(upbeat music) - Here's what's coming up.

- Next, on "You Oughta Know".

(frame whooshing) From flying acrobats to walking a tight rope, I try my hand at circus school.

- [Shirley] Magician, Ran'D Shine, proves real magic helps us reimagine the kid in us all.

- [Regina] We meet the owners of this sustainable New Jersey brewery.

- And find out why breast cancer survivors are calling this local doctor a good soul.

Hi everyone, welcome to the show, I'm Shirley Min.

- And I'm Regina Mitchell.

We begin the show with the New Jersey family run brewery that has tapped into a unique way to make delicious beer using sustainable methods.

(upbeat rock music) - Our core values here are community, quality and sustainability.

We've incorporated that with an energy efficient building, solar power and brewing technology that all work together.

We have a 200 kilowatt solar array here to power our whole brewery, beer by sun.

We have a 65,000 pound bulk grain silo that eliminates the need for shipping multiple pallets on trucks, plus source it out a month, month and a half with brewing.

Eliminates the use of polypropylene bags and things like that.

Here at Tonewood, we focus on producing IPAs and lagers, particularly the Lumber Yard lager.

It was kind of named after this space, which was an old lumber yard.

(soothing music) Brewing's a mix of biology, chemistry, and engineering, all that plays into the science aspect of getting us to be living in a more sustainable world.

To capture the CO2 gases that are produced during the fermentation process, we are utilizing a CO2 recapture technology, and then we are able to reuse that gas in our brewing process.

- The beer begins with us taking grain from the mill and bringing it into our mash tun here.

We strike the starches from the grain with hot water and that converts them into sugar.

We then transfer it over towards our boil kettle and we'll boil it up.

So now we have like a very viscous, like sugar water.

We also add in hop for bittering.

We then transfer it out to our fermentors on the production floor.

So this is all the spent grains.

We have a farmer that'll come and pick this up.

We give it to him for free, he'll use it for cattle feed and various other things.

We're not wasting any of the material that were used to make the beer.

- [Eli] We wanted to create a space that felt welcoming.

So we've created this space using locally sourced woods, really made it a lot of natural light so that it is a place where people can come enjoy a beer.

- Know, some warmer weather comes around, we'll have a nice beer garden to host everyone.

I'll be able to enjoy a drink outside and admire some of the stuff that we put into this place.

- They have good beer, there's been a lot of people coming here, we got a lot of positive feedback from the community so far.

- Family friendly, as you can see, you know, great beer selection.

- [Eli] Everyone here as a team wants to be contributing to the world, you know, we wanna be making quality beer, creating a space for the community and doing it in a sustainable way.

Yeah, that's just, it's our philosophy.

- The cousins who run the day to day operation have always been passionate about the environment.

Check out their website to plan your visit.

(frame whooshing) - The path to citizenship is not as easy as you may think.

Here in the US, going from immigrant to American requires more than filling out paperwork and passing a civics test.

And creating a modernized immigration system, well that could help.

(somber music) - United States of America has been built on immigration, we can all agree on that.

What we don't agree on is the immigration policies and the laws that are in place.

The reason that immigration law is such an important aspect is that it's ever changing.

And the reason why I say it's ever changing is the fact that the president, has the power with the stroke of a pen to change the laws by executive order.

So the prior administration was very aggressive in their immigration policies.

For instance, there was a quota put on the immigration judges, stating they have to deport a certain amount of people within a certain amount of time.

Which takes away from a lot of people's due process and their right to a trial.

Now we can all agree there's certain people that probably should be deported, but there's also a lot of people that have done it the right way, and should be allowed to stay in this country, provide for their families and pay taxes, and do all the things that us Americans do.

In this administration has allowed a lot more people to get a path to a Green Card.

Where they have a social security number, they're paying taxes.

If they're already here, there shouldn't be obstacles in place that don't allow them to do that.

So with that said, the immigration is a very fluid process and it's a very complicated process, because there's so much red tape that the immigrant and their family members have to go through in order to get to that end goal.

Which is usually a Green Card or after that, a path to citizenship.

Without even hiring a lawyer, it's gonna cost roughly around $2,000.

It's not a fortune to a lot of people, but to these people that are coming in this country who aren't allowed to work, $2,000 is a lot of money.

Well, where do they start?

The USCIS.gov website has been overhauled to give a tremendous amount of information to assist them in filling out the paperwork, where to file it, how much it costs, where to sign it.

They also have to provide all their information and documents.

Those documents are birth certificates, passports, divorce decrees.

Now most likely those documents are in a foreign language, or they're not with the immigrant, 'cause that immigrant came here with very little, if anything, and they don't have their paperwork.

The next part is navigating through the various buildings and offices that the immigrant must attend to get this process completed.

The premise of all this is that it's not easy to get a Green Card.

I believe there's a big misunderstanding in this country, that somebody walks over the border or flies here on an airplane and they get a Green Card and they work.

That's just not the case.

They still have to go through the process that I explained.

And moreover, they have to be qualified to do all that.

Most of the clients I deal with have been through tremendous tragedy, loss, and all the negative things you could possibly think about have happened to these people.

These are clients coming from all over the globe that are suffering.

We can't even imagine what they're going through.

To pick up from your home, leave everything, just to seek a new life and a better life for you and your family.

(frame whooshing) - The ups and downs of the stock market may have you thinking about investing in Cryptocurrency.

Well, if you're new to this, here's some help on how to get started.

- I am Zach Seward.

I am the Deputy Editor in Chief at CoinDesk.

♪ Let's make some money ♪ (machine chiming) (woman laughs) Cryptocurrency is this big $2 trillion asset class that is native to the internet.

The idea of Bitcoin is that it separates money from the state.

We're all used to dollars in our pockets, they're backed by the good faith of the US government.

Bitcoin isn't like that, it's not backed by anything.

It's just backed by an elaborate network of computers distributed across the globe.

It's gonna exist on the internet and it's gonna trade freely on the internet, and it's gonna be valued as high or as low as people value it.

There's tons of cryptocurrencies out there these days.

Thousands and thousands, but the two big ones, the two top dogs are certainly Bitcoin and Ether.

(upbeat rock music) Purchasing cryptocurrency has become pretty easy over the years.

You've heard of some of these big companies like Coinbase, right?

You can purchase any number of cryptocurrencies through these exchanges.

These exchanges are the on ramp for most people to get into the system and invest in these assets.

(dramatic music) There's still a lot of risk in this space, that hacks or other exploits can happen at the exchange level that will make you lose money.

(coins clanging) ♪ Money, tum-tum, give ♪ Best way to get started is to read CoinDesk.com.

The old adage, and I think it's still true with crypto is don't invest more than you can afford to lose.

Put in a hundred bucks, see what it looks like, see what your level of comfort is.

Try to hold those assets off of the exchange.

Try to secure those assets yourself, see how that feels.

(coin rattling) (coins clanging) (frame whooshing) - In this month's "Good Souls", we meet a surgeon whose care for cancer patients reaches beyond the hospital walls.

WHYY's, Cherry Greg has the story.

- Oh, who's a good boy?

Who would've thought a little orphan kid from North Philly.

My seven year old self would not have believed.

See you later.

- It was Dr. Monique Gary's seven year old self that ignited her mission of health and healing.

- [Monique] This is what people need, you know, when you don't feel well and your spirit is unsettled, you need a place to come.

- [Cherry] We traveled to Perkasie, Pennsylvania to meet the breast surgical oncologist and learn more about her farmhouse retreat, Still Rise Farm, that inspired her "Good Souls" nomination.

- Dr. Gary is a Good Soul because she thinks outside of herself.

It's a blessing when someone can use privilege and see it as an opportunity to help others.

- What is this place, what does it mean for you?

- When a person gets diagnosed with cancer, I am then the person that helps them to get to a better state of wellness.

And part of that is being the director, it's being the surgeon, it's doing the technical thing of removing the cancer.

But so much more of what I do on a day to day basis is really helping people to figure out, how to live a better life in spite of this diagnosis.

The third question that patients ask me after, am I gonna die, and do I need chemotherapy?

Is, what should I be eating, what should I be doing?

How should I be living?

How can I live a more holistic, healthy life?

And I began to explore this early in my career because it just kept coming up.

- Oh, wow, okay.

- This is, yeah.

So I set out on this journey to learn more about these things.

And I said, I'm going to develop a space, that's gonna serve as a living, learning, laboratory for this.

- [Cherry] Oh wow, so these are like, real stables.

- [Monique] You see stables, I see cabins, right?

- I met Dr. Monique Gary several years ago doing work in the breast cancer community.

And we just started doing some projects together.

And she told me about a idea that she's had since she was a little girl, to start a retreat where women who have been in treatment for breast cancer could heal.

- The seed that was planted in you came out of something sad, tell us about it.

- This job chose me.

When I was seven years old, my mother got very sick and she died within a year before her 30th birthday.

She was 29, with two girls.

And all we knew at the time was that she was really sick.

And then we started to hear the word cancer being whispered.

- [Cherry] And who is this?

- [Monique] Oh, my goodness, this is, so this is my grandmothers- And then when I was about 12 years old, my grandmother got breast cancer and she ultimately died 30 years later from heart failure.

You know, like she lived to be almost 90 years old.

It impacts everything I do and the way I run my program.

- [Cherry] All right.

Wow, that's good.

- [Monique] I began looking for this farm about now three years ago.

And I went all through the region, looking for a place that had enough room for retreats, for integrative wellness for cancer patients.

In one year, I have managed to unpack the boxes.

I've managed to keep the lights on.

I've managed to find a way to begin to develop this space, to help cancer patients live better lives.

And that's where you are, Still Rise Farm.

- When she told me that she had bought a farm, I didn't know what to expect.

And then she had planned a weekend retreat.

- We had about 12 women here who all were facing a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer.

And so we wanted to offer them components of wellness, including mindfulness and meditation.

So we did that in the morning.

We had a yoga instructor come.

We had a friend of mine who's a therapist who wrote a book, come and do a book signing, and she led us through guided meditations.

We had some Tai Chi, we had a cooking demonstration.

I am a good soul and I'm giving myself some grace because I've only been here a year, and I'm not a farmer by trade, I'm a surgeon by trade and by training.

And I have to now learn all of these things and build network, and build community.

And I'm looking at that as the fun part.

That's not a challenge anymore, but that's the opportunity to really grow where I'm planted, because this is where I'm planting and growing roots.

(slow music) - [Shirley] You can catch "Good Souls" with host Cherry Greg, every Monday at 12:30, and 5:44 PM on WHYY 90.9 FM.

And to nominate a good soul, log onto WHYY.org/GoodSouls.

- It's been called the greatest show on earth.

I'm talking about the circus, of course, and for good reasons.

Since the 1800s, it's amazed people both young and old, making you wonder, where did they learn to do that?

Well, "You Oughta Know", there's a circus school in Philly and they aren't just clowning around.

From the outside, this building in west Philadelphia looks like any other old church, but on the inside, a new spirit is alive.

The spirit of the three ring show.

(playful music) - I founded the school about 20 years ago.

It was after I'd come back from Europe, I was doing some circus training myself over there, learning to be an artist, essentially.

And when I came back to United States, there were no schools here.

(dramatic music) I started teaching actually out of my backyard.

People had just heard of me and wanted to try the trapeze or try aerial rope, that was where it started.

- [Regina] For the past five years, Shana Kennedy has run the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts.

Here, students of all ages can take classes and basic disciplines like aerial work, acrobatics and juggling.

But there's another part to this institution of higher learning, that combines both circus work with academics.

- Circadium is a sister school, which is a nonprofit organization that's here specifically so that students can get a diploma of circus arts.

(playful music) So some of the students you see here today are those students they're here full time wanting to be professionals.

(upbeat music) They need a full range of artistic classes, academic classes in career planning and business management, to things like theater and dance and body work to maintain their health.

- Full disclosure, I've actually always wanted to join the circus, so I'm not just here to observe, I'm actually gonna try some of these things.

Well, maybe not all of these things, but I'm gonna attempt some of them.

- I've been teaching at PSEA for five or six years at this point.

I went to school for theater, and then I went on to study theatrical clown.

This school had opened up.

I came to my first class, I was like, "This is gonna be easy, I know what I'm doing."

I was wrong.

It was very hard, but I loved it.

- [Regina] You're gonna be teaching me some of these moves.

- Yes, I'm gonna be teaching you sling, trapeze, and the tight wire.

- Hand over the top.

- Yep.

- Lean back.

- Yes.

- Foot.

- Yeah, good.

- Here.

- Yeah, and think about.

Yeah, pulling it down.

- Towards the back.

- Towards the ground, good.

- And drop my arm.

- Yes.

Beautiful.

- Not bad.

- And you're gonna press down into my hand, good.

That's it, yeah, good.

- [Regina] Yeah, I never made it across that tight rope alone.

At circus school, it's more about the lessons you learn while trying.

- Good.

What I love to see with our students when they leave the program is that they have learned how to work.

That if there is a problem in front of them, that you can work hard at it.

You might not always get the trick you want, but you will be closer.

And the longer you spend, you'll just get further down the road.

- I feel like Spider Man.

So much fun.

Philadelphia School of Circus Arts just kicked off its flying trapeze classes for anyone starting as young as six years old.

They also offer summer camps and a host of other programs.

For more information, check out our website.

- Do you believe in magic?

I do, and Philly's new face of magic will have you believing too.

- I'ma tap my fingers three times and count to three in Japanese, and something's gonna appear on this finger.

Don't blink.

(speaking in foreign language) I didn't get interested in magic until I was at Penn state.

One day I was working on my doctoral degree and I just said, "You know what?

"I wanna do card tricks for a living."

Heat creates energy, I could take that energy from my fingertips and this hole right here, in the lower right hand corner.

(slow music) I just left the university, left the doctoral program and just started performing and been performing for the past 17 years.

And most importantly, I paid off all of my student loans doing card tricks.

Completely off.

I'm gonna place that right next to that first hole.

It's the intellectual curiosity and a mystery about magic.

Something that is logically and that's impossible that you make a appear possible.

Keep your eye on the holes and just listen.

A little louder.

Tad bit louder.

(upbeat music) Much like comic books, and I've always been a comic book fan collector, superheroes have powers.

And what is the closest thing to having powers like the superhero?

A magician.

Family, friends, a few of them were disappointed.

Like, "Well, you are on the fast track to becoming a professor," 'cause that's what I wanted to do, become a professor in public health.

They thought that I was running away and joining the circus.

But after a few years into it and they saw that, hey, he's making a comfortable living.

He's doing well, he's traveling the world, he's happy.

You know what?

I support that.

And I think that's kinda the struggle that we as magicians have.

If someone says, "Hey, I'ma be an actor."

People can get that.

When you say, "I wanna be a magician," like, huh?

You'll see that that dollar bill is now inside out.

The archetype of a magician does not look like me.

When I step out on stage, I kinda bring that in.

I was performing in Iowa a few years ago and I'm behind the stage and I'm looking, there's a lot of people out there, it's around 600 people.

When I walked on stage, I said, "When I arrived in this town, "the African American population increased by 100%."

Everybody started laughing 'cause I addressed the elephant in a room, like, you weren't expecting someone to look like me as a magician, and we had a great time.

I like to say my show is, "Hey, I'm having a party "and I'm just the host and everyone's gonna have fun."

Magic is a universal language.

I've been to other countries where I cannot speak the language.

And I'm performing and people could connect with that.

Magic takes us back to when we were a child.

Children play, they have fun, they connect with each other, they share.

And that's what I love about magic.

That's what gets me going.

When I step on that stage, I know for 60 minutes, everyone in that room, we're gonna have a good time.

And magic is the tool to facilitate all that.

I think we have some more time, time for some more magic.

Yes, time for some more magic.

Now with that being said, I'ma need two assists to help me out with this next demonstration.

(fingers snapping) Hi Regina, hi, Shirley.

- Yeah, hi, that was trippy.

- Hey, it, wasn't it?

That's good magic.

- Absolutely.

- Absolutely, so I'd like both of you to help me out with a demonstration but, first I'ma tell you exactly what's gonna take place.

- Okay.

- Shirley, I'm going to subliminally influence you to make a decision, that's how this is done.

Now, you're probably thinking, how?

- You're right.

- Well through the tonality of my voice, my facial expressions, my body language.

I am actually right now influencing you to make a specific decision.

But before we get to that, Regina, this piece of paper, I want you to hold it in your hand, make a tight fist 'cause that's gonna be proof, proof that I influenced Shirley.

- Okay.

- We're gonna use my phone here, take a look at my phone.

Now you know the password, right here.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Everyone can see the phone, okay.

Now, Shirley, I want you to think of a number between 1 and 50.

- Okay.

- And when I snap my fingers, tell everyone the number.

- Okay.

(snaps fingers) - 32.

- 32, 32 right here.

Can you come in a little bit closer and you can see my phone waiting, is 32.

And can you open up my notes?

- Yep.

- And you see a list of 50 things of Philly right there.

- Okay.

- 50 things of Philly.

- Can you all see that?

- All my favorite things about Philadelphia that any Philadelphia should know about.

- Right.

- Okay, just open that, and scroll down, you can see I have a list of 50 things.

- Mh-mm.

- Just scroll down just to make sure.

- Okay.

- Okay, and right here so everyone can see here at home.

I have a list of 50 things from Philadelphia or about Philly.

And what was your number?

- 32.

- 32 was your number, and I said I was subliminally influence you to make a decision.

- Yeah.

- That was the number that I wanted you to decide on.

- Okay, I don't know if I believe that.

- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

You remember, I said I had proof.

- Yes.

- And I gave you proof.

- Yes.

- Who is at number 32?

- Okay, Ben Franklin.

- Ben Franklin.

- Mh-mm.

- Number 32, that piece of paper, open it up.

- Okay.

- Read what it says and show the camera, proving that I subliminally influenced her.

- Oh, my God.

- That is crazy.

- But, how?

- Wow.

- I have goosebumps.

- Be careful on who you talk to 'cause you never know how they will be influencing you, that's the message with that.

- Oh, my God.

- That's really cool.

I don't know how that happened.

- I have no idea.

(all laugh) - Thinking.

- Wow, so Ran'D, like what is it about magic that brings out the kid in all of us?

- You know what, I think everyone has that inner child in us.

Well, when we get older, it kinda dissipates.

- [Both] Yeah.

- But when people see magic, they remember how they felt when they were a child.

You remember a child, you know, we have no restrictions on life.

- That's right.

- You know, we believe everything is possible.

I remember when I was a kid, I thought I was Superman.

I would put a towel around my neck and jump off of high things, my mom would think I was crazy because we have that experience.

We're very imaginative and creative.

And so when people see magic, you're doing the impossible, but making it look possible, so it takes us back to that time.

- Wow.

- Yeah, it definitely put a smile on my face.

We've been talking about concerts and events and a lot of other things, and apparently like your schedule's booked up.

- Yes, Yes.

- In spite of COVID, right?

- Yeah.

- In spite of COVID.

During COVID, I had to switch and I was doing shows virtually, which worked out really well.

- Wow.

- And so after COVID, now things are well, somewhat after COVID now, things are going back to live entertainment.

People want that live connection.

- Yeah.

- That's one thing in this age of social media and everyone on their phones, but I've found that, - [Siri] Speak my mom please try again- - Oh, people really, really, really want that live connection with individuals.

That's a magic trick that just happened.

(all laugh) So, yes.

- So, where could people catch you if they do wanna see your next show?

- Oh, you could go to my website, you could see my calendar.

I will be in St. Louis, I will be in Philadelphia for Juneteenth Festival.

- Nice.

- I will be in, shoot, oh, oh, Indianapolis.

Just check out my schedule 'cause I'm really all over traveling.

- Oh, wow.

- And I am doing some things here in the Philadelphia area.

So if you look at my schedule online, you can see where I'm at.

And if you reach me through Instagram, I will invite you as a guest.

- Wow.

- Yes, yes.

- I like that, 'cause this is pretty amazing.

So I'm just, I appreciate having you here in the studio.

Thank you so much, Ran'D.

- Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, Regina.

- Yeah, this was fun.

- Thank you, Shirley.

- Yes.

Well, we'll have a link to Ran'D on our website to get more details on those dates.

Thank you for sharing your magic with us and all of our audience.

- That was incredible, I still don't know how you did the Ben Franklin thing.

- Thank you.

- Thanks Ran'D, thanks so much everyone for watching and good night.

- Good night everyone.

- Bye.

- Goodnight.

(upbeat music)