VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 239
AIR DATE: 08 12 2022
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Jobs: Going Solar
((SOT))
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
It feels that I contributed food and milk to society. Now the
farm is yielding some power that’s much needed and appreciated.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Jobs: Travelling the Road
((SOT))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are a lot of advantages with trucking, like you make good money. You get a chance to go to different states and meet different people.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Jobs: Finding the Side Gigs
((SOT))
((NATS: Kianee Truvillion))
Your hair is so cute and curly.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Being a nanny in New York City, you can make definitely enough money to live off of. You can make anywhere from $20 dollars an hour to, I mean, I’ve seen people make $45 dollars an hour before.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) FARMING THE SUN
((TRT: 06:51))
((Topic Banner: Farming the Sun))
((Reporter/Camera/Drone: Aaron Fedor))
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: Livermore Falls, Maine))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 2 males))
((/MUSIC/NATS))
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
Harold Douglas Souther, Livermore Falls, Maine. The house where I’m presently sitting is where I was born June 29, 1924. I moved once from upstairs to downstairs.
I'm good for tractor driving five hours. It varies. I usually, after a busy day on the tractor, I find gardening kind of
restful.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
It was always a diversified farm. Poultry, dairy, crops and woodlot. Presently, it produces hay. The barn is rented for animals and I grow in our garden, an acre [.4ha] of garden crops and sell hay.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
I think it's very hard for small farms to stay afloat in this
period of time between the cost of fuel to run the tractors, the cost of grain belts. It’s just, it always seems to be an uphill climb for small farms. For that reason, I think there has to be a given outside income that you can count on and know that
you've got some financial stability.
You can plant a crop of corn and hope for the best but depending on weather or whatever, it's not a given that
you're going to get income back from that. So, for us to put in20 acres [8ha] to solar seemed like a very wise decision to keep our
small farm afloat.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Fortunat Mueller
Co-founder, ReVision Energy))
ReVision builds solar projects of all scales from, you know, rooftop residential projects to community scale projects like
the one you see here. And we work with local farmers and local landowners to find places to build those projects. One of the things we're trying
to do is to make sure that solar projects that are being built
in Maine are beneficial for the communities that they land in.
And so, we work with landowners who are looking for a
productive use of a part of their land.
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
We are thrilled that it's all staying local or within the state of
Maine. There’s five school systems that will benefit from our 20 acres of solar. That's already beginning to show a big impact on our
electrical bills.
((NATS))
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
Oh, look at the babies. Hi, baby. That’s so cute. Mama's being busy.
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
Twelve little babies.
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
Yeah.
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
I think she had 16. I think she lost four.
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
This was all hen house when I was a little girl. Many, many chickens.
((NATS))
((Fortunat Mueller
Harold Souther is an awesome, incredible and inspirational individual.
He's been on this property nearly a
hundred years and he is a typical, practical Mainer. He's not, you know, impressed by flashy stuff. He wants to know how it works
and he wants to know if it's a good deal for his family and his community. And that's just the kind of person we want to deal with because we are also a Maine-based company, and we understand that these projects can be beneficial to all the parties involved and
that's how we want to structure them. And so, the Souther family has been just a perfect counterparty to work with because they're well respected in the community and they'vebeen super enthusiastic about the project.
((Peter W. Davidson
CEO, Aligned Climate Capital))
So much of this is based on states and state policy. So,
Maine is a great state. They have become a real leader with their new governor, Janet Mills. She's put a series of programs in place that make it possible for farmers to earn more money from leasing it. They make it possible for the power to be connected into thegrid which is a highly controlled
process by the utilities. So, the states have to approve the
ability for solar power to be connected into the grid. We call itan interconnect. That's a big thing that has to happen. Only happens in certain states. Maine’s been a great leader
in that. And that's why there's really been such an uptick in solar
over the last five to six years in Maine.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
I got a chair out back and I don’t know if it’s photographic but I enjoy sitting there in the afternoon sun sometimes.
((Reporter))
Okay.
((Harold Southern
Farmer))
Right over there.
((Reporter))
If you want to sit over there, I’ll follow you over there.
((Harold Southern
Farmer)) Yeah, yeah. The other day I wondered why I didn't get more done and I think I sat there for over an hour. As my brother used to say, I'm doing what he did best: sitting. The only thing it costs is my time.
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
I enjoy every day.
I'm blessed to have a loving, caring family; do what I like to do; live in the house that I've always lived in. And so, that's why I say repeatedly, at my age, I'm too blessed to
complain. It feels that I'm contributing something to society. I think I contributed food and milk to society. Now the farm is yielding some power that’s much needed and appreciated.
((Evelyn Souther
Farmer, Daughter))
For the next 25 years, the farm is secured, and that's important to us. That little bit
of 20 acres out of 135 [54.6ha] protects the rest of the farm so that we can continue
to hay or plant vegetables or whatever we decide to do.
((Harold Souther
Farmer))
When the light is right, it looks like a distant lake with the trees growing up right to
the edge of the water. When the light is just right outside the kitchen window, it looks very much like a, like a distant lake.
((NATS/MUSIC))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Remote Work
((SOT))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes I'm on the road for more than a month, a month and a half, and then I go home for a week. I miss my family a lot.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) PAKISTANI TRUCK DRIVER
((TRT: 09:12))
((Previously aired April 2022))
((Topic Banner: Trucking, For Now))
((Reporter: Imron Jadoon))
((Camera: Farhan Alam))
((Adapted by: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Norwich, Connecticut))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub characters: 2 female; 3 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
During COVID, when places were locked down, people were locked in their houses, when no one had anything, we were on the road. The proudest moment for me during that time was when a woman stopped and saluted me at a Walmart store. She told me, “You guys are, under these circumstances, away from your families, bringing goods and helping people.” That day I really felt proud.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I never thought of becoming a trucker but my father was in the field. He was also a trucker. One of my childhood friends from Pakistan came to the U.S. and went into trucking. He kept pushing me to go into trucking but I was terrified of trucks.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
He explained to me that, “You’re struggling at the other place anyway. Give it a try. You’ll earn twice as much.”
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
After being pushed so much, I said, "Okay, let me give it a try.” And I came into this profession.
((NATS: Bilal Javaid))
Got a call from the broker. I have to carry cargo from Massachusetts to Minnesota. Let me do the inspection of the truck so that everything is ready. God willing, we’ll leave tonight.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
In the beginning, believe me, it was very tough, very hard. I felt that maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it. But after two or three months, by God’s grace, I started enjoying the work.
((NATS: Bilal and client))
You want me to show you your freight? You can count it and then I’ll load it?
Yeah. Thank you.
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Honestly, my English is not that good. Sometimes I get a hard time from the companies but not everywhere. There are excellent people in many places who totally ignore that you are not an American or you don't know English. They help you as much as they can.
((NATS: Bilal and client))
All set?
All set.
Have a good one.
You, too.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes I'm on the road for more than a month, a month and a half, and then I go home for a week.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I miss my family a lot.
((NATS))
Last week there was an event at my oldest son's school. He got a certificate for best student. My wife went. I wasn’t able to go. After getting the award, I got a call from my son and he said, "I was missing you and I was trying to find you in the crowd, thinking, maybe, you were down there with everybody."
((NATS: Bilal Javaid))
There is an update from their school that there was a fire at the school…
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes [my wife] tells me, “You’re gone for one or two months. The kids and I need you.” But she understands that it's the start of my career. If I'm seeing some hard times, she’ll also have to see some hard times too.
((NATS: Bilal and his daughter))
Foxy.
Foxy. Foxy.
((Asma Javaid
Wife of Bilal Javaid))
It never occurred to me to ask him to leave this job because we came here for our kids’ future. The more you work, the more reward you get here.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
The day I leave, me, my kids and my wife, everyone is sad because I am going away from them.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
Sometimes when I feel very lonely, I call my family.
((NATS))
((Bilal and his children))
Assalamu alaikum, Baba.
Walaikum salaam, my kitty, my wolves. How are you all?
We're good. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you.
Do you know where I'm right now? I'm in Idaho, near Washington [state].
Yeah.
Idaho.
Near to Washington.
You are near Washington?
Yes, I am. It's so cold.
How many miles is Washington from here?
Washington to our house?
Yeah.
3,000 miles [4800 km].
Wow!
Yeah.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
It really affects your mental health because you are all alone while driving. You don't have your friends with you. You don't have your family. Whatever you see on the road, you wish someone were with you at that moment.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
On the way, sometimes you see accidents that after looking at them, your mind gets stuck on them for a long time and you start experiencing a strange fear. "If it was me instead of him and had it happened to me, then what would my family, my children, my parents have to go through?"
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are a lot of advantages with trucking, like you make good money. You get a chance to go to different states and meet different people.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
There are many facilities for drivers on the road. There are rest areas. If drivers are tired, if they don't want to drive, they can stop their truck and rest. They can take a shower, do laundry, buy food and eat it there.
((NATS))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
During Ramadan, we fast, do iftar [breaking of the fast]. It feels really good when at a rest area, you meet a Somali, a Pakistani or a Muslim from a different country. They have the whole dastarkhwan [meal] there. You sit and break fast with them.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bilal Javaid
Truck Driver))
I'm not driving it for the long term. In five years, seven years, you make enough money to start a business, so you can be with your family. My goal is to have a small workshop and [own] a small house and that’s enough.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
The Struggling Actor
((SOT))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Unlike when you get a job, you're like told ‘you didn’t get it.’ That’s not necessarily the case in the art world. You kind of just, if you don’t hear anything, you probably didn’t get it.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) MY ORDINARY LIFE: KIANEE, ACTOR & SINGER
((Do Not Play this piece on YouTube))
((TRT: 06:27))
((Previously aired April 2022))
((Topic Banner: Making a Living: Kianee Truvillion))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Ailin Li))
((Camera: Laura Luan))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
To me, a New Yorker means walking fast, just being a hustler, like being able to do multiple things, having a variety of streams of income. I would consider myself a New Yorker and I think I will always be even if I don’t live here anymore.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
My name is Kianee Alexis Nycole Truvillion and I’m 24 years old and this is my ordinary life.
I’ve lived in New York for three years and I’m here to pursue acting, singing, dancing, that whole shebang.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
I want to be on Broadway.
I currently live in Harlem, New York and I love it. There are just so many different cultures around.
I live in a two-bedroom apartment, a six-floor walk-up. But I love it. It’s my peace, my zen.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
So, as you enter into my home, this is the living room and my couch is also a couch-bed. So, very nice when I want to have visitors.
And this is my roommate, Tracy, here. My rent is $2,000. I personally pay $1,100 a month. I don’t think that’s a good deal but I don’t think it’s a bad deal either for what New York is.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
When I first moved to New York, literally one week later, I had an audition, an audition for Spamilton, which is an off-Broadway show or was an off-Broadway show here in New York,
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: “Hamilton”/ Disney))
the parody of Hamilton and
((Courtesy: “Spamilot”/ Paramount))
of Spamalot. And I booked it.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
I did that show for about six months and then it closed and then I didn't book anything for almost a year and it was devastating.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
When I was in final callbacks for a show that's on Broadway and I thought I was going to get it, everyone that I auditioned with thought I was going to get it, the music producer said I was going to get it, the choreographer…and then, I didn't get it. And I was devastated. I did not audition for a while after that. I just, it like broke my heart.
After that, I started taking acting classes to…so no one could ever give me that note again, hopefully.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
So far, my career is going okay. Pre-pandemic, it was ordinary. Now, post-pandemic, it’s non-existent. But I still have some auditions, which is cool. I actually just had one a few days ago.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Obviously, right now during COVID, there aren’t a lot of in-person auditions, so everything is online and virtual.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
This one, there was no dialogue, so I was just drinking the coffee, blissfully. And I made sure that I stood out by making a very loud noise while drinking, like this.
I hope I booked it.
((NATS: Reporter))
When do you know the result?
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I’m assuming I’ll know that I didn’t get it if the start date happened and I didn’t hear anything, so.
Unlike when you get a job, you're like told ‘you didn’t get it.’ That’s not necessarily the case in the art world. You kind of just, if you don’t hear anything, you probably didn’t get it.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I have not currently been making money acting. I have made money acting before.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
And for people who are pursuing arts, they have their side jobs. Audition during the day and work at night has been a very common way to do it. I have been a server and a bartender at a restaurant and then I have been a babysitter, nanny for a few families and that’s how I’ve made my living.
((NATS: Kianee Truvillion))
Your hair is so cute and curly.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
Being a nanny in New York City, you can make definitely enough money to live off of. You can make anywhere from $20 dollars an hour to, I mean, I’ve seen people make $45 dollars an hour before.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I generally make about $3,200 dollars a month. Most of my expenses are obviously rent, which is $1,100 a month. Student loans that come out to about $250 a month, subscriptions and HBO [video]. I spend probably most of my money on food. I love to eat and it varies. I eat wherever I’m babysitting. So generally, I only have to buy or figure out one meal a day, if that. We would say a couple hundred a month of that as well.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am a very good saver. I feel like I’m pretty frugal. I save about $800 a month. I was taught that and I think saving is great. And I just love looking at my account and when the number keeps going up, it makes me feel really good.
((MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am Black and White and I do identify as mixed. When someone asks me, I say I’m biracial.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
My mom is, she's a preschool teacher and my dad is a pastor. We are a family of eight. I am one of six children.
My grandmother is half Chinese, half Vietnamese. I love that I have an Asian grandmother that throws down in the kitchen. I love that I have a Black grandmother that throws down in the kitchen. I love that I have a White grandmother that throws down.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
Truly everything, I'm realizing, comes back down to food. And that's something that I love about being mixed and just having so much diversity in my own home.
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
So, I’ve, in the past few weeks, started learning the piano. I’ve been practicing almost every day.
((Start Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((Music Courtesy stays on until the end and other courtesies are to be added on))
Tell me something, boy.
Are you tired trying to fill that void?
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
I am moving to Atlanta, Georgia, to focus on the TV and film world and just pursue that and give my all into that. And I thought, what better time than when Broadway is closed?
I think that
((Courtesy: “Black Panther”/ Marvel Studios))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
Atlanta is becoming the new Black Hollywood.
((Courtesy: “Atlanta”/ FX Networks))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
I just really want to be a part of it
((Courtesy: “American Soul”/Black Entertainment Television))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
when it takes off.
((Courtesy: Kianee Truvillion))
((KEEP Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((Kianee Truvillion
Actor, Singer))
This career path is incredibly hard. And I think people give up. And I think many people give up too soon. I know I won’t ever give up. I know I will make it. So, there is no reason to even talk about if I didn’t. Because I will.
((End Music Courtesy: “Shallow”/ UMG))
((NATS/MUSIC))
CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
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BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS