In this additional "between episodes" addition, Mark shares a Medium article with the following important message.

"From one citizen to another, I beg of you: take a deep breath, ignore the deafening noise, and think deeply about what you want to put back into your life. This is our chance to define a new version of normal, a rare and truly sacred (yes, sacred) opportunity to get rid of the bullshit and to only bring back what works for us, what makes our lives richer, what makes our kids happier, what makes us truly proud.

We get to Marie Kondo the shit out of it all. We care deeply about one another. That is clear. That can be seen in every supportive Facebook post, in every meal dropped off for a neighbor, in every Zoom birthday party.

We are a good people. And as a good people, we want to define — on our own terms — what this country looks like in five, 10, 50 years. This is our chance to do that, the biggest one we have ever gotten. And the best one we'll ever get."

The message is from the article "Prepare for the Ultimate Gaslighting" by Julio Vincent Gambuto.

Mark then reflects on the importance of this moment in time and the "reset" that can happen.

This episode contains explicit language which may offend some listeners.

Links of Interest:

• Julio's Medium Article
• Julio Vincent's Website
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

The son of a bus-driver-slash-bread-baker, Julio Vincent ("Julie") grew up in a large Italian family on New York's Staten Island, where aunts, uncles, and cousins gathered often around Mom's seafoam-green formica kitchen table for "cake and coffee" — always an Entenmann's crumb cake — to tell stories, argue about the Mets, and play cards with the neighbors.

After seven years on merit scholarship at the prestigious Staten Island Academy, Julie left the borough for Harvard, where he graduated with a BA in English and American Literature and Language, with honors. He completed his training as a film director at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he was honored as an Annenberg Fellow.

Julio Vincent recently completed post-production on his first feature film, Team Marco, and is currently developing the feature family comedy, The Julie Stories.

In 2017, Julio founded Boro Five, an independent film and television content production company. He serves as Executive Producer of the company's slate.

Julio has written and produced film and television content for Nickelodeon, PBS, E! Entertainment, and James Franco's Rabbit Bandini. Learn more below.

Julio lives in New York City.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0