are you feeling more confident about this type of problem?

Let's do one more before we figure out if I can hang my sweet banner in my band's practice space.

Picture in your mind a beautiful rectangular prism.

This gorgeous prism is on the tall side, we'll say two meters and has long luxurious hair.

Oh, right, math, right.

So a prism two meters tall, and the area of the front of the prism is eight meters squared.

We know that the volume of the prism is 40 cubic meters.

How long is the prism?

In this case, if you look at my cool virtual diagram, we can see that we actually know the height, which was the thing we needed to know the last time.

Height is two meters here.

We don't know the width or the length, but we do know the area of one side: eight meters squared.

Volume equals length times width times height.

We rewrote that earlier as volume equals area of one side times height.

But depending on which way you orient the prism, any side could be the height, see?

For this problem volume equals the area of one side times length.

Let's write that as volume equals eight times length.

The volume is 40, so 40 equals eight times L. How many eights are in 40?

I could count by eight.

That'll help me figure it out.

8, 16, 24, 32, 40.

Five.

The length of our gorgeous, tall, mystery prism is five meters.

I think you're ready to help me with my banner.

I don't have a tape measure to do the actual measuring, but I knew the area of my band's practice floor because I bought a rug to cover it.

The floor is exactly 40 meters square.

That means the room might be eight meters by five meters, or 10 meters by four meters.

It might even be two meters wide by 20 meters long.

No, that's silly.

It's a room, not a hallway, But it doesn't matter what the dimensions are.

If we know the area, we can figure out how tall the room is.

I also know the volume of my practice room is 120 cubic meters.

So you might think it's crazy that I know that, but I'll just say an underwater music video was involved.

The banner I want to hang is 2.5 meters tall.

Is the room tall enough to hang it?

I'll wait a moment.

I know some of you are about to figure it out.

Give me your best rock and roll yes or no.

Let's see if you're right.

Volume equals area of a side multiplied by the height.

120 cubic meters equals 40 times the height.

40, 80, 120, that's three.

The height of the room is three meters.

If the banner is 2.5 meters tall, we'll totally be able to hang that bad boy.

Thanks for working out some rockin' math with me today.

We took what we knew about the volume of a rectangular prism and figured out the height of my practice space, and determined it was tall enough to fit the new banner.

We used a little multiplication, a little division, and a lot of sweet brainpower.

Well done.

(mellow music) - One of the things I love about myself is my work ethic.

I love this about me because it always feels so rewarding to complete something I've worked hard on.

What do you love about yourself?

I wonder how you could share that story with others.

(upbeat music) (chime glissando) - I'm a full-time poet and playwright, multimedia artist, and I'm a producer.

I produce a really large concert called Black Women Rock.

I've been producing that since 2004.

Write from your heart and tell the truth.

That's the first thing.

And then you have to read, and you have to read people outside of yourself.

You have to read every writer you can get your hands on.

You have to read fiction, read non-fiction, read memoir, read the newspaper, magazines.

You have to read in order to be a good writer, in order to write a good poem, a poem that hasn't been written like any other poem that's ever been written, because you're always trying to outdo yourself.

You have to find a way to get an audience to the place where you were when you were simply writing it.

And that is the struggle is to get people to feel how you felt when you wrote the poem.

'Cause you felt something strong when you actually wrote it, and now you're saying it.

So you need to find a way to bring them back to that space.

And that's also about being honest.

If the poem makes you cry, you should cry.

If it's funny, then you should laugh.

If it makes you feel good, I need to feel that.

When I'm writing for theater, I'm definitely thinking about my audience more.

When I'm writing my poems, they're so personal, poetry for me is such a personal space.

It's me by myself with either my pen and my pad, or my laptop now.

And my music on, and my tea's going, and nobody's there, and it's all about what I feel like.

Playwriting, I'm thinking about that audience.

If I'm asking a question, I know that there's people there that can answer it, or they're listening.

So there's more of a give and take there, whereas the poetry is a very solace thing.

When I'm playwriting, I'm really am considering, okay.

do I wanna walk through this audience and say this?

The audience is part of the part of the performance so I'm using them.

If there's a call and response, I know I'm gonna have somebody to respond back.

So I'm considering them in a different kind of way.

And most of my work is solo theater and multimedia, so it's film, and so I'm thinking as an audience member, what do I need to see visually?

What I'm wearing matters more in theater.

Even in my poetry shows, I'm flamboyant with hats and boots, and I do all this costuming.

But with theater, it really matters.

I did my show, "God is Not an American" is one of my books that I turned into a full multimedia show that I performed all over New York City in all the parks, and it's a full orchestra, like a rock opera with monologue.

And I'm like, how do I hold this audience a Marcus Garvey Park, or Von King Park?

And I'm not doing just a typical music show, I'm doing full monologues, and poetry, and film, and sound bites.

How do I get them engaged?

So I'm always thinking, how do I keep their attention?

I need their attention for at least an hour and a half to two hours.

How can I engage these people and not be a boring poetry reading?

So I'm bringing in the bells and whistles.

I'm bringing in a saxophone here, different voices.

And so in theater it's definitely not just about me.

It's about what other things I can use to keep the audience engaged.

(upbeat music) - So we're here at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways.

It's significant in that it represents the culture and the history of the Anishinabe people, specifically the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe.

It's our permanent exhibit here that is nationally renowned.

One of the premier museums here in the Midwest.

And you'll start from our ancestors, the petroglyphs area, that talks about kind of that pre-European contact.

From that you'll see exhibits that highlight on the seasons, kind of what our ancestors lived in and how they survived through that.

Then you kind of walk into a segment that is pre-European contact, so what our ancestors did, how they functioned on the land.

From that goes into European contact and kind of the settlements and the camps, migration patterns, and then from that you kind of transition into present day and how our people live today.

It's an opportunity here to kind of get that opportunity to understand Native American culture, to ask questions, to see the facts behind that.

You may think one thing about Native American culture, but have been afraid to ask.

It's a very open environment.

Having that access to ask the questions that you want answers to, and proper answers to, is very important, and that's part of what this museum helps us do.

(ethereal music) (upbeat music) (pencil scratching) (child giggling) - Welcome to Inpact at Home where we practice interrupting prolonged sitting with activity.

I'm Michelle Van Duyn and I am here to help you get moving for the next eight minutes.

You'll be surprised at what these moments of movement can do for you and the rest of your family so that you can stay active and healthy at home.

So go ahead, let's get up, and let's start moving.

Hey everybody, for this movement activity we're going to be doing some cardio kickboxing.

We're gonna start with a quick warmup.

We're gonna shuffle twice, touch the ground.

Shuffle, touch the ground.

We're getting our joints ready, our blood flowing, just getting the body warm.

Good job.

Keep going.

Make sure you have enough room.

You're not gonna bump into anyone or anything.

You're doing good; keep going.

We're gonna do it for five more seconds, and relax.

Okay, we're gonna also do a leg stretch.

So go down into a plank.

Bring your leg up by your hand, press down, and switch.

So we're stretching out our legs.

Also engaging our core, as well.

Now, if you're feeling ambitious, you can also jump switch it.

I'm not feeling ambitious, so we're just gonna walk it.

Good job.

Keep it up.

Five more seconds.

Get that last stretch in and relax.

Let's get into these basic punches.

So one foot in front, one foot in the back.

Make a fist with both hands, two thumbs around the outside.

We're gonna do some jabs.

So lead hand, rear hand.

I'm just gonna alternate right here.

So front hand is called a jab, and then a cross.

Nice job.

We're gonna keep it right here.

If you're feeling comfortable with this, go ahead and speed it up.

Always bring your hand back into guard, which means you put it by your face.

If you notice, I pick up my heels and rotate for more power.

Almost done.

Keep going.

And relax.

All right, the next one we're gonna do is we're gonna add in an uppercut.

So back into your fighting stance, hands up in guard, you're gonna jab, cross, uppercut, rear uppercut.

Then we're gonna repeat.

So jab, cross, uppercut, rear uppercut.

Again, find some rotation through your hips, and through your legs, Lift up those heel.

Jab, cross, uppercut, uppercut.

Great job.

A few more.

And relax.

The last one we're gonna do on this side is a moving jab sequence.

So make sure you have enough room.

You're going to jab forward for two steps, uppercut, two steps back.

Repeat it.

Uppercut, uppercut.

So jab, jab, back, back.

And you can go as fast as you want as long as you've maintained proper form, or as slow as you need to in order to keep your rhythm.

Nice job.

Definitely engaging our brain and our movements.

And relax.

We're gonna switch sides, do the same thing.

So this may feel a bit awkward depending on how coordinated you are on each side.

So hands up in guard.

All we're gonna do is our basic punches.

So our jab and our cross.

Again, lift up those heels, pivot through your toes.

Jab cross.

Again, if you wanna pick it up and go fast, you can.

If you wanna keep it at a medium speed, it's totally fine.

I'm just proud of you for getting out here and working out.

Keep going for a little bit longer.

Then we're gonna switch it up.

Keep going for 5, 4, 3, 2, and one.

Let's go back to those uppercuts.

So hands up in guard.

Jab, cross, forward uppercut, rear uppercut.

Keep going.

Uppercut, rear uppercut.

Jab, cross, up, up.

Jab, cross, up, up.

Nice little pattern there for you.

You've got it, keep going.

If you mess up, that's fine.

Just find a good spot to pick up and join us again.

Couple more on this one and then we're gonna switch.

And we're gonna switch to that last one.

So we're gonna do two jabs forward, two uppercuts back.

So jab, jab, back, back.

Forward, forward, uppercut, uppercut.

Nice job.

Again.

If you've got this mastered from the other side, pick it up.

All right, let's really get that heart rate going.

Nice job.

Keep it up.

You're doing great.

You're becoming a master cardio kick boxer.

Keep going for 5, 4, 3, 2, and finish this one out for one.

All right.

We're gonna get into the kickboxing sequence part.

This is the fun part.

So go back into your original stance.

One foot in front, one foot in the back, hands up in guard.

What you're gonna do is a jab, cross.

So with your back leg in, lift your knee up, it's called a chamber.

We're gonna reset, okay?

So jab, cross, step, chamber, repeat.

Jab, cross, step, chamber.

Now, what a chamber is, is it's preparing for a bigger kick.

Couple more seconds we're gonna add on to this.

You're doing great.

Okay, now moving onto this, we're gonna add in that front kick push.

So same stance, jab, cross, step it in, and push forward with your leg.

I like to think of it as you're pushing open a door with your foot.

So let's try it again, jab, cross, step, push.

This front leg is the push.

Let's go.

Jab, cross, step, and push.

Good job.

Takes a couple of times to get used to.

You're doing great.

And we're gonna switch sides.

So I know you're gonna do much better on this side.

'cause now you got the basics.

So hands up in guard.

We're going to do that jab, cross, step, and chamber.

Great job.

See, I told you, so much easier on this side now that you have some practice.

And the more you do this, the better you're gonna get.

Keep going for a few more seconds.

We're gonna add in that front push kick.

Alright, ready?

Jab, cross, step, push, repeat.

Jab, cross, push.

Again, use your heel to push forward.

We're not using our toes, we're using the bottom of our foot.

Keep it up.

You're doing great.

Five seconds, 4, 3, 2, and one.

Great job, everyone.

You did awesome.

I hope you enjoy today's moving break.

Inpact at Home is a chance to apply the skills you may have learned in your PE class to improve your health.

To learn more about the health benefits associated with daily movement, visit inpactathome.umich.edu.

Now, don't forget to fill out your daily log.

We will see you again during our next workout.

(pencil scratching) (child giggling) (upbeat music) - This is a self-portrait.

I am a ball of emotion, and colors, and there's nothing linear or perfect about me.

I'm all over the place.

And I am grateful to be in a space where I can finally find acceptance for the fact that I'm imperfect, and I'm abstract, and that there's no stroke that will ever be the same that will come from me.

And so, you know, this piece, this self-portrait is literally just a reflection of my being, my blackness, my boldness, the love that I like people to feel when they see me.

I hope it looks like this.

If I didn't have mirrors, or if I could not see, this is what I would assume that I look like.

(laughing) A big old blob of beauty.

(laughing) - I think I nailed it.

So the picture, that's me.

I'm a man of many hats, So I got a hat on, I got my glasses.

I got teacher, I got comedian, I got writer, uncle, poet, rapper, father, genius, friend.

Yeah.

- I chose to do a collage and cut up a bunch of magazines because magazines are cheap, and we also had some around the house.

So you'll see a bunch of just different icons and change makers, and people who had a radical impact on history.

And I try to do that in my city and in my neighborhood.

So I tried to get a lot of people who really, really, really inspire me.

- This collage here represents me.

It shows me with my girls, the Lady Reds of Muskegon High varsity basketball team.

This picture right here, I was at a protest after the George Floyd event.

Because again, I go by Voice for the Voiceless, so I'm usually at anything that's speaking up on behalf of our community.

And in the lower right corner is a wanted poster that says, "Well-behaved women seldom make history."

And it's some of my favorite people: Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis, and Assata Shakur because I kind of have that same fire within me to fight for what's right.

I fight for my community, I speak up.

And this collage, it represents that I'm a poet.

- So this is my self-portrait, including words around myself.

So I do have artists up here.

I'd like to reiterate that I'm not necessarily a visual artist, but this is my best rendition.

I put dork on there 'cause I feel like that is a big part of my identity.

I like love to roller blade, I'm just kind of a dork.

I have a goofy sense of humor as well.

And a lot of my friends are dorks.

But yeah, these are all different things that I identify as that play a big role in my personality and who I am.

- So this is my body as mountains.

The magenta right here is my love.

The red in the coroner's my passion.

So that's like anger, you know.

(laughing) That's me being mad.

The pink is my softness.

I've worked really hard to keep it.

So it's like really close to me.

The green, it's envy for real, but it's me staying goal-oriented and keeping close to what I want for my future.

- This stone on a stand I already had in my house.

It reminded me of Beetlejuice, and that's why I got it.

But it is also an obsidian stone, which depending on what you believe in with different kinds of rocks, they have different kinds of properties, and this one is for protection and purifying.

And this fancy little Sunday hat is a piece of metal that I really liked.

I like to pick things off of the ground that are interesting to me.

And this was after a car accident that was outside of my house.

And I just thought it was so cool how this piece of machinery was all twisted up.

And I wanted to keep it with me.

I didn't know what I was gonna do with it, and just carry it around with me for months.

And this prompt had come up, to make a self-portrait, and I thought, "Oh, a fancy little derby hat."

But it's also like how creating art is oftentimes taking the scraps from the wreckage of our lives and making something out of it.

The beginnings of my life were really hard, and there was a lot of violence, and I oftentimes can fall into the pit of thinking that I'm a broken person, and this little hat reminds me that being broken isn't a final state, that it is morphing into its next purpose, which is to be a hat, I guess.

(laughing) (upbeat music) (mysterious music) - [Dr. Blotch] Naomi, are the how-to guides for my in-home vacations done yet?

- Uh, Dr. Blotch, it's Naimah.

Dr. Naimah Wade.

(sighing) - [Dr. Blotch] Yes, what, no, that's what I said.

But importantly, my vacations.

- (sighing) Um, all right, Dr. Blotch.

I created a vacation.

Here's what I have.

It's a trip to New York and- - [Dr. Blotch] Oh, New York, the Big Apple?

Tell me more.

- It's still a work in progress, but here's what I have.

So first, you are in New York, and then you see a bunch of signs, and you hear a bunch of loud noises, and then you're on the subway, and voila, you're at the Statue of Liberty.

How's that?

- [Dr. Blotch] Nancy, how do I say this?

That was neither interesting, nor evocative.

I have never been more underwhelmed by the prospect of New York City.

(Naimah growling) - Well, I mean, maybe it does need a bit more work.

- [Dr. Blotch] Mm-hm, mm-hm, right.

I didn't learn how to do anything with that.

I need to know what the city is like from all angles, using all my senses.

Think of it that way.

Give it another go.

- Okay.

So maybe you sit in a plastic chair, and then you bounce, bounce, bounce because you're on the subway, and then it screeches to a halt.

So you have to hold on tight because you're on the subway, and it's time for you to get off.

And then, hmm, maybe you turn off all the lights in your very small apartment, and the holiday lights that you still have strung up, they just glow as you take in the sounds of being in Times Square.

And then what if you also can just smell the smell of a hot dog in the park because of a hot dog that you just made in your own apartment.

Um, oh, man, oh, oh, oh!

And then what if you watch a musical on TV and it's like you're in a Broadway, like you're at a show on Broadway.

And then, then you hear someone calling your name and you see your mom who's holding a candlestick and she's wearing a long, drapey green dress, and you are reminded of the Statue of Liberty.

How's that?

- [Dr. Blotch] (gasping) It's like I'm really there!

- Okay.

That was hard work, but it's possible.

- [Dr. Blotch] Goodness gracious.

All right, that's all for now.

Fare thee well.

(mysterious music) (upbeat music) - People ask me, "Eric, why don't you speak your native language?"

And I simply say it was systematically taken out of my community.

A tool that was used for that extraction of native language was the boarding school system.

One of those boarding schools was built here, and it was the last boarding school in operation in the United States.

It closed its doors as an Indian boarding school in 1983.

Holy Childhood is a difficult story to tell.

I didn't go to the boarding school, but many people in my community did, many people throughout Michigan went to Holy Childhood.

There's a lot of mixed stories with this place.

Some native students had really good experiences, but then some of the children literally didn't make it.

They died here.

And talk with some of the survivors who didn't have the best experiences.

They talk about being abused and beaten as kids.

And they pass that on to their kids.

That's the upbringing they knew, so they passed it on.

And then I talk to another person, it's like, "Man, I had the best experience there.

"I had friends, I ate, it was good."

And this was all going on at the same time these kids were being brutalized.

So it's a very complicated story.

It's a story I don't feel comfortable telling because of the people who are still with us in our community who lived that.

But the story's still there.

The ripple effect through the community is still there.

(upbeat music) (chime glissando) - I write and direct movies, independent films, movies for television, television commercials, and also music videos.

Get a camera.

It doesn't have to be an expensive camera.

It could be your cell phone.

And just pick it up, and hold it up, and look through the lens.

And from there, you'll begin creating your own world.

I try not to look at them as obstacles.

I try to just let him just breeze past them because the obstacles will always be there.

You just have to circumnavigate them.

You have to look at it like it's a mine field, like you're at war and you have to step here and step here.

Be careful, careful, careful, and just hop over them, breeze past them.

Some of them stop you for a while, but you never let them stop you permanently.

Well, the power of being a storyteller is this: in ancient times, the shamans were community storytellers and everyone looked up to them, and they eventually evolved to become politicians, and writers, and philosophers, and all those kinds of things.

The power of story is something that's in all of us.

There's an old saying: is life imitating art, or is art imitating life?

And that all comes from the host dynamics of storytelling.

You could put a story on television or in a theaters that's just very negative, and all of those things, and people will start reacting to that in ways that sometimes you don't want.

So you have to be very careful about the stories that you put out there.

A compelling story is something that I think touches everyone in a way that it's a universal story.

It's something that shows people at the moment of change, of pivotal moments.

It's a story that engages us in ways that helps to transform us, to make us think how to be a better person, how to do something better, how to be a better family member, and all of those wonderful things.

Transformative.

That's being the best kind of filmmaker that you could be.

(upbeat music) (mellow music) - [Ruben] Get to work, first thing I do is turn on my email.

And I discovered this one, I didn't know who it was from.

- [Rachel] My coworker sent you that email by mistake.

- [Ruben] And I was like, here's another RP Salazar.

Imagine that.

And so I forwarded it.

I wrote a little message.

"Hi, Rachel.

"It seems as if this message came to me instead of you, "I'm in Waco, Texas USA.

"Have a great day.

"P.S.

How's the weather there in Bangkok?"

- [Rachel] I replied to you, "Weather in Bangkok is lovely.

"Gracias, Rachel."

- [Ruben] So began a chain of emails.

- [Ruben] The first couple of emails you started describing yourself, and that kind of encouraged me to be open about myself, too.

- [Ruben] I was excited that this person who's halfway around the world, it's kind of like sending a letter in a bottle.

I happened to hover my mouse over your name on one of those emails, and a picture of you popped up.

I was like, 'Wow, she's really beautiful.

"How can I make this picture bigger?"

(laughing) I would stay up late at night, which was your morning, and we would chat for like four or five hours.

- [Rachel] You had started to play important role in my life even before I consciously realized it.

I knew that I was falling in love, but there's still that tiny little bit of doubt that this might not work because we're 8,000 miles away from each other.

But at some point I finalized my plans to visit the U.S. - [Ruben] And you didn't tell anyone.

- [Rachel] Because everyone would tell me, "You're foolish to go halfway across the world "to meet some strange guy you have not met.

"That would be crazy."

- [Ruben] And on my end, every relative, every friend, coworker, everyone knew.

- [Rachel] we were together for eight days.

- [Rachel] We were dancing one night and you mentioned something to the effect that- - [Rachel] I said you were the sweetest guy I've ever met.

- [Ruben] I knew right at that moment, I needed to say something, or do something so that I don't lose her.

And so I got on my knee and asked you to marry me.

- [Rachel] Deep in my heart, I knew it was coming, and it was the right thing, and it was the best thing.

- [Ruben] People didn't believe me when I told them I proposed to Rachel.

Some of them had second thoughts for me followed by five minutes of laughter.

(both laughing) - [Rachel] They now all tell us, "You're perfect for each other.

"You found the right match."

(mellow music) (upbeat music) - By day, Blake Klumpp is a typical high school student.

He goes to class, he goes to football practice, but he also finds time to run his own business.

Courtney Jerome now heads to the central Michigan town of Shepherd to meet Blake and talk about his harvest at his very own farmer's market.

- This downtown looks like a lot of other Michigan downtowns filled with places to work, play, eat, and explore.

The downtown community of Shepherd looks a little bit different.

Where you would expect to see another brick business, instead you'll find this brick and mortar.

It's owned by a young entrepreneur.

- I'm 16 years old.

In school I'm a part of student council.

I've been a part of student council since my fifth grade elementary school, all through middle school, and now into high school.

I do BPA, Business Professionals of America.

A lot of things in that nature.

Other leadership groups and stuff that have popped up along the years, I've become part of those.

I play football, I do power lifting in the winter, and then I'm a golfer in the spring.

Whenever I'm not in school, or maybe taking a vacation here and there, I'm always working no matter what time of the time of the year, or what day of the week, I'm always working, for the most part.

Honestly, my favorite thing to do is work.

(laughing) - [Courtney] That's not something you typically hear from a 16-year-old, but Blake was born and raised in Shepherd into an entrepreneurial and farming family, one that inspired him to have a similar story.

Now Blake's family owns multiple businesses themselves and the family farms 3000 acres in Shepherd, and they have for generations dating back to his great-grandfather.

Blake grew up working on this family farm, caring for cows, climbing on combines, doing, as he says, whatever's needed.

- Pretty much learned everything from a very young age on, what to do, how to do it, and everything.

So I can pretty much run or do anything on the farm.

- [Courtney] Then, when Blake was 12 years old, he saw a need in the community for a fresh marketplace.

So right in the heart of downtown, with the help of his family, they built a little red barn to sell fresh food under the name Shepherd Country Crops Farmer's Market.

Throughout the years, his self-serve stand has grown thanks to an overwhelming amount of support from his small town community.

- I'm pretty big about my farmer's market.

Try to bring the best produce I can, that I have sourced, or that I've grown, to the market for the community 'cause I do care a lot about this community.

Whenever I can donate something I do, or put in time, and different stuff.

I'm on a lot of different councils and different things at the school.

I just like to give back a little bit, the community's obviously supporting me, so I wanna support the community, too.

- [Courtney] Blake's market is open daily from about April through November, depending on the year.

He stocks the stand with seasonal produce he helps grow on his family's farm, and with additional items gathered through community partnerships.

- A lot of it I do grow, but I also have other sources.

I'm hooked up really closely related with some Amish out by Winn area.

There's certain things that I don't grow and they will grow.

We have a really strong relationship, but everything that they grow is grown organically, no sprays, the same way that I would.

And then flowers this spring was was huge.

It blew up a lot bigger than I ever thought it would, which is good obviously, but it was stressful week or so trying to supply it.

We'd bring 20 back and supply it, and then they'd be gone by the time we brought the other 20 back in about half hours.

So I mean, it was just crazy.

But I'd say normal time in the summer, probably corn's my biggest seller.

- [Courtney] Blake's gotten a taste of small business ownership thanks to the success of his Shepherd Country Crops Farmers Market.

So before we left, so he could, you know, get back to work, I had to ask, what does Blake want to do when he grows up?

- When I grow up, I don't know.

I kinda wanna take the role as the entrepreneur role.

I like being an entrepreneur.

I really don't have a set business as far as anything.

I think I'll continue my stand for quite a long time.

But I just wanna be an entrepreneur.

Whatever I think will suit me best, and whatever I can see as an opportunity and take advantage of it.

- I had a great time learning about our neighbors.

Wasn't it cool seeing Blake run his own fruit and vegetable business?

If you could start your own business today, what would it be?

Think about it.

I'll see you next time.

- On the next episode of Extra Credit, we meet a chef who used food to heal a community, visit a beef cattle farm, write a wacky weather report, and much more.

Get your Extra Credit on the Michigan Learning Channel.

- [Announcer] This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, the State of Michigan, and by viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (piano flourish)