VOA – CONNECT 
EPISODE 176  
AIR DATE 05 28 2021   
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN  ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Inclusive Games 
((SOT)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
As I was shopping for puzzles for my children, it was very 
frustrating that I couldn’t find the amount of diversity, in 
terms of the skin tones and hair texture, to represent the way 
my children look in the products.  
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Versatile Hemp 
((SOT)) 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
It can be used to clothe you, to remediate the soil, for food, 
fiber, housing, clothing, medicine. There's not many plants 
that can do all of that.  
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
and Lots of Cicadas 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Open Animation))  
 

BLOCK A 
 
 
((PKG)) PUZZLE HUDDLE  
((TRT:  06:25)) 
((Topic Banner: Puzzle Huddle)) 
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh)) 
((Map:  Washington, D.C.))   
((Main character: 1 male)) 
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
I love doing puzzles with my children. We do it very often 
together. It’s a wonderful family time because it’s really 
resistant to technology and requires you to put your phone 
away and actually put your hands on a physical product. So, 
it’s a great way to spend time together. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
My name is Matthew Goins. I am the owner of Puzzle 
Huddle, which is a home-based business where we create 
products for children from diverse backgrounds. We are 
based in Washington, D.C. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
Down in the basement is where we do our packing and 
shipping. So, this is one of our primary workstations. This 
isn’t really like a location to email but if you’re doing boxing 
and shipping, we do all that work down in the basement. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
As I was shopping for puzzles for my children, it was very 
frustrating that I couldn’t find the amount of diversity, in 
terms of the skin tones and hair texture, to represent the way 
my children look in the products. I was also frustrated at the 
themes that I couldn’t find puzzles that represented all the 
different ideas that I want to share with my children. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
So, I thought I could just cut a puzzle for myself at home with 
a pair of scissors and cardboard. But soon I wanted to scale 
that and share that puzzle concept with other 
families. And my homemade puzzles just weren’t a good 
solution. So, I needed to produce a commercial grade 
puzzle, one that will be appropriate to share with other 
families. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
I launched the business at some point in order to have a 
peace of mind to get the idea out of my head. I was 
spending a lot of time thinking about the creativity, the 
design and the impact that the idea could have on the 
community. And it was keeping me up at night. So, just in 
order to get some rest, I needed to give this idea a chance.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
Before I launched Puzzle Huddle, I was employed full time in 
corporate America. I was a HR [Human Resources] 
professional. I was a human resource business partner. 
It was very scary in transition. You don’t know that your 
business is going to take off. You don’t know if you are going 
to be a failure. So far has been an awesome decision.   
((NATS)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
Well, we started with, in terms of concepts and ideas, things 
that were intuitive to us. My wife and I have both, both have 
multiple college degrees. So, things related to higher 
education were natural thinking places for me. So, we went 
to doctor, engineer, pilot, things that require additional levels 
of education in order to pursue that career path. But 
education is just one thing. We also thought about spirituality 
and religion and Bible stories. There’s also some cultural 
concepts. For the most part, we work through freelance 
artists. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
This is our chef puzzle. It features a boy and a girl character, 
and we thought it was really important to put a lot of healthy 
foods in the puzzle for food identification. So, it becomes a 
learning activity as well as a puzzle activity. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
Another product we are really excited about is our pillow. If 
you think about all the different intimate places that you can 
put inspirational images around a kid, a pillow makes perfect 
sense. So, we are really excited about transferring from the 
puzzle images onto pillows and just give it another 
perspective on inspiration and motivation for a kid because 
we want to see something right on your bed, which is going 
to be a big part of your life. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
My wife is very helpful for us, but my wife also has a career. 
So, her responsibilities toward Puzzle Huddle aren’t a 
priority. 
((NATS)) 
((Marnel Goins, Dean & Professor, Marymount 
University)) 
So, I do have a full-time job. I am a dean of a 
university. Matthew and I are really different and I am the 
one that’s more organized in a sense.  
I think the biggest stressor for me is all the boxes in the living 
room and the dining room area. But he loves it. And I can 
see the difference in how he and what he feels towards his 
work than where he was working before. I guess, it’s a real 
joy for him and you can see it like in his footsteps and in just 
amount of time that he spends with his work and the ultimate 
outcome. So, that right there is great. 
((NATS: Matthew Goins and daughter, Mitt Goins)) 
((Matthew Goins)) What would be your favorite part of 
today? 
((Mitt Goins)) Hmm, playing at the playground. 
((Matthew Goins)) Playing at the playground? 
((Mitt Goins)) Yes. 
((Matthew Goins)) You played outside today? 
((Mitt Goins)) Yes. 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
I love working from home because it frees up my schedule to 
some degree that I am always available and I can pivot at 
any point in time to pick up my kids from school or interact 
with their teachers or make myself available to their needs. 
So, that’s one of the awesome benefits of being from home.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
So, feeding my children is a part of every day. It requires 
someone to help them get something to eat. So, usually 
something quick and easy. That’s my favorite thing, is 
something that does not require a lot of pots and pans and 
does not make a big mess. 
((NATS: Book Reading)) 
((Matthew Goins)) I promise to use my voice and stand up 
for what’s right, and when things get tough, to keep up the… 
((Matthew Goins and kids)) …fight. 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
We started recording ourselves reading for a lot of reasons. 
One of them was to really slow time down, and to capture 
some of these intimate moments, and encapsulate the 
experience, and to make a habit out of reading. 
((NATS: YouTube shot of Reading)) 
((Courtesy: YouTube logo)) 
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
And we love sharing it on YouTube to, maybe, motivate or 
inspire some other families to read and share together and 
recommend some books.  
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle)) 
A lot of this is built on the fact that my mom is a teacher and 
my wife is a teacher. So, this is based on my life experience. 
I love education and I love educators. So, that is something 
that kind of comes out of me as a natural phenomenon. 
((NATS))

TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
The Many Faces of Hemp 
((SOT)) 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I had a reason in the medicinal aspects to want to propel that 
research and this industry forward. As a mother, I've 
personally experienced the terror of watching your child have 
a seizure. 

BREAK ONE                                                                    
BUMP IN ((ANIM))                    

BLOCK B   
 
 
((PKG)) CANNABIS COWBOYS 
((TRT: 7:35)) 
((Topic Banner: Cannabis Cowboys)) 
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez)) 
((Drone Camera and Still Photography: Jason Shields)) 
((Map: Fallon, Nevada)) 
((Main characters: 1 female; 1 male)) 
((Sub characters: 1 female; 1 male)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I'm going 29 miles an hour 
behind the Crown Victoria.  
I'm moving up through the reservation.  
I am just about to duck water.  
Why don't you move it on over to the right  
and let this sister fly. 
I want to put it in fifth gear.  
I want to burn some gas. 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
My name is Adrienne Snow, and I am one of the owners of 
Western States Hemp. We are a hemp cultivation company 
who also process and make retail products out of hemp. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
Yeah, you got to see these palettes. It's cool.  
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
Joe Frey, my partner, asked me if I was interested in  
kind of running the business of a potential hemp operation.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
It can be used to clothe you, to remediate the soil, for food, 
fiber, housing, clothing, medicine.  
There's not many plants that can do all of that.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
Wasn't it like Thanksgiving dinner at Gary and Billy Joe’s or 
Christmas dinner?  
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I don’t know. We were just sitting at the dinner table and you 
said, “Hey, I've got an idea. Would you be interested in 
working with me on it?”  
((NATS/MUSIC))   
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
We got into hemp about four years ago, primarily to see if we 
could grow a crop for profit and save water doing it. We live 
in the desert, so water is pretty scarce.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I love seeing the worms. That tells me they're happy to be 
here. We've had a very dry winter so far. Haven't had any 
precipitation in two to three weeks now and even before that, 
it was very minimal, so. Right now, this has been in alfalfa 
for about four years, and we'll take it out and we'll go into 
corn next year. Yeah, alfalfa is probably the most common 
crop growing in Nevada. So far, we've found hemp, if it's 
grown industrial style with the same irrigation techniques, 
uses about two thirds of the water that alfalfa does. When 
we grow it under drip irrigation, it uses less than one quarter 
of the water of alfalfa. In the last four years, we've slowly 
turned to regenerative ag [agriculture] practices, and that's 
proven to be very advantageous, not only economically but 
environmentally. And we're using hemp in that process.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
Oh, that's great.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
It's the symbiotic nature that hemp has with other plants, the 
diversity. It's one more crop to add to our arsenal to create 
diversity in the fields. You know, not only is that good for soil 
health, but also pest resistance. If you take care of the soil 
and take care of the land, I think, you can do a lot towards 
climate change, even on a couple hundred acres [hectares] 
in the middle of Nevada.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
This is part of my evening route here with a gin and tonic.  
So, I would be the fifth generation Nevada farmer in my 
family. I was a little bit nervous about my dad. Grew up in a 
very conservative family, and I didn't know what he would 
think. He was a little bit leery about it at first but, you know, 
once he saw that it was all legal and we had all the proper 
paperwork and that it was federally legal, he was, he jumped 
on board pretty quick.  
((NATS)) 
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father)) 
Yes, I did have mixed feelings about hemp. Growing 
cannabis? What's that about? But they made it legal. So, 
there must be something I don't know.  
((Susan Frey, Joe’s mother)) 
People still were under the misconception that, “Oh, hemp. 
That's cannabis. Oh, that's marijuana.” Well, the difference 
between it, I would have to explain to them, the difference 
between hemp and marijuana is the level of the THC 
[Tetrahydrocannabinol].   
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
So, the THC is the cannabinoid that’s psychoactive. That's 
the one that gets you high. So, with very little of it in here, 
you would feel no effects. You would feel no euphoria or 
whatever else, whatever high feeling you get from the THC. 
You would simply get the relaxing effects of the CBD 
[Cannabidiol]. So, you end up with a product that, it's legally 
compliant. It can be grown in at least 48 states. The health 
benefits are phenomenal: pain relief to epilepsy and seizure 
control. 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I had a reason in the medicinal aspects to want to propel that 
research and this industry forward. As a mother, I've 
personally experienced the terror of watching your child have 
a seizure.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
Not a lot of green but it's sticky. You can still feel it's full of 
cannabinoids.  
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
These are a lot of the products that we've created. This is a 
pain bomb. This is an herbal tea. We make tinctures: one is 
for people, one is for pets. These are some of the most 
popular items we have, which are CBD bath bombs. So, 
these are for pain. This is the derivative that would 
eventually become rope or textiles. This is hemp bast fiber 
that has been cottonized. Cottonization of hemp is our 
ultimate goal.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Adrienne Snow, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I and my family was part of the cowboy culture. Crossing into 
this cannabis culture was something that 10, 15, 20 years 
prior would have been an oxymoron. It's just two cultures 
colliding. But then, in the end, you see this, this symbiosis 
between the two, where really, as more cattlemen can use it 
as a rotational crop and use it for cattle feed, you're going to 
see a lot more cowboys become cannabis cowboys.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Joseph Frey, Farmer, Joe’s father)) 
Joe farms totally different, differently than I do. He's more of 
a holistic farmer. I think in the agricultural world, innovation is 
slower to move than in other industries. With hemp, he is an 
innovator in the United States, I believe.  
((NATS)) 
((Joe Frey, Co-founder, Western States Hemp)) 
I would like to see the land be healthy and I would like to be 
able to see it passed on to future generations. And if we 
don't take care of it and use all the knowledge that we have, 
I think we'll see it disappear, become useless. But I think 
we've got the tools in our toolbox to be successful.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
Sommelier Reinvented 
((SOT)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
So, the last year has been a challenge. We've had to 
reinvent ourselves because we just didn't know from one day 
to the next what was going to happen.

BREAK TWO                                                                   
BUMP IN ((ANIM))                      

BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG)) SOMMELIER   
((TRT: 04:50)) 
((Topic Banner: The Sommelier))  
((Reporter/Camera/Producer: Philip Alexiou)) 
((Co-Producer: Lisa Vohra)) 
((Additional Camera: Francesca Agtarap))  
((Map: Alexandria, Virginia))    
((Main character: 1 female))  
((Sub character: 1 female))  
((NATS)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
So, the last year has been a challenge. We've had to 
reinvent ourselves and I have had to personally reinvent 
myself as well several times because we just didn't know 
from one day to the next what was going to happen. You 
know, we have always done these fabulous monthly wine 
tastings and those were always, you know, completely full 
restaurant. Me talking to the crew about the wines while 
Jacki’s in the back making the plates with her kitchen crew.   
((NATS: Teri Adamson and Jacki Coppage)) 
Jump to France with Tussock Jumper wine. We are going to 
taste some Pinot Noir. It will be fantastique.  
((NATS)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
And that just became an impossibility because the tables all 
have to be six feet apart seated. And what that meant for us 
at the end of the day was that we had five tables total inside. 
So, we decided to do them virtually and continue to do them 
virtually because we still can't seat to full capacity.   
((NATS: Teri Adamson and Jacki Coppage)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
We're on Facebook live. 
((Jacki Coppage, Chef, Foxfire Grill)) 
I’m Jacki Coppage, 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
and I’m Teri Adamson. 
((Jacki Coppage, Chef, Foxfire Grill)) 
And we are 
((Jacki and Teri)) 
the Foxfire Fun Girls. Yay! 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
And we’re celebrating 
((Jacki Coppage, Chef, Foxfire Grill)) 
first day of spring. 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
First day of spring. 
Customers pick up their food and wine on the day of the 
event, take it home, set it up however they like, and then 
tune in to watch us. And it's me and Jacki. Instead of her in 
the kitchen and me out front, it's both of us together. That's 
actually been kind of cool because it's more interactive at 
least for me and Jacki. 
((NATS: Teri Adamson)) 
Doing some research, we learned a lot about… 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
We certainly get to have conversations, genuine 
conversations, live with our guests about the food and the 
wine. And it's not just me, it's Chef too. So, we think that's 
awesome. And virtual basically means we're unlimited in 
terms of the number of people who want to participate. It 
kept us afloat at least one month for sure just to have that 
boom, because the first couple that we did, people were so 
cooped up and so, they couldn't wait to participate in it. So, 
that was a big adjustment. But, you know, that's okay. And, 
you know, for me personally, just, income changed. I was 
out of work completely for a little bit because there just was 
no business. Ready whenever the business came back, 
however that was going to be. And so, we’ve been taking it 
one day, one week and one month at a time. 
((NATS)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
There are many nights that I really wanted just absolute 
silence when I got home.  
((NATS)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
Then there were many nights that I couldn't wait to turn the 
TV on because I needed background noise. 
I'm telling you there were nights when I would be watching a 
comedy and I would burst into tears and stay in that position 
crying for a good half-an-hour for no particular reason. 
Nothing specific that triggered it or whatever. It was just a 
release of stress and a lot of sleeplessness for a while too. 
There were definitely some unpleasant nights, there's no 
doubt about it. 
((NATS)) 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
The weather's been gorgeous all week. I'm seeing more 
faces. 
((Jeff Ammons, General Manager)) 
That sounds good. 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
The phone’s ringing a lot more. 
All right. Give us about 20 minutes. We’re busy. Okay? All 
right. We’ll see you in a little bit.  
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
It does give me hope. I'm feeling very positive. We're in our 
18th year. I will have been here 15 years in May, and I have 
no desire to change that. 
((Customer, Foxfire Grill)) 
Hope you have the next two days off. 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
I do have the next two days off and I’m getting my first shot 
tomorrow. So, I’m excited.  
((Customer, Foxfire Grill)) 
I’m very happy to hear that. 
((Teri Adamson, Sommelier, Foxfire Grill)) 
I'm here so we can try to survive together, and I am feeling 
positive about that right now. 
((NATS)) 
 
 
((PKG)) CICADAS!!! 
((Topic Banner: Cicadas!!!))  
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal)) 
((Music: Arturo Martionez)) 
((Map:  Fairfax, Virginia)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Text on screen: 
After 17 years underground, billions of Brood X cicadas are 
emerging across the Eastern United States.  
The slow, vulnerable creatures rely on sheer numbers for 
survival during the few weeks of life they spend above 
ground.  
After their eggs hatch, the babies burrow underground. 
Until 2038.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
 

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BREAK THREE                                                                       
 
((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS  ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX)) 
((Popup captions over B Roll)) 
Near the Turkish Embassy 
Washington, D.C. 
May 16, 2017 
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters  
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten” 
“They should not be protesting our president” 
“They got what they asked for” 
While some people may turn away from the news 
We cover it  
reliably 
accurately 
objectively 
comprehensively 
wherever the news matters 
VOA 
A Free Press Matters

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SHOW ENDS