public function prepareExcerptForPersist($excerpt="", $content)
    {
        $chars_to_excerpt = config('lasallecmsapi.how_many_initial_chars_of_content_field_for_excerpt');

        if ($excerpt == "")
        {
            $excerpt = $content;

            $excerpt = html_entity_decode($excerpt);
            $excerpt = strip_tags($excerpt);
            $excerpt = filter_var($excerpt, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

            // remove the encoded blank chars
            $excerpt = str_replace("\xc2\xa0",'',$excerpt);

            $excerpt = trim($excerpt);
            $excerpt = mb_substr($excerpt, 0, $chars_to_excerpt).config('lasallecmsapi.append_excerpt_with_this_string');
            return $excerpt;
        }

        $excerpt = html_entity_decode($excerpt);
        $excerpt = strip_tags($excerpt);
        $excerpt = filter_var($excerpt, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

        // remove the encoded blank chars
        $excerpt = str_replace("\xc2\xa0",'',$excerpt);

        $excerpt = trim($excerpt);
        $excerpt.config('lasallecmsapi.append_excerpt_with_this_string');

        return $excerpt;
    }