Sylvia Clute is a self-described “legal system innovator” and “social justice change agent”. Her bona fides and honors are extensive. She is the author of several books. Her new book “Unitive Justice – “Bending the Arc of Justice Towards Love” – is due out soon. She has made it her life’s mission to push for a shift from a punitive justice system to a unitive one. She is leading the first Unitive Justice International Conference October, 2 – 4, 2023 in Richmond, Va.
Sara Daves is a manifest and purpose coach and author who was determined to find her path and purpose after the loss of her son. She witnessed a broken justice system first hand when her son Trey was forced to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit only to pass away just six weeks after his release. Sara committed herself to “helping others learn to create strong, loving relationships with themselves and reclaim their lives from trauma and the broken social systems that perpetuate painful cycles.”
Our conversation ranges from defining unitive justice, how and why it works, a for-profit prison system that perpetuates itself, and Sara’s work in Uganda where she helped build the first unitive justice school named after her son, Trey.
A brief description of unitive justice vs. punitive justice:
Unitive justice and punitive justice are two distinct approaches to the concept of justice, each with its own principles and goals.
Unitive justice, also known as restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by a wrongdoing and restoring relationships between individuals or communities. The primary emphasis is on healing, reconciliation, and addressing the underlying causes of the conflict or harm. Unitive justice seeks to involve all stakeholders, including the victim, offender, and community, in a collaborative process to find solutions that address the harm and prevent future incidents.
Punitive justice, also known as retributive justice, is the traditional approach to justice that focuses on punishing offenders for their wrongdoing as a means of retribution and deterrence. The primary goal of punitive justice is to impose penalties that are proportionate to the offense committed, with the intention of providing a sense of justice to victims and deterring potential offenders.
Unitive justice prioritizes healing, reconciliation, and the restoration of relationships, whereas punitive justice emphasizes punishment as a means of retribution and deterrence.
Toward Space – All Night Long NEW
Bucket – World Tuned Upside Down
Midlife Pilot – Telepathic
Mr Earthbound – Animal
Strawberry Moon – Grew This Way
Sammi Lanzetta – The Villain
Doll Baby – Perfect Posture
Deathbirds Surf Club – Summer
Rough Age – Every Minute, Every Mile
Toxic Moxie – Creation Limitation
Toxic Moxie – Bratcore (VCR cover)
Ant The Symbol (feat Black Liq) – Names
Armagideon Time – Foxed In The Head (edit)
Large Margin – Smothered and Covered
Angelica Garcia – Macorina
Heath Haynes – Whole Entire World
Erik Larson – Cry In The Wind
Caro – Alright, You Win From My Room
DUST – Je Ne Sais Quoi
Elabor – The Tree That Bleeds NEW
Mighty Joshua – Clean Hands
Moossa – Ballast
Helgamite – Aestrosion
Horsehead – Grains of Sand
Sports Bar – Cut The Cord
Lean Year – The Trouble With Being Warm
Book of Wyrms – Sodapop Glacier
I’ve been working with Sprouts for a few years, helping them get the word out about their beautiful produce and new grand openings. This spot is announcing a new location near Nashville. Now, PLEASE, Sprouts, open a store near me!
What says tough, capable, legacy and hard work more than Mack Trucks? Before you answer consider also what says modern, forward-thinking, intelligent, environmentally-friendly and EV more than Mack Trucks? It was a pleasure working with the team at Colle McVoy to bring this project to life as Mack powers into the future.
(ABOVE: My furry friends, Jackie and Frankie, LOVE their time at the park. Jackie rides in the trailer in the background. She also wears a sweater sometimes because she gets chilly. Yeah, I know.)
Storytelling. It’s everything. EV-ER-Y-THING. Whether you’re voicing a one-day-only sale for a single location furniture store in a tiny off-the-map town or a national Super Bowl spot or narrating a documentary. Whether you’re sound designing a YouTube video that might get 50 views. Whether you’re creating a motion graphics piece for Microsoft that the world will see. Whether you’re selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door. (Is that still done or do they do what happens in my town which is to set up outside Publix or on the sidewalk in Carytown?) It’s all storytelling. And storytelling is about connection.
A common list of elements that go into storytelling include:
1. What is it about?
2. What do they want?
3. What do they do to get it?
4. Why does it or doesn’t it work?
5. What do they do about it?
Plot, setting, characters, point of view and conflict or tension.
Common formulas vary a little, but that’s essentially it. But the thing(s) that pulls us in more than almost anything else is when the elements matter to us. Can we relate to the story? Can we see ourselves in it? That’s the human element. And what makes us feel more human, more vulnerable, more emotional, more real, more alive than kids and pets? Let’s put the kid part aside for a moment since, well, kids are actually human. This space is not conducive to a debate on parenting or ethics so we’ll confine our narrative to pets. And when it comes to pets, pet owners know in the back of their minds, no matter how much they push it away that their time together is very, very limited. It’s temporary. So the love between pets and owners often burns white hot.
The APPA (American Pet Products Association) reports that pet industry sales rose to nearly $137 billion in 2022 and that pets are present in 66% of U.S. households. Many of those households likely had a tv on and tuned to the 2023 Super Bowl when everybody’s favorite Super Bowl spot aired – the Farmer’s Dog spots in which the loyal family dog joins the family as a puppy, becomes a full-fledged and very loved member of the family, shares experiences shown in montage as he grows up, and inevitably, grows old. We’re spared the emotional nuke of seeing the dog pass or any hint of it, but we surmise that it’s coming; sooner rather than later. And it’s something we ALL relate to. Cue the waterworks. Connection made. Bam. We all immediately think of our own pets and work hard to push out of our minds any notion of them not being with us forever. It’s powerful storytelling. And it’s all based on a true story. Director Goh Iromoto tells that story figuratively in the spot and literally in the article linked below.
No matter how big the budget of a movie telling stories about CGI superheroes or wizards or space villains and heroes, the stories that lean into and embrace their human-ness are the ones that grab us firmly and unrelentingly by the heartstrings and do not let go. We relate to the purity, simplicity and complexity of actually being human. And isn’t it funny that the creatures on this planet that make us feel most human – are animals? Animals that share our homes, our lives, our experiences and our hearts. And when we tell our stories, they’ll be some of the main characters.
It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. Funny “interesting”, I mean. I first approached this copy with an NFL Films, John Facenda-type of read in mind. That was based on the direction and the subject matter. But the client actually directed me away from that a little. And the end result was much better and more appropriate than what I had envisioned. That’s the beauty of collaboration and highlights the subjective nature of creativity. There’s never one answer, but when you work together to find what best serves the project it’s win/win. #voiceover #jaysmackvo
RJ Zimmerman has been sober from alcohol, drugs, gambling and other addictive substances and activities for 8 years. He started the “Untapped Keg” podcast to address and create a community of people who are trying to life a fuller life without the barriers that certain substances and activities can create. But also included in that community are people who want others to live according to what is best for them and choose to indulge in certain substances and activities within reason and responsibly. He talks about a culture that all but requires people to partake lest they suffer exclusion and how it makes living a sober life by choice that much more difficult. He talks about the importance of connection with one’s self as well as family and friends.
In this Good Eye BLOGcast, I muse on the advancement of A.I. and its effect on people and industries that, historically, have been the exclusive domain of humans. As a voiceover artist, whoddathunk that computers would one day be gunning for my job. But I’m convinced that you need to face these advancements head-on. Lean into what makes us human. What other choice do we have?
Do you like to read? Do you like to listen to audiobooks? Perhaps you enjoy both. I know I do. But I also enjoy narrating audiobooks. It’s one fact of being a voiceover artist that I love because you learn so much about so many different subjects. In this case, I’ve narrated this book about the 1930’s Dust Bowl migration called the Golden Fortress by Bill Lascher. It examines the impact of that migration on many migrants fleeing the dust storms and attempting to make a new life in 1930’s California, as well as California’s response to the influx of so many people from around the country. In the case of the migration and the response, it was not smooth.
