- [Michael] Tonight, on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

Mom, author, abuse survivor, and three-time cancer survivor, Trish Michael, uplifts kids with powerful messages of resilience, inner strength and hope.

And, everyone knows about the use of drones for aerial photography, but they also have a surprising use in the field of disaster response.

We'll tell you how.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

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- Good Tuesday evening, everyone.

And welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

Tonight, we go inside the studio to talk with Trish Michael, author, photographer, and artist.

This multifaceted talent loves to uplift others, especially kids with powerful messages of resilience, inner strength and hope.

Here's producer, Luke Smith, with more.

(soft music) - Good evening.

Thank you, Michael.

I could not be more excited about the guest that we have in the studio tonight.

This is Trish Michael.

Folks at home who don't know Trish, she is an author, she's a photographer, she is an artist.

She does it all.

Trish, how are you this evening?

- I'm doing well.

Thanks for having me.

- I want to kick off this interview real quick, because your story stuck out to me most.

When I looked at your website, and the first I saw "Whether she's empowering kids and adults with the message in her books, showing people their true beauties through her photos, connecting business owners with their ultimate success, or rubbing her fingerprints off on the pavement with sidewalk chalk, it's all done with one thing in mind, uplifting others."

What does that mean?

Can you talk to me about that?

- Well, I have spent a lot of time dealing with a lot of adversity in my life.

And what I learned through that was the things that I say and the things that I do, I can either put forth really positive energy with that, or I can let life drag me down.

And so my books and everything that I do, I try to approach them with an energy of uplifting myself, and in so doing, uplifting others at the same time.

- And you seriously have not let life get you down.

And you have been a super huge artist in the North Country.

I want to get to talking about your books.

Tell me a little bit about some of the books you've written.

- So all of the books have been written out of struggles that my kids and I have had through life.

And these books are sort of my love note to each of them.

And because they all experienced a different issue throughout the things that we went through, each book kind of handles a different aspect of life and how you can approach your life in a more positive way.

- Are there any notable examples you can give me from some of your books, like your newest book, "I Feel Super"?

- So "I Feel Super" is, the other three were each written for, I have three kids, so one was written for each of them, and then this one was really written for me.

A lot of what we went through was an abusive situation, and silence in that situation was a major part of what made it really hard for us.

So having gotten ourselves out of that situation, it was time for me to tell my story.

And so this book is our story, my kids and I, how we got out of that situation and how we started to employ all of the concepts in the other books to really create a better life for ourselves.

And the intention behind this one is to inspire kids and parents who are going through similar things to not give up, to know that they can create a better life for themselves.

- Go into that a little bit more.

You mentioned how this is both for children and for adults.

Can you talk to me a little bit about the response you receive from your books from both sides?

- So they really are helpful for anyone.

They seem to be very helpful for people who are going through similar struggles that we went through.

But anyone can get great things out of them.

The messages are very much like how to empower yourself, how to find power when you feel powerless.

That's really what "I Feel Super" is.

"Find Your Happy" is about taking responsibility for your happiness, which once you own that, that's when you actually find it.

"Light" is, that's kind of where my uplifting, the concept in this is if something feels light, follow that.

If it feels heavy, that's a choice that you're making, and you can always make a different choice in any moment.

So they all kind of have that same vibe to them.

And when parents read these stories with their kids, what's great about this is that the parents reading them are actually getting really good things out of the messages in the books.

I feel like kids already know this, but as adults sometimes we forget it.

And so it's a a really great thing to read books with your kids, especially when they have a positive message.

It can help kids to start on the right path and then help pull adults that may have lost their will, way back to the right path.

- And somebody who's writing books like this, with messages that are complex like this, you must have a lot of wealth and knowledge in mindfulness.

Am I right in saying that?

- So a lot of the things that I've had to do to get myself into a better space is very much mindfulness, meditation.

Making sure that my self-talk is positive, which was, I was great at that when I walked into the studio.

Thanks to everyone here for getting me back on track with that.

And then finding a village, very much so.

Finding a village of people that then echo that back to you.

Because, and like for my situation, I started on this path, but my life didn't really mirror it back immediately.

So it took a little while to practice these things.

Even though I didn't always believe the nice things I was saying to myself, the more I said it, the more I started to believe it, and then the more it started being echoed back to me, which then creates this very positive experience for everyone involved.

- Something I also want to know, when was the moment you knew you wanted to channel your energies into being an author, being a multifaceted artist like you are?

- Most everything I do is because I have a lot of energy and need to put it somewhere.

The writing itself, as I mentioned the first three, were written to my kids.

So this was when we were going through really difficult things, and I was trying to get through to them and trying to help them.

I've also had cancer three times.

And so my whole M.O.

when I wake up in the morning is to make sure that I'm leaving behind a legacy, and I'm leaving behind messages for my kids, that if I'm not here, they're still reminded of what they can do to be happy regardless of what happens.

- And by the way, congratulations on battling and surviving cancer three times.

How did that journey get translated into the books you write and your artistry?

- Well, I feel like writing these books actually helped me to be able to combat cancer.

There's a very large portion of my cancer journey.

I didn't do chemotherapy.

I didn't go the normal route.

I did treat my cancer with food mostly.

And then also with mindfulness.

It was very much making sure that I was focusing on the good and focusing on the fact that I could be healthy again.

And then once you're in that mindset, you make decisions that kind of move you in that direction.

And so I feel like having written all of these things for my kids ended up being super helpful for me as a person going through hard things.

The other interesting thing that happens is that I almost, my life almost tests the concepts in these books.

So this is sort of a distillation of a lot of hardship into words that are very filled with love, because they're written to my kids.

And there's no way to hold that back when you're trying to help your own children.

And they all are, the intention being to be mindful, to be healthy, to be in a good space, and practical ways that we can do this.

And so as I'm facing all of these things in my life before these were published, it kind of helped me to solidify these concepts to make sure that they were simple enough and that they actually worked.

Like, it's not just lip service.

This stuff actually works.

- And it's definitely working.

You see it on her website.

It's taking off.

So many people are resonating with your books.

I want to ask you, what is the message you are hoping to come out of people who are reading your books?

- Really, self-care.

I feel like we are, at least I was socialized in my life to not be selfish, and to always give.

"The Giving Tree" was a book that I read on repeat as a child.

And I read that book now and I can't look at it anymore.

I don't think that the message is one that was good for me to give until you have nothing left.

These are very much the opposite.

These are when you care for yourself first, that's really when you can be of true service to others.

And so making sure that you're in a good space means you can be the best mom that you could be, you can be the best person at work, or in whatever you do, you're really putting forth your best effort because your cup is full.

So I just want to really kind of flip that script where selfish, wherein you're putting yourself first for the purpose of being able to be in service, is everyone wins in that scenario.

And I love win-win scenarios, those are my favorite.

- Are there any books you are working on currently that you would like to disclose?

- It's funny how my books, all four of these plunked in and were written in like two hours.

Took me 10 years to get them published, but the writing itself, it kind of floats around and then just lands.

And my fifth book is floating.

And I'm definitely, we have some complications that are testing the theories that I'm playing with in my mind.

But this one's going to be I think geared more towards teenagers.

That is what I'm being asked for.

These work for teenagers, these work for everyone.

Like, little kids, adults, grandparents.

But there really is a need, and I have teenagers now, to have something that's more geared towards them, because I don't want them to feel like they're being talked down to or that's a kid's book.

So trying to work with that concept and create something that will be helpful for teenagers dealing with just life right now, because it can be a lot.

- I remember my teenage years were super stressful and super tough.

And I imagine that like I could have really benefited from books like these growing up.

So tell me about, let's start with "Find Your Happy."

- So "Find Your Happy" was written for my oldest daughter when she was about 16 and struggling making the connection between the choices we make and the way our lives go.

And so this book kind of distills how owning our decisions can lead us to having a very happy life.

It kind of covers things that we all sort of already know, but sometimes we forget.

And it's written in rhyme.

It's really fun to read.

The book itself, that's my pet pig Iggy, and my youngest daughter, Jolie.

So I've sort of infused.

And that's a Banyan tree and my son's name is Banyan.

So my kids are sort of infused in all of them.

And the message in that one is if you look for happy, you'll find it.

And that choice is up to you.

- Out of curiosity, is there other symbolism in your other books like that?

- You will find red balloons in all of my books.

Red balloons represent uplifting, positive thoughts.

I oftentimes will send red balloons in a text to my kids during the day.

That's like our way of reminding each other to like, you can be light or you can be heavy.

What are you choosing right now?

So that's something that is infused through all of them.

"The Sorry Monster", this is, again, my youngest daughter and she actually designed both versions of the monster.

And she has this habit of saying sorry too much, which is kind of like a lot of people have that.

- [Luke] I have that, personally.

- Yeah, me too.

I'm the one that gave it to her.

So this book addresses that by pointing out that there are other things that you can say that are actually more connective.

Like, when you just fall into a habit of saying a thing without even thinking about it, it just becomes a habit that doesn't really serve you, and it can actually become quite a problem.

So this book explores other things that you can say and how to be more mindful with your actions and your words.

And it addresses it in a really sort of sweet, cute way with a monster who isn't really a monster.

- He kinda looks scary to me.

He's got the spade, he's got the spade looking tail.

(Trish laughs) It looks like watercolors.

Were watercolors used for this illustration?

- I don't think that, my illustrator, she did this one, this one, "I Feel Super", "The Sorry Monster" and "Find Your Happy."

She, I think is digital.

I haven't met her.

She lives in Spain.

She's amazing.

I love her.

And she's illustrated those, but I think she's digital.

It looks like watercolor, and that's what I wanted.

- So I want to tie this into going off of some of the people you work with, like your illustrators.

You probably collaborate with people in your artistry, and going back to surrounding yourself with the right people in mindfulness, how do you find those right people when you are doing your artistry?

- Well, I think that's actually a great way to segue into "Light."

That "Light" is a book about feeling your way through life instead of overthinking, which I have a habit of doing, and my kids also.

I think that you can really find the right people in your life if you start paying attention to red flags, and listening to them, and acting from them.

Talking to myself.

And feeling into things, like does this feel like the right thing for me?

A lot of the decisions that we had to make in our life was like a not great decision versus a not great decision.

It wasn't like one was obviously better than the other.

And so using the concept in that book, which is really simple, it just helps us to feel into it, and be like, okay, which one of these feels lighter?

There's a little bit more relief in this one.

And even though it doesn't feel great, it feels better than this one, so let's just go in that direction.

Because it's not always sunshine and rainbows, as we all know.

So just whatever feels a little bit better, if you follow that path, it really does lead to great things.

- Trish, I could talk to you for hours about your books and your mindfulness and your journey, but I'm getting the wrap-up signal.

So before we go, where can people go to learn more about you, your books, your artistry, or your photography?

- Www.trishmichael.com.

That's my website.

You can get all of my books.

You can buy art.

And I do write there a lot.

Just personal snippets about life.

- Well, we appreciate you taking the time to meet with us.

Thank you so much, Trish.

Folks, you know where to go at home, and thank you for joining us.

Trish, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.

- Thanks for having me.

- Drones offer numerous benefits beyond aerial photography.

They can enhance efficiency, safety, and data collection.

Their ability to automate tasks provide realtime information and support innovation makes them a valuable tool for addressing complex challenges.

One use that may surprise you is in the field of disaster recovery.

Drones can enhance the capabilities of first responders in saving lives and protecting communities.

Producer Gail Paquette has the story.

- [Gail] Founder of Razor Aerial Productions, Inc., Darren Keuhl, is a highly skilled drone photographer with a unique background in law enforcement.

Having received specialized training in drone operations for police work, he has transitioned from serving as a crucial asset in public safety to founding his own drone services company.

- I was a police officer for almost 33 years.

Kingston City Police.

And I did a variety of different roles, but the last six years of my career was the sergeant in charge of the traffic unit.

The traffic unit, they didn't have a drone program, but Ontario was starting to evolve drone programs.

Our department decided at that time to pursue it.

The project was handed to me and that's when we launched our UAV program.

And then incorporated it into our investigations for collision, collision recon, fatal investigations, support for tactical units, support for canine units, support for CID investigations.

We use it for everything.

Anytime you might need a helicopter or an aerial view, we'd use our drone system.

- [Gail] Darren took his expertise and the skills he learned in the public sector and applied them to the private sector in a wide range of applications used in various environments, providing services that prove drones are not only versatile, but forever expanding their capabilities.

- Real estate uses extensively.

So real estate, you know, you're getting photos, video.

And then you're video editing, creating that short story of a property.

And it could be anything.

We've done, for example, like walks in park areas, for people for memoirs.

You might go looking, I've had lots of calls for like missing dogs.

So I go out and I will assist when I can when I'm around.

But yeah, like construction companies have really taken off with this.

Construction mapping, site mapping.

You can do aggregate mapping as well.

So like a pit, for example, and they have stockpiles of aggregate.

You can fly that and calculate the volumetric on that stockpile to a cubic meter.

- [Gail] With a wide range of services, Darren is most passionate about the roots he came from.

He continues with dedication to train first responders and military personnel.

Whether it's for disaster response, firefighting, law enforcement, or medical emergencies, drones reduce risk by gathering crucial information without putting responders in harm's way.

- Yeah, it's a whole lot of unknown.

It's like Forrest Gump says, box of chocolates, every night you go out on patrol.

It totally is.

My hat's off to the officers that are out there working every night, police and fire, first responders, ambulance, because every night is you don't get, and they're not getting the lineups of officers and applicants anymore because people don't look at it as a desirable job, where it's unfortunate, because it is, I mean, the job is amazing.

It was amazing.

I'd do it all over again.

But I love the idea of using the technology to protect those first responders.

- [Gail] Flying a drone in public legally involves understanding and complying with various regulations.

However, learning to fly this camera mounted on propellers is not as hard as it looks.

Darren's son, Mitchell, is learning the ropes of drone photography while also preparing for life in law enforcement.

- It was pretty intuitive to pick up one of these things, as well, like playing a video game.

So like the transferable skill was pretty funny growing up playing video games, like just throwing another controller in your hand.

I think this is a good applicable skill for like, it's almost good on my resume to show that I do have experience.

And with the way that law enforcement and first responding is going, this is huge in it.

I was just recently doing a ride along for Durham Regional Police, and they had a drone on their platoon that I was on for the night shift.

So obviously, like I could be able to kind of gravitate towards that, because I have experience with drones, especially like I've used the thermal drone with my dad too.

So that's a big one.

That's the drones they're kind of running now to be able to look for missing people, stuff like that.

- [Gail] The use of drone photography, and the continuity and success of businesses like Razor Aerial, offers numerous benefits for the future of public safety, through both its services and training programs.

As technology advances, drones will play an even greater role in shaping our everyday lives.

- Just the equipment that we have out here in front of us, the thermal on the drone, how to look for a person.

Or fire departments, you know.

How to put the drone up, look for hot spots, so drones can help crews knock a fire down.

Missing person.

Ejection from a car.

Somebody flees from a vehicle.

And the officers are safer because of them.

If you don't have a helicopter, or if you do have a helicopter and your asset's not up, maybe the sergeant that's rolling on the scene has the drone in the back and they can put the drone up.

Now you're protecting officers, you know.

That's huge.

And obviously, I'm out of the game now, but my son's gonna be following the game, and I want to see that level of protection out there for him.

- The first responder side, that's partial bias, 'cause that's kind of where my head's at with where this is going.

Obviously, you know, in the winter you have missing people, children, or elderly.

That's a huge positive impact in my opinion in society just because simply the fact that you can save a life.

It gives you that capability to kind of get that aerial perspective, where beforehand you go 10, 15 years ago was not of that capability.

And it's rapidly expanded and it's grown so much to the point where it's so accessible to be able to have that.

Even if somebody owned a drone privately, it doesn't have to be just a first responder, but they have the right certifications for the airspace and their licensing, personally, they could use that to assist if it was a neighbor, friend.

You think of like the northern communities in Ontario where, you know, you don't have a lot of police presence, they're there.

But if somebody were to have one up that area, it would be good for that, as well as the environmental side of it too, right?

- [Gail] For WPB.

- That does it for this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look "Inside the Stories."

SUNY Oswego's Great Lakes Institute brings greater awareness to the Great Lakes through education and research.

We'll tell you how.

And an extraordinary child prodigy.

At only eight years old, Juliette Leong is a skilled violinist, artist, philanthropist, and a kid who loves to have fun.

Also, meet Pinock Smith, a gifted Algonquin craftsman who builds birchbark canoes, toboggans, drums, and more, using traditional Tribal methods.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

Just drop us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight, everyone.

Happy Valentine's Day.

We'll see you next time.

Take care.

- [Announcer] WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is brought to you by.

- [Announcer #2] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home, when you need it most.

- [Announcer #3] North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next-day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- [Announcer #4] We are the North Country, where protecting one another like family is who we are, and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org, today.

- [Announcer #5] Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York state Legislator, administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

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