Host Michael Reyes welcomes men's mental health advocate Michael Bastien onto his show to discuss topics of psychological health, self help, self healing, spirituality, masculine vulnerability, the black, haitian, and hispanic communities of northeastern Massachusetts, and Bastien's non-profit men's mental health organization: Brothers In Arms.
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was going on should boy keep a mike listening on one of 2.9 tape deck happy Friday happy day happy life happy all that good stuff tonight I got a special guest here man and this young brother here he's been putting a lot of work to to the nine seven at nine seven eight area Lawrence Massachusetts I meant this young brother a couple years ago through this program that he has this organization with other group of brothers and you know he focused on men's mental health especially coming from the brown and brown brown and black community you know it's a place to safe zone no judgment quick intro on this thing I saw the flyer back in the days for a couple of weeks and one of the brothers as part of this man's organization I kept looking at it and looking at it for at least a month and a half and then once I finally got a chance I spoke to the young brother I'm shout to Quinn I had a Quinn in Tomo's location at what was it about he gave me a brief summary and I got a chance to check it out and when I tell you it was the most spiritual the most like you know relaxing like no judgment free zone you see a whole different brothers going through this thing called life and you know as a man particularly of black and brown man you go to situations in life that you feel as though the world doesn't care about you and you got the one in your shoulders you got to chip in your shoulders what is you know personal issues within relationship family racism work whatever the case would be childhood trauma generational curse you know you could express yourself here and you could just be vulnerable and you have brothers there that willing to lift you up you know just let you know that day by day you know regardless of the situation going through it's going to get better and this young brother here is part of this organization and I would like to say thank you for coming through the show ladies and gentlemen I have Michael Bash in this show what's going on brother what's going on brother it's going well man thank you for having me I'm excited yeah man so I'm quick and jealous let's let's let my audience know why you're stuck and I know who you are ready for come on us you know I don't want I don't want to steal the show I mean I guess okay I guess it is about these so my name is Michael Bashton I'm from Lawrence Massachusetts born in some of it will raise a Lawrence been there since I was six years old actually like I tell everybody I was a minority within the minority and with that comes you know bullying things of that nature so I struggled I really struggled to find my way in the streets of Lawrence seeing as I'm not Hispanic to predominantly Hispanic community I'll fast forward a little bit up until two years and five months ago kind of how this group started had a conversation with the relative of mine he called me he was going through a lot and he was telling me about his situation his story and simultaneously I was thinking about mine as well so that's when the Eureka moment came and the thought came up which was if we don't have a space to speak why don't we create that for our community and that's exactly how it started it just started off as a from a conversation with the relative of mine so basically you had a conversation brought with a relative of yours and it's one of those things that you guys got together or was it like a group or was it like you know it was like a building black kind of thing that was like okay we're going to try to do you guys there's like I guess I want to say how did it really start you got this something on Instagram and say like alright let's see who's going to join this group absolutely yeah that's like what's really like an Instagram kind of thing yeah yeah so here's how we want it so we have the conversation right a lot of people when they do have ideas they come to me because I'm really you're the smart one to score yeah you're the genius I would say like this your turn is to be Donald Teddle yeah I want to say that but they come to be you know for action so what I told them I said hey if we're going to do this we got to do this right I was about to swear there we just had a conversation 15 minutes before the store brother jeez Louise I said if we're going to do this we got to do this right so I tapped into my contacts I had a studio in Lawrence on canal street and I said one thing we do have one thing we have to do is put a video out and the audience is going to tell us whether we should do this or not so he came to the studio we recorded the video we kind of made like a promo video talking about the group and trying to see what the interest was like within the community and we put it out on Instagram first just like you said Cuban and it went viral on Instagram then we did Facebook and went viral on Facebook then we did Twitter then went viral on Twitter and then I tapped into my network within Lawrence I had a guy who I've done shows with who you know we made some money together in that regard and I asked him I said hey can we pilot our first circle at your place and that first circle turned into one year and five months before we got into our new location and before I continue I want to shout out Quinn Gannell yes shout out Quinn I actually asked him to be a part of this this circle because I saw the work he was doing prior so he's he's a big reason why you know we're moving in the direction or we've moved in the direction that we are in now I also want to shout out Edward Sedano yes who's my brother yeah all these guys are my brothers by the way but he's now the chair of the board and I also want to shout out Onyx Batista who's also part of the strategic team yeah it's not the audience definitely yeah you know and just for the hell of a shout out to Milick's because he's just like he's like the extended woman always around here like he's like the equivalent of like the substance to teacher like you got not around and then he's here we have to report to take him serious like let's just hold some paper at his face just to show that we don't take him serious for that shout out to Milick's Batista wants to win some loot I just got to shout out yeah where's the ball so they're all part of the inception about a year after we started so beautiful beautiful I'll you know I'm gonna make this about myself a quick second because I want to go back when I went there two years ago I went to a real strange time because there were certain things that wasn't really going my way I was going to a personal matter and it was so weird because I was getting all these accolades like you know I ended up getting like some award in Boston I got picked to do this movie you know I got back you know I was back to doing the radio thing again and I had all these things that I was accomplishing but I was going towards personal dark situation I don't want to get into I was going to so much that I was like so suppressing my feelings within those issues and I would say that was the this that your organization was the first place I was able to go to and I never got to tell the story but it was a good place to go to to just like take a deep breath I feel like peeled that little thing in your skin they'll be like I could I could go to this and talk and I won't get judged or criticized it's just like it was it's I don't want to say like a but it's one of those things like my name is Cuban Mike I'm going through all these things but I am not happy right now I am not happy with my life and maybe in do tell him a little by little I'll tell you what's going on with me but I am not happy and it's so scary because I ended up watching this story are you from a little Chris Lighty yeah yeah so I saw the story Chris Lighty and it was so bugged out because this guy was worth like millions of dollars and he had so much success but there was something with him that he was not happy and he ended up taking his life and later on and later on through the story like come to find out like this dude was like in need of help he was crying out for help he was going through therapy and it wasn't helping it was so bad he was going through a secret psych ward and he was going through all these demons and traumas that you know he ended up taking his life but one of the things that come to find out he was going through this deep depression and like he didn't seek the proper help that he was looking for he like suppressed his feelings and took it elsewhere and I mean I didn't go that deep for me but I was not happy and I will say like you know thank you for your organization because I was able to be little you know I was able to be vulnerable talk about what's going on and then once I went to that dark stage I talked to the proper people that I had to talk to to make sure I could feel you know way better than I was during that moment so salutes and thank you absolutely and thank you for trusting us man like being vulnerable is not easy no right and that's what we talk about on the group like finding a community of men who are open and willing to share their triumphs and tribulations is super rare so the fact that you took heat to it is super commendable so thank you for that yeah and you know and it's weird because I went backwards usually I'll go to my best friends and then my mother and I went backwards I went to a whole bunch of strangers and then I went to my mother and then my friend and I know a good portion of my personal life so if this thing because I know we have certain things that we're supposed to keep behind the scenes but if this thing comes out and I find out your job about my business I'm coming back it ain't gonna be pretty but you know the cooler body we have this level of trust we got this level of secrecy it's like it's like a secret society oh we got this trust so you know I mean it's a real cool cool safe zone so salutes to that man thank you what is what was one of the challenges you had to go to when you started organization one of the challenges one of the many one of the many I'd say the first one was getting guys in there honestly like that was the toughest thing right we come from a caribbean culture a Caribbean background you live getting black and brown men and even the youth to come into a space to share their deepest darkest secrets or you know the things that they're going through yeah it's super difficult it's hard so we had to continuously run these circles and there was times where it was just me Quinn and Darwin it was just us three right we put it out there we said hey we're having a circle Monday night and it'll just be the people that are facilitating we talked amongst ourselves here but the key of everything was just staying consistent right the the audience and the individuals who attend now saw that we were serious about it we stayed consistent so that's what influenced them to come to come in and all we asked them because I first started off as a bi-weekly circle and all we asked them was to come in and just listen right and one of our one of our rules is that our guidelines that you don't have to speak and there's healing and listening as well yeah so that's really what invited the guys in from you know this little thing started in alarms has it um I think I'm the answer for this but I think you can tell my audience it had like what a mouth is everything so outside of alarms was it able to gain more recognition outside of lines absolutely so we did two circles in Lynn yeah we traveled all the way to Lynn there was an uptick in violence so the Lynn community reached out to us and asked us to come and and do some healing work with them we also talked to a couple of guys out there and gave them counsel in regards to starting their own circle so I do plan on checking in with them fairly soon but yeah Lynn I'd say and then we have guys that this past Monday we had a guy travel from Ipswich so an hour out 73 or 73 years old we have a guy that continuously comes to the circle from Nashville New Hampshire then we have another guy that comes from Salem New Hampshire so yes where our foundation is based in Lawrence but we have guys from all walks of life everywhere now I have to go back and piggyback on that because you mentioned Lynn on the story I never tell you the story but I have a friend of mine that lives in Lynn and prior to not even prior I have a friend in Lynn and I told about the group so we'll hang out with the kids and be able to go I'm down with this group and you know we talk about this than a third and should I call that's what's up you know because she was doing her profit community and I can tell you about this thing once a month you know once a week about this thing that was going to because you know there was the time was going consistently then I stopped because of work but I will be back I will be back and we were it was like a whole like eight months and it's so funny because then like I think like eight months later she's like hey this is like group in Lawrence you go check you go check out because they talk about this men support group and I think you should just try again I've been telling about this for like the last six months but I think it's a connection there because I think because she's very big on and helping out the community in Lynn so I'm going to sue me the y'all met or there's a connection there because she mentioned you guys and I like it this is that's my team that's my team that was in Michelle Lafouetica no no no no no oh you know Michelle yeah yeah that's the moment I'm a shell of what no well I don't know she um no I'm not I don't know if she worked on with then y'all I'll tell her I'll tell her I'll tell you her name like later on but I don't know she worked up but I mean long story short to say she knew about you guys she knew about you guys and they were like that six degree of separation is that six degrees of separation that's whatever it was that it was that they go like that connected the dots she didn't know even though I told her but the dope thing about it her not being from Lawrence knew about you guys hmm and was like you should join him even though she didn't know that I joined and you know and she knew about the work you guys were doing in Lynn love that so that was I was trying to say I'm dragging a freaking story but baby don't try to say they knew about you guys I'm not a lint so the reason why I was like hey I'm not large so anybody know what you guys said they're like yeah Lynn yeah but yeah man um what has been the response you gotten out of all this thing like you know what has been like your your response and you know we're able to take it in you know it's like it's weird thing like you've been like kind of like uh you're damn near here wrong if you know that almost a hero are you saving lives not knowing he's saving lives appreciate that um so what was the question no I mean the response that you've gotten from the community oh I mean it's incredible right I don't want to put this out there yet just because it's not finalized but we're transitioning even though we're keeping our monday circles but we're transitioning into helping the youth so we've we've had a lot of youth coming which is super important for us and we talk about it in the group all the time like we wish we had something like this when we grew up we wish we had something that you know opened up a space for us as you know as as young kids to explore our emotional intelligence but yeah the community is taking heed to it are based off of the organization there's been awards given out um we actually hosted a Juneteenth festival the first one in Lawrence and the whole community popped out Juneteenth Arts and Awareness Festival so the arts is arts and awareness was mental health awareness where we had mental health speakers come out to talk about you know their struggles and their trials and tribulations as well so the community is taking heed to it and we have a whole bunch of community partners because of it that's told me I'm you answer my you kind of answer my question because I know when we go to these um these men circles usually like adults because there's adult men going to adult things but I was going to ask you you know in regards to like you know the kids that are going through a young boys that are going through it right now you know um I know it's been certain incidents not incident situation um meetings that we had kids there there are teenagers but which is dope I'm here for but I figure that's something for us men that you know going family men are going to like adult situations and you know I I I'll tell my part of the story you know when I got into these groups you know we we as men we are positive we all these other stuff and we have situation we want to talk about like you know females getting involved in adults and I'm like which is great but I feel as though we need to say safe space for men adult men that are really going through it because there's no safe space for women there are safe space for women whether you're going through a domestic violence situation or sexual assault situation or just like discrimination sex is work you know they got something for y'all they don't have anything for us to be like you know let me let me hold you brother let me just you know talk to me what's going on so I'm glad we got something for the young boys too because I always talk to I had the situation where my brother is like yo it's like being a black brown person you know it's like once you leave that door like this world is really against you and they don't really give a damn what's going on because it could be something within your workspace cops racial you know I mean people within your team not liking you for whatever reason not supporting you the way you should be supportive that's why I always keep stressing about like you know I'm hoping you know within you in your camp in your tribe you're getting the love and the support you're getting from your your family your team and your friends and I'm glad you're getting that absolutely yeah I mean I agree and it surprised us that this didn't exist right so like even when I was talking to my relative to the relative of mine which is Darren Joseph by the way so my cousin shot the Darwin but even when I was talking to him and like we were meditating on okay what kind of groups like this exist and when we did our research we couldn't find any within our community so I agree man like this is something that I feel like again super important for our community and we wish this would have happened even sooner yeah I mean what is better better now than never later never so yeah better late than never met so I'm glad I want to backtrack on something you say it was from some of it right now and you moved to Lawrence at six six years old okay so I guess this is the part that could kind of relate to it because I am from Jersey but I moved to Lawrence at her early age but there was no humans around when I was in the story no damn humans around when I lived in the heart for what I grew up when I was the part of Jersey that I was born at it was a predominantly Cuban neighborhood you had the many cases of Puerto Ricans but I mean to find a Cuban person in Lawrence or Massachusetts Periods like Danny went in a lottery one of the million million so what was the culture shock that you got to that when you moved to a suburb will to cover to a place of predominately the videos of Puerto Ricans and you were forced to speak Spanish one way or another I was one I think I think I was super young so I was like a little naive they really noticed much yeah but I saw that people didn't look like me right wait nothing like being black or being Haitian which one because I mean I say I mean again in our culture we patience your life skin bro if you were my family you'd be considered a lighter skin oh damn sorry better yeah yeah so for the one of them so I know you're what like you're like Moreno in your culture yeah yeah yeah in our culture your life skin so so yeah so like I came to Lawrence and again there was a disconnect because no one looked like me so that was pretty much yeah I was I was a little lost I felt a little alone but you know you're a kid man you you you acclimate the way you can and your imagination runs wild and then you walk into places like that little naive right because you're not you're not that conscious you're I'm only six mm-hmm so but I was I wasn't trying to like adapt to the Latin culture because you know you're forced one way or another because I got brothers you know black American birds of eyes and you know they they were from being a predominately black neighborhood to like you know watching telemundo with a girlfriend and they got to adapt to watching whatever they watch it to listen to music they had to listen to okay as I got older you're saying so not just when I was now okay as you know I mean I acclimate it pretty well I'd say that I got a shout out to Lawrence because because because of Lawrence I know how to dance every genre shot that I was I was the only black Haitian kid in quince's so they used to ask me to be in the quince's with them so I loved it man I ended up falling in love with the culture as time progressed yeah I ended up understanding the individuals all my friends were Hispanic so it became my norm right very different than when I started and then when I came to Lawrence at first so I ended up embracing the culture loving it there's still there's still times where I go over a day and I still struggle to communicate with people but yeah at the end of the day you gotta love Lawrence for what it is yeah 100% another question too because you said he had to do quince's with a whole bunch of girls I don't feel cool to be that guy they're like look at it you know he's like so multicultural he could do it all yeah he could do so kind more the way he goes cool fish and gets by talk to the other way he go back to America Elizabeth here five it's just though he was more like in four different or three or five different ways absolutely absolutely and I used to my advance to this day every time like if I'm in a dancing setting I'll pull out a girl to dance and the first thing they do it happens every time look at me like this and I'm like what you think I can't dance and then it's always boom you dance better than the Dominican so then now I was like that's it instantly now I have a connection that's what's up so I learned to use that in every aspect of my life like when I go to places like when I travel if I travel overseas or I go to hispanic community I don't have a connection so I learned to use that in every aspect of my life like when I go to places like when I travel if I travel overseas or I go to hispanic city outside of Lawrence I know I'm cultured enough to acclimate which is beautiful bad that's what's up man that's what's up so yeah man we chopping up some good game here with Michael here is Michael and Michael it's like Mike and Mike I think we could be a good like what is it like a good cop buddy film after this thing but you're taking us your boy keep it Mike listen 102.9 tape deck and we're gonna get some music right now we're gonna go through on this classic joint here you will know various artists from the Jason lyrics soundtrack y'all one of 2.9 tape deck yeah that was a life of the party by Sticks and prior to that that was Alicia Del Marais with fire your boy keep a mic you listen to 102.9 tape deck at the homey Michael Bass what's going on brother what's going on brother it's been harmless right I haven't tortured you guys it'd be cool I almost died three times on the show guards tonic it's honestly been seen this man very comfortable bad but that's what I do with my people in the show try to keep them as comfortable as possible and make sure they come back you know me so hopefully it's gonna be the last time I see open this building I'll be here next week back I'm looking for co-host too so who knows who makes something happen let's see yeah man so bros and arm man I see you guys doing a lot for the community man I look to the Instagram and I see y'all be giving us some some some some checks some checks and scholarships some checks for these people make you talk about audience to you what these scholarships represent and what they are bound and who are you giving them to like I mentioned earlier we had the June Lawrence's first Juneteenth Arts and Awareness Festival you brought black folks to Lawrence kids I mean it's super important for me because again I grew up in Lawrence and there's not a lot of black culture there it's predominantly Hispanic you brought blackness black and we also did a flag raising Juneteenth flag got raised in Lawrence nice a day before the festival so that was super we're super proud of that shout out to Lisa Miller Gillespie the co-organizer of the of the festival but one of the initiatives for the festival was yes we wanted to get sponsors yes we wanted to have a great a great day full of events and liveliness but we also wanted to give back so I told Lisa and we talked about it amongst ourselves we said if we raise enough money we want to raise enough money get enough sponsors to give up to give a certain amount back to three three local organizations who who is either in their startup phase or maybe struggling just to give them that little kick so we managed to give away a total of two point two K at seven hundred and fifty dollars per organization nice so yeah we managed to raise enough money to give money back and that's what it's about right when you're doing these community events yes great to put on local talent to show the creativity but I think within our community it's great to you know spread the money within right spend the money within our community because we're always we're buying Nike we're buying polo we're buying Tommy Hilfiger getting fresh enough for the wrong people no reason we're not we're not helping out our own people right and I and that's what we're about right spreading the love yeah raise the money yeah and it's terrible cuz I just bought Jordan like two weeks ago now pretty good terrible too man what a disrespect to my own station yeah but that's what's up man but I'm yeah and also man as we will talk about the scenes you're also like a man with many hats man so you also got a little entrepreneur spirit absolutely so he would discuss about a little entrepreneur spirit you have there yeah let's do it I started off about five years ago I'd say yeah I started off and I don't think you know the surrounding anybody does but I started off a reselling sneakers yeah I'm looking at the exclusive sneakers I started off reselling sneakers then so basically the stuff you just talking crap but you are getting fresh but in a game I was getting money called making y'all look fresh amen I was I was flooding the streets with sneakers and other people saw drugs I saw sneaking there you go legal money baby legal money I was going to entrepreneurial event I was going to conventions sneaker conventions and things of that nature yeah and at the time right I've COVID kind of messed up everything in regards to the sneaker game but at the time something sneakers was super lucrative right and every time I talk about this the minimum I made at a convention was 3000 right that's in one day and then the maximum I made 12,000 in one day so once you get you know the right connections and resources and you pay stuff out there in the right manner it could be a lucrative business so yeah I started off reselling sneakers just because I had a passion for it and I tell everybody again if I don't do anything that I do not have a passion for it because if that happens I'm not gonna I'm not gonna do it to the best of my ability so I started off with that then I ended up losing the passion for sneakers as Cuban Mike knows I'm wearing loafers right now yeah I've grown we've got whatever you know all right so I ain't gonna say who it was but before you got to like on the you came to the building like I got a call you in the building someone like yeah you got a guest come to so and he's he's just in pretty handsome right here he's looking kind of just a kind of dapper it was on the ladies it was on the ladies okay so you gotta give him the name after the day now I'm gonna I'm gonna do my home go like that but yeah so like still to this day I have over 50 pair of sneakers in my career my house it's just there sitting collecting dust yeah I might bring him out but after I felt out of love with sneakers I went into media I was really thinking about okay how can I give Lawrence a platform to showcase their talents right we have so much talent and Lawrence but we have nowhere to showcase it so what I went into was podcasting I said I'm gonna create a podcast was 2019 pretty some ways ago yeah start a podcast and just you know gave people a platform to showcase their talents they went deep into their story things of that and things of that nature and then I started a media company out of that okay that's what's up right I'm sorry that's when I still I still did that I still did the media it went from podcasting to b2b right connecting people with people that social media management website development everything in regards to media that you can find whether you need a photographer a videographer so I did b2b business plus my own podcast which I fell in love with I just don't have the time for it now because of the nonprofit and then I fell into literally fell into this the nonprofit work the men's healing work and this honestly has my heart right now so this is the venture this is what I plan on doing for an infinite amount of time until until until the wheels fall off and I don't see myself falling out of love with this because healing is a lifelong journey bad that's what's up y'all that's what's up it's your boy keeping Mike listen one of 2.9 tape deck and we're gonna hit you up with a quick PSA y'all bear with me for at least 45 seconds out here in the middle of these acres it can feel like you're the only person on earth that's how it feels when you're struggling with your mental health but you don't have to feel alone find more information at loveyourmindtoday.org brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute in the ad council Hello my name is Demetrius and I'm 11 years old I've been Jesse's little brother for two years a lot of boys my age need a big brother but they aren't as lucky as me to have fun did you know that there are hundreds of boys waiting for a big and eastern Massachusetts? learn how you can make a difference and defend the potential of a child like me to learn more you can visit massbadebigs.org if you are struggling to afford internet service for your household there is a new government program that may be able to help it's called the affordable connectivity program and it provides up to a $30 monthly discount to qualifying households find more information about the program including if you qualify and how to enroll at fcc.gov/acp or call toll free at 877-384-2575 that's 877-384-2575 and we are back here boy keepin michael's the one of 2.9 tape deck at the home you michael in the booth it's gonna be a botaner it's going on brother yeah me too life is good life is good life is good so check in man we were talking behind the scenes and you know as older the older we get as men particularly black men we try to take care we don't do a great job taking care of our health you know Jesus rest in peace of fat man school man he recently just passed away on Saturday rest in peace rich homie quan I just found out passed away yesterday you know us as people of color we gotta take those and check us to the doctors check us outside your mental health check out your physical health because the older we get you know we just want to live out here and right now we just hope we make it past 60 not just 50 60 y'all you know from the stuff that I've learned from you I've seen that you became vegan absolutely how the hell that happened how you gonna stop being a pop shot man how you gonna stop being a pork chops how you gonna stop being a chicken man how you gonna stop being the stakes it's a super interesting story right ribs son Texas voe house I'm Haitian you're Dominican it's like rice and beans time out time out time out that's the reason why they call me Cuban Mike oh Cuban sorry yeah it's crazy am I sure messing my country and stuff Jesus you're killing me here kid it's all it's all it's all on the same though right when it comes to food so you're making Michael so long story short every single year I tell the story all the time but every single year I do a new year's resolution yeah right I write I have a whiteboard in my other in my office I write something on the whiteboard I don't look at it for three months so this particular year I wrote something on the whiteboard I thought I wrote become a vegan but what I really wrote was become a vegetarian so three months late I thought I wrote become a vegetarian but what I wrote was become a vegan so three months later I came back and I came back to the whiteboard and I was three months vegan from there I've been vegan for four years and nine months now so we're going on five years so I actually became vegan by accident okay it was more or less just pushing myself out my comfort zone but then I fell in love with it I fell in love with the energy right I became more lean and you know everybody in my family tried to stop me from going in that direction how dare they how they how they try to be healthy kid come come down with us in this pool in staking Greece and cholesterol come join me son the first thing my mom said is you're gonna drop she said in Crayo obviously but she was like oh I must be on the floor in like a week don't worry about it so I was like yeah thank you for the support mom but anyway but yeah man I love it I try to it's not a cold or anything but I try to convert everybody that I finally can't because I've seen what I've what like what is done for me I've seen the energy it's given me I've seen the vitality it's given me and I just want that for everybody around me you need to treat your your your body's a temple right and that's how I look at it and I'm very cautious with what I put within my body when it comes to the meats what I realized the research and things of that nature you don't know how the meats are getting how the animals are getting killed right and everything is energy man if just imagine if the chickens going through a slaughterhouse and it has anxiety you're ingesting that energy and again this isn't this isn't an ad for becoming vegan but yeah I don't want to put that out there no but I had a I had a I had a um I had a um bring that as a topic because it's not usually that a lot of brother into the vegan I think the only people that are known to the vegan is like the locks the rap group the locks they don't eat meat they're like really straight up veggie guys which is funny because they talk about games and stuff but they don't eat meat which is hilarious but a conversation with itself but uh it's funny because um my my my daughter she um she became a vegan years ago years ago years ago um and she made my ex wife and I go vegan like my ex wife was all in I was still you know you better cook me some chicken or else I'm gonna be helping this house but um you know as a commitment as a New Year's resolution I say I'm gonna do I'm gonna do he's a favor I'm gonna see if I can survive a month without like you know eating any meat and I I I did it and I remember like my second week I went to my mother's house and she looked at me like you look like a damn mess you look like you're going through it you lost like if your skin you just got skinnier it's like if she's even video and there's I was like no I went vegan because you know I made a loose you know especially the family of the week and you know the first response was I give you I give you one more week before you just like grumble down and I think but like yeah I did 14 day like about the 21st I was ready to kill everybody in the house I want some damn chicken I want some chicken I want some steaks and I want that dead animal fried and cooked before something bad happens to anybody here in this building so I went through it but I went through a nasty withdrawal cuz I was just like itching like I had a struggling beer for no apparent reason I was just going things that I didn't have to go through meanwhile there's food in the house well I say I had to say this when you first went to that I know it's a lot of crazy discipline that you have to go to like with you went to like withdrawals like I gotta get me a burger or you really did a cold turkey and was like yo I'm gonna do this and get myself to self discipline and then look back so to be transparent the first week was the only tough thing yeah that first week I was itching for chicken I ain't gonna lie to you yeah but after that first week it kinda like kicked into like gear and yeah it's just a discipline man like I really I signed these contracts with myself honestly man so like once I say I'm gonna do something I pretty much stick to it that's how I've been for a pretty long time now so that first week they'll kill they announce the point where I smell chicken at times and I get nauseous man really yeah so like this steak chicken like it makes me a little sick so I'm gonna be going to your house and being around the minikens and we be cooking that yeah hello yeah I'm sorry man but I need to have a pork chip in my plate so with that being said I became a pork shop and you're a Muslim so how's that working out being Muslim yeah man because you know like the one thing about you you know we talked about you being a Muslim and I think it's just dope when people you know they go I would assume like your family was Christian I mean it's still Christian you went to that to another absolutely so I mean what was that transaction like similar to the vegan one right the vegan thing yeah so I was born Catholic raise it to the Catholic family got baptized things of that nature but then you know we we we went to the Christian religion and I was forced to go to church every Sunday man you had the best it really it really made me dislike the religion and I know that's not the right direction to go in yeah but because I was forced into into the into that religion so much and forced to go to church so much I didn't want to go to church at all yeah so on my healing journey I was looking for I was looking for myself I was looking for you know like who is Michael Bastion right and there was one piece of me that was missing it was a spirituality piece like the money's cool everything else was cool but in order to be a whole man for myself I needed the spirituality and I started reading the Quran and I felt like I found myself through the Quran and that's what I feel like religion the spirituality is it's not necessarily about just learning about God but it's about learning about yourself through the religion yeah so that's that's high stone upon the Quran I went to the mosque I had a friend who introduced me to everything her name is Armaya Deremy so Shouta Armaya and it's been ever since it's been a year it's been a year and a half and I've just stuck with ever since and I love one of the things I love about the Muslim religion is just a discipline and the respect that like Islam and the individuals who practice at half for the religion yeah so does it feel like I guess the word I'm looking for here is it like you feel like you're born again to an extent but to like another world of religion instead of being like I said it'd be like a born again Christian like a born again religion but it's like more to like the Muslim department if that makes sense it's a good question no no I completely understand what you mean yeah and the answer to that is yes right and it's not just about getting blessings right because with blessing it comes the other side as well but I feel like I answered into a new life honestly I've been more disciplined again everything with me is pretty much discipline and throughout Ramadan I prayed three to five times a day for like 30 days right and throughout my my throughout my years of living I can't even count how many times I really prayed when I was Christian right so and just I feel closer to God I feel like I'm the embodiment of him through this religion it's super different it's super different and it could be because I'm taking this religion more serious that could be a possibility but I don't know I feel whole yeah man that's up and I guess you know from the stories I mean I don't want to get to the personal stuff like from the stories that you told us within you know the group that we're in it's like you it's like a progression a progression you know me from like and I've seen it you know even though I've only met you for a couple of years like from the stories you told me and from this to the man that you are right now like I could see the progression you know I mean it's like you you I know you're a young dude but it's like you have the level of your the maturity you have it's like pretty much like a I want to say like an elder statesman but never step a kind of way I'm not talking about the doing it came like that boy but I can tell the states meant that you know you got people are holding you like looking up to you for advice and you know direction so that's got to feel good to an extent because it's like you know they're looking you for for the age that you are they're looking you for some sort of leadership and I do look as just a leader appreciate that yeah and likewise yeah man thank you I think I think we're all leaders in our own right here but yeah man I think I think what it is though like a big a big when it comes to like leadership and things of that nature I think it's just the consistency right when when someone sees that you're passionate about something you stay consistent it's easy to follow someone because you build the trust to do that so and that's one thing I hone on hone in on which is the discipline so thank you for that man that means a lot no problem man and yeah man so I'm pretty much what's next up for Michael man what's next up from Michael I mean the real question is what's next up for brothers and arms because that's I'm the I'm the walk and embodiment of it so brothers and arms I can tell you guys I didn't tell you guys the mission and I'll say it now brothers and arms the mission is to provide a psychologically safe space to promote the development of healthy masculinity through restorative men circles so that's what we do we sit in circle every Monday night every Monday night excuse me and we talk about everything from mother and fatherhood wounds to self care accountability everything across the board but what's next for us is three programs we got rolling out that is currently in development right now we have our Monday circle which is open to all ages if you're under 18 all you need to do is come with an adult we're creating a bi-weekly youth program within our space that is just for the youth right strictly for the youth and the reason that came about was because the youth they want to get into this emotional intelligence the emotional healing one of their complaints is that they don't have friends that are in the same sphere as them in the same environment as them so what I thought about was okay we'll create that space for you guys and eventually what we want to do is create leaders in that realm as well we want the youth to start leading these circles it's not about us it's not about the adults will supervise right but we want the youth to step into that role of leadership that's what's going to really make the difference if they could lead their group of friends imagine what they could do for their families and then the third the third program which is the most important I guess I'll give the exclusive today that's cool I love when I get this book here one of 2.9 take a look at this list I guess I love it but so about two or three months ago we got called in to go to Lawrence High and me and Felix and Quinn is sits on their board me and Felix actually spoke on behalf of brothers in arms and they're willing to take our program and come this fall so brothers and arms mess the fourth circle would be in Lawrence High this October and it'll be real enrichment so we'll be there twice a week and we'll be there with the kids that are interested right that's the big thing that we focus on our program is not a reprimanded program to the point where you're forced to be here because you want to everybody who comes to brothers in arms men support circle they come voluntarily and that's what we pride ourselves on we build a space where men want to come not half to come so we want to create that same space for the kids we want the kids also build leaders within that community as well and yeah I'm super excited to get into the high school that I actually graduated from yeah so that's what's up man that's what's up man I love it I love it and while I'm out here man I gotta shout out my brother Juni you know aka Will Smith Juni you know Juni yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah shout out to Juni yeah because he saw me in one of your videos he like oh that's my guy there so I'm like yeah that's my guy too so so yeah shout out to Juni just because shout out to Juni man he actually um he was what's the name of the other pro at the YMCA he was one of our leaders our team leaders so yeah he brought us to colleges and he's really doing good work I think he moved he moved out yeah yeah he's out he's out I'm gonna just go to this business but he's out of here I don't want to go to this business like that but he he's somewhere that's not in Massachusetts but um that's my brother right there man much love to him shout out to him yeah man Michael man once again me thank you for coming through man absolutely you have an open door in the tape deck um anything that you need you know to support the community the hood just give me a call I'm gonna call away if I'm not a call away that's because I'm at the tape deck or I'm working but cuz I'm mad and get your chance to do the Jun team man I was stuck up I was I think I was out of the state but I saw the pictures man I saw a lot of beautiful things going on there and you know much respect and salutes man you do wonderful work for the community um brothers in arms out to queuing them and you know keep doing the work that you're doing man cuz it's getting really noticed out there I appreciate the work you know I'm glad to be part of the team and like I said man anything you need men won't call away I got you bro can I talk about that I love it that you don't see you we got some time oh yeah go ahead all right cool so for the Jun team festival arts and awareness festival we actually the final count came out to 702 people on a rainy day nice so I want just to put that out there like yeah if you guys have a dream you guys have a goal no matter who tries to stop you just do it cuz you never know what the outcome may be stay motivated stay focused and stay disciplined who would have known that our first festival Lawrence's first festival and over how the Jun team festival but Lawrence is right in the middle with the real culture and we don't have anything not it was it was not it was pissing me off man being a black man from the community so we had a 702 people was a rainy day and even it was from 12 to 5 at 3 p.m. it started raining and even through the rain even through the rain we had a hundred people under the tent still waiting and still looking at the performances still participating so next year we're looking at a thousand plus people we're gonna have Cuban Mike in the building you're gonna have a microphone or you're gonna be interviewing people look if I get to interview two things if I get in there I got to interview people and I got to perform and I got what are you performing those spoken words spoken yeah yeah man I'm back on a statement now now it's like riding a bike again maker they haven't done in the years so I've been going to see him Boston you know shout out to a man the shade my homeboy Rob German who pretty much you know put the battery on my back again to like go spit that let's do it get some notoriety man but yeah definitely let me arm whatever you need on that department I'll do it off the strength so no no no stop the strength so one thing that I do need to mention is as well is that we paid everything done yeah we can talk about money just say this to it okay yeah we'll block that apart out this is why I don't do like recording stuff no don't worry but we'll block that off we'll block that off I don't talk about the money part but yeah you I'll sell dude off the strength okay okay yeah yeah I'll take it I'll take it I'll take it I'll take it I'll call I mean that's pretty much how yeah that's a perfect perfect for checking your decision for a Cuban by you but listen to the same deck you can catch me here every Friday from six to seven Michael may take it for coming through that's Michael Baston I'm out yeah man we're gonna end here with our rack of fresh bed one time let's go wait I can I can talk you're all it good you're all it proper when it comes to road you don't mix up my tars so long it's been since I see you I'm flying anywhere to meet you you mean you won't take no pieces betters are a different pieces I need open I fly a feeling swampy I'm a head nice we move your sight with the white price boy I'm built in roadways tonight can you know he is my wife so corrupt and got like his life I think you want to tell me twice if you're so simply stay inside one time can you always woman can you always woman and I want to be right where you are never to fall never to fall everywhere is a bakana a bakana will be like a bakana ventilite bakana will be blue if it's only between two everywhere is a bakana ventilite bakana lady a chalabis is the unit car in bed no hearing advances my apology next two days and no behavior you know that we pass all this flamers let me see you walk back we stop not fighting as a special boy one time i didn't want to be nice but my mind it is such a joy I know I start getting on my mind no regrets we learn much about it so can we and from the wind of the tank let our gout to be upset to the next I need to be talking I need to be talking, I need to be right where you are, where you are, where you are never to fall, never to fall everywhere is a bakana, a bakana will be like a bakana ventilite bakana will be blue if it's only between two everywhere is a bakana ventilite bakana when he enters my rocks, but I don't see no skin for white light (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (singing in foreign language) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)