Starting now.
Commonalities where guests find
common ground through uncommon
conversations, politics,
religion, finances,
all the topics your grandmother told
you not to discuss with friends.
And now your host, Matthew Dowling,
and today's guests on commonalities.
Well, thanks for joining us
today on the FDS five 90 am
1 0 1 fm, and everywhere.
That you download your,
uh, favorite podcasts.
I'm your host Matt Dowling
on commonalities alongside,
uh, today's guest,
Natalie Duval. Uh, and
Natalie is an author and,
uh, and has, uh, a couple different
pieces in publication. Natalie,
why don't you tell us, uh, a little
bit about yourself and, uh, and about,
uh, what you have going on.
Hey, thank you, Matt. Um, and thank you
for having me here. Um, you and I met,
I think 15 years ago, something like
that. Um, maybe 12 or something,
right when we, when I was published
in my first kind of anthology.
Um, so I'm a, a Jacqueline
of all trades kind of. Um,
I'm a published short story writer.
I also do write some nonfiction,
especially now I'm a teacher and
the director of an ed program.
So now I do a little, um, kind of
writing in those fields as well.
Um, and also, you know, I think, you know,
I just got off a term of school
board last year when I write
novel length books. I
do write romance, um,
but my short stories, you know,
cover the gamut of things.
And my last published one was in a
charity anthology called like Sunshine
After the Rain. And that was more
like a women's fiction short story.
Now, you also, uh, professionally
work as a educator,
isn't that correct?
Yes, I'm a high school
English teacher. Yep.
So, uh, molding young minds,
uh, you know, never easy work.
Uh, I'm sure, uh, I'm sure you may, uh,
bring with you some,
uh, opinions about, uh,
about education or how things,
uh, perhaps could be done,
um, maybe better in some of our areas. Uh,
any of those ideas you'd
like to share with us today?
Well, you know, I think about,
I think a lot of people talk about right,
the school system and
wishing it could be better,
but I'm sure you know
the statistics on it too.
When you pull individual communities,
most communities are actually really
happy with their school system.
So we have this weird dynamic,
whereas it's almost like the
country as a whole is saying, Hey,
we need to change the school system,
but that at an individual level,
we're actually quite happy with it. And
I think that sometimes gets in our way.
I think we do need to be moving
towards more, and I'll use this word,
I know this is a word that maybe I
shouldn't use because it's almost
inflammatory, but a more progressive
type of school system. Um,
and I mean that as progressive and
we need to rethink how we grade.
We need to rethink how we promote
students kind of things. But as a country,
I don't think parents wanna do that.
I don't think parents wanna say, Hey,
maybe we should reconsider
if age is really
how we consider when a student's ready
for a grade level or something like that.
Or that maybe the numeric
grading system or percentage
grading system. Maybe that's
not something that's helpful.
And I don't know what your thoughts are
on that too, you know, you're kind of,
you know, dealing with the
parental end as well. So.
Yeah, I I mean, you
definitely see that, uh,
each learner is different, um,
in the way they handle each
discipline and what's right for one
student is not necessarily right for, um,
for another student.
And I see that just with my two
kids that are less than two years,
um, difference in age from each other. Um,
they have unique needs and, uh,
and so parents have to partner
with educators to make sure those,
uh, unique needs are, are maybe being met.
Yeah, yeah, I agree with
that. And I think too,
I think on kind of a similar
note to that, this day and age,
we really are seeing a big push. Like,
I don't know if you see these
memes all the time, it's like,
why do I need algebra?
And I think we're actually starting to
push away from some of the things that
are core to being a well
educated person. And I,
I talk to my students about it all the
time. You know, I'll say something like,
here's a spreadsheet I created so
you guys could compare your grades.
And I used math to do that.
And I think sometimes it came from a
good idea that we're trying to push kids
into career fields,
but I think we're also then kind of losing
some of the joy of just learning for
learning's sake. And I think that
might be why some joy is coming out
careers. We really do need to
focus on that. We really do.
How can we focus on that and make
kids still have joy in learning
other things that maybe they won't use
or maybe that they will use decades
down the road and they don't know it yet.
Well, and, and, uh,
maybe I'll take some, um,
ownership, while I'm
not proud of this, um,
as kind of a political
mindset that would come from,
from where I am on the, uh,
on the political spectrum, um,
but there's almost a, um, a bad, uh,
connotation that goes with academia. And,
and I really hate to
see that, um, you know,
because academia is not
a, a negative thing.
We have amazing discoveries, um,
and we've moved forward as
a society because people
have taken time to, uh,
to further educate themselves or
to do research, uh, et cetera.
And, uh,
we live in a society that wants to
demonize that academia sometimes.
Yeah. Yeah. I will say, you know,
when I ran for school board
the first time five years ago,
I kind of promoted myself that I have
my doctorate in education and that I was
familiar with multiple aspects
of the educational system.
And this last time when I ran,
um, for reelection and I lost,
I actually got attacked
quite a bit on being mocked
that, you know, I'm a doctor of education,
so I think that therefore I am better
than you know, the other people. And it,
it kind of took me aback
in that, to be honest, um,
that it was kind of this
pushback against, um, my degree.
Yeah. And we don't ever wanna, uh,
hold against hold education against an
individual. It's, it's something that,
um, can only help them to, uh,
to further themselves or their
organization as it would be.
Yeah. Yeah.
My students and I were talking about
that this week because we're reading
Dracula and in Dracula
there's one American,
and he's described as the
stereotypical American,
and he's described as well educated.
And I think in the United States,
we should take pride that education is
so important to us. Don't you think?
Like that is one of the things that
makes us really, I think, stand out,
that we try to make sure that every
single one of our students has access
to fair education.
Well, I think it's time we
get our first break in. Uh,
that'll just take a moment or two when
we come back. I'd like to discuss, uh,
a little bit about your
writing style and, uh,
what motivates you to write and, uh,
about some of the things that
you haven't print right now.
So we'll be back as soon as we
recognize those that have helped pay for
today's, uh, program.
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uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
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When it comes to buying a home,
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That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling at Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers, freshly
painted walls, granite countertops,
fleeing hardwood floors,
and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might
be revealed when you hire a
home inspector. And when it
comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View
Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity for
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the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
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Founded in 1991,
bright Stripe has succeeded on the
premises of quality work done right at an
affordable cost. At Bright Stripe
personal service has always been a must.
We strive to be the premier
asphalt ceiling and striping
company in the region.
Matt George, the owner
of Bright Stripe llc,
brings experience from his
construction and maintenance company,
mountain Creek Construction
and Maintenance.
Matt has provided excellent customer
service to many happy businesses and
homeowners.
Brights Stripe is the premier provider
of seal coating or pavement ceiling.
The process of applying a protective
coating to asphalt based pavements to
provide a layer of protection from the
elements, water, oils, and UV damage.
They also specialize in driveway
and parking lot. Crack ceiling.
Crack ceiling is the process of applying
a protective coating to asphalt beef
pavements, brights stripe,
also abides by all safety
laws and standards in line
striping and layout for a
no obligation estimate,
contact Bright Stripe at
7 2 4 4 3 7 6 0 9 0.
Well,
you're listening to Commonality
is on WBS Radio five 90 am 1 0 1
0.1 fm, and every place you
download your favorite podcast,
I'm your host, Matt Dowling,
alongside our guest for today,
Natalie Deval. Uh,
and we've talked about
the educational, um,
status here in the United States
and some of the problems that, uh,
that we're seeing. Um,
but we wanted to talk to
you a little bit about, um,
being an author and some of the work
that you've done in the past. And, um,
kind of, uh, a little bit about, uh,
what someone who may be interested
in starting to write, um,
should do.
Yeah, sounds great. Um, my most recent,
we talked a little bit about it
before we got together, um, live here,
but my most recent work is
in the charity anthology,
like Sunshine After Rain. It is by
a publishing company that I love.
It's called Raw Dog Screaming Press.
The editor is also an editor
I love Heidi Ruby Miller.
And this is an interesting one.
This was a solicited anthology.
So the editor Heidi, um,
reached out and asked certain people
to contribute to the anthology.
And it's an interesting process, right?
Because when someone asks you to write
for them, you're like, yes, of course,
because it takes out all the,
the stress and pain of submitting
and going through that kind of thing.
But then the call's very specific,
the word length, the, you know,
thematic kind of ideas of the story.
And so I immediately said yes to Heidi,
and then I had to think, well, what
on earth am I gonna write about? Um,
and the premise, this was
a charity anthology, um,
to help, um, a friend, um,
with a cancer diagnosis.
So the, the premise was, you know,
it's called like sunshine after rain.
So the premise is something that
overcomes, and I was like, I don't,
that's not the kind of thing I write.
I really am a romance kind of writer.
And then, you know,
I was just outside looking at our
backyard and all the spotted lantern flies
that were just bothering me,
bothering our trees and
everything like that.
And I kind of took a story
about a single mother
killing spotted lantern flies.
And I am not a single mother.
I have the best husband
in the world, I really do,
and I have three really
great children. But I took,
what would it be like to have
children similar to mine,
doing similar incidents that mine do,
like fighting over a bag of chips,
and how that would just really almost
be like a triggering moment of someone
who's trying to kill spotted
lantern flies, right?
It's like pushing that rock back up
the hill again and again and again.
So that's how that story came to be.
And it's, it's just interesting how,
how those kind of stories generate
themselves when it's nothing like,
nothing like you would normally write,
nothing you would've
ever thought to write.
Just the inspiration we
get from the normal world.
And hopefully one day when my
own children read the story,
they'll know that though I
took inspiration from them,
I'm not basing the character's emotional
feelings about her children on how she,
how I feel about them.
Yeah. And, and you know, it,
it is so interesting that you
pulled that inspiration from, um,
the day to day life of the Spotter
Lantern fly. And, uh, you know,
I, I think about, uh, some of my
background in the last couple years and,
um, how I've seen, um, the
Spotted Lantern fly now,
uh, start to move into our area.
Of course, that's a non-indigenous,
um, uh, fly that, uh,
that came over on, uh,
presumably container ships, uh,
to the United States. It can
be very harmful. Uh, you know,
for the last several years
I've represented, uh,
Somerset County where they make,
um, maple syrup, uh, on the same,
uh, level and, uh, with the same
volume as, as maybe Vermont.
And people don't realize that at
some point in time, but that, uh,
spotted lantern fly can be
extremely dangerous to, uh,
to those trees that are out
in that area. Um, we also,
I remember a couple years ago, uh, running
for office and knocking on doors and,
uh, the cicadas were out and, uh,
you heard them crunch, crunch,
crunch after, after walking down the,
so, you know, it is, uh,
strange how we pull things
from everyday life like that.
Yeah. You know, one of
my earlier anthologies,
I had a story and I was, I
remember the story and I,
I would not tell you to read it now,
but I was trying to moralize, so I was,
was trying to, you know, give this moral
message. And I don't think that story,
that kind of metaphorical story
was as good as the story that I
just took from the mundane
and tried to make it in life.
So it's often interesting.
I think that's something that
when we mature as a writer,
and of course I'm not a mature
writer at all, but when we, you know,
kind of develop and keep writing and
writing, writing, we see that sometimes,
you know, we used to try to,
we used to try to make these
grand gestures in writing, and,
and I don't do that anymore, and I
think I'm better because of that.
So that's a,
a tip or a piece of advice that
you would pass on to those that
are, uh, just starting out.
Yeah, I would, I, I really think it's,
don't you think it's something of youth
that we wanna have this big impact and
we wanna try really hard? Um,
and I think sometimes the harder you try,
the more difficult it is. So
going more simplest, staying to,
it's trite,
but saying more to what you know and
what you experience helps kind of,
those things come out more than
when you're trying really hard to.
Sure, sure. And, uh, and,
you know, and I, I think that's, uh,
that is, that's great advice. Um,
sometimes we work, uh, too hard to,
to build things up to a level,
uh, that just, you know,
isn't natural. And, uh,
and you can pull from
those everyday experiences.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree.
Well, we have to get one more break in
here before, uh, the end of the program.
When we come back, I wanna
talk a little bit about, uh,
what is in your future,
do you have any new pieces that you'll
be working on or that you're starting to
think about? Um, and, uh,
and then we will get our final
thoughts in for today's program,
but we'll be back right after this.
You're listening to commonalities
where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief
break to recognize our sponsors.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should
call Dave Dowling at Grandview
Inspections at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers,
freshly painted walls,
granite countertops, gleaming
hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the
cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that
might be revealed when you hire
a home inspector. And when
it comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications
and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View
Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial
construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity
for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report
outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and
what will require maintenance after you
move in Your home is one of
your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is
everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at
Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Is your business using analog
strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca
Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we
bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides
digital marketing, paid ad
and media buying services,
web design, social media management,
video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political
campaigns with decades of experience.
Matte and Becky at Coordinated 360
can help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world. For a no
risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities
and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five, 10, or $25, or any
amount you feel comfortable sharing
[email protected] Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online
on the worldwide web,
buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay
for airtime at Donate dot commonalities
online.
Founded in 1991,
brights Stripe has succeeded on the
premises of quality work done right at an
affordable cost. At Bright Stripe
personal service has always been a must.
We strive to be the premier
asphalt ceiling and striping
company in the region.
Matt George, the owner
of Bright Stripe llc,
brings experience from his
construction and maintenance company,
mountain Creek Construction
and Maintenance.
Matt has provided excellent customer
service to many happy businesses and
homeowners.
Bright Stripe is the premier provider
of seal coating or pavement ceiling.
The process of applying a protective
coating to asphalt based pavements to
provide a layer of protection from the
elements, water, oils, and UV damage.
They also specialize in, in driveway
and parking lot. Crack ceiling.
Crack ceiling is the process of applying
a protective coating to asphalt based
pavements.
Bright stripe also abides by all safety
laws and standards in line striping and
layout for a no obligation
estimate, contact Bright Stripe at
7 2 4 4 3 7 6 0 9 0.
Well,
you are listening to commonalities
on WBS Radio five 90 am
1 0 1 0.1 fm,
and every place you download
your favorite podcasts,
I'm with author Natalie Duval. And,
uh, Natalie, before we went to break,
we started to, uh,
started to kind of veer in the
direction of the future. And,
uh, I wanted to know,
you know, are there, uh,
some projects that you may have
that you're working on and, uh,
planning on in the future?
Yeah, there are two things right
now. I've ventured into poetry,
so I'm writing at least one
poem a week. Um, I am not,
like, I would not say
there are some people, man,
they just spew out poetic language.
I really have to struggle
and work hard for it.
So it's been a great challenge and I am
sending out so many poems right now and
getting so many rejections
that it's been wonderful. Um,
and then I also have what I
almost call kind of like my, um,
Outlander Diana Gabel Don, um, project.
I'm finally writing down a book that
I've just loved the story for ages,
but is not necessarily, I don't know if
you know the background of Outlander,
when she submitted the novel,
she got rejected oodles of
time just because it was so
different than everything
else. So that's when I'm kind of working
on, I'm kind of getting away from,
you know, kind of the,
the format or formula of most
ro most romance novels that
are being published and doing
more of a fantasy type piece.
So I'm working on both of those
things right now, and honestly,
I'm just enjoying writing
and that's just nice <laugh>.
It's just nice to enjoy writing.
You know, you spoke a
little bit about, uh,
getting those rejection letters
back from the publishers. Um,
you know, how does that deal
on with one's psyche and,
you know, how do you accept that kind
of, that feedback as a gift perhaps,
um, and, uh, and use it to
improve and, and to, uh,
to make things better in the future?
Well, I think you have to go through
that initial period of thinking,
I'm gonna send this out,
and I'm gonna be that person
who gets this bidding more,
coming over their work that
first time they send it out.
Because I think you need to realize
that really only happens to like one
person, and it, it knocks you down
and then it takes a little while.
I've had some great mentors
that really talk about how
success is getting a rejection letter,
because that means you're one
step closer to being accepted.
And I've seen that in my own
career. When I got my agent,
he initially had, um, he
had rejected the piece,
I wrote him and said, but hey, if you
ever write anything again, send it to me.
And I sent it to you.
And if I had taken that rejection from
him on what at the time was a terrible
novel,
if I had taken that rejection to heart
and never sent him my next novel,
I would've never gotten my
first agent. So I really,
I think I'm at a place
now where really I want an
acceptance, but a rejection is like,
I'm one step closer and I'm
doing what I need to do,
so I'm being successful in
really what's the hardest part,
which is writing and sending.
And uh, and, and I guess, you know,
just utilizing that feedback is,
uh, is something that,
that helps you ultimately
on the journey of improving.
Yeah. And every time, you know, every
time you look at something you've written,
I know you know this too. Every time
you re look at something you've written,
when time has passed,
you have new eyes and you can come back
refreshed and you can alter it and you
can make it better.
Absolutely. And, and you know,
I know I've looked at things that
I've written in the past and, uh,
really questioned was that me inside, uh,
inside that shell. But, uh, it was
writing at the moment because things do,
uh, change a great bit
from, from time to time.
They really do.
So before we get to the, before we
get to the end of today's program,
I want to give you an
opportunity to get, uh,
your contact information out there.
If someone is interested in reading
something that you've written, um,
or if they wanna learn more
about you professionally,
how can they go about doing that?
You can find me. I know a lot
of people at use Facebook.
I have my writer's page, which
is Natalie Duval's Writer's page,
and I also have my educational page,
which is Educational
Overhaul with Dr. Duval.
So both of those, Natalie Duval's writer
Page and Educational Overhaul with Dr.
Duval. You can also email me on
the email I use for all my writing,
which is Natt 4 4 4 gmail.
Okay. Natalie,
thank you so much for being with us
today and joining us for commonalities
this show where guests, uh,
find uncommon conversations
and, uh, common ground.
Through those, we wanna thank you
for being a guest with us today. And,
uh, we hope that you take care
and have a great holiday season.
This has been commonalities,
a show where guests find common
ground through uncommon conversations.
Copyright 2022 Coordinated 360,
all public rebroadcast should be done
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Dowling. All requests should be sent
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Thank you for listening to commonalities.