VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 218
AIR DATE: 03 18 2022
TRANSCRIPT


OPEN ((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Banner))
Connecting with the Past
((SOT))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
I know by being around buffalo personally, it has helped me in my life. It's helped me and my children be stronger, have more fortitude, be healthier in our minds, body and spirit.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Looking to the Future
((SOT))
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
Looking forward to my wedding was really, helped me push through because I had something to look forward to after my journey.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Pursuing Beauty
((SOT))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
In order to do eyelash extensions professionally, I absolutely think that you need to be a perfectionist. You need to be very exact, so you have very little margin for error.
((Open Animation))


BLOCK A


((PKG)) BUFFALO RANCHER
((TRT: 07.00))
((Topic Banner: Buffalo Rancher))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Dylan Baddour))
((Map: Waelder, Texas))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub character: 1 male))
((NATS: Singing))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
((in Spanish))
I have a lot of faith that before, many generations before, one of my grandmothers prayed, made prayers and offerings, offerings for the future because they suffered so much. They couldn’t be Apache because everyone wanted to kill the Apaches.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
My name is Lucille Contreras and I’m the CEO and founder of Texas Tribal Buffalo Project here in Waelder, Texas.
((NATS))
((Text-over-video:
This non-profit buffalo ranch aims to help rebuild Native culture in Texas. Today, the ranch keeps nine donated buffalo on 31 hectares.))
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
This is the first time in hundreds of years that Lipan Apache and Southern Plains bison have been right here on this land.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
Lipan Apache have lost land, culture, language as well as kinship with each other. And so, as part of that, I believe that we’ve suffered a lot of generational trauma.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
I know by being around buffalo personally, it has helped me in my life. It's helped me and my children be stronger, have more fortitude, be healthier in our minds, body and spirit. And so, I want to allow that, afford that opportunity to others.
((NATS: Lipan Apache singers))
((Richard Gonzalez
Vice-Chairman, Lipan Apache Band of Texas))
((in Spanish))
My name is Richard Gonzalez or Ricardo Gonzalez. I live in Brackettville, Texas. We are Lipan Apache from here in Texas, the band of Texas.
((NATS: Lipan Apache singers))
((Richard Gonzalez
Vice-Chairman, Lipan Apache Band of Texas))
Bringing buffalo back to where they are from is just like bringing us, our families, back to where we were from, to acknowledge that they actually lived here. There’s people in Texas today that never knew there were ever buffalo in Texas, just like they didn’t know there were Apaches here.
((NATS: Lipan Apache singers))
((Richard Gonzalez
Vice-Chairman, Lipan Apache Band of Texas))
All these different things, these symbols on these teepees, all these things are important because they remind us who we are but also reminds other folks that we’re still here and we’re not living back in 1700 or 1400 or 1800. We’re living today but we’ve not forgotten where we come from.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
I grew up in San Antonio, in the hood or whatever. I, you know, went to inner-city high school but my dream my whole life was to get out into the country.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
I graduated in 1992 from the University of Colorado in Boulder. And ever since I graduated, I have been in IT [Information Technology].
Being a Native American woman in a White, male-dominated industry in IT, that has a lot of challenges. And I had kind of like had my fill with that.
Then, as life happens and things in life happen, I ended up the last six years in Porcupine, South Dakota. Where I moved, there was horses and buffalo and a garden that I planted that was 40 by 60 [12 by 18m]. And so, I got to really practice a lot of what I had been studying for years on my own. Even though I was in IT, I still never let go of the dream of agriculture.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
Being able to learn the culture of handling or really not handling but caretaking for buffalo as relatives, that really happened for me in South Dakota with Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society. That experience was so invaluable, to be able to learn from the Lakota Nation which holds so strongly the Buffalo Nation teachings. And I feel like if it wasn’t for the Lakotas, I probably, I don't think I would have been able to do what I’m doing today and bringing back to the Lipan Apache Buffalo Nation our relationship with the buffalo in this way.
((NATS))
((Text-over-video:
In 2020, Contreras returned home to Texas to start her own ranch.))
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
So, we don’t live on a reservation. We bought our land with the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] Beginning Farmer and Rancher Loan. So, I’m really, really thankful to the USDA.
((NATS))
((Lucille Contreras
Founder, Texas Tribal Buffalo Project))
I’m so happy. I, just yesterday, made my full one-year payment of $22,000. Yay! So, we’re set, man. At least this year is like covered. And my payment's not even due till March. And that’s because of the Tanka Fund and other grants, Honor the Earth.
((NATS: Singing))
((Text-over-video:
Contreras hopes to someday buy more land for a large reserve where Native people of Texas can come to practice buffalo culture.))
((NATS: Singing))



TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Life’s Challenges
((SOT))
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
I just kept waiting by the phone. And finally, the phone rang and my heart started racing because I knew it was from the doctor. She told me it was cancer.


BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK B


((PKG)) CANCER SURVIVOR
((TRT: 4:10))
((Topic Banner: Overcoming Cancer))
((Reporter: Angelina Bagadasaryan))
((Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: San Diego, California))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub character: 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
I was 24 years old
((End Courtesy))
back in October of 2019.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
I was taking a shower and I felt a strange lump in one of my breasts that didn’t seem normal. So, I went to my
((End Courtesy))
OB-GYN [obstetrician-gynecologist] and I brought it to her attention
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
to get it checked out.
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
I am Marissa Sacco-Massara. I am 26 years old. I live in San Diego, California.
((End Courtesy))
I just kept waiting by the phone. And finally, the phone rang and my heart started racing because I knew it was from the doctor.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
She told me it was cancer, breast cancer
((End Courtesy))
that was very fast growing
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
and it did spread to one of my lymph nodes. And I just started crying out of fear. I didn’t know what was next for me.
((End Courtesy))
Anthony just gave me the biggest hug and said, “I love you and we’re here for you and
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
I will be here for you every step of the way.”
Never thought about cancer ever.
((End Courtesy))
I didn’t really have a fear of it. I didn’t think that, you know, back then at that age of 24, that I would ever have cancer.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
I was sick. I couldn’t get out of bed.
((End Courtesy))
And then when I felt fine,
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
I had to go right back for another, you know, chemo [therapy session].
((End Courtesy))
Anthony proposed to me back in 2018. So, it’s actually been a few years.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
It was up at the Colorado River. And I said yes.
((End Courtesy))
And it was the easiest yes I’ve ever had to say. And unfortunately, we’ve had to push our wedding back a few times because of COVID and because I was going through treatment.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
((Anthony Massara
Marissa’s Husband))
I was so positive and so faithful, I didn’t even think about it. I thought, “There’s no way.”
((End Courtesy))
Like I know that the doctor says there’s a chance that it is
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
but there’s no way. Like that’s not real. That’s not going to happen. She just graduated college. We’re just starting our lives together.
((End Courtesy))
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
Looking forward to my wedding was really, helped me push through because I had something to look forward to after my journey.
((Anthony Massara
Marissa’s Husband))
The wedding was the best day of my life. I will never forget it. Marissa deserved that wedding more than anything,
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
especially with everything that she went through.
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
Going through chemo was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
((End Courtesy))
In the beginning, I was scared. I didn’t know. I didn’t want to do it at first. Losing all my eyelashes, my eyebrows, gaining a lot of weight, and going on social media and seeing
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
old photos of myself before, and of friends, made me really self-conscious.
((End Courtesy))
And I didn’t want to be seen.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
((Anthony Massara
Marissa’s Husband))
It definitely brought us even closer.
((End Courtesy))
I didn’t think that we even could be closer. But it just, being there for her through all of that,
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
I, you know, I’m just so glad that we were able to meet before all of this happened because for me to be able to be there for her
((End Courtesy))
and support her and comfort her through, you know, times of crying and stress and anger and all of that,
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
just being able to be there for her, meant more than anything.
((Marissa Sacco-Massara
Cancer Survivor))
It changed my perspective on a lot of things.
((End Courtesy))
Not being mad at people.
((Courtesy: Marissa Sacco-Massara))
Loving my family even more and expressing how much I loved them every single day.
((End Courtesy))
And really enjoying every single day with them that I have.
((MUSIC))


TEASE ((VO/NAT/SOT))
Coming up
((Banner))
The Beauty Specialist
((SOT))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
Hi there. And here’s my office where I do eyelash extensions all day. I've been doing exclusively eyelash extensions now for 14 and a half years.


BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


BLOCK C


((PKG)) MAKING A LIVING: ESTHETICIAN, MORGAN HAWES
((TRT: 06:40))
((Topic Banner: Making a Living: Morgan Hawes))
((Reporter/Camera: Ailin Li))
((Camera: Laura Luan))
((Editor: Meggie Miao))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main character: 1 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
In order to do eyelash extensions professionally, I absolutely think that you need to be a perfectionist. You need to be very detailed in your entire analysis of the person's natural lashes. You need to be very exact in your placement and your styling in order to create the look that you want to on the client. You need to be very precise in how you place each extension on each lash and make sure that it's not touching any other neighboring lashes. And you have to do that several hundred times per appointment. So, you have very little margin for error.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
Hi, my name is Morgan Hawes. I'm 36 years old. I live in New York City and I’m an esthetician specializing in eyelash extensions. And this is my ordinary life. I've been doing exclusively eyelash extensions now for 14 and a half years.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
Hi there. And here’s my office where I do eyelash extensions all day.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I sort of fell into this industry. I thought I was just going do it for a year or two, just to keep me busy between undergraduate and dental schools. And 14 and a half years later, here I am.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
My business name is Primp Daddy. It was given to me in a sense as a moniker. I think it's been a good business name. It's funny and it sticks in people's minds.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
My clients right now range anywhere from early 20s all the way up until about 80. Roughly 50 percent are Asian, most of which are Chinese. A lot of times, at the very beginning in this industry, people would see or decide to prescribe a certain look, a certain shape, a certain style for all Asian eyes. And I recognized very quickly that's not correct. It’s not good. It’s not the way to do it because there's just as much variation amongst Asian people's eyes as there are Caucasian people's eyes. Not categorizing all Asian eyes as one, I think, is what ended up bringing a lot of Asian clientele to me first.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I'm not terribly expensive, particularly for being in New York City. So typically, your new set is a two-hour appointment and I charge at my base rate $110 per hour, so $220 for the initial set. Then most people come back around every three weeks or so for a fill and that's usually just an hour appointment.
In terms of income potential, so let's say on a normal light week, I do 30 hours per week. So that would be 110 times 30. So that's $3,300 per week. And if I simply times that by 52 weeks in a year, I could gross $171,600. You know that does get knocked down a bit because I don't work every single week.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I definitely take some time off on vacations here and there. But, you know, the income potential is there.
The single biggest business cost here in New York City is inevitably going to be rent. My little space is roughly $3,000 per month and it's just a small, windowless room.
Then, of course, there's materials. Overall, I'll probably end up spending around $5,000 per month on overall costs.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I live in Hell's Kitchen. It's Midtown West. So, I actually live two avenues away from Times Square. I love the neighborhood. It's kind of the gayborhood [LGBT-friendly] too. There’s lots of small restaurants. It’s obviously very centrally located. If you’ve been to New York, you’ve probably been close to or in Hell’s Kitchen.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
My apartment is a 5th floor walk-up. It's a very typical New York City, not exactly a railroad-style, but it's long and narrow. It's a two-bedroom which is luxurious for here.
I live with my partner, Derek. We've been together for eight years and have lived together for basically just as long.
We spend, I think, a little over $4,000 [a month] for our apartment and that is, for what it is, really a great deal in the area.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
In terms of my personal spending, I'm actually quite frugal and I save a large percentage of my income. I try not to eat out a lot. I don't drink coffee, so I never go to Starbucks. I don't drink alcohol which in New York City is rare and a really expensive thing. So that saves me a whole lot of money. My rent and expense is roughly $2,500 a month out of my own pocket for an apartment. Of course, phone for maybe another $100. Food, I usually keep that probably around $600 per month. My gym membership is around $500 per month. Clothes and incidentals, I would, maybe, average another $200 a month.
I save just simply as high of a percentage as possible but that's usually at least 60 percent of my net income. I needed to be my own security blanket and after having been sort of shocked by being poor in the past, I just did not want that to happen again.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Photo Courtesy: AP))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I grew up, for the most part, in a really small town in the middle of Oregon and I was fairly obviously gay. And that doesn't sit that well in a small town in Oregon. And I always saw New York as kind of the place if you want to go be gay and have that be, quote- unquote, “normal”. At least be just seen as another person as opposed to somebody that was standing out constantly.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
For six years, I was between Portland, Oregon and New York, trying to start this office. I was flying back and forth every few days. It was exhausting. For a time there too, I became completely broke. So, I remember there was one point where I landed here at JFK [airport]. Then I took the train in from JFK. And in order to get that train ticket at that time, I actually had to dig around in my carry-on bag for change, for all this like extra pocket change that I had because I was kind of down to my last few dollars at the time. And I realized like, wow, this is rock bottom in a sense. I mean, I was still liking what I was doing but I was working so hard.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
It was always my goal and my dream to get here to New York City and that's what it took. But I do feel like I had to crawl, scrape my way, you know, piece by piece to get here.
It is very costly to just even exist here. And so, it leaves not a lot of room for, you know, breaks, time-off or COVID-19. It becomes extra challenging whenever anything is not perfectly in line.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
I’m very glad that I have saved that percentage of my income over the years. That helped to keep me afloat during all this time.
((NATS/MUSIC))
Morgan Hawes
Esthetician))
My definition of success has certainly morphed and changed over the years
((End Courtesy))
and as I've gotten older. I think when I was younger, it was this strict how much money you have made. And the more money you make the more successful you are. I feel very successful because I thoroughly enjoy my life. I work hard but I like what I do.
((NATS/MUSIC))


((PKG)) BIRD SANCTUARY
((TRT: 03:58))
((Previously aired December 2020))
((Banner: Bird Sanctuary))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Jeff Swicord))
((Map: Tavernier, Florida))
((Main character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
I grew up in Dalton, Massachusetts. Once I graduated and I had my degree, you know, you really just try to get settled in somewhere with working with the species that you want to work with.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
I really love working with water birds, birds like pelicans for instance. I knew of this place and have known of this place for quite a few years. Thankfully this position had opened up. Now I just work with birds all the time.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
The birds that we see down here in the Keys are fish-eating birds, marsh birds a lot of the time. We take in injured orphaned wildlife and we rehabilitate them until they are to the point where they can be released and then we do that at that point in time.
((NATS))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
So, I don’t know what I am going to need. I guess, I am going to get a bunch of stuff. So, we are a non-profit organization. We are split into two different facilities. The hospital location is where we take in injured orphaned wildlife. They really don’t have anyone on their side but us. My, I guess, purpose in being here is to really try to be the best advocate I can be for the birds that come through.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
We received a double-crested Cormorant a few days ago. He was admitted and was very thin. He was not standing very well, very lethargic. One of the possibilities that we want to rule out, was the case of an internal hook.
((NATS))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
We are putting him under anesthesia so we can get an X-ray and so that he is not flailing around while ware trying to get the X-rays.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
There are quite a few cases we see per year that are hooked birds, ingested hooks. Ripped pouches for pelicans we see a lot with fish carcasses. So, that is a human impact there. And we did, in fact, rule that out. He did not have an internal hook. So, now we have to focus on getting a fecal on him, so we can test for internal parasites because I am almost 100 percent positive he has some sort of internal parasites and that’s what is causing him to lose what as so fast as he is.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
I predict we will probably see 1200, 12 – 1300 birds this year.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
The second facility we have is the sanctuary. So, these are permitted birds that basically went through the rehabilitation process and were deemed non-releasable.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Bayleigh Machaffie
Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center))
Our visitors play a huge roll in our organization. We are non-profit and so we run entirely on donations and grant money. If the birds start to dwindle down, it will really start to affect the ecosystem, all the plant life. Any species you look at is going to be super important for any ecosystem they’re in.
((NATS/MUSIC))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect



BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))


SHOW ENDS