So, Dear Friends,

I am fundraising again.

It’s been 4 years and two months and some days since I raised ON Kickstarter $25,000 for the movie that changed my life and opened doors in the lives of many of the people who joined my communication revolution.

I am happy to say that my goal this time is a lot smaller. That’s because I am in a much better place.

If you have not yet gotten a chance to donate please click this link and head to the campaign and read what is coming up for me this summer.

I am really thankful to all of you who have donated. The t-shirts are going to be awesome. The first person who gives at the “Gold Dress level is getting a special prize.

I am really thankful for the great weather.

Oh, feel the wonderful positive energy around in spite of our wacky politician wannabees.

Joyfully, fondly, and thankfully.

Mark

The Super Thinking and Doing Man

Dear Beloved Blog Readers,

I want to exclaim loudly that I am excited that even more cool stuff has been going on. I got to talk to two high schools classes in my hometown of Colchester.

I had one group watch my movie with me. Oh, my God, so much has changed in my life since the movie came out three years ago. I told the students that it was like seeing a home video.

I want to share the conversation from the second classroom visit as I had them watch the video ahead of time so we had a lot of time to chat.

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Mark(M)- Hi everyone. I really thank my new friend, Mr. Price, for having me here as a guest two days in a row. I prepared some thoughts for you but first let's have each person say their name and a thing they love best about summer. I will start by saying 'I am Mark and I love to see people tan and happy.'

The students and guests shared their names and things they love about summer.

M- I am so happy you saw my movie and look forward to addressing your questions about it and then we will switch gears and open up the talking to more fun topics about life and how we all find our way in fitting in.

I want to say that the thing about this movie is that the process of writing it and putting it on screen not only assisted me in developing my "Supported "Typing" skills but it allowed me a chance to reflect on my life so I could make commentary on what wasn’t working and strive for changing them.

You saw my old life in the film you saw on Tuesday. I am in a different agency that assists my day to day accommodations for being different. This agency is innovative and able to support and celebrate who I am. I am here today with their Supported Self Employment Team.

I have started a business called “Utter Communication Strategies.” I want to do workshops that assist communication between people because I know how hard it is and I also want to inspire others with great speeches about having good goals and clear minds for achieving them.

Oh let’s do some questions and then we will move into wider thinking.

Question(Q)- Do you ever get tired of having all this technology you use in your life to communicate?

M- I actually have kind of a shortage in time and people who can support my communication so I can’t say I am overwhelmed by tech. But, yes this process is tedious for me as well, so breathe deep and find the groove in it.

Q- Are you able to be more independent in your life now?

M- I used to be too independent as no one was connected to my mind, really adrift I was. Now I can connect and share my experience with you and I want to share a hope to find my true way to independence through my dependence on good clear thinking and speaking my mind.

Q- What's something you like to do in your free time?

M- I would love to immerse myself in hearing lots of great stories about life being lived well but I don't have that set up yet.

Q- What was it like to see the movie for the first time after it was finished?

M- That was awesome. Of course, there are about twenty things I would change if I could but, yes, in terms of satisfaction and an overflowing movie theater it was a crowning achievement.

Mr. Price- I know you and Emily needed to raise a lot of money to create the film. Do you want to talk about that?

M- It was a scary venture but we raised awareness and friends along the way like Dorothy did heading towards OZ.

Mr. Price- Do you want to share how much it took to make the film?

M- Fifty thousand and lots of love, sweat and hopeful metaphors.

Q- What was your most favorite thing about making the film?

M- I told the group yesterday that it was so we could be together in this moment now. I will be less esoteric today though I am pleased so much today as well. I loved being in the center of the action after years of being a wall flower.

Oh, let’s hear any thoughts about the slow life I presented and the dance scene with the fancy people in costume and my gold gown.

(The scene of 'My Fine Vision of the Good Life' (the dance scene) is screened,)

Emily shares two stories connected with the scene: One was about how Mark recently told the students he mentors “I had to work very hard to not accept the thoughts people had about me. To do this I held a picture of me in a gold dress and worked towards that. That’s why I’m in a gold sultan’s robe at the end of my movie. The other was how early on while writing the screenplay Mark said the “dance scene” would be in 'The Hen of the Wood' restaurant in Waterbury. It turned out we had access to it because the friend who assisted our efforts in making the movie just happened to have built it.

M- It is true I did have that vision and the story of “The Hen of the Wood” is amazing too. Now, on to my next words.

I am really glad to have some time to talk with you and look forward to any questions that you might have today about life, the future or the way to finding your dreams in three easy steps?

Q- How do you find your dreams?

M- I am a huge believer in thinking or saying out loud what you want and then I like to push tons of positive energy towards it and then I wait patiently or advocate loudly depending on how my intuition guides me.

Q- Are you still friends with people you went to high school with?

M- I did not really go to high school and just recently started to feel that I have people who know the real me.

Q- I know you are concerned with how people perceive you and wondered if you might share more about that?

M- I think people think really poorly of me when they first meet me and that thought doesn't serve me well so I have banished it from my mind.

I am really happy we had time today. Please sign up for my blog at www.utterenergy.org. Goodbye and Good Luck!

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I love that you read through all of that and welcome the questions that you might now have for me.