Elevator Talk With Michelle

Elevator Talk With Michelle

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Elevator Talk With Michelle episodes

  • 5 Black American Towns Hidden Under Lakes And Ultimately From History Books

    Hi and welcome back to another Elevator Talk With Michelle. I am excited about today's topic, where I share 5 black American town that are hidden under lakes as well as from history books. Shoutout to Amber Ruffin! In a video clip that has now gone viral, Ruffin kicked off a segment of her Amber Ruffin Show by introducing viewers to historically Black American towns that have been destroyed and buried by a lake or natural park. They’re often referred to as Drowned Towns. We’ve often talked about Lake Lanier, but sadly, there’s plenty more where that came from.


    Here are five you should know about:


    (1). Oscarville, Georgia- Lake Lanier is a popular weekend destination known for fishing, boating, and so much more, including an eerie reputation that has deemed it as haunted in Georgia. But one lesser-known fact is the lake sits on top of the Black-town, called Oscarville. Oscarville was burnt down in 1912 and more than a thousand residents were forced to leave following the allegations of a rape and beating of a white woman. 


    (2). Kowaliga (Benson), Alabama- Turns out, Alabama’s Lake Martin is built on the previous majority-Black town of Kowaliga. It is home to the first Black-owned railroad started by William E. Benson and the Black school Kowaligia Academic & Industrial Institute. 


    (3). Seneca Village In New York City. Seneca Village began in 1825 and, at its peak, spanned from 82nd Street to 89th Street along what is now the western edge of Central Park in New York City.


    (4). Susannah, Alabama. Susannah, or Sousana, was also flooded by Lake Martin. According to Alabama Living, more than 900 bodies were moved from cemeteries before the land was submerged.


    (5). Vanport, Oregon. At its peak, 40,000 residents, or 40 percent, were African-American. But then, in 1948 massive flooding erupted in the neighborhood, and city officials didn’t warn residents of the dangerously high-water levels, so many didn’t evacuate in time. The town was wiped out within a day. 18,500 families were displaced, more than a third of them were Black American. Today, that area is known as Delta Park.

    10 min
  • Shark Week 2022

    For the time that is ours to share, I want to talk about: Shark Week 2022. If you’re new to the phenomenon, you may find yourself wondering why any channel, would dedicate itself to a single kind of animal for an entire week? Because sharks are cool, that’s why. Sharks are one of the most varied groups of animals on Earth, with itty bitty sharks you could hold in your hand all the way up to the biggest sharks in the world. 

    Sharks are also one of the most misunderstood creatures on the planet, not least of all because it’s hard for humans to venture terribly far into their underwater territories. Advances in technology are letting scientists and thrill-seekers alike get closer than ever before, and as a result, we’re learning more about these elusive creatures. It also must be said that a big part of Shark Week’s enjoyment comes from watching sharks eat stuff,  

    Shark Week takes all of that into consideration and delivers programming that plays to all of those urges by putting sharks center stage. To its credit, The Discovery Channel isn’t just looking to titillate, though; it also wants to educate viewers about threats to shark habitats, correct misinformation about sharks being “manhunters,” and explore what makes them special. While the programming may have some hyperbolic episode-naming going on, that doesn’t change the fact that there’s good science backing it up.

    You likely don’t have time to take in everything that’s happening during Shark Week (but if you do, enjoy!). This year’s celebration of sharks began July 24 and will wrap up on the 30th. This will be the 34th installment of the programming event, meaning you likely know people who’ve only ever known a world that had Shark Week in it. Not to be confused with NatGeo's SharkFest, Shark Week is the OG when it comes to pro-shark weeks of observance. This year’s master of ceremonies is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. So you can see how huge sharks are, "The Rock" can bench roughly 450lbs and a great white can weigh ten times that much. That’s the kind of stuff you learn on Shark Week.

    Shark Week began as a marketing ploy to get people to watch the Discovery Channel mid-summer, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek play on the fear of sharks at the beach. Since then, Shark Week has become a legitimate phenomenon that’s earned a place in cultural vernacular. From mentions on 30 Rock to t-shirts and references in movies, Shark Week has arguably done more to raise the shark's profile than anything else since "Jaws."

    More than 30 million viewers tune in each year and celebrities from Guy Fieri to Rob Gronkowski show up to feed, gawk, and generally marvel at sharks. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Shark Week programming features some of the most beautiful locations in the world, like Turks and Caicos, the Azores, the Bahamas, and South Africa.


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    18 min
  • Easy Ways To Celebrate Christmas In July

    Hi and welcome back to another Elevator Talk With Michelle Podcast. Today I will sharing some easy ways to celebrate Christmas in July. The whole reason to celebrate Christmas in July is to have fun, don’t let it become stressful instead just do what will make you happy. Christmas In July Celebration Ideas:


    (1). Bake Holiday Treats- Pull out some of your favorite Christmas recipes and start baking. You could even have a Christmas cookie decorating contest to see who can be the most creative.


    (2). Make Christmas Crafts- The best part about making Christmas crafts in July is you can use the crafts as decorations or gifts in December.


    (3). Have A Christmas In July Party- You can use traditional Christmas decorations or look for summer themed Christmas decorations.


    (4). Have A Christmas Movie Night: Movie night is a very simple idea. Pop some popcorn, bake a few Christmas cookies and snuggle up on the sofa for a fun night.


    (5). Light Christmas Scented Candles (And Summer Ones Too!): Make your whole house smell like Christmas! When people walk in, they will instantly feel like it’s Christmas time. It’s too hot to use the fireplace, so a candle will add that special aspect that brings in the winter feeling!


    (6). Serve Christmas Food and Drinks Such As Frozen Hot Chocolate: There are all types of food that can work in both the summer and Christmas theme! This can include peppermint ice cream, frozen hot chocolate, and homemade decorated sugar cookies (with some lemon zest).


    (7). Have a White Elephant Exchange- Have every guest at your party bring a gift!




    13 min
  • 10 Best Christmas Towns In America
    Hi and welcome back to another Elevator Talk With Michelle. If you are thinking about visiting some place really for Christmas in July or for the upcoming holiday season, then you have come to the right place. Please check out one of these great places:
    (1). Oxnard, California- This beach town is brimming with yuletide excitement from multiple tree lightings including the tallest Christmas Tree in Ventura County to the glimmering Christmas Tree Lane, a decades-long tradition of festively lit houses along several streets in Oxnard’s National Historic District.
    (2). Long Grove, Illinois- This inviting Chicago suburb has a yearly "Vintage Holidays" campaign, a seasonal tribute to the small-town holiday market experience complete with picture-perfect shops, horse-and-carriage rides and strolling holiday carolers in historic costumes.
    (3). Branson, Missouri- Ready for a very Ozark Christmas? In this small town of some 11,500 residents, visitors to famed Silver Dollar City, an 1880s-inspired theme park a few miles outside downtown Branson, are in for a veritable holiday treat.
    (4). Kennebunkport, Maine- There’s just something about the holidays in New England. Named the number-two Christmas town in America by HGTV, Kennebunkport will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of its annual Christmas Prelude, an 11-day holiday extravaganza from Dec. 2 to 12.
    (5). Dahlonega, Georgia- It’s hard to outshine (literally) this gold rush town in the mountains of Northern Georgia.
    (6). Solvang, California- This Southern California town of 6,000 is a winter wonderland with a unique feel thanks to its Northern European architecture (the city was founded in 1911 by Danish immigrants).
    (7). Carmel, Indiana- Hello, Christkindlmarkt! In idyllic Hamilton County, teleport yourself to a wintry European market that’s filled with approximately 50 German vendors peddling a wide array of authentic German wares and gifts.
    (8). Fort Myers Beach, Florida- The Fort Myers Beach Christmas Boat Parade is quite the unique spectacle, voted the 5th Best Holiday Parade by USA Today 10 Best, and featuring many illuminated and intricately decorated vessels.
    (9). Minden, Nebraska- Welcome to Christmas City, Nebraska. This town of around 3,000 residents has proudly displayed a 12,000-bulb strand of red and green lights on the Kearney County Courthouse and town square every year since 1915.
    (10). Natchez, Mississippi- Get more than your fair share of season's greetings from picturesque Natchez along the Mississippi River, perhaps best known for its antebellum mansions.
    1 hr 50 min
  • 2022 Hallmark Channel Christmas In July Playlist
    Hi and welcome back to another Elevator Talk with Michelle. I am super excited about today's Podcast, because I will be talking about the Hallmark movie playlist. Please be sure to go to Hallmark Channel TV Official Site - Hallmark Movies, Shows, Schedule to get any new updates.
    My Grown-Up Christmas List- Wallace plays Taylor, a successful journalist who has returned home several years after her mother’s death to help her grandfather with his Christmas store. McGarry plays Luke, a military member who has just come home to spend the holidays with his family. When Taylor and Luke meet, they have instant chemistry. Gradually, their friendship turns toward romance. As they fall in love, they have to work together to overcome challenges that arise as they commit to making their most important holiday wish come true: To spend every Christmas together for the rest of their lives.
    Campfire Christmas- In the movie, romance rekindles for a woman named Peyton and her closest friends when her parents decide to host a holiday-themed reunion before selling their family’s summer camp.
    Christmas in Toyland- It’s about a toy store data analyst who attempts to save hundreds of jobs right before Christmas to help keep the in-store experience alive.
    On the 12th Date of Christmas- Two seemingly incompatible game designers team up to create a romantic, city-wide scavenger hunt themed for the “12 Days of Christmas.” Starring Mallory Jansen and Tyler Hynes.
    Christmas Under Wraps- Dr. Lauren Brunell (Bure) has her whole life planned out. But when those plans quickly fall apart, and Lauren is put on the wait list, she must take the only other opening available.
    A Royal Christmas- When Anna offers a stranded mother and son shelter in a blizzard, she learns that they are the Royal Family of Galwick. Anna shows the Prince how they do Christmas in her hometown, encouraging him to open his heart and be true to himself.
    Switched For Christmas- When identical twin sisters decide to swap lives for the holiday, the lessons they learn along the way may turn out to make this the best Christmas ever.
    Kiss Before Christmas- When nice guy Ethan casually wishes his life had taken a different course, he wakes up the next day to find nothing is the same. If he wants to reclaim his original life and the family he loves, he must convince Joyce he’s telling the truth and win her over and he only has until Christmas Day.
    What are the new Hallmark movies for 2022?
    Where Your Heart Belongs
    The Wedding Veil
    The Perfect Pairing
    Don’t Forget I Love You
    Butlers in Love
    Please be sure to subscribe and support my Podcast. Your support is greatly appreciated, and you do so for as little as $.99 per month.
    Go out there and be great, because great is calling you and great is calling me.
    11 min
  • How Christmas In July Got Started
    Welcome back to another Elevator Talk With Michelle Podcast. Christmas in July has become such a cultural staple each year that you may not have even thought about who first dreamed up this exciting, cheery, midsummer celebration. Well, as it turns out, per Country Living's reporting, it started in the South. Christmas in July started 84 years ago on July 24th and 25th in 1933 at a girls' camp called Keystone Camp in Brevard, North Carolina.
    According to the camp's 100th anniversary celebration book, the first time anyone celebrated "Christmas in July" was at Keystone, per the request of camp co-founder Fannie Holt. "Miss Fannie was such a character: a whimsical, dreaming, creative type who added all of this uniqueness to the program," says Lemel. "Most camps number the cabins to identify them. Here, we have Crabapple, Skylark, and Crow's Nest, for example. Instead of junior and senior campers we have Elves, Pixies, and Dryads."
    The first Christmas in July included carolers, a Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, presents, and fake snow made of cotton. As the tradition evolved, campers would use laundry bags as makeshift stockings, which they placed outside their cabins to be filled with candy overnight. Eventually elves, reindeer, and Mrs. Claus joined the act, along with a camp-wide gift exchange, counselors included. Lemel, who is the fourth generation in her family to hold the title of director, said the gifts were crafty and creative. "One time my dad got a bejeweled toilet plunger decorated with feathers and glitter," she said in the interview.
    The tradition carries on today, and the hot Southern summers have yet to stop the camp's tradition; now they simply go for a dip in the lake after they receive their presents.
    6 min
  • The History Of Lake Lanier
    Hi and welcome back to another Podcast. Today I wanted to share some interesting facts about Lake Lanier, that you may or may not have known about. Enjoy!
    21 min
  • This Is Your Time

    Hi and welcome back to another elevator talk with Michelle. For the time that is ours to share, I want to talk about how this is your time. When it’s your time, here are some things I want you to do:

    (1). Review Your Goals. Did you have a plan laid out for yourself at the beginning of the year? It may be time for you to look at the progress you’ve made towards reaching the goals that you set for yourself.


    (2). If You Don’t Have Any Goals, Then Set Some Now! If you’re feeling directionless, then goal setting can be helpful in clarifying the path you want to take.


    (3). Start Over! Your surroundings can have a surprisingly strong effect on your mindset. A disorganized and messy area, for example, can create a cluttered mind and make you feel uneasy.


    (4). Be Committed. Once you’ve given yourself something to aim for, the only way you’re going to achieve it is by staying committed to the cause.


    (5). Work On A Work-Life-Balance. To feel happy and content, you need a good balance between work and play.


    (6). Work On Improving Your Overall Well-Being. Commit to working on your physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.


    Closing: Please be sure to subscribe and support my Podcast. Your support is greatly appreciated, and you do so for as little as $.99 per month. Now go out there and be great, because great is calling you and great is calling me.


    Please be sure to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with me today: https://calendly.com/coachingwithmichellea-

    Please be sure to check out my website at: http://www.michelleismakingithappen.com/

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    COC YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/cocseminars/featured

    39 min
  • The Ranking Of Every Dinosaur In Jurassic Park

    Hi and welcome back to another Elevator Talk With Michelle! In celebration of one of the best series of dinosaur movies ever! I will be sharing all of the dinosaurs that have appeared in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World films. Enjoy!


    20. CORYTHOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK III)

    19. MAMENCHISAURUS (THE LOST WORLD)

    17. PARASAUROLOPHUS (JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    16. PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS (THE LOST WORLD)

    15. CERATOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK III)

    14. DIMORPHODON (JURASSIC WORLD)

    13. COMPSOGNATHUS (Compy) (THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III)

    12. STEGOSAURUS (THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    11. SPINOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK III)

    10. INDOMINUS REX (JURASSIC WORLD)

    9. ANKYLOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    8. PTERANODON (THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    7. GALLIMIMUS (JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC WORLD)

    6. TRICERATOPS (JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    5. MOSASAURUS (JURASSIC WORLD)

    4. VELOCIRAPTOR (JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)

    3. BRACHIOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK, JURASSIC PARK III, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom)

    2. DILOPHOSAURUS (JURASSIC PARK)

    1. TYRANNOSAURUS REX (JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD, JURASSIC PARK III, JURASSIC WORLD)



    24 min
  • The Scientific History Behind The Jurassic Park Dinosaurs
    Hi and welcome back to With Michelle! The Jurassic Park and Jurassic World franchise, is entirely fictional, so you don’t have to worry that dinosaurs are coming to get you. However, the story was in fact inspired by important changes in the scientific world. Over the course of the franchise, everything might not have been accurate, but the filmmakers have incorporated some expert advice on how to make the dinosaurs as realistic as possible.
    Here’s how scientific discoveries really inspired the franchise. When Michael Crichton wrote the 1990 sci-fi novel that inspired the first Jurassic Park movie in 1993, he was inspired by paleontologist Jack Horner’s 1988 book Digging Dinosaurs, on dinosaur behavior and the discoveries made in the prior decades. “He bases the character of Dr. Alan Grant on a guy digging up baby dinosaurs in Montana at a place called Egg Hill.
    What Jurassic Park Gets Right About Dinosaurs: Carrano gave Jurassic Park high marks for the basics of the dinosaurs that show up in the franchise. “The franchise gets one very important thing right: Dinosaurs were once active, living things that were as successful on land as any animal before or since,” he added.
    What Jurassic Park Gets Wrong About Dinosaurs: Now while the franchise has helped spread the word on some truths about dinosaurs, it has also introduced new misconceptions. In particular, one question that paleontologists didn’t often have to field before Jurassic Park is whether dinosaur DNA exists and if dinosaurs can be cloned. “The oldest DNA that has been recovered from fossil record is well under a million years old, and these non-bird dinosaurs all died out 65 million years ago. Because [DNA] is a fragile molecule, it’s not thought to have survived as far back as the Jurassic period.” (Horner explains that, in 1993, when the first movie was made, scientists didn’t yet know that they wouldn’t be able to find dinosaur DNA, adding that he and a grad student tried.) The films tend to be off on the sizes of some dinosaurs, and filmmakers have invented new functions for some of their physical attributes.
    The Velociraptor is one of the dinosaurs that the movie depicts as larger than it would have been in real life. (Carrano says it should be just about three feet tall.). Ankylosaurus is shown as having a club on it’s tail for self-defense, but that was probably for getting the female dinosaurs attention, says Horner, and the Mosasaurus in Jurassic World (2015) is depicted as about the size of a whale when it would have been half that length, according to Barta. The opposite is the case with the Dilophosaurus, “which would have been larger than it was portrayed in the movie. This depiction is the most inaccurate dinosaur in the movies,” says Barta. “We wouldn’t be able to have fossilized evidence of a poison gland or a bony structure near the throat for the support of anything like a frill. We have no evidence for either of those things in actual fossils.”
    Those who find the Tyrannosaurus (or the T-Rex) terrifying will be relieved to know that it wouldn’t have able to run because it didn’t have large enough muscles, and that the dinosaurs probably sounded less scary as well. Scientists believe they grunted and hissed but probably didn’t really roar.
    28 min

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This Podcast is all about encouraging people to be there best and to lift them up, when life knocks them down. I will be putting up new content every Saturday, but there may be times when I put up…