Episode #159: Feeney Sings with Christina Connors

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #159 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Christina Conners.

It was great to talk with my #friend, Christina!

Christina is a keynote singer, workshop facilitator, massage therapist, soulful songstress and author.

We talked about:
Christina attended Wolcott Elementary School (minute 1)
Christina’s background (minute 2)
David Friedman (minute 3)
Christina’s Cottage (minute 6)
Photo of Christina at the old music room in Wolcott School & her yearbook pic (minute 8:30)
Her music teacher, Mrs. Rovetti inspired her to sing (minute 10)
Songs for the Soul video (minute 11.30)
Music can heal and nurture children (minute 12.30)
10 week self paced journey called Songs for the Soul (minute 18)
“You can’t give what you don’t have!’ (minute 20)
Heart Magic (minute 22)
Testimonial from Angela Santomero (minute 26)
Songs for the Soul (minute 29)
The Healing Chickadee with Terry Murphy (minute 31)
Posters at pediatric offices (minute 33)
Podcast #154 with The Soulful Forest (minute 35)
Songs: First, Last, Best, Worst (minute 38)
SURPRISE GUEST, Mrs. Rovetti  (minute 40)
Mrs. Rovetti taught for 37 years (minute 45)
Currently, she sings in a choir and runs a food pantry (minute 47)
Scott Dunn is Tim Dunn’s nephew (minute 50)
We sing “Leaving on a Jet Plane”  (minute 54)
Singing brings people together (minute 59)
They both earned a Buffy’s Best (minute 1.03)
Closing remarks (minute 1.04)

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Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

All right, all right. Feeny talks
with friends.

Episode 159 what's up?

Christina. Hi.

How are you?

Thank you for having me.

It's fun to be here in your classroom.

I know you beat me to it.

We're in a very special place
with a special person.

We're here at Wolcott School.

What's Wolcott School mean to you?

I went to walk at school.

Should I say how many years ago?

Let's see.

I graduated high school. 91.

So we're going back 40 something years.

Nice.

Yeah. Wolcott school, 71 Wolcott Road.

I'm in my 13th year here.

13th year teaching at Wolcott School.

Oh, really?

It's flying by. My daughters went here.

It was an amazing time to teach
and have my kids at the same school.

It was a dream come true. So.

Yep. We're in room 115.
I teach third grade.

My name is Eric Feeney, founder
and president of Friends of Feeny.

I use this podcast,

Feeny talks with friends,
and I talk to a wonderful people

in the community
that are doing great things.

And you have so much stuff going on.

You're a keynote singer, workshop
facilitator,

author, CEO, music music
educator, creator,

massage therapists, soulful songstress,
and songs for the soul.

Yes. My goodness.

Where do you want to start?

First off, I want to start.

Gee, where do I want to start?

Yeah.

So, I mean, I've always been called
to help people.

My mom came to this country
when she was 25 from Sweden, and,

she was an umpire for a Swedish family
in Hartford.

And most of my cousins in
Sweden are work in daycares, or so

I think it's kind of in my genes
to care for people.

It started out caring for people
through singing.

I found I loved

how people felt when I sang songs
that made them cry or made them feel

joyful, and I realized how healing it was,

just to be on a stage and sing to people.

And then, you know, after about 15 years

of professionally singing,
I wanted to put down some roots.

And that's when I discovered massage
therapy, because it was such a perfect,

compliment to my performing career
because it was flexible.

And one thing I noticed is no matter how

wealthy someone was, or everyone kind of

fell back to old patterns of stress,
I've had clients that came to me

every week, sometimes
a couple times a week, and just never

were able to sustain that relaxed state.

And I realized that people need tools
on a daily basis

to help them find their center,
and so that they don't get caught

in the chaos of the world,
because we need to be present

for each other or for ourselves.

And it's it's challenging these days,
for sure.

That's great.

That's a wonderful background story.

Thank you for sharing that.

What,
what do you been up to now recently, like?

Yeah.

So, a dear friend of mine,
David Friedman, is,

an incredibly successful,
accomplished composer.

He conducted a lot of the Disney movies.

He's he's incredible.

He's a platinum songwriter,
and he's just author.

Yes. And author of The Thought Exchange,
something that he teaches and transforms

lives through.

So he's not just an incredible composer.

He's also a teacher and a healer.

And, being able to work with him and,

create programs for children
and families is truly,

an incredible opportunity
and a great gift for both of us. So.

So he's like a mentor, role model.

Yeah, well, it's interesting.
So he was a mentor.

I can back up a little bit.

I really have a really cool,
meeting of David Friedman story.

So I was, in my 30s, living in Manhattan,
pursuing, you know, the Broadway dream.

And, until I heard the song,
my roommate at the time played me.

This song was called Listen in My Heart,
sung by the late Nancy Lamotte.

And it stopped me in my tracks.

It was like it just spoke to me.

I was like,
oh my gosh, this song is amazing.

And it was a song of David Friedman's.

So I was in maybe in the city
for about a year at that time,

and I pivoted my,
my passion was to meet David Friedman.

I wanted to meet this composer.

I wanted to sing his music.

I was just loving it. And,

he was in the cabaret scene at that time.

And, I remember my music director
at the time said, oh,

you want to meet David Friedman? No way.

He's too busy.

He's on Broadway.

And I didn't give up on that dream.

And, I did a one woman show in Manhattan
at Don't Tell Mama that year.

And Listen to My Heart
was my opening song.

And after that happened,
I ran out of money

and did what a lot of people have to do.

And I had to move back to Connecticut
because I was previous.

Before that, I was a massage
therapist in Connecticut and,

just focus on my massage career
because I just, I ran out of money

and I didn't give up the hope in the dream
that I'd meet him.

And about a year later, my mom was on
the phone with me and I was depressed.

And she said, gee, you know,
you need to find a spiritual community.

You're, you know, you stop singing.

And I said, okay, so I found out
a Unitarian church

was in Norwalk, Connecticut,
which is about 15 minutes from my house.

And I walked up the stairs.

I sit in the back row and who's
sitting four seats in front of me?

David Friedman.

Come on, I kid you not. Wow.

And if there's a

message today that I want to give people
is you have no idea

if you just let go
and trust the unfoldment of your life,

that it works out.

But the hard part is trusting

and having to deal with
what comes up in that trust.

You know, we all want to control, right?

We're all in fear
and we think that our dream is there.

But you know, we don't know.

And that's something that I learned, you
know, trust the unfoldment of your life.

And it will guide you not only to your
highest dream, but also to your healing.

Because life isn't just rainbows.

And you know, lollipops.

Life can be hard,

but that is a part of life,
and that is the unfolding of life,

and that is part of who
we are in this life experience.

And I think if we deny that and we push
that down, that leads to mental health,

that leads to stress when we
we try to resist what's unfolding.

Well, so you saw them in church
and now you are doing songs for the soul.

Yeah.

So David
and I, we collaborated on a YouTube

series called Christina's Cottage,
which is for children and families.

So we have, gosh,
I think we have maybe 27 music videos.

It's kind of like the new version of Mr.

Rogers Got a woman.

I want to come as you are. Yes.

That's right, that's right.

And so I wanted to create something,
a safe place for kids and families to

to do something together.

Because that's the thing I think nowadays
there's so much isolation, not only,

you know, in communities,
but among families because it's just busy.

And I wanted to create a program
that they could do together.

Know, you know, kids can sit in
front of the screen and the parent

and do exercises to help regulate
their emotions together as a family.

And that was what was important to me.

So, so from that, you know, David
and I, I love David's music.

My first album, I came out
in 22,016 was all of David's music.

It's called the, Dream Bigger
and his music is just it's not just music.

It's it's a curriculum for healing
and for living in a way

that's more in alignment
with who we are, our authentic selves.

And so I wanted to create a musical kind
of, I don't want to say course,

but a journey,
through an online platform.

So, yeah, we're launching, early, early
March, and we're really excited about it.

It's,
for parents and caregivers of children,

and it's really to help support them in
helping them find their center.

We all have inner resources we need to
navigate in our daily lives, to thrive.

But a lot of people disconnected
from that.

And I want to bring them back to that.

And that's what this course does.

I yeah, I'm excited. We'll show the video.

But before the video,
back to work at school.

So, we did a little tour.

What'd you think we did?

Because I got some pictures.

It's changed a lot,
and yet it hasn't changed.

You know,
like the main structures are all this.

The same girl,
which is now our Esol room. Yes.

Yeah, a lot of the. But, you know, it's.

I love the murals on the wall.

I love the positivity.

The halls got smaller,
but I think I just got bigger. Yep.

Just fun.

And it's. Yeah, a lot.
A lot is the same.

It's fun.

It's been, it's been a joy, too.

I got some surprises and some games.
Oh, gosh.

But this is the first surprise.
I got a picture of you. Yearbook.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah, that's Connor Maria Connors.

Yeah. Let's see. Won't go into words.

Feels like music.

Lacks.

So you play lacrosse? Yeah.

There's a lot of other

little. Yeah.

And of course that's what you do.

Talked in code.

Yes. Talk to go. Well should we post that.

Oh yeah.

Go ahead to wear the see a yearbook
photo. Yes.

That's my high school yearbook. Yeah.

But Richard's maybe.

Yes, yes she is in that we are.

We graduated together. Good friend.

Yes. Any inspirations from Wolcott School
that led you down your path?

That's where it's all started.

Miss Betty, in that music room
you just showed on the screen?

I sang in music
class, and a dear friend of mine

that I just recently reconnected with
that went to walk it with me.

He was mentioning a song that we

she played a lot,
which was, California Dreamin.

We sang a lot.

We did a rainbow connection,
and she loved Jim Croce.

So we did a lot of Jim Croce songs
and, yeah, I mean, she

she noticed that I not only love to sing,
but I was good at it

and called my parents up and set them down
and said, Christina

is really good at this, and you should
support it and nurture that talent.

And they did. They listened.

And I think when I went to Sedgwick's

seventh, seventh grade, it was actually
something at that time, I started

the hard school music, and I did
private voice lessons from seventh grade.

All the way through high school
and went to hard school for college.

Man, it

all started here and it started and ended.

And we're here.

We're back in the West
Hartford school systems.

All right.

We're going to play this wonderful songs
for the Soul by David Freeman.

So it's like directed towards

caregiving caregivers and parents.

A ten week

musical journey
to help you find your center

not through more information, but through
music speaks directly to your heart.

Your transformational mentor,
Christina Connors,

David Freeman, multi-platinum songwriter,
Broadway

and Disney.

Cool.

David Freeman is going to come by monthly.

Christina will be there weekly.

Everyone wins and take care of you.

Oh, there's a waitlist and starts
February 26th.

Next month, people
sign up at Christina connors.com.

Yeah, I know it's going to start in March.

Okay, March.

But get it in by February.

I know, that's cool.

It's really smooth.

So, yeah, you noticed, a lot of kids

you mentioned are overstimulated,
disconnected.

Mental health is a huge issue, you know,

how does how can music heal a nature
that nurture that?

Well, I think that once again,
because our world is so,

so much information
and so much information

overload and stress in the devices,
and everyone's just.

And we were just talking about it
in the hallway.

You know, I had my first boyfriend
in sixth grade, and I have friends

who've got kids who graduated high school
and never had a boyfriend.

It's like, how was that happening?

You know, it's like they're
just in their own in their own worlds.

And I guess it's a different time.

But I what music does, it really helps us
get out of our head

and drops us into our heart.

David's songs are really timeless.

They're unique.

They contain messages that are healing

in a way it how
they help us see ourselves in the world

and in a way that's less stressful
and more loving and more healing.

Like, for instance,
the first week is his song Trust the Wind.

And what Trust Wind is really about
is surrender.

Letting go of control
and trusting invisible support

and trusting that we are being guided
if we pay attention.

Right.

And, the next, the next week
will be the song The Gift of Trouble,

which is one of my favorites of David,
and it's really hard sometimes to swallow.

However,
I do believe our adversity helps us grow

and to learn if we're willing to
look at it from that perspective.

And, yeah, seeing challenges

as teachers
and discovering hidden strengths.

And then the third week is
help is on the way about recognizing

you're not alone
and learning to receive support.

And something I tap into quite often
in the ten week journey.

By the way, it is self-paced.

I decided that

it would be self-paced
because, you know, everyone's busy

and they got things going on and
I didn't want someone to be discouraged

and hopping on board on this incredible
process because they don't have time.

You do it whenever you want.

And so once a week
we do a different song. And,

each day of that week on audio,
I, record a two minute

reflection on that theme of the song
throughout the week.

And I do have worksheets
for the deeper dive.

If a if a parent or caregiver
chooses to dive deep, you know,

because some of these songs
might bring up stuff

and some people just might not want to go
there, and that's totally fine.

Maybe you'll take the course,

you know, the journey a few times
and it's it's going to be evergreen model.

So it's I'm not launching
it. It's just going to be available.

So you can sign, you know, you know,
you can take on this journey

the ten week journey
and finish it in a year.

I don't care as long as you take
the journey. That's great.

And so I thought that was a really,
really important thing.

And, you know, this work
really is about reconnecting parents

and caregivers to their inner resources
so they can feel safe within themselves,

connect to themselves
and unconditional love themselves.

They can break unhealthy generational
patterns that we've all taken on, right?

Subconsciously.

And that's another beautiful thing about
David's music is, you know, will reflect.

We know during the week,
I'll say so, you know,

how did your parents show you
how they received or did they not?

You know, how you know.

And so we really because when we're kids,
we learn,

you know, we learn through our parents
and caregivers modeling to us.

And we take on those patterns,
not even realizing we are.

And because of that, just what's so great
about this music, it kind of like

it just makes you think, you know,
you could be dry, you could be waiting

in the line to pick up your kids,
and it's a two minute reflection.

Play it and just kind of sit
there and reflect a little bit

is amazing things that will resurface.

And the great thing about it is
we don't have to fix.

It's just amazing
how when it's just bringing it

to the light of consciousness,
awareness can actually help.

Just release it.

It's just bringing it out.

Oh my gosh, my parents didn't do that
or whatever I did.

Just from that realization alone.

It's incredible.

That will transform. It's incredible.

And anything from our past is
as long as we accept it, I think problem.

The problem with a lot of us,
we've had hard

times is we're not able to get through,
is because we never really accepted it.

Once we accept

what happened, that's
when we can release it.

We can't we can't let go of anything
that we're not accepting.

So that's
so also important in this program.

And that's how we transform, you know,
and loving ourselves through it.

It's not about it's
not about feeling shame or whatever.

It's about just loving ourselves,
accepting our humanity.

Where humans, you know, we have hard days.

One of my favorite, parent teachers
is, Doctor Becky Kennedy.

She wrote a book called Good Inside

that I recommend all parents
to read and caregivers.

She's amazing.

And she talks about when you have a moment
when there's a rupture, right?

When there's a rupture,
you know, you're cooking your dinner

and the kid does something and you,
you flip your lid, right?

And everyone's going to flip their lid.

We all flip a little bit.

That's okay.
We all flipper lid. We're human.

We're good people.

We just flip our lid and then her, her
next thing is just then just go repair,

go into the room and say,
hey, I am so sorry.

I just want you to know
that was not your fault.

It's never your fault.

Because if we don't repair it
with our child

or the children in her care,
or a friend or a partner,

especially children, they live in that
and that doesn't get repaired.

And then they take it
and they internalize it. I'm bad.

And then they grow up thinking
they're not enough.

Hence, here we are as adults, 98% of us.

None of us think we're enough.

And it's from that lack of repair.

And I think that's another big thing
for me in this course is just to just

create a community.

So it'll be a community
like my dream would be

literally the parents and caregivers
of the town of West Hartford.

I will literally have a community for them

to talk through stuff,
you know, connect with one another.

And it's like, I feel we need to just

let each other off the hook, because
when you let someone else off the hook,

guess what? You let yourself off the hook.

If you think that you know by,
you know, saying,

you know, you did this or whatever,
that's going to bring you peace,

maybe for that second.

But ultimately, you know, there's
this one spiritual teacher I love.

He said,
if you didn't, whoever you damn damn,

whatever you damn, damn zip back.

And I love that.

Because really, we're all connected

and, you know, and I love the work
you do with Fenian friends.

I mean, you help people who are going
through tragedy, who had tragedy.

I personally feel we're

under tragedy
all the time with the mental health crisis

that our youth and people are facing,
and this is why I'm doing what I'm doing.

And David is so beyond excited
to lend his songs to this,

because they're transformed,
then they're transformational.

They truly are.

I yeah, you meant mental health
and you shared some stats in Connecticut

54,000 youth experience major depression
this past year.

Yeah, it's 599,000

adults are struggling with mental illness
and the youth are multiply Health's

mental health diagnosis
increased to 24% in just four years.

Yeah.

So yeah, mental health is,
definitely coming to the surface.

And you're seeing it more and more.

And that's why I feel

that parents and caregivers
do not have enough resources and support.

And that's why
this program, in this course,

this journey is important to me
because this is something I can do.

And, and it's not requiring me

to massage anyone, you know?

And I'm just I'm just

so honored
to have created this course with David,

because I really think
it's a game changer.

I think it's not only going to help
people reconnect with their own inner

selves, their own heart, their own

piece.

Yeah, but life is too busy.

They don't have time for it.
We have to make the time.

There's this amazing quote.

I have it here somewhere and it's

it says children are not a distraction
from more important work.

They are the most important work.

C.S. Lewis and I'm like that is amazing.

Yeah. You know,
and I love doing the little metaphor.

So I want you to take out the,
1972 silver

dollar out of your pocket.

Oh. You don't have one.

Oh. You don't.

Okay,
so I guess we can give what we don't have.

And that includes care,
unconditional love, kindness,

anything we can't give from an empty cup,
we don't have it.

And so my job and my passion is to fill
the cup of the caregivers and teachers.

So that they have enough
to pour out the unconditional love.

So they work through all of these songs.

I promise they will not be
the same people. I promise.

I love it,

I know you said music cuts through
the noise and brings us back to ourselves.

Yeah, I like that. Songs for the soul.

Yeah, and I do in weeks.

Yeah, it's ten weeks
because my daughter just did Driver's Ed.

I had to do
driver's ed every Wednesday night.

Yeah, 6:00 on the dot.

Did you do triple AA or what did you do?

Somewhere in Waterbury,
I don't know. Okay.

But she gets it. It's on your own.

Do the classes as you can.

So they have to.

Nowadays, with people being so busy,
I think you hit it on the head with,

do it on your own pace.

I like that, and it's kind of funny.

So my husband and I, we just finished
watching Land Man to watch it.

I started it, so it's.

And it's so funny because
when a series just starts, they drop it

once a week in my husband and I'm like,
we have to wait a whole week.

When I was a kid, Fridays
and went the Muppets,

The Love Boat, and Fantasy Island
every Friday wasn't Saturday,

it wasn't Tuesday,
was it Monday? It was every Friday.

You missed it.

And it was funny.

We're so spoiled, right?

I mean, we are so spoiled.

And one of the things that that I think
is a powerful tool is the heart.

We do it in the soul for for us, we
we really utilize the power of the heart.

And I'm going to I'm
going to say something here.

So the heart creates
an electric electromagnetic field

that's actually 60 to 100 times stronger
than the brain's research from the heart.

Math Institute has shown this when we
teach children or adults heart magic,

which we called heart magic and gratitude
practices and heart focused breathing.

So we basically place our hand
on our heart and we breathe.

We're tapping

into the most powerful
electromagnetic force in the body.

And this is why music is music and heart
centered work are so transformational.

They bypass the analytical analytical mind
and activate this incredible

and energetic resource that can shift

not only our own state, but potentially
the energy of those around us.

So let's do one right now.

All right.

I would put your hands on the floor

and you're going
to put your hands in your heart.

And what I know as a massage therapist
is where attention goes, energy flows.

So when we place our hands on a body part,

that's subconsciously
where our attention goes, okay.

Got it. Another synapse
are you going to take.

We're going to take just a couple calm
breaths in, ideally through your nose.

And breathe out.

And you're going to put your attention
to your heart center.

And from that place I want you to think of
something or someone

that you're grateful for,
or someone or something you love

so much that when you think of them,
you're like, heart explodes.

See, I think of buddy or a family dog.

As soon as I think of buddy,
my heart explodes.

So I go right there.

It's wanting to think of something
or someone you're thankful for.

And just relish in that feeling.

So you really focus on the feeling.

And then bring your attention
back to your heart center.

You can feel the beating of your heart.

All right.

And that is a hard focus.

Breathing exercise is breathing in.

What happens here?
Who I was thinking about. Yes,

I know

I have twin girls that was going through
all the pictures today and I saw baby

a baby video
and, man brought me back to tears almost.

And that's and it's amazing.

You know, Shauna Shapiro,
she is an incredible mindfulness

teacher and scientist,
and she does a huge TEDx talk in it.

And she says, what we practice grows
and what happens,

there's a thing called neuroplasticity
with the brain.

Right.

And so let's say you created trauma
or your conscious set point is,

if you do that heart breathing exercise
several times a day,

you actually change the
the neural structure of your brain

and create new neural pathways to give you
a little higher of a set point.

And that's something what's so powerful
about those heart focused

breathing exercise.

And that's why your heart and breathing
think capital.

Yeah.

Just think of something
thankful for someone's like,

you should look in the mirror

and say good things to yourself
every morning to that too.

If you can exercise, exercise,

I don't know.

One and one thing
I always suggest to people every day,

do something for 15 minutes
that brings you joy.

Something like, for me, I love to sing,
as you know, and I love music.

So I'll sit in my car when I'm driving
somewhere and I'll listen to music.

That's my 15 minutes.
Like something or a podcast.

It uplifts me or something
that gets me into that state

is very important
for all of us to fill in up our cup.

Yeah. You gotta, you know,

you guys need a pick me up.

You should for 15 minutes.

Listen to the Feeny talks with friends.

There you go.

Guest I highly suggest
it's really good for your heart.

Yeah,
like and subscribe on YouTube and Spotify.

That's right. There you go.

No. You're doing great work.

You got a wonderful testimonial
from Angela.

Santa mero. Santa Myra. Yep.

She created Daniel Tiger and Blue's Clues.

Steve from Blue's Clues.

That's what people used to call me
Steve for Blues Clues.

I don't there, but no.

So the wonderful, testimonial. You.

She ends it, right?

I trust her completely.

I love that's a good ending.

But,
authentic voice in a world full of noise.

What she offers doesn't come from script
or trend.

It comes from deep.

Well,
passion, presents and lived integrity.

If you feel it the moment she speaks.
Yeah, you.

I just felt that a minute ago.

Her voice alone is grounding,
nurturing in a real way.

It makes you instantly
feels like you're being held.

Oh, that's cute. In my work,

voices
are warm up and I'm reading to myself.

That's exactly it. This is good.

This is good. Thanks.

Yeah.

No, I mean, it's, It's important to do
this work we're doing right now.

This musical journey to me
is a passion of mine

to help as many people as possible.

Because I think, in a world right
now, it's so divided and so chaotic,

I think people need to tap back into that
inner resource within themselves.

And,
a lot of people don't know how to do it.

And then.

Oh, we mentioned this last time.

Yeah. I'll mention it again. Yes.

Christine and the love bugs.

We can be kind, I love it. Yes.

David Friedman,
it's based upon David Friedman song.

We can be kind and, Yeah.

I mean, that's, a message
we want to scream on the rooftops is just.

We can be kind, you know?

And it starts with being kind
to ourselves.

Right?

Take this ten week
self-paced journey and be kind.

Art can be kind to yourself.

So that way, I mean, because, you know,
we can't give what we don't have.

And, you know, when we take care of
ourselves, everyone wins. And

it's not it's not really necess.

It's it's not.

We have to do it.

It's it's necessary now we have to

and, and it's fun and it's, you know,

we created an amazing community
because I don't have to do it alone.

And I always
I want to encourage book clubs.

I have a good friend of mine
who Scott little kids.

And she's in a book club.

Okay.

Well, what if for ten weeks

and you didn't do the book club
and you did this together?

That's a good one. Yeah.

You know, or all of the teachers
and parents of walk at school, you know,

they do it together.

You know, I think creating a community
through this practice into this

work is powerful unity and community.

You know, it is I mean, the end
of the day, something tragic happens.

You know,

it's the community and those who love you
and who are going to be there for you.

Yeah.

And so we have to reconnect each other
and we need to reconnect to ourselves

so that we can model
how to reconnect to ourselves.

Right.

If we're we're constantly looking outside
ourselves, our child is going to think

that it's normal, that we
they look outside themselves. Right?

We do have an inner compass.

We've a lot of people have lost it.

And, that inner compass
will help you trust the wind and learn

to help you understand, you know,
the gift of trouble within your own life.

So you don't become victim of it,
but rather learn from it and grow from it,

and let life teach us how to be better
humans

and better friends
and a better community coming together.

That's what we need.

And that's what this course is about.

This is what is with friends for.

Yeah, absolutely.

Purchase the soul for the songs,
for the soul ten week program.

Learn as you want.

Worked with David Freeman, I love it.

Anything else you want to share?

It's at Christina connors.com. Yep.

So, yeah, you can just get on the waitlist
right now at Christina connors.com,

and we'll have you on that way.

Listen, soon as it's released
and as soon as it's available, we'll

email you and you'll get the early bird
rate and, yeah, grab,

grab your friends, grab anyone you know,
and let's, let's do this together.

It's takes a village and I'm ready.

We're ready. And we're excited.

We're excited to share these songs
and help people drop into their hearts.

And, during the process
of making this soul for the soul,

were there any challenges?

Was there a moment where you learned
something about yourself or,

or learned something new about David or.

Well, one thing I know for
sure is it's a lot of work.

We're talking

hours and hours and hours of work
and creating this program,

you know, and having to come up
with the different reflections.

I had to reflect on my own.

You know, I think of,

you know, we lost my brother
six years ago.

He had an epileptic seizure
and passed away.

He was 47.

And one gift

from his passing is, I have so much grace
and compassion for those who are going

through tragedy and hardship,
because I know what it's like

to get to go pretty low
and to have a really hard time.

So now I really can relate.

It inspired me to become the voice of the
Healing Chickadee, Terry's nonprofit.

So Terry has, my friend
Terry Murphy has a nonprofit called

The Healing Chickadee,
in which I lend my voice

as the bird to help,
children and families through grief.

I'm glad you mentioned that.
I wanted to reach out to her.

She said that if we have families
that we need help

she would send a chickadee to.

And we just helped a couple families.

So I got to follow up with
that is an incredible program.

We had a father and son,

got into a car accident together.

We help the mom.

We have a family, three
different families in a three family house

at a house fire there.

All three of them are displaced.

We helped all three families.
It's amazing.

So, yeah, you're doing amazing work,
you know, and I this is this is.

And the work that you're doing through
Friends of Feeney

is something that I feel that's a calling.

This songs for the soul is a calling.

And I believe, you know,
there's a definition that I.

That I love for life
purpose is finding that intersection

where what the world needs and what
you love to do and what you're good at.

Merge.

And so I love to sing
and I love to help people

and to be able to create this journey,

a safe space and a community
to help people find their center and learn

to navigate life's challenges with grace
and responsiveness rather than reactivity.

That's my purpose.

I like it and, you know, purpose.

Thank you,
thank you. Yeah. I mean, it's, powerful.

Thank you. I'm. I'm excited.
I feel very aligned.

This is the most I've aligned.

I've felt in a pro in a program
or a project in a long time.

So it's a good feeling.

Yeah, it's a really good feeling.

What about, any.

Are you singing anywhere? You singing?

Yeah, I'm
singing downstairs on my on my studio

creating this, this journey.

Yeah. Right now
when we're in the recording stage.

Not right now.

Not right now.

I'm focused on this program,
and I'm focused in the recording studio

we are putting together,
which I'm really excited about.

This is another project we're doing,
we're creating, posters

for pediatric offices with QR codes
of our songs and the characters.

So, because,
you know, it's scary for a child

or even a parent to be sitting there
waiting in a pediatric office,

whether it's a physical
or if they're sick.

And when they click on a QR code, it's

one of the characters, buddy,
which is based on our family dog.

He talks and sings a little song about.

Yes, that's funny about, the instruments
the doctors are going to use

to kind of ease their minds a little bit,
and then we're going to be

doing a song called, happy. And.

Oh, so there's going to be a lot of fun
QR codes to help support the kid in the in

the parent

need to calm down
while they're waiting in the

in the waiting room,
which we're really psyched about.

That's awesome.
Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's fun.

It's a lot of fun. To the best of luck.

And if there's anything I can do,
I can reach out to a pediatric.

I could try to connect you
with some West Hartford schools.

Great. Yeah, let's try to get it.

Let's try to onboard as many parents
and caregivers we can for this program.

How fun would it be for,
you know, to get grants and funding

so that actually, for instance,
someone grants all of the parents

and teachers of Wolcott Elementary School
to take this program for free.

You know, that would be amazing.

So because we have a nonprofit,
we have obviously the healing charity

to nonprofit
we can go through or friends of Feeney.

Let's try to make this happen.

And let's,
let's get parents and caregivers

this resource
because it's it's it's needed.

Yeah. No, I think it's going to be great.

Thank you. So much. Sign us up.

Sign me up. I'm going to sing.

We sang last podcast, remember?

So, Christina, you guys don't remember.

Go back and check out 154
with the Soulful Forest.

It was Teri. Tara.

Christina. Yes.

154 it was at Sally and Bob's.

We talked about Walk It. Minute three.

We talked about Christina Cottage.

Christina's cottage at nine.

How's that going?

Christina's cottage. It's going.

I watched a couple today. Yeah.

I love your intro on
how you explain what it is.

You know, you got, like,
over 500 subscribers, which is great.

You're posting a lot.

How's that going?

It's going good.

It's going good.

So, you know, we're just it's,
it's a lot of work.

So we we have an amazing artist.

So how the process goes
as we go in the studio.

Well, no, actually, first I decide on what
I want the song to be about.

Then I give it to David.

David writes the song,
and then David and I get into the studio.

I write the script,
a little behind the scenes.

I am the voice of every character.

I am the voice of every bug,
including buddy.

Because buddy started talking now

by the way, in the poster for the,
pediatric offices.

But he's now going to be talking,
is it like a dog or dog?

Dog voice. What do we got?
Let me hear you, buddy.

You'll hear.

Well, that's a thing.

So I'll say I'll like, talk.

And then he tweaks it. Oh, yeah.

Just the mix.

Oh, you mean just the volume?
Yeah. Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

So he he brings the

he brings the frequency up so that
it sounds a little bit more playful.

It's amazing.

It's it's incredible
being in the, in the studio.

Yeah.

So now we'll actually go in the studio
in a couple weeks to record the

couple of videos for the poster
for the pediatric office of the,

do you have pediatric offices already

waiting for your posters
like you talked with them already?

I have two neighbors on each side of me

that are pediatric nurses,
and I've gave them kind of like a mock,

idea of it,
and they're just beyond blown away.

Oh, nice.
Yeah. It's because, you know, I mean,

ideally, we don't want kids to be focused
on the screen, right?

All the time.

But like my friend Angela Santa Maria,
you know, Blue's Clues and Daniel Tiger,

I mean, she's got some amazing programs
that are educational and

and as long as it's healthy, good content
and it's not all day,

I think it can be amazing.

She read a book. Gift.

Yeah.

Angela has a book called Life Clues,

and she also wrote a book called
Radical Kindness, which I really love

with a with a foreword by, Deepak Chopra.

She's amazing.

She's an amazing human.

Confirm or deny Blue's Clues.

Steve was asked to leave

because he started balding
and didn't connect with the kids anymore.

Did you hear the story?

Well, let me tell you something.

Knowing Angela, I can tell you 100,000%.

That's not the case, okay?

There's no way that's the case.

So I'm going to debunk that already.

You're going to debunk
it. All right, all right.

How about songs?

We can be kind.

So do you want me to sing a little bit?

Save the singing for later?

Okay.

How about your song?

You're what?
It was the first song that you sang.

Do we talk about this or any first song?

Last song in the program?

No. Like you personally.
What's your first song?

Your most recent song,
your best song and your worst song to fun.

My first last best, worst.

Shall I say my flagship song is that.

Is that.

Yeah.

Flagship I would say
is listen to My Heart, David song.

And that's what led me to him.

Oh, that's right.

Yeah. He wrote it first.

Yeah, yeah, he wrote it
and I heard it and was obsessed.

And that's actually it's amazing
when I think about it.

That song is probably the reason
why I'm sitting here right now

and doing what I'm doing.

I would have never met David
if I didn't hear that song.

So once again, that trusting or trusting

the flow of our life, it's incredible.

I mean, I wonder where you were
when you heard it.

Oh, yeah,
I was in my apartment in Brooklyn.

Listen to my heart.

Yeah.

Was it on the radio, TV, movies?

Gosh, we're going back. What?

How many years?

20, 20 something years ago.

So was probably a CD.

At that time.

Oh, yeah, it was probably a CD.

And, I never went back.

That was it. It's amazing.

Like that pivoted my
my focus on where I wanted to be.

And I didn't care about Broadway anymore.
I didn't care about anything.

I just wanted to meet this composer

and sing music
that opens people's hearts and heals

love.

And, Yeah.

So, I mean,

I would say almost all my favorite songs
are David Friedman's,

there's two songs in the program
that are not on my album, so they can hear

all the songs that are on the program
on my album Dream Bigger.

Remember you wanted to sing?

Yes. You ready to sing? Oh, yeah.

I said there's a surprise. Oh, boy.

Ready for your surprise?
You want to go get the door?

Oh, gosh. Who's here? Lord have mercy.

Could be at the door.

Gosh,
is it like an old teacher or something?

Maybe.

You zoom in in.

All right.

I'll see.

Oh, my God, you are not

somebody I know this year.

You did not, I did you tar and all.

Oh, look at that.

Oh my God, how close are you to?

I lost

oh, I know, like, so I can get back.

Well, you are all good.

I000, you get out

Prize.

That's a prize.

Do you do know that they broke?

They they nest up your room,
they post about.

Oh, now you must rest.

They divide it into two pieces.

My room, my closet.

That was a little closet.

Oh. I'll see, like a closet. Oh, my.

Oh my God, I can't believe this is.

Irving is here.

So glad to see you.

Well, we've been in touch.

Yeah, I know we're Facebook friends,
so on Facebook.

Wow. Yeah.

Okay.

So, have you been.

I'd p

we will put you right here.

You've been here.

This is amazing.

You started it all I did.

You did? Well,
I started my teaching career. Well,

let's talk more on the mic now.

Oh, sorry.

Thank you.

My oh my gosh.

Yeah.

This is amazing.

So did you know this?

Yeah.

Oh, my old, carefully guarded secret,
surprise.

Right. And this work though.

Okay.

So you're you live in Harvard,
so I go all the time, I don't.

Okay. Right down the street.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

You know, I went to church there, right?

I know you are, Lucy. Oh. I'm here.

Yes, I going to you.

Oh, my. Oh, sorry.

Oh my gosh.

So where are you living now?

I live in Stamford, Connecticut.

Oh. Oh, you're a long way from here.

I am a long way from home.

Oh, nice I am.

Wow. Oh, my God, this is zero. Very.

You can call me Kathy now.

I can't, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

That's how it is.

That's how I wasn't my kids friends.
You know me.

You're still Mrs.

Rovelli. You are Mrs. Rovelli.

How about the picture?

Oh, yeah. We got.

I've got to get some pictures to know
I'm beautiful.

I love it.

Reunited you. We just.

Oh, yeah. You guys, are you guys going?

Because I was going to go for it.

So we were talking about the songs
that you'd always play on your guitar.

And, I brought my guitar.

Oh, my God, one of the songs. Oh, God.

So we remember California Dreamin. Okay.

And remember Rainbow Connection.

You were a big Jim
Croce fan, right? Didn't you talk a lot?

I'll. I'm in a bottle.

Last year, I oh, I got to be.

That's actually a depressing song.

Been listening to that.

I was like,
that's actually time in a bottle.

Is like, makes me cry.

Yeah, right.

Right, right.

Oh, my gosh, that is.

So I brought leaving on a song. Leaving.

That was a big one too.

Living on a jet plane.
Yeah. Peter, Paul and Mary.

Oh my.

Jim John Denver actually wrote the,
they made they made it the hit.

They really covered his hits.

I mean, yeah, I've heard him sing it,
but I always thought it was Peter, Paul,

Mary. That's.

Yeah, yeah, they made it famous.

Oh, my God, I sing. Did not know that.

John Denver.

John Denver. Yeah, yeah.
He wrote it at an airport.

Apparently he was cats between flights.

Oh, and he was.

Apparently the song was about, him

traveling because he was,
you know, on the road all the time.

Oh, my gosh. Forming
and just missing home.

I thought, oh my God, I'm so, so Mrs..

We're very sorry.

I got to call you this.

I can't, I can't, I can't sorry.

You're forgiven.

So you were the person
who had told my parents that I could sing.

Yes, I remember that.

And you were like a fourth grade
or something.

But you do realize you you you were
the reason why I'm sitting here right now.

Oh, and you're
also the reason why I didn't go skiing

every Wednesday
in through middle school and high school.

Because I had private voice lessons.

Because you told my mom to give me
private voice lessons, right?

So, I mean, you did a recital,
I remember, I did, you invited me to.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, gosh.

With that hard school.

Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it was because of you.

Oh, no.

I'm dead, you know, and not to be it
what was because of you.

And it was also because of my parents.

That they listened.

Yeah. Yeah.

You had support.

I had and I think that from home
I can only imagine I mean I'm

lucky my whole life since I was little,
little I always knew what I wanted to do.

I always had a passion
and love for singing.

So there was always a place
that I returned to for my joy.

And not everyone has that button.

Yeah, yeah. Really?

You remember telling my parents,
I remember that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And just a little, little one,
you know, fourth grade.

All right.

Well, let me say

so I they used to call me something
and I, they used to call me Peabody.

That was like my little nickname
when I was an elephant.

Because I was tiny. You were.
You were little.

I would, like,
feel like one half of a seat.

I was I don't know what happened.

I got plenty of me now, but, I mean,
but I was tiny, Oh, my, I love this.

Feeny talks with friends. I'm a teacher.

I always mentioned
my favorite teacher was Mrs. Geral.

I ask every podcast guest
their favorite teacher.

We finally brought

our podcast together with their
favorite teacher on the same podcast.

So this is a remarkable podcast.

159 we're really excited.

Feeny talks with friends.

West Hartford walk it school teacher, Mrs.

Revathi.

Yeah, and your room was right here.

That's right.

We took a picture in front of it.

Well, we'll take a tour later.

So it's not the music room anymore.

It's, Oh, thank heavens it was awful.

No windows, real windows.

I used to have dizzy spells in there.

Let's just off.

You remember
those transparent things that you used?

Yeah, yeah.

Overhead projector. Yeah.

So it was like the projector, the lyrics
that I would pop up on that thing

and used it.

Yeah. On the screen. Right.

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Yeah. Then.

So I was here for 19 years.
You're 19 years.

And then I moved over to Whiting Lane.

Oh you did.

And my last 14 years. Was it
Whiting Lane?

Oh, I didn't know that.

And then I retired.

Oh. So, 33 total.

3737. Oh, mathletes.

I forgot about Northfield.

Got three years,
and Whitman and Elmwood was one year.

Oh, wow. Right.

I had a child, and, well,

they put me in two schools
when I came back.

That was not very nice of them.

But then I went back to Walker
so that that's what happened.

Yeah. Very nice. Yeah.

37 years.

I'm on 22 right now.

Right. Well, yeah. Did you enjoy it?

Yeah.

Yeah, for the most part.

Did you play guitar all the time too.

Did you do anything else or.

Well, I was an organ major in college.

I did my senior recital on the organ,

play piano all the way through,
sort of taught myself guitar.

And, don't play a whole lot now, but,

I take voice lessons myself.

I've been doing that
just for fun and singing two choirs.

I have a choir rehearsal
a little later tonight.

Right down the road at Temple Sinai.

Yeah.

I sing with the West Hartford Women's
Chorale, and I sing in my church choir,

which is, Grace
Episcopal Church in Hartford.

Yeah. So.

So that's what I do.

And I'm a director of a food pantry
at the church.

Oh. That's nice.

So that keeps me out of trouble.

Staying busy. That's the best thing to do.

Will be there tomorrow morning

setting up bright and early,
and then the people come on Thursday.

Yeah, we sometimes serve over 300 families
a week.

It's going to be cold.
This is going to be.

Yeah, we might not.

We haven't been getting as many in January
just because I think the weather's

a little colder.

But it was 361 time not too long ago. Wow.

Because the Snap benefits were being cut
I remember.

And people were in a panic.

And so coming over for food and

so Thanksgiving we had about 360.

We gave away turkeys and chickens and gift

certificates and well that's
that's a great thing that you're doing.

You're being a good friend.
Oh my gosh. Stickers say be a good friend.

Thanks for being a good friend.

That's for you. And thanks for being here.

This 000 my gosh you're kidding me.

This is like the dream right here.

Oh, Mrs. Rossetti, I mean, when I come to.

I haven't been here in a long time.

To an inside
walk at school anyways, I haven't either.

No, we did rehearse here.

West Hartford Women's Chorale rehearsed
here one year, but it was before Covid.

Oh, wow.

Okay, so I was on the same seat.

Was broken, and, and the auditorium
had been broken when I was here.

Wow. Yes.

I sit in that seat.
I think I know what you're talking about.

I know which one it is. Right? Right.

Yeah. Is is dead.

Some of the lights overhead,
we're still burned out.

So that's like, oh my God.

Yeah they do.

And that have been years
and years and years 20 years.

So I know. Yeah. Yeah.

We rehearse here one.

So I saw
there was an artist who was painting

figures on the wall
as we were rehearsing that year.

Oh, they Eric was saying that
they do a lot of murals on the walls. And.

Yeah, I think that's really cool.

Yeah, they do that. We're in school.

Yeah, yeah, I'm just going to.

And then I got Mr.

Dick's reached out to Mr.

Hugh. Rob.

Who did Rob hue
replace you or replace me. Yeah.

Yeah I moved to white.

It was sort of a year of upheaval because
they were regrouping, the schools.

So the fifth grade was also going
to middle school as sixth graders.

So it was sort of a year to change.

And they said, well,
if you're going to make a change,

let's make it now,
because a lot of the teachers

here were moving on
to middle school and Mr.

Hine and Mr..

Sorry you remember Mr..

Carnival Mr..

Carnival he passed away
I did and wasn't that old either.

Who was your principal Dave duvall
yeah. Mr..

Do Mr. Duvall yeah.

And then Tim Dunn.

Okay, I remember him.

Mr.. Dan Plato, Carol fellows.

Yeah, I remember Carol. Yeah.

You were here.

Well, no, but I remember because I grew up
in Barton Street, right down the street.

Okay. You were here for doctor K?

I was for a couple of years.

Oh, wow. Yeah, he was my neighbor.
I live on Brimley Road. Okay.

All right.

And then Mr.

Dunn is our current principal,
and that's Scott Dunn's.

And that's Tim Dunn's nephew.

Yeah. Right.

Yeah, yeah, I knew that. Okay.

Yeah, I met him years ago.

We did the Celebration of Excellence
project, out in work

by campus, and I know Burlington

and, he was there. Nice.

And he said, oh, I'm Tim Dunn's nephew.

And first thing I know, I turn around
and he's principal here.

Oh, that's so funny.

Was crazy.

Remember, Mr.

Duvall was very tall and thin, remember?
Yeah, yeah.

And he'd come in with this huge
pile of food for lunch.

So where are you going?

To put all I did, I could eat.

It's very nice. Oh, it was very nice.

And now Mrs.

Freeman in the in the office.

Maude Freeman. Yes, yes.

We used to say
she had roller skates, that she would run.

Oh, you'd hear somebody running.

I said that white hair, that white hair,
that white hair.

And then she goes, oh, it's you on.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought it was a kid.

That's funny.

So. Funny. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Yeah.

And she easily lived to be over 100.

I'll bet you I didn't stop.

I mean, she's unbelieve.

She was amazing.

She was so nice. Yeah.

Yeah, really, it was so nice.

And I had Miss Levine for second grade.

Oh. Betty levine. Oh. Okay.

So when did you come?

Were you all the way through
kindergarten or did.

Yeah, I went to nursery school
at the church across Market Park.

That's right.

So I went to that.

Yeah, they're from nursery school
and then from here, from kindergarten

straight up through sixth grade
and then went to Sedgwick.

And then I went to Conner Conner. Okay.

And then the hard school.

And and hard school. Yeah. That's great.

Yeah.

I did my music at, at the heart school.

Oh you did. Yeah.

Yeah.

Because I graduated
from Connecticut College

with a major in music
but not any education courses.

So it was like having to take
a fifth year of college.

It was 36 credits.

Had to take all the instruments.

Yeah.

Oh, I know, and I never taught

instrumental music, particularly
except for guitar and recorder.

But I remember recorder.

Remember the recorders in third grade?

Do they still do recordings for the kids?

They don't.

Maybe in second grade now.

Oh, maybe in third grade.

They start, they pick their instrument
at the end of third grade

and they start their instrument career
in fourth grade.

I remember hot cross buns.

Yes.

Classic doo doo doo doo doo
squeak squeak squeak.

You do doo
doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

So is it time to sing the last thing
you want to sing.

Leave it on a job.

Oh my goodness gracious.
You know, like I'm.

The thing is crazy.

We're like,
oh I like, envision you standing up

and you have your guitar
or that strap across and just

have a strap on this guitar crystal
that says, hey, that's okay.

But I just like my visions,
you know, like, it's so this isn't.

This is insane.

Okay, I brought the lyrics.

How did you get in touch with the
how did you how did that work?

I know they call me Feeny.

Gets whatever you need. Feeny gets.

You need to get in touch with someone.

You let me know. Oh. For you. For me,

I guess you guess.

I'm not singing.

Yeah. That's fine.

Do you know I'm leaving on a jet plane?

You don't know this.

Oh I do, oh, yeah, I actually
I would sing this in my music class too.

Seriously. At Kingsbury School. Mrs..

Tullock, Mrs.. Tulane, Mrs..

Tilak, Mrs.. Tilak.

Oh my God. Hi. Black tie.

You know, it's weird, like

when I'm in, when you're in a place, it's
amazing how old names and everything

kind of come back. Yeah.

You know, like it's incredible.

Like guitars cold.

Oh, well, I'm not surprised. Me.

Is this a new guitar?
Have you had this one?

It's probably better I don't sing,
well, stuff several years old.

I'll just enjoy the show.

And the one with the strap.

And we've got kind of warped.

And so, it's kind of hard to press down.

So our church was getting a new organ,

and while they were installing it,
which took like six weeks,

some of us did, preludes and postlude.

So I got the guitar for that.

Oh, my God, did, guitar.

And another gal played the flute.

That's amazing.

I love that you're
you're creating music still.

You know, you're just.

I love that it's not just about me.

right now.

And my son, my son
plays in the Philadelphia Orchestra, so.

Yeah, he's a violinist now, so,

yeah, I just got a text from

chats over the chat with all of that, say,
all right, you ready to sing?

Oh, gosh.

Yeah.

And it change your.

Oh, my bags are packed.

I'm ready to go.

I'm standing here outside your door.

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye.

But the dawn is breaking.

It's early morn. Taxi's great.

And he's blowing his heart already

I hold on to my good God.

Right.

So kiss me and smile for me.

Tell me that you wait for me, oh me.

Like you never let me go on air for us.

Leavin on a jet plane.

Don't know when I'll be back again.

All day by day to go.

There's so many times I let you down.

So many times I played around.

And I tell you now then I'll

be loving

every place I go I think of you.

Every song I sing, I sing for you.

When I come back I'll break your heart

every day.

So it's me.

And smile for me.

Tell me that you're away from me.

Oh me.

Like you'll never let me go

I'm leavin on a jet plane.

Don't know when I'll be back again.

Oh babe, my day to go

I like time.

It's time for me to leave
you one more time.

Like he kissed you
for you to close your eyes

I'll be on my way.

You dream about the days to come.

But I won't have to leave alone.

By the time I won't have to say so.

Kiss me and smile for me.

Tell me that you'll wait for me.

Hold me like you'll never let me go.

Cause I'm leavin on a jet plane.

Don't know when I'll be back again.

All day Monday to go one more time

I'm leavin on a jet plane.

Don't know when I'll be back again.

Oh babe I hate to go.

Oh, I miss you.

Oh yes.

Oh, my God, I love it.

That was amazing.

Wow. And did you know, because I went to
Sweden every summer when we were kids.

I saw that on Facebook.

Yes. And, we sang me and my cousin
sang this one, I would leave.

Oh, and when my youngest cousin

got married, I sang this at her wedding.

We've been on a jet plane, so.

But such a perfect example as.

I mean, I'm not a teacher as far as, like,

thinking about how you influenced my life,
not just through the songs,

but just being someone
who recognized my talent.

And yeah, I mean, that's such a gift.

So thank you.

Oh, I realize you were,

you know, once in a while
there was somebody like yourself that

just sort of stood out, and,
and that's what I remember.

I remember you saying, oh, holy night,
remember that?

And that's in the concert.

And I mean, honestly, God,
you brought down the house.

And it was just
it's really, really amazing.

And that's why I said to your parents
usually,

usually we didn't really recommend
voice lessons for people that young, but,

but you were different,
so you were exceptional.

So thank you. Loud.

You're pursuing. Oh my gosh.

So what are you doing now?

God, I know you've written a book.

Yeah, I wrote a book called
We Can Be Kind.

And now I'm, I've been
a massage therapist for 22 years,

so I've merge the two.

So I created, an online musical journey
Through Earth,

weaving through ten songs
and helping people self-reflect

and get back in touch with themselves
through song.

And, because I feel
that music can be so healing.

It has, it
not only is just music healing,

but it also brings people together.

You know, like choirs, right?

It brings communities together.

And you think about the Olympics

and what brings Olympics together
is, you know, the music and the sports.

So it's like, I feel like music is,
a powerful tool for transformation

for the better. Very much so.

So that music therapy is
going to be quite, a, quite a field now.

Yeah, I heard that.

Yeah.

I sing with somebody
who's a music therapist and

she tells us all sorts of things.

She works with all sorts of ages,
you know, older people,

all young children and house babies,
you know, crawling.

And what's interesting,
I had done several shows at senior homes.

And, what was fun, I would do, you know,
Judy Garland, I would do older musicals.

Right? Judy Garland
and all that kind of stuff.

And I remember
one time I sang Over the Rainbow.

Oh, yeah.

And there was a guy
that mentioned that on the phone. Did he?

I think you remember.
Did you mention that she was.

Oh, no, Alice in Wonderland or Dorothy,
who were you in a blender?

I'm sorry, man, I don't remember that.

Maybe. Maybe I messed up.

No, but,
he started to cry, and after my show,

I went up to him and he said that
that was him in his wife's wedding song.

And, you know,

you just realize it's like music touches
people, like, so many different ways.

Yeah, there's some songs.

I get me so many different kinds
of musicians who.

And it's nice to respect
all different kinds.

I know I'm doing voice lessons,
I do classical,

I also do like this folk music

and pop and so I use

head voice as well as chess for like,
I know or you mix.

That's right.
I find you find that that mix.

Right.

Right. Oh, well, that's. Yeah, that's.

I just so glad to see
that you're still doing the music.

And, Yeah, I had a one point.

I had an Oregon scholarship from,
American.

That was my Covid project. Oh, really?

So a friend of mine was a certified
organist, teacher

from a NGO, and,
so she offered to be my teacher.

So I took about four years of organ
lessons, too.

Just recently I've stopped kind of
because she's traveling along.

I have a lot on my plate
with the food pantry.

It's all gone. But, But,
yeah, I keep up.

I've kept up the voice lessons for about,
almost ten years now, so that's good.

Benjamin Rausch is,
I don't know if you know him.

He's a teacher at the art school,

and he has a private studio,
so he's a countertenor.

Oh my gosh. Well gorgeous voice.

Well, I walked up the fourth to
the fourth floor every Wednesday for my.

Mrs. Coleman was my voice teacher,
Yeah, she lived in Ellington.

So I remember we went did a couple things
in Ellington, but yeah, she was,

but I remember at one point, you know,
these teachers are tough.

And she was like, don't go skiing.

I don't want you breathing in the cold
air. It's not good for your voice.

I was like, forget that.

I was like, I love to sing,
but I'm not going to not I'm not scared.

I'm not going to not ski. Right.

So wow.

Well, here at Walk school
we give out Buffy's bests.

Oh my God, for being respectful,
responsible and ready to learn.

So I like to share it to Buffy's best.

Oh my god.

One with Katherine.

Betty, thanks for coming.

Buffy is our mascot for the Walker Eagles.

Were you always an eagle with the Eagles?

Yeah. Good to know.

Good to know. He's
spying for good behavior.

So that's why he has the magnifying
glass ourselves.

That's good.

Yep. And the walk
it way. Use the walk it way.

So respectful, responsible
and ready to learn.

Oh and love that Christina.

You work hard every day.

Today she was a wonderful podcast guest
and she was interesting engaging.

Great job Christina. Thank you.

Thanks for coming in Singing
you are an inspiration.

I appreciate all that's for you. One.

Once again, as a teacher, you know, Eric,
don't ever underestimate, you know, the

the influence and the power you have to,
you know, change

the course of children's lives
like he did to me.

You know, it's. Yeah, that's very nice.

I hope I'm sitting on a podcast
in a few years, and some kid says that,

or I get invited on for a kid
that says I was his favorite teacher.

So that truly means the world for you
being here.

That's great. I'll be back here.
Oh my God.

We usually shoot for 50 minutes. Where?
I think we're past an hour.

I don't know if you want
any closing remarks.

I can't thank you enough.

We can take a tour and chat,
but we're going to shut down the part.

I did have a the school.

I was walking the dog once, and a kid
goes, Mr.

Feeny, I said, hey, how you doing, costar?

And he's like,
I'm in computer science now.

I'm like, oh, that's great.

He goes, you gave me a laptop.

I guess my wife had a donation from
her work and he may have needed a laptop.

I gave him a laptop.

So just like you said,
you never know what what, spark

you're going to flame or, you know,
whatever inspiration you're going to lead.

So I think kids need you people
to see them and to acknowledge them.

And recognize their talents
and to, you know, I think kids need that.

And, sometimes people are just too busy.

They don't pay attention.

My husband is actually a para prepare
professional in Darrin's middle school.

Okay.

And Bill works with a lot of kids that
the teachers weren't able to connect with.

My husband would say something like,
how can they not connect with them?

You know, the kid walks down the hallway
with the Jets hat and I just say, hey,

how about those jets? And immediately
a connection.

And and he was like, for my husband, it's
such a natural thing to notice that.

But apparently not everyone notices,
and that's so important, you know.

Oh, can we can you sing us out
with be a Good friend on the guitar?

Be a good friend will say, be
a good friend a couple times or something.

I don't know
if you're attuned to be a good friend.

Now make one up. Let's go.

Be a good friend, I love it.

We are good friends here. If

we can end with that one.

The feel good friend.

Be a good friend, right?