[00:00:00] Martin McCormack: Hey, great to have you with us and today on this podcast I have with me a 10 year old expert in the person of Aine McCormack. And I thought it would be interesting to just talk a little bit about what's going on in a 10 year old's world these days. First of all, Aine, great to have you on Strung Out.
[00:00:27] Happy to have you here. And I want you to first of all tell us, what's it like being in fourth grade?
[00:00:40] Aine McCormack: It's fine.
[00:00:43] Martin McCormack: Is that it? It's fun? It's good. It's fine. It's good. So that's all you're going to tell me? I'm going to adjust this, get this a little closer because I think you're talking quiet. Let's talk about some of the issues that are out there in the world. And I want to hear what you're thinking about as a 10 year old.
[00:01:06] Climate change. What's going on with that from a 10 year old perspective?
[00:01:12] Aine McCormack: It's pretty bad and we got to fix it. Really soon, and I don't mean 10 years, I mean because it's gonna get pretty bad in the next millennium.
[00:01:26] Martin McCormack: And what do you think, what is climate change?
[00:01:30] Aine McCormack: It's basically the ozone layer is having holes to keep the cool, to keep the cool in, and so the sun shines through more and it makes the world more hot.
[00:01:43] Glaciers are melting, and then sea level is rising up because
[00:01:50] the
[00:01:51] glaciers are melting.
[00:01:55] Cars, pollution, like air pollution mostly.
[00:01:57] I've heard
[00:02:00] Martin McCormack: of her,
[00:02:05] Aine McCormack: but not entirely.
[00:02:07] Martin McCormack: Okay. She's somebody that she's 20 now, but she's a young person that's a global activist and she has led people a little older than you, but younger than me to stand up for protecting the environment.
[00:02:29] She feels like the older people in the world. I've dropped the ball when it comes to climate because of the gas and the pollution and stuff like that. If you had to talk to somebody that was my age, what would you tell them?
[00:02:48] Aine McCormack: It's different because you're my dad. I can't. But I guess we would really need to fix climate change, climate, global warming.
[00:03:12] It's going to get really bad, and the glaciers are melting, and animals are losing their home, and all this stuff
[00:03:21] Martin McCormack: that is happening. And,
[00:03:23] Aine McCormack: as
[00:03:25] Martin McCormack: a young kid of ten years old, what can you do you think? Or should you be doing anything, or is it really up to us older people to fix it?
[00:03:37] Aine McCormack: It's really up to the people who run power plants, and people who drive cars.
[00:03:44] Because the exhaust from cars and the smoke and exhaust from power plants are really hurting. And you may think, as like just a regular person, Oh it's just me, I have to have a dentist appointment and I gotta get there fast. I'll just take my car. There's only one person. But if everybody did that.
[00:04:13] Then it would be over 8, 000 people doing it in
[00:04:18] the
[00:04:19] Martin McCormack: whole world. Yeah, I mean there's millions and millions of people that drive cars, right? The world is getting polluted in that way. And What do you think about coming up with some sort of technology maybe to reverse climate change? Does that make any sense to you or do you think it's more just people need to stop polluting?
[00:04:45] Aine McCormack: Both of those. It's gonna be pretty hard to stop climate change because that means stopping living as we know it. Technology would definitely be better. To, for, more comfortable for us, but in all, it would be way faster if everybody just stopped driving. Cars are the main problems, problem, but also electricity, gas, like for your stove, bunch of
[00:05:17] things.
[00:05:19] Martin McCormack: What are your classmates saying about it? Are they as concerned as you are, or do they, are they just more involved in just Doing different things like playing or having a good time or what did they think?
[00:05:36] Aine McCormack: I honestly don't know because I've never really asked
[00:05:40] them.
[00:05:40] Martin McCormack: So you and your buddies won't talk about climate change?
[00:05:46] Aine McCormack: It's really scary to think about. Like when we're at school it's just really nerve wracking and it makes you very paranoid and scared.
[00:05:59] And
[00:06:01] Aine McCormack: I would understand why we would, they would try to avoid the subject. Sometimes I do too because it's scary to think about it.
[00:06:13] Martin McCormack: Let me go to another subject and I don't know if you talk about this at your school or not, but what is talked about with the war in Ukraine?
[00:06:27] Is anything talked about at school, or what do your friends say?
[00:06:31] Amongst
[00:06:37] Aine McCormack: us, if I think back, it's little, really. It's I guess for, if we're ever having if we want to say anybody we're thinking about, pray for, talk about that, the war in Ukraine. Israel, mostly we just see it when we're either reading about it, our teachers telling us about it, or we're watching a video.
[00:07:13] Do
[00:07:13] Martin McCormack: you see a, there's a couple conflicts going on in the world. One is a war in Ukraine and you mentioned Israel. What's going on with Israel?
[00:07:25] Aine McCormack: Israel, and
[00:07:34] Martin McCormack: The Palestinians?
[00:07:35] Aine McCormack: Yes.
[00:07:35] That war
[00:07:36] Aine McCormack: is really bad.
[00:07:38] They call
[00:07:39] Martin McCormack: it the Gaza War. Yeah. Why Gaza? Do you know what Gaza is?
[00:07:45] No.
[00:07:46] Martin McCormack: Gaza is the place where the Palestinians live. One of the parts. That's part of Palestinian controlled land.
[00:07:54] And
[00:07:55] Martin McCormack: you have some friends that are part Palestinian, right?
[00:07:59] Yes, I have some
[00:08:01] Martin McCormack: friends.
[00:08:03] You also have friends that they're not Israeli, but but they certainly care about Israel and that. So your teacher doesn't really talk too much about that, right? Is that the kind of thing that that you are interested in? Or is it the kind of thing where you think again, let the grown ups take care of it?
[00:08:34] Aine McCormack: As a kid there's nothing much I can do about it, for fighting in a war, so I'd have to say on this one, yeah. It's hard because being a kid you want to do a bunch of stuff to help, but you can't really do anything because you're a kid and you have no power in an adult world.
[00:08:56]
[00:08:57] Martin McCormack: Okay, let's take a little break and we're going to come back we're just talking to Aine McCormack, a 10 year old's mind and full disclosure, she has a box of nerds in front of her and capers the Wonder Dog. with her as well. So if you hear some growling, it's not me. It's the dog.
[00:09:25] And we'll be back. You were listening to Strung Out.
[00:09:29] And we're back now. And we are talking to Aine McCormack. Let's pivot a little bit. I want to know, What do 10 year olds talk about? What do you guys talk about at school?
[00:09:50] Aine McCormack: Reading.
[00:10:02] Martin McCormack: That's it?
[00:10:03] Aine McCormack: Pretty much, but I guess amongst ourselves,
[00:10:07] mostly
[00:10:10] Aine McCormack: people talk about video games.
[00:10:13] Martin McCormack: Like what kind of video games?
[00:10:14] Aine McCormack: A very common, most people talk about in our class during sharing time is Fortnite.
[00:10:21] Martin McCormack: What's Fortnite?
[00:10:24] Aine McCormack: And I really don't even know. I'm just guessing from what I've heard. It's it's like a, it's a multiplayer game.
[00:10:33] And
[00:10:34] Aine McCormack: you do stuff in it, and you build, and you battle, and
[00:10:42] you
[00:10:44] Aine McCormack: play, and that's all I know.
[00:10:46] Martin McCormack: How many do the kids play this game on how do they play it? A computer or what? What do they use?
[00:10:55] Aine McCormack: Xbox, Nintendo Switch,
[00:10:57] PS5.
[00:10:59] Martin McCormack: And how long has Fortnite been out?
[00:11:03] Aine McCormack: For a very long time.
[00:11:07] And
[00:11:07] Aine McCormack: I don't know how
[00:11:07] long.
[00:11:09] Martin McCormack: Different people play
[00:11:13] different
[00:11:14] Aine McCormack: games
[00:11:15] amongst
[00:11:17] Aine McCormack: themselves. I know me and my friend play Legend of Zelda.
[00:11:24] And my friend also plays Kirby.
[00:11:28] It's
[00:11:31] Aine McCormack: another video game.
[00:11:38] Martin McCormack: Video games are the big topic at school?
[00:11:41] Yeah,
[00:11:43] Aine McCormack: I guess.
[00:11:44] Martin McCormack: What about kids younger than you? What do are they into video games as well? Are third graders into videos? Are second graders into videos? Or is this something that kind of happens when you get into fourth grade?
[00:12:03] Aine McCormack: Not sure. Like when I was in third grade or second grade, really only in some people talked about it in my class. I don't really talk about it.
[00:12:13] Martin McCormack: Okay. When you are at school, you can have some Nerds. It's okay. I've got a she's eating candy before dinner. Let's talk about music now.
[00:12:35] Aine McCormack: Okay.
[00:12:36] Martin McCormack: So tell me, who is your favorite artist right now? Musician. Who, what do kids like to listen to?
[00:12:51] Aine McCormack: Listening to new stuff. Not really old stuff.
[00:12:55] Martin McCormack: So nobody talks about music?
[00:12:59] Aine McCormack: I guess some people like Queen, some people like new stuff.
[00:13:06] Martin McCormack: People like Queen? Kids like Queen at school?
[00:13:08] I
[00:13:09] Aine McCormack: mean, some people. The Beatles,
[00:13:13] Martin McCormack: what about an artist like Taylor Swift? Do people talk about Taylor Swift?
[00:13:21] Do they know who she is?
[00:13:25] Aine McCormack: Yes.
[00:13:25] Martin McCormack: They do. Okay. But nobody's like a big, obviously not a big Taylor Swift fan in the sense that they're talking about Taylor Swift every day and did you hear about Taylor Swift? Did you hear her latest song? That sort of thing?
[00:13:44] Aine McCormack: Different people are doing it about different things I guess, but I haven't heard it specifically Taylor Swift, but I don't really
[00:13:53] know.
[00:13:54] Martin McCormack: You're in choir, and so tell us a little bit about the Evanston Children's Choir. Right now you are learning rock and roll songs, right? So who are the artists that you're learning?
[00:14:13] Here are our songs that I can remember.
[00:14:15] Aine McCormack: Name some
[00:14:16] of
[00:14:23] Martin McCormack: the bands.
[00:14:24] Kansas,
[00:14:32] Aine McCormack: we have David Bowie in there.
[00:14:34] Martin McCormack: David Bowie, earth, Wind and Fire.
[00:14:44] Earth, Wind and Fire, wow.
[00:14:48] Aine McCormack: Beatles.
[00:14:49] Martin McCormack: The Beatles, okay. Those are all bands that are way older than you are.
[00:14:59] Is there any band that's modern that you guys like? What? In songs that we're doing that are modern, we have A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay, then Dance the Night Away by
[00:15:16] Huh. Okay. If you had to pick a musician or band that you're like, that's my favorite band, who would it be?
[00:15:32] Aine McCormack: You, but also That's
[00:15:34] Martin McCormack: not a softball thing. You don't have to say Papa, but somebody that's, you know Who would you, if you had to listen to If you had to go to, like they say, a desert island, and you had to pick one artist, and all their albums, who would you want to listen to? A
[00:15:58] bunch
[00:16:00] Aine McCormack: of different people I like, and I don't really like the scenario, but I would say
[00:16:06] Some
[00:16:08] Aine McCormack: of my favorite artists are Queen David Bowie, Kate Bush.
[00:16:12] And that's pretty much it.
[00:16:18] Martin McCormack: Okay very good. Let's take another little break. And we are trying to probe into a 10 year old's mind and all 10 year olds, she's she's Aine McCormack is here. She, has her candy in front of her, and I'm sure she's waiting for this interview to get over with so you can watch something else.
[00:16:43] Okay, good. We are on Strong Out, and we'll be back after this short little break. And we're back for the final part of this podcast.
[00:16:55] Aine McCormack: Yeah,
[00:16:57] Martin McCormack: it goes by fast, doesn't it? Let me ask you a question about politics. Who's the President of the United States?
[00:17:14] Aine McCormack: Joe Biden.
[00:17:16] Martin McCormack: And what's going on right now in politics?
[00:17:22] What's happening right now with politically?
[00:17:27] Aine McCormack: Trump.
[00:17:46] Martin McCormack: And what party does he represent? What's the name of the party that he's with?
[00:17:55] Aine McCormack: Republican. Yeah.
[00:17:57] Martin McCormack: And what party does President Biden, what's he with? So you have Democrats and Republicans. And it looks like, yes, former President Trump
[00:18:08] is
[00:18:09] Martin McCormack: going to run against It's an interesting situation because you have two presidents or one both presidents have served in office and they're running against each other.
[00:18:24] And the last time president Biden was just a vice president, but he ran against Trump and won. What do you do at your school? Does anybody talk about Is anybody scared about the country? Do people talk like that? Or is that just something, again, that is more for adults? Adults.
[00:18:54] Kids don't really pay that much attention to that. If you had to say the top three things that 10 year olds at your school talk about, what would they be? Besides I know you said math, French, and all that, but what else? Bigger terms.
[00:19:22] Aine McCormack: Sports.
[00:19:23] Games.
[00:19:37] Martin McCormack: Let me ask you this. When you're at school, do boys and girls talk about boys and girls?
[00:19:50] So do the boys talk about girls, and do the girls talk about boys? Does that happen at ten years old?
[00:19:55] Aine McCormack: Sure, I don't really know.
[00:19:59] Martin McCormack: Tommy likes No? Nothing like that?
[00:20:10] Okay, we'll leave that subject alone. If you had to have a final message to give to the world right now, what would it be? The people listening to this podcast, cause very seldom do people get to sit down with a 10 year old. Can you, let me let's do it this way. Why don't you tell people what it's like to be a 10 year old right now.
[00:20:38] Aine McCormack: Me, being a 10 pretty great. I have friends teacher. It's really nice. Nothing is really bad.
[00:21:01] Martin McCormack: Yes.
[00:21:01] Some of
[00:21:03] Martin McCormack: my friends
[00:21:05] are thinking like,
[00:21:08] Martin McCormack: Oh,
[00:21:09] Aine McCormack: we're going to different high schools. I'm going to this place. You're going to this. Or you're going
[00:21:20] to
[00:21:21] Martin McCormack: a different place. And it's going to be sad. Grade school, right? So you're halfway through grade school. Does that strike you as weird?
[00:21:37] Aine McCormack: I guess.
[00:21:37]
[00:21:38] Martin McCormack: And, let me ask you this. As a 10 year old and talking to the world, What would you like to be when you get to be College age. So another ten years from now. Let's just throw yourself ten years down the road. What do you think you would be? What would you be doing?
[00:22:08] Aine McCormack: What would I like?
[00:22:11] Martin McCormack: Kind of.
[00:22:13] Aine McCormack: What would I be doing?
[00:22:14] Martin McCormack: What would you be doing? Yeah.
[00:22:17] Aine McCormack: I would be in college.
[00:22:20] And I would be studying to be something.
[00:22:26] Martin McCormack: Like what?
[00:22:27] Aine McCormack: I don't know. I could What I want to be could change.
[00:22:33] Martin McCormack: Yeah. It doesn't have to Yeah, for now.
[00:22:37] Aine McCormack: I guess an engineer, a scientist.
[00:22:40] Martin McCormack: Now why?
[00:22:42] Aine McCormack: Because I want to help the Earth.
[00:22:44] Martin McCormack: So you want to work in ecology?
[00:22:46] Aine McCormack: Yes, but I want to do
[00:22:48] sciencey stuff.
[00:22:49] Martin McCormack: What?
[00:22:51] Aine McCormack: Like not I don't just figuring out new ways. Thinking.
[00:23:04] Martin McCormack: Using science to?
[00:23:07] Aine McCormack: Help the planet. Okay. And figure out new ways to live a better life. And to help the planet. Finding why, find Or I could also, I would also like to stay on Earth. But still learn more about other space. Do
[00:23:22] Martin McCormack: you think people are going to be living on Mars?
[00:23:26] It
[00:23:26] Aine McCormack: could be a possibility.
[00:23:27] They had, they found traces of water in Mars crust. It could be, times change.
[00:23:38] Martin McCormack: If the President of the United States came to you and said, We need some scientists to go and live on Mars. Aine McCormack, you're a great scientist. Come live on Mars. Would you go?
[00:23:53] Aine McCormack: Sure. You would? Yeah, you would? Yeah. Wow.
[00:23:57] Do
[00:23:58] Martin McCormack: you think you'll get married?
[00:24:02]
[00:24:04] Martin McCormack: Do you think you'll have kids?
[00:24:09] Aine McCormack: Eh, maybe,
[00:24:10] maybe not.
[00:24:11] Martin McCormack: You want those options opened?
[00:24:14] Aine McCormack: Eh maybe not. Yeah.
[00:24:15] Martin McCormack: Yeah.
[00:24:16] Aine McCormack: I guess.
[00:24:17] Martin McCormack: Okay. That's decent. You don't have to do any of that stuff, or you can do it. That stuff happens anyway, right?
[00:24:26] Yeah. Yeah. It's one of those things you don't really think about so much until it happens. , alright, anything else you'd want to tell your adoring public? Take away the box of nerds?
[00:24:45] Aine McCormack: Keep in touch with one another. See what you can do to help the earth. And
[00:24:55] if you're
[00:24:57] Aine McCormack: feeling sad, be happy. And if you're feeling happy, keep being happy. And keep being you because you're
[00:25:04] awesome. Very good.
[00:25:05] Martin McCormack: I'd like to thank my guest TAine McCormack for being on this. edition of Strung Out, very through the mind of a 10 year old.
[00:25:15] And I think you gave some very good advice. If you're happy, stay happy. And I like that. And I hope you enjoy this.
[00:25:27] A
[00:25:28] Martin McCormack: little break from what we've been normally doing and part of it is just I've been on the road and and so I am going back out on the road. And I'm recording this at a very odd time of the week, but not my usual time.
[00:25:47] And I want to thank you Aine for being such a willing interviewee. Now you can go back to your regularly scheduled cartoon.
[00:25:59] I know you're tired. All right folks, until next week, take care, and that's it. Buh bye!
