Episode Three

I know I usually do this about a day or two after I upload a new episode but I've been busy. Since the article came out in the Indiana Daily Student, I've been working on my show proposal to move the show to IU student Television. With the help in IUSTV I hope to change the format of the show to a late night talk show with an audience. I think it'll be really cool to have this in Bloomington. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I haven't even gotten my acceptance letter yet...

Anyway, about this episode. The idea came to me when I was petting my cat. You see I love my cat. I put all the love that I would put on a child onto my cat. I would have done an entire episode to my cat if didn't make me look crazier than I already am so I decided to extend it to all pets. Delilah's Pet Shop is a local pet shop that's been a Bloomington fixture for as long as I can remember. I remember people always talking about how pet shops are evil and having been to Delilah's (and petting Delilah, the owner's giant gentle saint bernard) I knew that this was far from the case. I decided that I wanted to give this pet shop a chance to show the world that not ALL pet shops are evil. But as she says, you do have to be careful and make sure the place is reputable.

Then I had to include the shelter. My cat was a stray. The two dogs I grew up with are strays. Shelter animals make some of the greatest pets. You save a life and you get a best friend for cheap. The dog, Forrest, was wonderful to play with. If I was a young child with as much energy as him, we could wear each other out by playing all day. I emailed Jo Liska to get an update on Forrest. I'm told that's he's been adopted and is doing well in his new home. Always nice to get a happy ending.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm working on a new episode right now. It showcases local bands in the area. It's gonna be a good episode. Stay tuned for that one.

Episode Two

So this is the second episode and I have to say I think it turned out pretty good. I've wanted to do a show decicated to weight loss since my own weight loss victory. Like I said I have a mental disorder called Generalized Anxiety disorder. That's fancy title for the fear of everything. My anxiety fed into depression and then to soothe that it was compulsive overeating. I was horribly addicted to fast food. I put myself in such deep debt just so I could eat out 3 times a day plus eating in between. Don't let those fast food ads about how cost effective their food is fool you. It does add up. When I started eating in more and eating less my body was shocked! I was sleeping 12-14 hours a day and it took about 3 months before my body started to get used to my new lifestyle. I've gained about 10 pounds since the interview mostly from finals stress but this time I feel like I know what to do take care of it and you know what? I will take care of it.

The Dietian's interview went off to a rough start. It was orginally longer but I used microphones and I forgot to turn them on. We had to reshoot that entire interview and it ended up being shorter than orginal. The work out that I did with Derrick was truly no joke but he sailed right through it. The next day my abs were very sore so I think he was on the right track there. I hope to have a routine from him that can be done from home and when I'll post it on the blog so you guys can see it and do it from home. You'll notice my cat Isis in my closing comments sitting next to me. That was done on kind of done of purpose. I didn't plan to have her in the shot but just as I was ready to start filming she jumped up on the couch right next to me and looked up at me like "Is the camera on? My sure you get my good side." I couldn't resist and I thought it would be kind of cute to have her in the shot. She's also in the opening comments in an upcoming show but I guess that wasn't enough for her.

Not only did I want people to know how to change their lifestyle, I also wanted to show cost effective ways to lose weight. I've read several articles about medical professionals worried about "recession pounds". People putting on weight by buying food that lower in nutrtional value because it's lower in cost and not exercising because they don't have money for a gym membership or don't have time because they're working more. I do have another cost saving tip that didn't make it into the show, go thrift and garage sale shopping. You can find exercise eqipment and DVDs that are cheaper than finding it in the store. But why buy when you can get some stuff for free? Check out http://www.freecycle.org and find your hometown or area. You might be able to find books, exercise DVDs, tapes and eqipment and much more. These are all for free with no strings attached.

Now that you're done reading this post and watching the show, get out there, move and change your life.

Episode One

As I’ve said in the descriptions of the videos, this episode was originally a project for my social problems class at Ivy Tech in Bloomington, IN. We were challenged to find our assigned problem within the community. My group’s problem was gay and civil rights. I thought that finding any kind of problem with gay and civil rights was impossible. I’m a biracial woman with a white husband (whom I’m openly affectionate with) and I’ve never experienced any problems in my 20 some years of living here. I knew Helen and Carol from when I volunteered at BloomingOUT. I asked them if they had any experiences they could share and they said yes. I don’t know what I was expecting when I sat down with them but they provided experiences and answers that blew my mind. I really learned a lot from those two interviews. What really shocked me was the discrimination they felt at Indiana University, the same institution that is credited for town’s liberal atmosphere.

The show kind of evolved in a direction I didn’t start out with. Bloomington is a great town. My husband and I have talked about when I replace Oprah in talk show ratings and he’s blowing every gamer’s mind with his awesome games, that we would move to Bloomington and set up our bases there, maybe in the same building. As much I love this town, it does have some problems. Every place does. I wanted to show that we do have our problems but then after talking with these two women, it seems that the discrimination is not the main problem. It’s the belief from the townspeople that our town is immune from it. In our class, a lawyer and NAACP member Guy Loftman came in talked to us about a report that group he was a part of called Monroe County Racial Justice Task Force. They did a report on discrimination in the courts in Monroe County. I won’t go into full details about the report but there is one thing they found that stuck with me. They found that whites spent on average about 2 days in jail before making bail. For Blacks the average was 47 days. I want you to take this episode as a call to action. Even if you live in Bloomington (or a town with a similar atmosphere) know that you have this problem and it’s worse for you because it’s silent.

I wanted my first episode to be about weight loss but due to school and interviews canceling on me that didn’t happen. I’m happy that this is my first episode and I’m excited for the others that to come. This week I’ll be filming interviews with a personal trainer in training friend of mine, Derrick English. He’s going to share is struggles with weight loss then put me through a, what he promises, brutal work out. We’ll see how I survive. Then I’ll be talking with a Registered Dietitian Karen Valentine to talk about good food choices, how to read labels and to eat healthy without spending a lot of money. Then I’m going speak with Karen, the owner of Delilah’s Pet Shop about her shop, where her animals come from and proper pet care. I’m in talks right now with Rachel’s Café to host a free concert for episode I’m calling “The Battle of The Bands”. It’ll some local bands around town. They’ll play and I’ll do a behind the music style of interview. I think it’ll be a lot of fun. I’ll pass along more info when that develops. I’m also trying to feature restaurants, local comedians and other local businesses. So definitely stick around. The Aimee Stanton Show is just getting started!