BIO:

John Gomez moonlights as a filmmaker. His days are spent as a Speech Pathologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District and as part-time faculty at California State University teaching a graduate-level course on stuttering.

Born and raised in Northern New Mexico, John attended Colorado College where he earned a degree in Philosophy and American Ethnic Studies. He originally moved to Los Angeles to become an actor but disillusionment with the industry-led John to a career in Speech Pathology. In 2009, he graduated from California State Los Angeles University with a master’s degree in Communication Disorders.

John’s first feature film, WHEN I STUTTER, premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in April of 2017. WHEN I STUTTER has been admired for its ability to effectively raise awareness about people who stutter and their challenges in life. The film has won 7 awards, been an official selection in over 15 film festivals with over 100 screenings worldwide. In 2017, John was honored with the Emerging Filmmaker Award from the prestigious Chagrin Documentary Film Festival.

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. You can also watch the interview on YouTube.

RESOURCES

• Click here for more about John, and the movie “When I Stutter.”

MORE QUOTES

“ I think having the conversations in the public forum is super important and there needs to be change at the policy level and at the systemic level.” - John Gomez

“Most of the people in the film talk about the lacking support that they didn't get. The lacking acceptance, the lacking messages and values that didn't come across. And that's what often contributed, I think, to more difficult and solitary struggles. I think the message of the film is the power of not only a speech pathologist mechanic to help you with your fluency, but the power of families, of mentors, of teachers, educators, counselors, friends.” -John Gomez

TRANSCRIPTION

Uri Schneider: Should be clicking. Alright, uh, yeah, so if we could share this. I'm here with John Gomez. We're just getting set up. So John, if you wanna share, uh, this live feed, uh, we can help people kind of catch it. People don't know where to catch these things, so just, uh, share it into your feed. I'll share it into mine and sharing.

So if you guys right now, great man, this was well worth the wait and we had some technical difficulty, but when you're, when you're trying to connect with a a Los Angeles, you know, filmmaker, you have to be flexible and you have to be persistent. And, and what I've seen time and time again, at least with this one, is that it's well, well worth the wait.

So, uh, without further ado, we have the privilege to have a chat and share this with you, with John Gomez. Uh, John is a speech language pathologist. He's also a filmmaker. He's a friend. And just an outstanding, outstanding human being. And it's a big treat to, uh, to have this conversation with him. So thanks for, thanks for joining

John Gomez: us, RI.

Thanks for having me, brother. Um, it's always a pleasure talking to you and, uh, the, the technical difficulties that's euphemistic, the technical difficulties we are having this morning are up here, right here. They exist nowhere else, but in my mind, uh, because I got up early, I, I, quite frankly, yeah, set my alarm deliberately.

What I thought was at five 30, but in fact it was six 30. But that's what happens when you set your alarm at 1230 at night. ,

Uri Schneider: listen, if you think this was challenging, you know, Cody had a much more difficult problem with New Zealand. He and I could not get our heads straight with the time difference there, but don't worry about it.

It's all good. And, uh, that, that's technical difficulty. And I think, you know, the message of the day and the thing that we should all strive to do is really go for the intention, go for the meeting behind it all. And, and there are gonna be some hiccups along the way, but just go roll with it. And, uh, it's great.

It's great to do that and to do that with people that, that can do that with you. You know? I, so I like

John Gomez: that. That's a good way to

Uri Schneider: interpret it. Yeah. So maybe, uh, you wanna tell us a little bit, as a filmmaker, I know that you're very involved in some of the camps that are obviously experiencing a change in schedule for the summer.

How are you adapting? What are some things you're doing to keep busy, stay creative and contribute your goodness. Well, you know, all

John Gomez: of my normal jobs are still on. So I'm a speech pathologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and we are still very much at work. Um, you know, when the quarantine happened for the first two or three weeks, we didn't really get many directives, so a lot of us just kind of sat around.

I was reviewing footage for my next film. Um, but as soon as we got back to work, and I, I know you and your father and, uh, you all Schneider's speech for years you've been working on Zoom, so that probably wasn't a huge transition for you. And in fact, I even saw you putting out good information for us, you know, to learn from.

Uh, but it was so new for all of us. , you know, just figuring out how to not only get, uh, therapy across, but make it engaging. Cuz that's just, it's just a whole new realm with Zoom. Uh, so fortunately I was able to continue doing my job and, um, getting through to my kids on Zoom, and then at the university level, uh, teaching that course, you know, it also happened via Zoom.

I think a lot of my students were shell shocked and little by little we just kind of relaxed into the process and we realized you can connect through this medium. Um, so yeah, I've, I've just basically been doing my job. Um, now that we're about to get out for the summer, I'm going to dedicate a lot of time to getting the next film done, which is a camp for kids who stutter, called Camp.

Shout out,

Uri Schneider: big shout out to everybody involved in camp. Shout out Kristen and all our friends there. It's wonderful. Yeah. So what's the, what is the film? Is it a feature film or is it a. A piece just kind of telling the story of, of that specific camp.

John Gomez: One note here, and this is, this is kind of a funny note.

I live in a very noisy neighborhood. Um, you've told me. Yeah. So, so if it's not a helicopter, you're gonna hear, and this isn't just, you know, during protest times, just during all times. It could be the rooster from the neighbors next door. Um, it could also be them picking up the trash the way they are right now.

So I'm just gonna make a quick adjustment here. . Totally. So you're asking me what the crux of the film is?

Well,

Uri Schneider: yeah. Is it a, is it a feature film that's kind of a continuation or part two or some sort of follow up to the film when I stutter, which by the way, if you haven't seen, take the time to see, and I think John created a very generous opportunity that there's a special running where you can rent it, I think for 99 cents.

Um, it's on Vimeo, is that right? Or you can go to the website when I stutter.org, either or. Yeah,

John Gomez: it's probably better to go to the website cuz that'll lead you right to the discount codes.

Uri Schneider: Highly recommend that film and because I've seen it, I don't know, 40 times. And we hosted a screening that a year ago to the day.

Yeah, in Queens we had you come out and we had an amazing, amazing event. And Sadiq was there and his dad, and we had a nice panel with Dan Greenwald and my father and John. Um, but yeah. So tell me, tell us about this next film. Is it kind of taking off where the previous film left you off or is it a separate kind of feature piece on the camp?

It's, it's a

John Gomez: separate piece. Um, it's, it's connected in that they're both about stuttering. But my first film, people talked about their childhood and some children were featured. Uh, but it was more about the adult experience of stuttering. This film is going to be, if I get my druthers and it goes the way that I hope that it does, um, it's gonna be about how we can set children who stutter up for communication success.

How that, yeah, how that can happen, you know, in, within a household, how that can happen anywhere. These amazing things happen at camp, shout out, but there's a lot of people who have knowledge about how to do this. Obviously you and your father, you've been doing this for years, your entire organization, what are these things that we can do for kids who stutter that will, um, engender a sense of confidence when they speak, um, but also help them to realize that they can grow as communicators.

And this is something that happens for seven days in Muskegon, Michigan every single summer. And it's such a special time. Um, so I, I just wanted to try to capture that on film. And, you know, hopefully in a few months time we'll see whether I was able to do that successfully or. .

Uri Schneider: Wow. Wow. So that's exciting.

I've seen some of the clips from it, which includes some, uh, drone footage, which I mean, well, I dunno if those are clips from the film. So I was just wondering if you've got yourself on a, your hands on a drone, if that's the new, a new toy in your collection, .

John Gomez: Well, I, I, I would like to know how to operate a drone.

That's one skill I do not have in filmmaking. I've had to kind of become a jack of all trades. Um, but Time Mayberry for my first film, the, the gentleman who is the narrator.

Uri Schneider: Yes. Did I tell you the story? Do you know the story? No. Tell me the story. I gotta tell you the story, please, to jump in on that. So my son, uh, does enjoy flying his drone.

Um, and I think I may have shared some of that footage with you. Anybody that's interested could private message me and I'll share some really awesome, I'm so proud of him, and especially during this time, he's taken his photography, his videography to another level. Um, which has been just a chance for a kid who has lots of hobbies and sometimes doesn't have enough time to dive into it.

One of the, one of the ways we found to facilitate and nurture his development during these very challenging months we've been living through is that he did all kinds of photography and videography stuff. So when he got his second drone, we were trying to figure out how to connect the device to the remote control to the drone.

And it was a dj I, and we had just come back, it was June of last year, 2019. Uhhuh just come back from watching the film, and Ty is the narrator of the film and he's got a very distinct voice. That's why he's the narrator and he does voiceovers. And there we are watching a tutorial of how to connect the drone, the dj, I, and there's no image, no face.

And I said to my son, I know that voice. I know that voice. It's not John Gomez. That is Ty. There's no doubt about it. So I got you. I got you. I know where you're going with the story.

John Gomez: That, that, that's so cool. Yeah. He, as we find out in the film, he's a person who stutters and he's also an actor and

Uri Schneider: he's, oh, spoiler alert.

We didn't, we didn't tip people off. That's a spoiler alert if anyone didn't see the film. Oh,

John Gomez: that's true. Yeah. And that, that's, that's one of the, yeah, here I am doing everything already Anyway. Yeah. Let's just Wonderful

Uri Schneider: narrator. Wonderful narrator. And it is, it is a very special twist in the film because the film portrays people who overtly have interruptions in their speech and in their flow.

And you've got this very well spoken narrator, and you're zipping in on, zooming in on his beautiful elocution throughout the film, . And then at the end of the film, you find out that he, too, is a person who lives with stuttering. It's a different experience. It's not as, it's not as, uh, overt. It's not as explicit, but, but certainly, Living with stuttering.

And so that's a big twist in the film. But yeah, he's an amazing, amazing talent.

John Gomez: He is an amazing talent and you know, as an actor, uh, you take all the gigs you can get. So for a while he was a spokesperson for DJ I. And, um, you know, when I stutter was just kind of starting to get out to film festivals and we weren't sure what was gonna become of it.

And my friend Scott Pawlak, who is also in, when I stutter, he works at camp Shout out, and he said, look, you've gotta come and get some video footage of this place. And the idea was really just to make a promo, never to make an entire film. And, um, so I asked Ty, I said, you know, look, I'm, I don't, I don't know if you have seven days that you can take outta your life, but if you could, it'd be wonderful if you came with.

And you brought your drone, cuz this is just a picturesque place. If any place is begging for drone footage. It's this place. If

you

Uri Schneider: haven't seen it, if you haven't seen it, John, where can someone go to get a little glimpse of this beautiful place where the camp shout out happens?

John Gomez: You can go to camp shout out.com, but you can also go to shoutout doc.com.

Um, one will take you to the actual campsite, um, website. And, uh, that, that will, they'll have my, the video that I'm talking about included and shots from the camp. Or you can just go to exclusively the website about the film. And that's camp shoutout doc.com and it'll have what I'm talking about. Um, and that's, that's all that exists of the film for right now.

Little by little, we're starting to kind of put it together. And yeah, he, he was nice enough to go out there and do it. The kids, you know, immediately just kind of fell in love with him. It was a really meaningful thing for him. Being a person who stutters, uh, just being able to talk to other people, have that shared experience, which is, as we know, a very powerful thing.

It's the, it's the powerful agent in support groups. It's the powerful agent. Anytime people come together and just kind of share their experience, and that happens for kids and for him, he's just like, what might have happened in my life? How my, I have accepted my stutter differently if I went to one of these camps.

And it was just, it was a great week for us. Overwhelming week, to be honest. .

Uri Schneider: Yeah. What was one, can you bring us into one little experience? One, one nugget.

John Gomez: So, you know, I, I, I told Ty, we're just going out to shoot a promo. I said, you know, so maybe we'll shoot four to six hours a day. There's a beautiful lake over there, we'll probably just kind of hang out in the lake and just, you know, enjoy, just relax.

So that's what I promised. Relax. That's what, yeah. A lot of relaxing lot, lot of relaxing. He and I realized quickly that there was a bigger story there and there's just the two of us and, uh, I said, you know, maybe we should just try to get all the footage we can and see if we can make something bigger out of this.

So six hour days turned into 18 hour days and that's how good of a friend he is cuz he has a full-time job, he's got a family and he probably went out there to relax and little did he know he was in for 18 hour days. Um, wow. Just, yeah. Very little sleet, but we captured

Uri Schneider: a lot. Wow. So that's the, that's the material, the content that you're gonna weave into this film was all captured during that time.

John Gomez: Mostly I went back last summer and I captured a little bit more to hopefully fill in the blanks. You know, the, the funny thing about this is I've only made one film , and prior to this, you know, I had been a wedding

Uri Schneider: yacht. Listen, go big. Go big or go home. And, uh, if you're gonna swing on making your first film and that's the first one that comes out, then you're destined to make a few more because that was one heck of a film, just from a cinematic point of view, from a storytelling point of view and from an impact point of view, that certainly went further than I know you expected it to.

And that's a testament to the fact that it's a really rich, well done piece of, of film. And, uh, I just can't say enough about it. Both my father and I and everyone that was at the event in New York and all the events around the world, all the screenings, I, I don't think, I don't think anyone leaves.

disappointed. I think that everyone leaves it with, with new thoughts and questions and considerations and, and, and understanding, you know, the lived experience of people who stutter and thinking about how to show up. You know, I think it's, uh, so if that was your first film, you gotta make number two, number three, and, and, and keep going at it and sharpen.

John Gomez: Well, no, I, I appreciate that brother. And it, it has by far, exceeded my expectations. Um, you know, the, the original plans were pretty, pretty humble. I think in my mind, I thought , maybe if it played at one university, um, you know, maybe if it got into one film festival and people considered it competent. Just competent.

Yeah. Just good enough. Just good enough. That's what I, I really was praying for that. You know, the first time I showed it to friends and family, you know, friends and family, they're, they typically will patch you on the back and tell you good job, no matter what. So I, that really didn't gimme a great metric of what I had.

It wasn't until months later that it started to kind of settle in that it was a film that connected with people, you know? Yeah. And look, I I, you and your father have been so supportive of this, and your, your father was directly, um, a big influence on me making the film. Uh, transcending stuttering is something that I saw back when I was in graduate school, and I know you know this cuz you've made fun of kind of the reverence that I have for your fa look.

We, we spent some time together last year for the screening. I think we, we,

Uri Schneider: we compete with who has more reverence, but, um, I mean, thank God also Kim, shout out we have Kristen and, and, and many of our friends who, uh, understand what you're talking about. But for those that don't, I'll give you the opportunity to, to share your, your thoughts.

The film we're talking about is transcending stuttering, uh, the Inside Story, which was my father's first film. And, uh, that too was more than good enough. Um, really an epic piece of, of filmmaking done with my good friend Justin Matley. Uh, also a person who stutters in a very talented, very, very talented person who works in the industry in New York.

And, uh, that was followed by a second film called Going With the Flow, which is kind of the sequel, uh, the inside story or it's a guide to transcending stuttering. And those were both available for free. Uh, on our website, Schneider speech.com/movies. But yeah, John, take it away. What you wanted to reflect on?

My father, the films?

John Gomez: Well, no, just that film really gets across the emotional impact of stuttering and, you know, you can bring oftentimes, and I was in graduate school when I saw it, I'm a speech pathologist and um, I was in graduate school when I saw it, and you can bring in panels and there's a big power in bringing in panels and people to talk about their lived experience.

Gail Wilson, Lou is my teacher. She's in my film. Um, she's, you know, she talks about many experiences, but there's just something. Powerful about coalescing all of these ideas into a film. Yeah. You even follow people over time and it just struck me as a really, really good idea. And I, I would say that it's a big inspiration and also when you find out that your father, you know, like he's a speech pathologist, I was an emerging speech pathologist, he was a filmmaker.

It just kind of gave me a sense of what somebody could be in the world. He didn't just kind of have to be one thing. You could be many things. Um, I, I was, I was thinking about your dad as I, I often do the other day. And being kind of a, a Star Wars nerd, I always try to put people in that kind of pantheon and I'm like, your dad is such an, like an obiwan Kenobi figure.

Just every, everything he says. I was reflecting, I guess maybe cuz it's been a year since I, I spent time with you guys. I was re reflecting on that wonderful meal we had at your house afterwards. And just thinking like, everything that comes outta your dad's mouth just sounds, Philosophical and amazing.

Um, so I, I don't have to tell you how blessed you are to have a father like that, but I think he's been an inspiration to a lot of people. Talking to Kristen Kamela, he's been a big inspiration in her life. She lists him as, you know, just a central figure. So yeah, I think he's done untold good in this

Uri Schneider: world.

The greatness, the greatness there is that earlier this week, I don't know if you saw it yet, John, but I did Facebook Live. It was the highlight of my week, even bigger than this one with you was doing this with my father and, uh, you know, the, the short, the short clip is he's available in the sense that, uh, we did a big Facebook, we did a big Zoom meeting.

You were there. It was actually, that was it. You came and there were about 30, 40 other people. The screens were scrolling left and right, and, and that was the moment where he realized you can connect through Zoom, you can create a meaningful encounter for people. And from that point forward, he has since.

Pivoted completely onto Zoom. He's let go of the office 100% and the plans or hopes to go back to the office are kind of off the table. He's working more, he's working better, he's more passionate and excited in the work and it's all on Zoom. So, um, that's amazing. So just think of those, those OB one Kenobi figures and, uh, they don't have to stay old school, you know?

So if he can do it, I think it's an inspiration for some of us who are kind of grappling with what do we do and can we have an impact and how do we not burn out? But he is still leading the way and it's an amazing thing with the movies. What would you say John was, I mean, there's so many surprises along the way in the film.

I know for you and for the follow ups that you did recently, you did a beautiful series of follow ups, kind of where are they now? Um, so that's kind of cool. What would you say is like one striking thing that emerged from the film that was kind of like, A discovery for you or something that came out of the film that was actually really, really impactful and meaningful and totally unplanned, unexpected.

John Gomez: Well, so many things. You know, one of the , the synchrony of this all is bizarre. Um, you, you might remember a friend of mine that was in the audience last year and you know, he kind of, he got up and he spoke for a while. He kind of delivered a soliloquy, and that's because it, it, he, last night he was even mentioning this event, you know, he be your, you and your father hosted a screening of when I stutter very, very generously.

And afterwards we had an audience q and a and a friend of mine who lives in New York, we go way back. He is not a person who stutters. But he is a very sensitive individual that just wants to understand the world better. He was in the audience and he made some comments and he asked some questions, and the film really struck him powerfully.

And his, the central idea was he had no idea that people who stutter can go through all of this psychologically and emotionally. And, you know, he said, I hope I didn't, you know, waylay the, uh, conversation in any way. I said, no, Greg, you're actually, you are in many ways the target audience because you are a sensitive person that can receive this information, learn from it, and actually change the way you think about the world.

You'll always think differently about people who stutter in a more holistic way, a more three-dimensional way. And, um, So that's kind of an analogy right there in, in that example, for the reactions that I've gotten from so many people who knew nothing about stuttering, just that, that, that phrase right there, I had no idea.

Dot, dot, dot. Yeah.

Uri Schneider: You know? Yeah. And it all starts with understanding, I think. I think for people who stutter, who see the film, there's a feeling of, I'm not alone. You know, I'm not the only one. Um, wow. Other people thought those things, other people's felt those things. And then there's the people who, who didn't know about stuttering or parents or significant others of people who stutter.

Uh, Ty talks about that with his significant other in the film, the idea that, you know, until we talk about it and share the story, as you said, you can be a very sensitive, sophisticated person and just not know how. Um, I spoke with Cody Pack earlier this week. He said how the stuttering experience bleeds beyond the boundaries of what you would expect.

It touches so many dimensions in areas of life that you would think would be separate or spared. And, uh, the big eye opener is for kids who grow up and get to be teens and adults who stutter, not so. And certainly if anyone's watching this, who has a preschooler, who stutters, it's a completely different, uh, consideration and way of thinking about things with this conversation is about, you know, the kids who continue to stutter into their school age years, and teens and adults.

It's so important to understand these other dimensions.

John Gomez: Yeah. And, and there are so many dimensions. It's not something that falls easily into a category and to, to try to do that as a fool's errand and a disservice to people who stutter, probably you can say that about all humanity. Nobody has ever just categorically one thing, but especially since we're talking about people who stutter, especially people who stutter.

So dynamic. Um, You know, the, the, the other thing too is, you know, people would come up afterwards and draw parallels in their own life. Yeah. I'm not a person who stutters, but I've had these challenges and I, I too have felt like the other, I have felt cast aside, not listened to. Mm-hmm. , you know, I wasn't able to say the things that I wanted to say in the time that I wanted to say them for whatever reason.

And, um, I, I, I don't know why I didn't calculate for that. I, I just didn't, um, expect that, I don't know, I, I, the truth of the matter is I didn't know what to expect. And if you're asking me what surprised me, that reaction surprised me in the best possible way.

Uri Schneider: Yeah. Yeah. And we talked about, uh, there's a bridge into film as a, as a, as a vehicle, as a vehicle to create understanding as a vehicle of self-expression.

Um, You know, there are some young people we work with that they've made their own little voiceover film. I've had young people for the Bar mitzvah speech as a classic example of a life cycle event, and what do you do? So parents are wondering, you know, should we make him give the speech because we shouldn't treat him any different because if we let him, how off the hook, he'll always feel like he didn't do that right of passage speech thing, whether it's a salutatorian speech or valedictorian or confirm whatever.

Uh, or should we specifically not put him up there and put him through that experience of getting up there and having to deal with the stuttering and the speech? Maybe it's too much. So there's one young man I'm thinking of, uh, Lazar, and we came up with a third path. First of all, I told his parents, just let him choose, you know?

Right. But the third way was, hey, what if he made a slideshow montage and did a prerecorded voiceover of his speech? And that's what he chose to do. And so using film and creative arts became a path that not only. Was he able to stand in that spot and deliver something meaningful? People remember it to this day as the most memorable, worthwhile use of their time because any other speech is like a real doozy.

Let's be honest. Like mos 13 year old kids don't know how to give a very engaging speech. It's kind of like we, we've been there, you know, we were on the other side. Now you gotta go through it too. But, uh, this kid made something really meaningful and they didn't say, oh, that was really neat how you side stepped the challenge.

It was more like, wow, you have that in you? Like how did you do that? And that was so creative. Impactful. Memorable. They don't know what went into it. They don't know what it took for him. But the creative outlet was tremendous. I'm just saying. , what could you say about, what are some interesting ways individuals could use the film, aside from hosting screenings of course, but whether it's, I'm thinking of therapeutically, I'm thinking of teaching, I'm thinking of families.

Mm-hmm. , um, you know, or someone who stutters who wants others to get it. Uh, can you share anything about some interesting ways you see the film being used or film in general being used?

John Gomez: Yeah, for everything you just mentioned, you know, an, an image popped into my mind. Um, I've had people tell me, and, and it's people who have been prominent figures in the stuttering world, who still have had a difficult time reconciling this with their family.

They've kind of felt like their family didn't understand them. And of course, you know, their family hasn't gone with them to an NSA convention. They haven't gone with them to meetings, so they haven't really, in many cases, met other people who stutter.

Uri Schneider: So nsa, anyone who doesn't know great organization, national Stuttering Association, uh, provides all kinds of self-help opportunities for people who stutter.

There are meetings, support meetings. There's a convention that's gonna be online this summer, so big shout out to them. We stutter.org and then Stuttering Foundation of America, another great organization. Uh, a lot of great material and advocacy there. Uh, that's, uh, the Stuttering Foundation of. Just give 'em little plugs to support our friends.

And you're, you're so good in the field. Yeah. Look at you. Look at you. You look at you. Look at us. Look at us. Look

John Gomez: at us. . Who knew? No. Look at us. I'm gonna, I'm, I'm just impressed. I'm just so impressed. Oh,

Uri Schneider: John, I, I know you. Presence of greatness. When you're in, present the greatness. You gotta step up a little bit, you know?

So I'm stepping up. Well, that's

John Gomez: my self-talk right now. Just so you know, I'm in the presence of greatness.

Uri Schneider: We, we are greatness. The,

John Gomez: the son of Obiwan Kenobi, um, duke. I am your father. . Yeah. So, uh, if, if you're saying about

Uri Schneider: film people, people who have not had their family join them to, let's say a, an an SA national starting association meeting.

Yes. So they've gotten to meet others and feel the camaraderie and the identification. Solidarity not feeling alone, but the family didn't.

John Gomez: Fam fam family didn't come. And um, so they'll show the film to their family or just their mother or their father. And again, this has happened more than once. That family member will say, I had no idea.

Yeah. And it will provoke a conversation. Yeah. Um, therapeutically it can be used in a number of ways. Um, sometimes it, it can be used. I, I think, I think there's an age range to this, you know, and I'll, I'll even ask your opinion on this cuz we've been down the road a little bit on this with my film. Sure.

Um, you know, what age is it at, at what age is it appropriate to watch a film like mine? Because there are some darker themes in it, right? We talk, yeah, there's talk about suicide in there. There's a ballroom bra, um, and there's, you

Uri Schneider: know, there's, there's . You can't include Mike. You can't, you can't include the rests without some kind of, you know, well yeah.

That is the bathroom words, but I know you have a clean version for those that are concerned in that kind of way. And, um, Re just as an example of someone who is so purely soul, you know, he's a pure spirit and he's been through so much and he offers such a, a passionate and sincere, transparent perspective.

I, I love it. And sometimes it could be abrasive, uh, like glass and your fists, but other than that, you know, the man is pure goal. But you're, you're a hundred percent right. You know, so my father and I felt that when we promoted the event, and we do the same when we talk to parents, um, going on our website or seeing the film transcending stuttering a, aside from the darker ideas of, of topics of, of wanting to end one's life, um, violence and things like that, getting in trouble with the law.

Besides that, I think it's important for younger people who stutter and the families of, of younger people who stutter, uh, not to project and to anticipate going down a road of, uh, of the sort that might be portrayed very. beautifully and very honestly through the film because it adds to the concern and the fear of kind of horrifying the future for those that might not go down that path.

On the other hand, for someone who is in it and is in that, in that lived experience, um, I think it's very important to, to recognize what matters. And as soon as possible recognize that, uh, feeling whole with yourself, you know, even in this moment that might feel like imperfect. You know, Kristen, I remember standing there at the talk she gave near LaGuardia Airport.

See, course, you know, we're all perfectly imperfect. Um, I don't know if she coined that one. I don't think she did, but I think of her every time I think of it. And that's often, but, uh, so I think the film is appropriate. I, I would say from 12 and up and it, and people should be informed. You know, there is.

Mature stuff here. So if you have a sensitive, uh, you know, not every 1213 year old is wired the same way. So if someone is, is very sheltered and very sensitive, I would not run to show them the film. Um, but I think you have, and I know what we have also is like little short films made of it. So little clips of it where you can, I don't know if you've done that, where you can kind of like just see Rhett's story or just see Dale's story, you know?

And then, uh, what we do with that is what we've done is sometimes we'll show, we'll either show deliberately show one piece of the film, one line, uh, one scene from your film or from transcending stuttering or from going with the flow. Cause it might just right, be the right resonant kind of thing to either help someone resonate and feel, identify, oh wow, they just said something so similar to me and they're, I've never met them and they're, that's a black man who stutters and I'm a Asian girl.

Like, wow, that's incredible. It's a human experience. The stuttering thing. . Alternatively, we might show them the whole film, either in the office or give it as a a at-home exercise and say, we'd love to know what resonated. What did you identify with? And what felt like, oh, that's not me. Wow. I didn't realize some people feel that way.

Whoa. Yeah. No, my, I don't, I don't have that, but I could see why someone would. But I do resonate with this, and I think that's powerful. So, to answer your question, I think it's, it's both age, but also, uh, sensitivity and, and sophistication of the person, and certainly for parents as well, gauging the parents that are gonna be reactive and, and kind of watch a film like this and worry that their young person, their young child offspring, is gonna evolve and, and go through something really, really dark and heavy.

That's not the message we wanna leave them with. We wanna leave them with the message. Like, these are some of the experiences where things can go. And most of the people in the film talk about the lacking support that they didn't get. The lacking acceptance, the lacking messages and values that didn't come across.

And that's what often contributed, I think, to more difficult and solitary, um, struggles. Um, and I think the message of the film is the power of not only a speech pathologist mechanic to help you with your fluency, but the power of families, of mentors, of teachers, educators, counselors, friends. Um, I talked with Cody.

I thought the message in his two minute film, you know, first day, this recent two minute powerful man talking to, making a difficulty making a movie. You know about it. I know about it. Two minutes to tell a story. Wow. Wow. So Cody not nailed it on, um, Cody Packer first day. Check it out on our website, we have a link for all these stuttering movies that are online, or just look up Cody Packer.

First day. I thought the power there, in addition to the girls experience and her relationship with her mother is the power of a class and the power of a teacher. to just say, here, a person introduce themselves. They have little hiccup in their fluency. Yeah. Hey, welcome, welcome to school and just carry on from there and make it okay.

That was it. That was all she needed. Right. And so I think for the film, what I hope people get and, and it's somewhat similar in there in our film as well, uh, but I think we might have done it with a lighter tone and, and you really didn't shy away from going right into the, no, into the guts of some of the really, really, some of the rough experiences that people have.

But I think the message is certainly a positive one, that, uh, these are legitimate experiences people can grow through and grow out of and, and get to better places for themselves. But that so many of us living with and having interactions with people who stutter can have a positive impact on the life experience that they have and learn so much together and grow together.

That's very, uh, reciprocal kind of thing. . Those are my thoughts. No,

John Gomez: that I, I think that's, that's a, a complex way to put it. And it's a good way to put it. Because, because interpreting the film is complex. You know, I, I don't know. I categorize, it's not a chronology, that's not what the film is. Um, it's probably more impressionistic than anything else.

So people walk away with different ideas about what the film means and what it means to them individually. I've had people walk away from the film feeling very hopeful about their stuttering and about what stuttering is in their lives. And I've had other people, um, who, who, uh, work with people who stutter quite a bit.

Say, you know, this is great, this is very accurate, but this is, this is hard hitting. Yeah. And, uh, you know, they'll, they'll have a, maybe a darker tone in how they review it. And it's not, it's not a bad thing, it's just an interpretation.

Uri Schneider: Um, so take take from my, from my sophisticated outsider point of view.

You're the insider, you're the creator, and you had a chance to hear people around the world, you know, process and respond in, in, in short time. And then I'm sure over long term, you know, Hey, I watched the film six months ago. Let me tell you what's going on. What, what do you hope people would take away?

What did you hope the message would be? What were you trying to put forth

John Gomez: that stuttering can affect the whole person? Um, understanding the emotional and psychological impact that stuttering can have in an individual's life. So if you meet somebody who stutters, you know, just looking beyond the surface, looking beyond the, the, the behaviors that are noticeable and, um, Uh, there were so many great voices in the film and so many wonderful ideas about therapy that were shared.

I often contemplate, cause I think there's so much footage, I think a whole other film could be made with existing footage. Mm-hmm. truly. Yeah. Um, but the central message that I wanted to get out there was listening, um, something that you and your father are excellent at. And I, I know you're big believers in it, the counseling aspect of what we do.

Um, but that all starts with active listening. And so that's the one thing I got out there. It's not what can the person who stutters do, what can we do for them as the communication partner? We can be active. Yeah. You know, um, so, so, yeah. So that, that was the thing, you know, let's, can, can we be better listeners?

And, um, yeah. So, so that, that's the one that's really one of the biggest things I wanted to get out there with this. But there, there was so many points that could have been made. There's 19 people in the film. Yeah. Um, the guy who does not stutter, the confession of a person does not stutter. He, um, he's a friend of mine who's just kind of one of those really blunt people.

And this happens to me a lot. And it, you can, I, I'd love to hear if this happens to you a lot people know that you're not a person who stutters, but that you care a lot about people who stutter. And if there's not somebody who stutters in the room, they'll ask you a question. Like, they'll ask a very forward question.

You know, like, is it weird for you too? You know, to be around people who stutter because I just met somebody earlier and it was a completely awkward experience. And they would never say this to a person who stutters. But these are the conversations that happen behind closed doors. And my friend had a similar conversation with me and I said, you know, I, I have this conversation a lot with people.

Would you mind being in the film and kind of putting yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable and saying exactly that, because I think you'd be speaking for a lot of people. Um, and luckily, luckily enough, he did that. And then I kind of juxtapose that with, you know, Dale Williams reaction and they kind of have this forced conversation back and forth.

Um,

Uri Schneider: but that's, but Dale can make a, Dale can make a, a comic strip with that probably.

John Gomez: Pretty much out of anything. The guy is so witty and funny, like it's just, there's seldom a time I talk to him. He just, he doesn't throw something out there that really cracks me up. Um, but yeah. Yeah. You know, also just kind of getting across just the different voices that come about when we're talking about stuttering, what people think in the recesses of their minds about stuttering.

Let's, let's talk about that. Let's get that out in the open. You know, he, he says it's awkward. It's, it's, it's awkward. He says There's no really great way of dealing with a person who stutters. And then we have Dale telling us, yeah, there is, you know, if, if you actively listen to a person who stutters the way you listen to people all day long, if you just apply those same rules with patients, y you, you'll, you'll be doing them a big.

So, uh, so yeah, that, that's, that's the central message in the film. And I also wanted to get back to, uh, Cody's, um, his, his at his spec, spec commercial. And I think it's very appropriate to call it a short film the way you did cuz Yeah. That's really how a play, he packs so much story into two minutes. It's beautiful.

And imagine if I, I know it's, it's a, it's a Kleenex commercial essentially, is what it is. Imagine if Kleenex picks that up, which is, I know that's his hope and that's my hope for that. Imagine what that does to public perception about stuttering. The questions that people will ask, the positive awareness that brings to it.

I think if we want to change people's thoughts about stuttering, we go after the zeitgeist in those ways.

Uri Schneider: Nice. So, yeah. Well I think that that very much ties into what my father was trying when we made the film together. He really wanted to. Specifically people of different, uh, race and culture and ethnicity and everything, gender.

And uh, certainly we tried to have some representation there, but variety to show the universality of the experience. Yeah. And so, like you said, that, that stuttering is an equal opportunity provider. You know, it, uh, it, it affects and shows up in the lives of different people, whether they're from different parts of the world or different cultural backgrounds or have different sorts of levels of means.

Um, and then of course, uh, the experience of stuttering, as you said, you don't have to be a person who stutters to appreciate your film. You don't have to be a person who stutters to have the reasonable human. Empathy once you appreciate, and I think knowledge is, is, is the first thing that's missing. You know?

And that's why, you know, I've shared with you the online course that we put together, but first thing is, is not strategies. And it's also not self-acceptance, it's self-knowledge. Like what is this thing? It's, it's surprising, it's unexpected. It's, uh, it's both chronic in the sense that it doesn't seem to go away over the course of a month or a week.

On the other hand, it's not there every moment. Um, so it's kind of insidious and a little bit enigmatic in that way. But on the other hand, once you know a few things about it, and like my dad loves to use the analogy of asthma. You know, nobody has a stigma about having asthma. Nobody blames themselves prepping asthma.

Nobody that I know would get to a point of depression with asthma. But there's a feeling with stuttering that's so loaded, there's so much stigma. But if we would just kind of destigmatize, if we could just create some more knowledge and understanding around it. And like you said, I think weaving it into, you know, all sorts of messaging, all sorts of Tori storytelling, having it show up in, in film and, you know, literature and, and advertising everywhere.

It, it actually can be a real asset to the tapestry of humanity.

John Gomez: I, I love that. And, you know, as artists, people putting content out, you know, uh, whether it's me or Cody or all the other wonderful filmmakers that are putting out content about stuttering, the ultimate litmus test is when somebody like you watches it hurry.

You know, somebody who has worked for years with people who stutter, somebody who's so invested in that community. When you watch it and you see it as a valuable thing because you know that what's been captured resonates with something that is true about stuttering, that means something to us, you know?

Um, a

Uri Schneider: again, my, well, that's very sweet. That's very sweet. I'm, I'm happy I could give you a sense of, It was good enough. But, uh, the impact is not based on, in my opinion, you know, getting validation from those of us that care. But really for me, it's, it's, the litmus is look how many places around the world sought out having a screening and having a conversation and wanting to go deeper.

And then all the conversations you don't know happened. All those downloads, you know, when I downloaded it and watched it on a flight and someone was looking over my shoulder saying, Hey, what are you watching? I said, oh, listen, forget what's on the on demand over there. You gotta see this. And that started a conversation and then that conversation turns into, wow, you know what?

Actually my brother grew up with a stutter. Like, these are all the invisible screenings that you don't know. So everybody don't go on a plane necessarily, but download the film. Watch the film in public places, um, with social distancing, but let people see what you're doing. And it starts conversations.

And I think, I think, and it relates to the times that we're living through and justice and, and, uh, just fairness for all people. Specifically the black community that's really, you know, showing up and raising a voice for too long, being at the short end of, of injustice and bias and discrimination and racism.

Um, I think having the conversations in the public forum is super important and there needs to be change at the policy level and at the systemic level. And that does not negate or, uh, take away the fact that there also should be very active conversations happening in the private domain. And I think, uh, that's something we can borrow, you know, from the film.

Like your film is a conversation starter. It's a way to have a crucial conversation. And I think, uh, using, using film and using things, you know, in education, everything in learning is taking new information and relating it to something that is already. . So every new concept you learn, if it's geography, if it's history, okay, let me get my bearings.

What was happening in world history that I am familiar with when the world, you know, the Great Wall of China is being built? Cause I have no concept of Chinese history. Mm-hmm. , but gimme a reference point to my other timeline that I know. So everything we learn, and that's human and that's normal. You take new information and you relate it to what you already know, to old information.

So film and perhaps stuttering for those of us that that's our, that's familiar, you know, we can engage in this new conversation or this conversation that needs to deserve more attention and give, be given more attention. Maybe we can leverage what we've learned in the conversations around stuttering.

And I think the idea of media, a film to tell stories. And the same way I, we encourage people to see when I stutter, you know, going out and we collected some resources on our website, put together a three page, three blogs, three separate blogs on our blog page. And the third one includes a lot of resources.

For people that wanna learn more about the lived experience of being black. Um, in, in one is a rap, a performed rap. One is a, uh, a spoken ted talk by a woman from Nigeria who's a writer, and she gets to Chicago and the, uh, head of the department is a white man. He's the head of the Department of African Literature.

Wow. And she submits her story. Well, that wasn't the rough part. The rough part is when she submits her story and she grew up in a middle, upper class, uh, community in Nigeria, middle upper class family. And she writes a story and he says, yeah, no, like the authentic African story. The family doesn't have a car.

They don't drive and they don't wear shoes. And she looks at him and she's like, um, stories about my family and I am black and I grew up in Nigeria and you're a, a white guy at a university, head of the Department of African literature, and you're telling me what the authentic African literature story should be.

So, um, that's another resource. And then there's this incredible. What's her name? Alice Cooper. Is that her name? I'm blanking out on. There's an amaz. Anyway, we put together all these resources for people to kind of tune in and there's even a story that I tell about an amazing encounter in Grand in Penn Station.

I had a black man, his name was Mike Brown, who walked up to me. I'm in Penn Station trying to figure myself out. Little disoriented on the schedule, looking up at the board. Man walks up to you in Penn Station. Doesn't matter who they are, what they are, it's, it's unusual. So you get a little bit, uh, you know, defensive guy kinda says, Shalom, don't wearing any yaka identified.

That's not the first time we call that getting schmeared. You know, you bagels me. But, um, then he says, I want to apologize for the Shoah for the Holocaust. Use the Hebrew word. He says he wants to apologize for the Holocaust. Black man walks up to a Jewish guy sitting in Penn Station about a. That's deep.

That's heavy. I've never had that before. And I shared on the blog post the story where that goes. But it goes to a place where two white people come over to us. Cuz we've now started chatting. Mike and I, and I've tried to, in the best way, I can apologize for the experiences of his people, black people in this country.

Um, and then two white tourists come over and start asking for directions. But they only talk to me. They ignore Mike. Right. And I said, I have no idea how to tell you where you need to go, but I just heard that Mike, he takes that, he takes the, uh, what's it called to New Jersey? What's that called? Uh, path Train.

Path. Train Trains in New Jersey. There you go. Pulled that right up to Newark cuz he commutes to Newark. Ask my friend Mike. And they ask him and they're like, thank you very much. And they turn around to leave and I said, so that was a moment. And I think of that as like the question you said to me, like, when people privately, you know, people who don't stutter.

Say like, Hey, is it awkward for you to come on? Let's be honest. Right? It's weird, huh? So there are these moments where we find ourselves as people who are not black, and there are comments that are tossed and statements that are made that maybe we're not sure the nature of it. Sometimes we're very sure the nature of it, right?

So this white couple who had just ignored Mike, but now he gave them instructions for how to get where they needed to go. They turned around to leave. And this was three years ago. This wasn't a week ago. I said, can you just hold up one second? When you came over, why did you only talk to me? You know, we were standing here together.

Why, why do you ignore my friend Mike? It was a little awkward. Um, but it was a moment. It was a moment. And I think we need to have more of those moments. And, uh, you know, there was one moment that I showed up. I hope I can show up for more. But, uh, for stuttering and for, for the topic of the day, I think that's goes back to the film.

You know, if I could have invited them over for a film, For a conversation or to hear that TED talk. That's what I would've done with these, with these folks that, uh, they just didn't know. So knowledge is a first step and, and speaking up. And your movie is a conversation. It's a conversation starter. It's a conversation in of itself.

John Gomez: Powerful. That's a beautiful story. That's a really, um, touching

Uri Schneider: story. Yeah. You can hear the whole thing on that blog post. The second one, two outta three. Um, oh, I will,

John Gomez: I'll listen to it. Yeah. Um, let me ask you, as, as, as a somebody who watches films and you're a consumer of media, something that I kinda wrestle with a lot is what, what would be the normalization of stuttering?

I often point to that as one of the things that we can do, uh, to change public perception, and I know how I define it, but how would you define the normalization of stuttering? You know, or would you like me to start with how I define it? .

Uri Schneider: Yeah, sure. Let's hear. That's, that's, I've never, that is a very, very, uh, very thoughtful, never, never heard it formulated that way.

That's a really important question. Yeah. What, what do you think, John,

John Gomez: have you seen, let me start by, by asking, have you seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

Uri Schneider: I think I saw the preview and that's when I turned off the OnDemand and went over to watch, uh, your film on the plane. But yeah.

John Gomez: Um, well, in that is Brad Pit.

Is

Uri Schneider: Brad Pit in that film.

John Gomez: Brad Pitt is in that film. He won an Oscar for it.

Uri Schneider: Hold on, hold on. Just to show you. I was watching the preview. Yeah. Brad Pitt and, hold on, hold on. It's not Matt Damon, is it? No, no. It, it's, uh, okay.

John Gomez: DiCaprio.

Uri Schneider: DiCaprio. Yeah. Leonard DiCaprio.

John Gomez: Uhhuh. Okay. So DiCaprio's character stutters.

In that film, it is mild, you know, if we're talking about behaviors and it's difficult to tell how it impacts his entire life, we who know a little something about stuttering. We might give certain things that he does in the film, more weight and, and attribute that to perhaps he became frustrated in that moment because of the stutter.

We, we really don't know. Cause the film doesn't contextualize it that way. Um, yeah, he's basically this kind of aging movie star, right? And not getting the roles that he used to get. So he, there's, there's a lot of factors as with every human being that go into why he reacts a certain way. But he does stutter in the film, yet the word stutter or stuttering never comes up once.

They never talk about the fact that it happens with him. It just happens. He is this really cool character. around other cool characters. Yeah. And he just happens to stutter. And that's part of his whole communication process. And clearly it hadn't stopped him in life that, that they, you know, they, they, they, that they showed.

But it, it doesn't even bother to make that a story point. It's just this is a character who stutters. And I think that's a really good example of how stuttering can be normalized. Yeah. Um, and it's not to say that a film that goes out of its way to specifically talk about stuttering, you know, obviously whether it be a documentary, but we're talking about narratives here.

So if you talk about something like, about the, like the King's speech, clearly we're talking about stuttering and the word stuttering comes up. Yeah. Yeah. And, and it's not to say that that doesn't do any good, but I'm saying like, what if these characters that we see in these, these films and these television shows, what if one of them also stutter?

And you take into account that there's a young man or a young woman watching that and seeing that e Yeah. Even though there's, this is on television and there's something fantastical about it, that's a possibility to be something in the world and stutter. Yeah. That's how I define the normalization of stuttering and it's, it's a, a, a definition that I'm always working

Uri Schneider: on.

Yeah. I love that. Um, makes me think of a screen share I want to pull up, but, uh, I'll hopefully pull it up in a second. I, I think I could just say I grew up in an interesting home. You know, I, I was six years old and I wanted to be a speech pathologist. I couldn't even say it right. I often say that, and that's because I was so inspired by my father.

Sincerely and truly, you know, his, the way he talks about the people he works with, the way he approaches the work, it's a whole. It's a very holistic, it's a very holistic thing. Um, it takes, it's a big part of our life as a family. It's a big part of everything in our family. So for me, it was interesting because, uh, stuttering was never, I always heard stuttering and I kind of, my ears would go up.

Like I would be interested in what that person had to say. It wasn't like my ears went up like, oh, that's weird. Mm-hmm. . So that's just an example of like, uh, very uncommon kind of, uh, attitude towards stuttering. Most people have a different thought that comes to mind when they hear a stutter. Um, so that's what was like for me growing up.

But even more than that, with my own kids, you know, we often have guests and friends. They're people who stutter. And so it's not uncommon for them to hear stuttering among other dialects. So whether it's South African accents or British accents, or. Uh, Australia, New Zealand, American, Midwest, down south, stuttering, um, African, you know, so there's so many Asian when they are exposed.

I see this, like, on the one hand I live in a community that is not as diverse as some other people might, um, describe as like a healthy dose of diversity. But on the other hand, within our own home, we make sure to, uh, to interact with many, many different types of people. And we interact with them based on, on who they are.

And, and they expose our kids to different types of ability, different types of different, different types of colors and skin and height and, you know, all kinds of things, including variations in speech. And so for my kids, , it's an amazing thing because we can have someone, like, I'm thinking of one friend, uh, Ruben Chuff, who's an amazing person who stutters, who is probably sorting out, making sure that the ISS station and, you know, uh, SpaceX are coordinating well.

Um, you know, so he stutters quite beautifully. And when he's at our home and, and we're chatting, my kids don't even notice it. It, it truly falls into the background. So I think it's an interesting point, what you're saying. And what I was gonna try to pull up is a post that we're gonna put out soon, but like, it's a puzzle piece.

And if you think of like a 500 piece puzzle, one piece of the puzzle is stuttering and the puzzle is you, you know, that's the tapestry. And so if we can get stuttering to be one of so many things, you talk about the character of Leonardo DiCaprio, it's just there, it's not front and center like that is the story.

And there are stories that need to be told of that. Same way, seven years A slave, you know, is also, you know, story about the black experience and you can't miss it. But then there are other films where the hero of the film just happens to be a person who's black. And that, I think what you're talking about normalizing to me, that's, that's where we want to go.

Where stuttering is just one of many different types of talking and, and has certain experiences associated with it. But that's a tension and a nuance because the world needs to hear stories that are very explicit front and center in some ways. Right. And in other ways, you know, we need to get to a point where it just kind of is blended in and it's not a prominent feature, but it's one of several.

We were just, just this week we were in the car together and we were coming around the corner and, and there were two people and I honestly, I don't know the right way to describe them. I would just say they were very short. They were midgets, I guess. I don't know if that's even, you know, I'd have to do my homework on the sensitive way to, but I was mindful that as I.

as my kids looked out the window, my young daughters, you know, I thought about what did I want to say about these people? And it was a man and it was a woman, and I thought about the same thing I would think about with, uh, stuttering. And the same, I'd think about someone who's black or someone who's brown, or someone who's Asian.

You know, if the feature is striking and unusual, something someone's not been exposed to, they tend to raise an eyebrow. But to the point that, um, you know, it's been seen and it's described in a descriptive way, not a judgmental way, to me, that really exposes young people to a, again, a tapestry of, uh, different colors and stripes.

So I think that's what we need to do, in my opinion, it's, is kind of acknowledge it, being there, make sure it's, it's, it's there. So stuttering is there in the character and as much as possible and showing how it doesn't like derail or distract them or derail or distract their communication partner. So, I dunno if that was the answer to your question, but I kind of went off on that one.

I I,

John Gomez: I love that you did, and I'm just thinking, you know what? Lucky kids there are gonna be

Uri Schneider: citizens of the world. Well, that's the goal. And I think that's a good place to, to wrap in the sense that, uh, you and I are both men who strive, who strive to be good people ourselves, good people to our own families, good sons, good siblings, um, good men, you know, and at the same time, professionally and beyond.

Professionally, we both strive to be allies and advocates, uh, for a community that we serve professionally and have a lot of care for, in regard for, and we learn from, uh, and relate to. And hopefully we can extend that in small ways. There are things that you're doing in big ways, things I'm doing in small ways, and the opposite small things and big things the other way around.

That's what's gonna bring us to a better, more together world. So I look forward to our next conversation.

John Gomez: I do too. Or I, again, I can't thank you enough for all the ways you support me as a filmmaker, uh, as a colleague, and, but also as a friend. Cut ,

Uri Schneider: you're very welcome. You deserve it. You deserve it. And, uh, thank you.

You're welcome. And, and likewise, you've been incredibly gracious, um, in terms of sharing your film and, and the sweat blood tears and dollars that you poured into that film, and the generosity with which you share it and show up to be present. I won't, I won't give out the specifics, but it, it doesn't, it doesn't at all match what you put in.

And, uh, you should, you should be repaid in, in ways and in, you know, currencies that don't fit the US dollar necessarily. But, uh, fill up your bank account to know that you're making a big, big, big difference. And for that, you deserve all of our support. And, uh, I speak on behalf of a lot of us in the field and people who stutter.

We thank you. . Oh, brother .

John Gomez: Thank, thank you for that. Look, hugs one of the big, yeah. Virtual, virtual hugs, COVID, virtual co covid, hugs. You

Uri Schneider: know, it's, yeah. We can, we can get cozy in Covid. You know, we don't, we can be, we can be socially distant. This is safe. This is really safe. We won't, because if we were in the same room right now, we probably wouldn't be able not to hug.

I,

John Gomez: I, I think that's just the truth. That's just, that's just the truth at this point. Yeah. I, it, um, you know, I saw Hia Goldstein yesterday. She just happened to be out here. It's the first human being that I have really interacted with, uh, in a, in a while. Wow. Cause we actually went out to eat to one of the restaurants that was open up.

Wow. And when I saw her, we, we gave each other a covid hug, you know. Okay. Nice. Covid Covid approved hug. Good for, I would imagine that if I saw you, it would be the exact same thing, man. And, and with your entire family,

Uri Schneider: man. All right, well listen. Lovely people. Opt in on the hug when there's an opportunity for a hug, opt in, whatever kind it's gonna be

John Gomez: So , we're gonna, we're gonna have to give one of these days. We're gonna have to contextualize that for people. But, uh, it, listen,

Uri Schneider: this was cool. I had some practice with this. Now I'm gonna go do my first Instagram live. I've got a dentist, um, Dr. Linda for kids, and I'm gonna talk about the intersection between dentists and speech therapists, and it has a lot to do with pulling teeth.