Akil and Hong welcome Paloma Arnold to the show to talk about her new position as Vice President of Student Affairs, growing up in Santa Barbara, and where she likes to eat in town before touching on magical realism and the books of Alice Hoffman, Love and Rockets and Los Bros Hernandez, and Harry Potter audiobooks.
Mentioned in this episode:
SBCC Vice President, Student Affairs - https://www.sbcc.edu/studentservices/vice-president-student-affairs.php
SBCC Student Services - https://www.sbcc.edu/studentservices/index.php
Antioch University Santa Barbara - https://info.antioch.edu/santa-barbara/
Carlito’s Santa Barbara - https://carlitos.com/
Intermezzo by Wine Cask - https://www.intermezzosb.com/
Rudy’s - https://www.rudys-mexican.com/
Trader Joe’s Tomato Ketchup with Black Summer Truffle - https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/tomato-ketchup-with-black-summer-truffle-066714
Spaghetti Carbonara - https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12965-spaghetti-carbonara
Sushii|Bar Montecito - https://www.exploretock.com/sushibarmontecito
Omakase - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omakase
Harry’s - https://www.harrysplazacafe.com/
Phillip Frankland Lee - https://www.scratchrestaurants.com/about
Sushi Ai - https://www.yelp.com/biz/sushi-ai-goleta
Yoichi’s (NOT Toshi’s) - http://www.yoichis.com/
Mony’s - https://monyssb.com/
Mercado El Rey - https://www.yelp.com/biz/mercado-el-rey-santa-barbara-3
La Michoacana Inside Mercado El Rey - https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-michoacana-santa-barbara
La Michoacana Premier - https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-michoacana-premier-santa-barbara-2
Don Paco Mexican Food - https://www.yelp.com/biz/don-pacos-santa-barbara
Taqueria Mena - https://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-mena-santa-barbara
Gloria’s Gourmet Kitchen - https://www.yelp.com/biz/glorias-gourmet-kitchen-santa-barbara-2
El Pastorcito (next to Tri-County Produce) - https://www.facebook.com/Elpastorcitomobile/
Becoming by Michelle Obama - https://becomingmichelleobama.com/
The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman - https://alicehoffman.com/books/the-dovekeepers/
Practical Magic (movie) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120791/
Los Bros Hernandez - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernandez_brothers
40 Years of Love and Rockets (LAPL talk) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNuf67jzL4s
Harvey Pekar and American Splendor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Splendor
Nardcore - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_rock_in_California#Nardcore
Love and Rockets reading order - https://blog.fantagraphics.com/how-to-read-love-and-rockets/
Harry Potter audiobooks - https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/225957/harry-potter-1-7-audio-collection/
Captions provided by Zoom
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Akil: Hello! And welcome to another episode of SBCC Vaquero Voices - a podcast highlighting the unique voices that comprise our campus culture, and how we're all working together to serve our students and the community at large. As usual, I'm joined by co-host to Akil Hill. What's good y'all?
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Hong Lieu: And today we are honored to welcome Paloma Arnold to the show. Welcome, Paloma.
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Akil: Yeah, A long time coming our first guests, and we, you know, we finally made it work. Listen. I want to just tell the listeners right now. We've been trying to track
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Akil: Vp. Arnold down for a hot minute now,
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Akil: ever since the exception of this show. She was like the first guest she was ducking and dodging, but she's finally. Here you go.
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Akil: I'm very pleased to be here. Thank you very much. Just just very busy. And now and yeah, you're the dean of student affairs. When we first first asked you to come and show you now the Vice president of student affairs, and this is, you know, we had Maria via Gomez on the show a couple of episodes ago. She is the vice president of academic appearance.
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Hong Lieu: Could you go into a little bit, too, in terms of the split of the position and and what your your role is? And I guess I also want to know what the difference is between your previous position as Dean versus the Vice President position. Now, you could just go into kind of how that outbreaks out. It's a new position for everybody.
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Paloma Arnold: Sure. It is a new position for all of us, so
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Paloma Arnold: I think the the split between from the Evp position to the Vp. Of student affairs and the Vp. Of academic affairs is something that the college has been kind of thinking about for for a long time. It's something that most other colleges actually have,
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Paloma Arnold: and I really give Dr. Mario a lot of credit for making it actually happen here at Sbcc.
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Paloma Arnold: One of the reasons why I really
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Paloma Arnold: I appreciate that she moved this forward is because I think over the past, probably ten or fifteen years in a keel. I think you can probably relate to this also
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Paloma Arnold: the importance that student services plays in a student's academic journey, I think, has really become more.
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Paloma Arnold: I mean, you know, I want to say obvious to people, people understand more. That student student services, student affairs plays a pretty important role in a student's journey. And so I think that
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Paloma Arnold: the final piece to making that
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Paloma Arnold: really
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Paloma Arnold: um, emphasizing that and giving student affairs and student services, the importance of needs is creating the Vp position because it really allows somebody to have a voice at that table
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Paloma Arnold: whose only and sole focus is student services and student affairs. So everything that I know at Sbcc. Really is all about student services and student affairs, and so, being able to try to do the best that I can to advocate for our departments and our students. Um, I think, is really is really valuable, and so i'm really appreciative that we've
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Paloma Arnold: been able to split the the two positions finally.
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Paloma Arnold: Um! And I think the other question that you asked hung was, What's the difference between my previous position and my current position? And I think that's something that i'm still figuring out. You know this position is brand new. It's the college Hasn't, you know, had it, and so trying to figure out
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Paloma Arnold: what this position will mean, both for student services and for me personally, is something that I think will probably take us a little bit of time to do, and then to and to figure out. And i'm really grateful that we just hired Christina Yetana to be the interim um dean of student affairs to replace me while we're going through the recruitment process for the permanent position, And so that has been a huge benefit, and has and has helped um start to delineate our roles a little bit more.
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Paloma Arnold: Um, but I think it'll be a process. I think it'll be a process for all of us. I know it'll be a process for me, and I know it'll be a process for folks and student services to to kind of figure out. Okay, who do I talk to? Where do I go? Who helps me answer this question? And
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Paloma Arnold: I think my style, too, is also one that's pretty casual. Um! And I know lots of people in student services and on campus, and I like to kind of be in in the mix, you know, and so I think,
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Paloma Arnold: trying to um
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Paloma Arnold: figure out how we're gonna manage and work together is is something that i'm hoping we do over the next. You know, I don't really necessarily have a timeline. I think we we do it as we go, and we learn as we go, and we see what works, and see what we need to improve and see what we can change and and keep moving from there.
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Hong Lieu: It's It's kind of a refreshing perspective on it, because it's nice of you
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Hong Lieu: willing to be flexible because a lot of folks come into these kind of positions, and they either want to put their stamp on things, or they want to stay within the confines of what that position has been. But because this position is brand new, there is no has been, and you you only know what you knew as a dean and and as a dean you were. Probably there was just a lot, you know, like everybody is doing the work of multiple people. At this point everybody's really overwhelmed. So the fact that you could be like an extra buffer or a support piece there to just balance that workload and figure out what goes where? What?
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Paloma Arnold: What makes it work, and to at the end of the day serve the students as best you can. I mean, it just makes a lot of sense just just the way you broke it down. Or that makes a lot of sense.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, I mean, we we have to be flexible, because at the end of the day, and then you add on top of that everything that's happened as a result of Covid
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Paloma Arnold: in a student services. We've had to do things differently in ways that we not only have never done them before, but also in some ways never thought we could do them
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Paloma Arnold: before. And now we actually find out. Oh, wait! There's a lot of good that came out of doing things differently, and being forced to do things differently. And so how do we move forward, figuring out what's going to be best for students? And so I think, as hard as it is, and as hard as it can be kind of emotionally sometimes, for folks
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Paloma Arnold: being flexible is is
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Paloma Arnold: one of the things that i'm trying to do most right now. It's really something that i'm trying to prioritize being flexible, being open to change being open to improve being open to feedback
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because it is a learning process.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, and that and that piece of even for the students. This is new for them as well. And this data that's being gathered right now in this moment and trying to kind of react to that and pivot off of the data they're providing. I mean, It's a lot to have someone to have just lived through what we've lived through the past few years, and then to kind of find a way to
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Paloma Arnold: bring those thoughts into either words or writing or feedback that you you can provide to the college. It's just a big ask along with. However, many units are taking, and however, what they're you know whatever they're used to. So it's just this kind of. There is this kind of flexibility thing from everybody to kind of make the most of the situation. Where are we getting into feedback the way you want to get? Are we reacting that feedback, and are we wrecked to it in a quick enough way to make a meaningful difference, making these folks
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Hong Lieu: yeah in the moment, because even turn that around and getting getting some actionable
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Paloma Arnold: consequences, they can see in the moment I mean it. It can be hard, but I I give a lot of credit to this administration, and and you know not to be on the entire capital right now. They've been able to turn around and pivot and make the most of. You know. We've been getting some money in there, and you've been able to turn around in timetables that you know you're talking about. We didn't know we could get it done. The public sector is not known for moving fast. Yeah, this is not a tech company where you move fast, break things. You know that kind of thing. But but you all have been moving pretty fast, you know, and and, all things considered,
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Hong Lieu: things have been turning around pretty quick where I I feel like you see, I see a difference in a lot of students lives in terms of the student emergency grants. You know the Covid relief grants between the foundation and the money they regain from state. A lot of things have been moving where I I didn't think it would be possible. I thought there would be a million kind of like barriers up, and and we'll see what happens in six months. But nothing is much around one month, three months, you know, weeks for for y'all, I guess at time. So so really, to to commend you all to be receptive to that, because yeah, it's a big shift for everybody.
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Hong Lieu: But just to respond to that and and be up to the to to the challenge. I mean It's it's definitely commendable. So thank you. I appreciate that.
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Akil: One thing that really excites me about the position you know, other than you know you are selected to be in. It is also the accessibility of having a Vp.
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Akil: Housed in the student services, you know that can't be understated, you know. I know. Previously, when Kathy Scott was in the position she was, her office was located over in the admin building, and you know sometimes you just need not that
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Akil: everyone should be running upstairs to your office. But sometimes you're gonna You need that. You need that that that access to you know the Vp right there in the spot. And so you know, I think that. Ah, that's one of the things, and also just reassurance that you know that the Vp. Is in is in the building. It It means a lot. And so, you know, being in the missions for so long. It was always kind of like,
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Akil: Yeah, you know, we always I mean, I I wouldn't say people felt like we were being left out, but we definitely needed to to split the house, you know, you know, and give it. You don't necessarily feel as much of a priority. I think
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Akil: i'm glad to hear you say that. You know it was a discussion about where the Vp's office should be.
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Akil: Um! And most of us felt it was pretty important to me in the building, and I do try really hard to have an open door, And it's actually been kind of fun, because in my new office. People walk by all the time and like stay high, and i'm like Oh, my!
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Akil: So it's It's nice to see It's nice to be back on campus. It's nice to have little chats, you know, with people, and and be able to just talk to people. But I've also had the opportunity to get some feedback about things that have been happening in enrollment services, and we've been able to, you know, implement some quick changes that had I been in a different building, or even in a different part of the building, might not have had those just quick interactions where we're able to resolve things. And and
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Paloma Arnold: so i'm pretty appreciative of being here, and I think we have some more work to do to get the space and student services
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Paloma Arnold: all settled. But i'm. I'm. Appreciative that I that i'm in here, and I like being with everybody, and I like seeing the students in here, and I like seeing everybody back in all of the offices.
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Akil: Yeah,
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Akil: that's definitely good for the culture, as I would say, it's what you know. Keeping a ah post on what's going on in the building and kind of gauging like, cause, you know we've you know it's when you start to move up and in admin, people feel that that admin is somewhere off on the on a different planet,
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Akil: you know. And so that's the piece. That is so significant for me that you know, seeing and knowing that you're in the Student Service Building.
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Paloma Arnold: You know. It's easy to get removed. I mean you have to make an intentional effort, and that's something that I want to try to do more and better, too.
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Paloma Arnold: Have my open office hours, which hopefully some people will come to. I had my first one, and I had one visitor so hopefully, more people will come to the next ones. But also I'm also gonna try to go to different staff meetings and just hear from people and and make myself
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Paloma Arnold: more available, because I know that not everybody wants to come into my office, Not everybody wants to come up here so just trying to make myself more available to people is
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Paloma Arnold: feedback that I received and and think is a really really good way to try to move forward,
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Hong Lieu: and it's not. It's not just great that you're in the Op. In the Student Service Building. It's great that you came up in the Student Service building. So you already had kind of a built-in kind of institutional knowledge of how how things go, and and where to pay pay fine to and things that sort. So you as much as you're flexible, and learning about how things are going, you were able to hit the ground running to a certain extent because you had a lot of built-in relationships you had,
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Hong Lieu: You know you you have deep roots in that building. So it it was really nice to see that when when you got the position I mean I I was. I was just overjoyed because it just it. Just it just feels right. It feels right.
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Hong Lieu: But I mean going back to your earlier point about um. How important student services is in terms of a student. You know how obvious it is that students need student services now. I mean, It's one of those things where you know as a student for me when I was a college student, you know. Turn to the century. So it's a long time ago now, but
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Hong Lieu: I didn't even think about student services. I thought it was all on me to make this happen. I'm going to build now. I gotta make this happen. I don't. I don't need anyone's help,
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Hong Lieu: and I was. I was terribly mistaken. It almost cost me getting kicked out of keep out of school before, you know, and I still, even afterwards, even after I was saved by the help of others, I still didn't reach out to as much as I should have.
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Paloma Arnold: So in terms of. Do you think the message is out there? Do you do a lot of do most students know? And is it just built in at this point that they can come to student service and get help, whatever their problem may be, or is there still like a kind of a gap there in terms of message they're still in. Yeah, We still need to
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Paloma Arnold: figure out. You know what what I think. The shift that really really needs to happen is not leaving it up to students to have to come to us and ask when they need something, but figuring out how we get to students
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Paloma Arnold: more proactively instead of students having to come, find the special program, How do we get the special programs out to students, and I know that that's something that that is not unique at Sbcc. I think that's something that all colleges are really trying to to shift. But you know It's kind of that old
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Paloma Arnold: making ourselves student ready.
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Paloma Arnold: But how are we making sure that we are going out and
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Paloma Arnold: helping to inform all the students that we're here, that these are all the services that we have, that you don't need to come. Find us, and hunt us down and ask the right person the right question to get the right answer. So I think we definitely have work to do there.
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Paloma Arnold: I mean, I think I think we've come a long way. I think we've also come a long way in that. We offer so many. I mean, we really offer a lot of pretty incredible services for students. Now we've really recognized that
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Paloma Arnold: there's so many different needs that students have, and we have a responsibility to meet those needs. If we really want to be serious about helping students succeed, especially students who have more significance, barriers, or obstacles that they might need support with one hundred and fifty.
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Paloma Arnold: So I think we've come a long way, and I think everybody in student services is
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Paloma Arnold: really focused on that same goal. But I think we still could do more and do better.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, there's like an interesting split, because we, you know, student privacy is the paramount, and in terms of you, don't want to get, you know, like you can't broach any walls in that respect. The same time, in terms of you're talking about getting out to students.
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Hong Lieu: You have to get that information because the students aren't forthcoming a lot of the time when I was at age I was not. I didn't know who I was, first of all, and second of all, I wasn't about to tell anyone
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Paloma Arnold: any any parts of my journey to figure out who I was. I'll let you know, when I figured out and come back. So it's It's It's an interesting Yeah, It's an interesting challenge, and and I know that y'all are always coming up with the new and innovative ways to kind of tackle that challenge. I know It's just going to keep it's an ongoing thing It's never going to solve. But it's. It's good to know that that is on your mind.
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He's
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Hong Lieu: so, I guess, um with the new position. And I mean, is there anything forthcoming that you want to talk about in terms of upcoming plans? Or is it just kind of really just
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Hong Lieu: kind of as it goes? And just day by day
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Paloma Arnold: both, I mean. It is definitely as it goes in day by day. But I think you know, in terms of like what's coming up for student services and student affairs. Ah! Like I mentioned earlier, really trying to figure out how we serve students best in this
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Paloma Arnold: almost post-pandemic world, You know. What does it look like to offer remote services? What does it look like to offer in-person services? What does it look like to offer a high flex or hybrid version of services. How do we do that? Well,
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Paloma Arnold: how do we do that? So that students know how to find us? What is it that students really really need. You know, I think, that we could do a better job of trying to hear what students really need and want one hundred and one.
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Paloma Arnold: But how do we even get that information can be challenging sometimes? So again, how do we get ourselves out there to really hear from the students?
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Paloma Arnold: I think that's something that's
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Paloma Arnold: one of our big
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Paloma Arnold: goals and challenges will be over the next couple of years,
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Paloma Arnold: and I think also the the other big piece for student services right now is
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Paloma Arnold: for a long time.
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Paloma Arnold: So we haven't been super intentional about where we need resources and student services. Um, things have sort of shrunk. Um people have retired and resigned, and we haven't done a lot of thoughtful or intentional planning about
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Paloma Arnold: structure and the organization of student services. And so that's a big project that we are actually going to start working on right away is what
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Paloma Arnold: what should the structure of student services be? You know. How should we be organized? Does it make sense for some departments to be more closely aligned? What is our leadership model? Look like? What are some of our staff positions look like
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Paloma Arnold: um. So really, just trying to take a look at student services in an intentional way and think about how should we be organized both to best be supporting students, but also to be supporting staff and departments and organizations, you know, within within student services.
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Paloma Arnold: Um, we've gotten lots of new programs over the past years that Haven't necessarily found like a permanent home. So really being intentional about incorporating some of those additional or there's newer programs, I should say, and
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Paloma Arnold: um. So that's a big project that I think we will also be working on over the next year is the structure and the organization of student services,
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Akil: and and right away. That just tells you why we needed a Vp. Of student affairs because a dean of student affairs can do a lot of the day to day to help kind of manage things, but in terms of having that high level over the top. Conversation about the future of student service, and what the organization looks like, and on
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Paloma Arnold: there's no bandwidth there. It's just It's so busy that you that that is right away. It just shows a use case. And why we needed this position, Because we can finally have these conversations that we literally didn't have time for
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Paloma Arnold: that. We literally didn't have time for, like the opportunity to kind of step back. Let's look at everything and try to move forward in an intentional way.
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Yeah,
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Hong Lieu: yeah, excellent. So we look forward to. You know the fruits of that conversation, and all that.
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Akil: In the meantime, in the meantime, would segue into what what brought you an Sbcc. I mean you know your your path from
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Paloma Arnold: you know where you were before. I mean you found the you in the Dc. A while, and you and you're You're born and raised in Santa Barbara, too. So born and raised in Santa Barbara,
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Paloma Arnold: There it is. So. The path is not long, but the path is, you know, multi-faceted Santa Barbara, I'll give her a little shout out Go, down,
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Akil: go, dance classroom that of your business,
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Paloma Arnold: although I do pretty much realize that I've spent almost half of my life at City College now.
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Paloma Arnold: So there you go.
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Paloma Arnold: So what brought me to us? So yeah, So born and raised in Santa Barbara. I went to Denver High. I'm a ruin. So I went to Ucla after High school came back to Santa Barbara,
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Paloma Arnold: and something that I think some people know that, but not everybody knows is that my dad actually worked at City College for a long time.
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Paloma Arnold: Um! So after college. Um, I was applying for some jobs, and he thought that maybe I should be getting a job a little bit. You know that I maybe should start working a little bit more than I was actually working, and then purchasing my for a job at Svcc. Um. So I actually started as an hourly worker in the Financial Aid Office twenty two years ago,
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Paloma Arnold: Um. And so worked as an hourly worker in financial aid for a while. And then I was a student program adviser in financial aid, and then moved over to Eops and I was the care student program adviser in Eops for um over four years,
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Paloma Arnold: and then I became an academic counselor in Eops, and actually served eops and financial aid. We had kind of a split position for a while, and then became just an Eops counselor, and then the Eops director, and then the Dean of Student Affairs, and then here I am now. So
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Paloma Arnold: I kind of say i'm a second generation, Macaro, because my dad was here for so long. But yeah, now, at this point I've been here for twenty two years,
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Akil: and I actually, when I was younger, you totally roll my eyes, and my dad is like Oh, my God, how have you worked at that same job for so long, but now i'm like Oh, I get it.
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Paloma Arnold: City College is a pretty good place to be.
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Akil: It's that youth. When you're young you time takes on a different meeting. When you get older. You blink you like. Wait a minute. I've been here for five years. What? I've been here for. How long? Now?
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Akil: Devil. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I go ahead. I had to keep no go ahead of you.
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Akil: No, I do have to say yes. It's true, poor woman, I did, and I did go to high school together.
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Akil: Um! So if you guys want some insight, the inside scoop, you can find me in the mission records, but I will have to say i'm so excited that you know this part of the show, because i'm like I can't wait for this part of the show, because I have to let everyone. The listeners know that you may not know it now.
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Akil: But Paloma was literally the size person
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Akil: you would ever like an all campus. She would walk past this. There was like an area in the main hallway where all the all the kind of guys kind of you know every time she walked by.
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Akil: You know everyone embarrass me just to embarrass you. Everyone will be like to your turn beat red. So well. Thank you,
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Akil: I would actually say that I am still a pretty, shy, introverted person, which was maybe the reason why I didn't come on this show for a little while.
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Paloma Arnold: So maybe some things Haven't changed all that much. You
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Akil: true? True, that's true.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah. So in terms of starting as a counselor here at City College, I mean, Did you do your your bachelor and your masters at Ucla? Or do you have to, or did you? No. So I, my bachelors at Ucla, and then started working here, and then was working, probably for
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Paloma Arnold: five years before I started my master's degree.
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Paloma Arnold: And then did my actually did my master's degree at Antioch. So I actually did my master's degree with Chris Phillips in the Career Center and Sabrina Brah House of the Counseling Center.
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Paloma Arnold: But it it worked out really well, because I didn't want to stop working. You know. I wanted to keep working full time, and antiox program was what it it worked really well with my work schedule, and it's it was what I wanted to do. It was, you know, it was a little bit more. Antiox program is a little bit more focused on clinical psychology. Um, And I wanted to be more of an academic counselor. But at the time they had a a professional development career counseling truck
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Paloma Arnold: that would prepare me to be an an academic counselor. So my my master's, is actually in psychology, but with an emphasis in career counseling and professional development.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, I always. I always wonder about that, because I know, like I was a terrible student. It was such a struggle for me to get my bachelors. I don't know how folks are getting masters while they're working full time, and while that, you know, so I always like to get that inside of of how did you do it? Because I just the thought of it scares me, and I won't.
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Paloma Arnold: Here's a secret hung. Antioch has passed no pass
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Paloma Arnold: all of their grades. Everything.
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Akil: Yeah, Because the threshold for Paso Pass I mean, at least that you know capability was like like e plus c minus. I'm like I can do that. I can. You know I can do a deep. I can do a deep.
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Paloma Arnold: I hope Dr. Maria doesn't hear this and be like. Oh, what were her real grades in her?
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Akil: Oh, my Santa, You see, Santa Cruz, it wasn't doing great at all for how long? So? Yeah. So there's nothing room.
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Paloma Arnold: My transcript from Antioch is narrative reports.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, excellent!
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Hong Lieu: So it is like, you see Santa Cruz Dex.
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Hong Lieu: But I mean,
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Akil: yeah, and then not to discount that in any way, because you know it's all about the learning process. What do you? What do you learn? How you you learn how you apply it. And, as you can see, Roma has has learned and applied all the way to the Vp. Of student affairs. Yeah. So the work speaks for itself.
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Akil: You got nothing to prove to nobody.
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Akil: I'll take a sip of my water, I know.
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Hong Lieu: So yeah, I mean. And in terms, I guess the other question is in terms of, you know,
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Hong Lieu: being born and raised and staying in town. I mean there's a lot to be said for that, too, because, like. I wished I wished I could still be, you know, like not like I could be in a limit, because, like obviously, I mean for a reason. But like there's something you know, that that tied to your to where you're from, and like your roots, and like where you grew up like you, you have a deep connection to this community like it feels the same way where you know you. You're back here and There's a lot to be said for that, because, like I, I wish I could have made it work for myself in la, and I couldn't,
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Hong Lieu: and so like, you know, i'm here trying to do the best I can, but that there is that little part of me that you know there is someone's like. Will you ever feel like a local in Santa Barbara, and I have to say honestly, I don't.
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Hong Lieu: I don't think so. I I mean it doesn't affect me like It's not something like I cry about when I go to sleep, but it's the truth. It's like, I don't. I don't cross that threshold because I know what the threshold was for me as someone saying, i'm a local in la,
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Hong Lieu: you know like. And now I can't even say i'm a local in la, because i'm so out of touch with all stuff that's going on there. I'm just like a nomad now, but at the same time it's okay, you know, like i'm not like seeing like a bad thing, but I want to get both of y'all prompt for that, because y'all, you know, you know, born and raised not more for a kill, but raised, grew up and stayed, and and still stayed, and still contribute to community. I mean, that's that's great. That's just awesome.
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Paloma Arnold: It's good. It's good. I mean, I definitely and I don't know, kill. You
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Paloma Arnold: might have the same like I definitely have, like a personal vested interest in Sbcc. And our community like it's
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Paloma Arnold: its person is personal.
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Akil: Yeah, absolutely for so long and born to raise here. Yeah,
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Akil: yeah, absolutely it is, You know. I um last weekend I was at the Cinema high School football game um, and went with a whole group of guys that we all graduated together, and and diploma knows every single one of them.
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Akil: Um! And you know it's really It's been really interesting, you know, um helping their kids now that are that they are up at Santa Barbara City College, you know. And so you know that's the benefit of being able to, you know. Live in this community and continue to. You know, Serve the community that you get to witness like those kinds of things while you know you're like, Dang
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Akil: you're that old, but I know that I wasn't going to say it. You
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Akil: Yeah, i'm it. Look,
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Akil: the grade doesn't. Lie on me, man. I got tired of dying it. But I just think I just think I just think that you know, like That's you know how many
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Akil: I mean, I guess what i'm trying to say is
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Akil: It's pretty? It's a special thing. It's really whimsical, because that doesn't happen in in a lot of places. You know that you can have conversations with people that you grew up with. And you. You're seeing people have success. Um, at Santa Barbara City College that you actually walk the same halls with while at high school it's a special thing, you know it really Is it like I said it person
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Akil: here,
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and it makes it really important.
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Hong Lieu: And no matter where you are, you're going to have that moment. You say, man, i'm getting old, but you but to have that to have that, and be able to look back and see the contributions made you to to your hood where you grew up. I mean, Yeah,
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Hong Lieu: that's beautiful, Man:
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Hong Lieu: Yeah. So
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Hong Lieu: yeah, they
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Paloma Arnold: thank you both for that for that. Walk down memory. Lane.
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Akil: Well, I will say, hong you you you got. We'll give you some stripes, though, man, because I think you know you probably eat not more Mexican restaurants in Santa Barbara than than people who are local. So you you, you, you, you you've earned your stripes. I I have a yeah, I tick boxes. They're accomplishments that I can hang my head on. But it's a personal thing. It's a personal thing where I don't think I just don't like you know, like
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Akil: if I if I didn't come up here, you know, like coming being dropped somewhere in as an adult is one thing. Rise the resources to do all this stuff, but like. But when you are growing up someplace and you have to really scrounge for the rear, so resources of new stuff like when I wanted to go to Melrose in L. A. Like, I didn't have a car as a kid. I had to take the bus with the I had to get the Homies. We'd have to take two buses to Union Station, and then a third bus to get out to Melrose. I took the bus to Diesel that one time it was four and a half hours to get to Dixon on the bus
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Hong Lieu: from L. A. Right. So those are the those are the those are the stripes that I cannot earn,
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Hong Lieu: because I was dropped down into Santa Barbara with a job and a and a nice, you know, nice apartment at the time. Now a house that like I I really didn't grind for that, you know, like like when you brine in the trenches of where you from. That's that local. So I I still feel like I'm a looking away. But if someone's like, oh, where would you go? Eat right now with the new places. I'm like
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Paloma Arnold: I don't know, because I' a good Mexican restaurant in Santa Barbara. But
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Akil: yeah, And I know some spots that i'm like. I've heard of this place because I I still stay up to date on the Internet I heard about this place. I haven't tried yet, and they're like, Oh, yeah, You're one of those guys, you know, like
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Paloma Arnold: Ah, yeah, I mean, I I still go like every time I go to like, I try to go to like six restaurants for a row. But then i'm going on a weekend now, so it's all busy like you can't just go on like a Tuesday night.
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Paloma Arnold: But enough about me that that's Segue now. Too good eating. Speaking of Mexican food in Santa Barbara and other types of food.
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Paloma Arnold: Good evening. So our our food section. Oklahoma, do you want to kick us off any meal that you cook or go eat, or anything like your life? Well, I chuckle when you say meal that I cook because I don't,
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Paloma Arnold: and even then you've got to cook something you've got to, you know, like crap, Mac, and cheese over the stove, or something like that, even, you know my husband would beg to differ
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Akil: very much the chef in our house, and he he's also very much the foodie in our house, and and if you are a a fan of Mexican restaurants, you have probably seen him at one or two in, because I think he's he's been to every single one as well, including all the taco trucks. Um,
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Paloma Arnold: so i'm i'm not a big cook. I'm. I'm actually not a cook at all, so i'm not even going to try to pretend, like I have a good recipe that I can make, because
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Akil: i'm not there.
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Akil: I think I think we should keep a list of people who we've interviewed. Because now i'm i'm starting to think like, okay, this person doesn't cook that person doesn't cook.
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Akil: We got a list going.
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Paloma Arnold: No, but you can put me on the top of that list,
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Akil: and even if you don't cook, I know you still eat well, because I did run you one time, you know, an ex over You're not
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Paloma Arnold: right. Rest in peace, exober, and a lot of with us, but they might be back. Yes,
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Hong Lieu: it closed you close. I didn't know. I didn't realize that
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Paloma Arnold: it was it. Was quote unquote a pop-up, but I think they were probably assuming it'd be a pop-up that had more kind of steady flow because they were busy. Yeah, busy at times but not another. So yeah.
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Paloma Arnold: So if there's a restaurant in town that you love. Yeah.
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Paloma Arnold: Um. Well, Cadill, those is one of my favorite restaurants. Um, that's like. If I get to choose where i'm going for my birthday and stuff that that one is a pretty good one.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, in terms of a special occasion you can't go wrong, probably because it's always happening outside. The chips and cells are always slow in
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Akil: What's your What's your go to? Carlitos rupturing Tacos.
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Akil: But those are pretty good, and the blood orange. Margarita, Am I allowed to say that?
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Paloma Arnold: Yes, we're all adults. We're all adults. Maybe the listeners are mostly adults.
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Um,
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Paloma Arnold: let's see what uh inter mezzo. Have you guys been to? And your mezzo?
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Hong Lieu: I haven't been in a long time?
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Akil: Yeah, but where does that happen? They redid it? I don't know if it's like under a new owner, but it kind of has this punk flare to it. Now
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Paloma Arnold: I haven't the since it. What when did this happen?
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, it's pretty cool, but if the food is really really good
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Paloma Arnold: they were right there by Alpha sale. It used to be like the wine cask. I don't know if the white cask is still a part of it, but it was
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Paloma Arnold: yeah, but it's It's still right there in front of the wine cask, but like they, the the vibe in there is is pretty cool. I'll also check it out. I mean that that's like when my dog whistle, saying, Pump Rock. I'm like, okay. I got it right. I need to learn more,
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Paloma Arnold: but they have these kind of punk pictures on the wall, the music they're playing, and then they have this scrolling Tv of all these different artists.
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Paloma Arnold: Then the food on top of it is really good. Let's see what else a good food I don't know. Help me think! Help me think
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Paloma Arnold: right away.
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Paloma Arnold: Would you ever go to dish it in your betso
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Paloma Arnold: uh the truffle? Pizza is outstanding. Oh, I feel like truffle.
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Um!
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Akil: I love truffle. I love truffle, too.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, their truffle pizza is really good. Sometimes they have a like full a special
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Paloma Arnold: um hard. Shell beef tacos at Rudy's
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Stellar.
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Akil: So I know if you love truffle, i'm gonna put you on real quick. You have to try the truffle ketchup Sounds crazy truffle ketchup at from Trader Joe's It's absolutely amazing.
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Akil: Yeah, it's had like the truffle potato chips
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Paloma Arnold: or the the cheese. From Trader: just
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Akil: yeah, yeah, yeah. So the products actually it's It's They brought it over from It's made in Italy. So it it just tastes different. And a couple of nights ago. We have fries, and
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Akil: I have, but you would truffle ketchup. It's like it had been in the cabinet for a while. I just bought it just because it was truffle. And so I was like, Wait a minute. We have truffle, ketchup. Open it up absolutely amazing.
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Akil: I'll bring you bottle. I'll bring you about. Okay,
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Paloma Arnold: Alexandra loves it, too. Michael knows my daughter, and he calls her Penelope, but her name is actually
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Akil: so. But tell her why I call her Penelope,
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Akil: because that was one of the names that we were very seriously considering for her when I was pregnant with her, and a keel like Penelope. So her name now for a keel is still Penelope.
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Akil: I love that name.
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Akil: I love to get dogs in there, too, after it's meeting our sheet. Yeah, she's definitely an Alexander.
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Akil: Yeah. But I But I still love Penelope. I did. I tell you that my cousin named it maybe her daughter Penelope. So we still have a Penelope.
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Akil: Okay, that's cool.
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Akil: That's cool. I'm trying to think what other you know. I'm not a super big foodie. My husband definitely is. So we always eat really well.
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Akil: So what does your husband cook that in one dish that you is? You like your favorite that he makes? That's a tough question.
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Paloma Arnold: My favorite thing that he makes.
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Paloma Arnold: He makes really good Carbonara Pasta Carbonar,
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Paloma Arnold: I mean he's he's really good cook, and he enjoys it So most of the things that we we eat are pretty tasty, and I will admit I will give him total credit for that, because
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Paloma Arnold: for unfortunately for him, I can't cook, but he he's a very, very good cook. He learned to cook from his mom, and he had a roommate in college who really liked to cook also, so they would like cook in college and stuff together, and he's just continued to do it. He's like one of those people who can like open the fridge. And
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Paloma Arnold: okay, this is what we're going to make,
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Akil: and I try to follow a recipe, and it still does not turn out anything like it's supposed to. And i'm like, Can you just fix it, please? Because I clearly messed it up
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Hong Lieu: great choices, though. Yeah, no, I I mean that's I. I'll get the rest of your process, Carbonara. I will get links to intermittent so, and then also to Carlytos, because I haven't had the rocks. I'm talkers either. So these are pretty good because they're bringing in,
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Paloma Arnold: and you know what we did just do recently, which was super super fun. I don't know if you either one of you have done it. Have you been to the Sushi bar in Monosito?
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Akil: I haven't? Oh, no, I really
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Akil: yeah. I've heard of. I've been wanting to go there. Oh, my God, I would. It's very non-traditional.
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Akil: Yeah, yeah.
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Akil: But it it is a really fun experience and the sushi there is so. It was all really really good food. But if you're looking for a very traditional experience, it's not it at all. I heard that place has a Michelin Star, too, or the chef has.
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Akil: Yeah,
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Paloma Arnold: And it was good. Huh?
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Paloma Arnold: It was really really good,
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Paloma Arnold: really really good.
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Akil: Yeah,
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Akil: yes,
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Akil: I've been wanting to. I'm: i'm excited. I've been wanting to get there. You should. You should totally go, you know they only do like limited seating, so they have like three seatings, and I think it's only like ten or twelve people at a time. Uh, and you don't get to pick anything. Everything is, you know, Omicasse is chef's choice. Yeah,
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Akil: Yeah. And then they do different pairings within. You can choose to do different pairings. But you know it's it's it's definitely an experience, and for it would be kind of a special occasion event, I think we went for my husband's fiftieth birthday.
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, and then, of course, Harry's, you have to live. You're from Santa Barbara. You got to love places like Harry, although that back room has some stories to tell. Oh, my goodness! But yeah, I would that the Sushi bar was a really really awesome experience.
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Akil: I I know there were a couple of concepts in that area, you know the the chef, Phil, the prank of me. He did a couple of things there, and it seems like he's finally hit on something with the the sushi bargain the Mission Star
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Paloma Arnold: and doing all Mccassey, because it's tough running that kind of a restaurant, because you only get X amount of seatings at night. You really have to make sure you're full pretty much every night, and you have to make sure that the food that you serve justifies that kind of exclusivity of your own dudex last night. It's the chef's choice, and and he's not. His. His background is fine dining, but not necessarily sushi, where you know. In Japan you have to work for ten years for all the right knife and Yada Yada. So so there's a lot that comes with that. So it's for the fact that he's delivering. And and
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Hong Lieu: you know, able to keep it going. That's that. Says a lot about the quality there.
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Akil: Yeah, it was very good, and I guess I didn't. They're about to open another one. I didn't realize It's a chain. I think there's one in Texas um this one here, but this is the only one that has the Michelin star, and the chef is actually from la
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Paloma Arnold: to work every name.
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Akil: Oh, wow!
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Akil: So where's the other one opening in the area, or Is it somewhere just like out of the
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Akil: Okay, I want to say, like, maybe Newport beach or something like,
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Akil: Yeah, Okay, Okay,
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Akil: It's because he has. He has a topshot pedigree, so he was like a a competitor on top ship, so he's got that he's got nature my recognition so that he can, if he gets the right partner. He can open up his concepts wherever he gets. You know there's money to do it. So he's. Yeah, he's. He's. He's a good chef. I mean, he's good. He was.
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Akil: Use a polarizing contestant on top of it for some folks in a certain way. But I mean, yeah, that's not a
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Paloma Arnold: yeah. The food was definitely it was good,
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Paloma Arnold: and it was. It was a fun experience. It was a neat experience to have to
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Akil: excellent, so i'll also get that in the show nuts as well. Thank you for that. That was insightful and illuminating as always. Ah, you you want to go. You want me to go. I guess i'll go because I my pick kind of dovetails with what? What coloma's pick is below American sushi, and I'm going on the opposite spectrum of Sushi i'm going with the the cheap budget sushi in in that budget, but just like you know, in Galita, in the in the Commune Rail Plaza, where Kasco is in the movie theater. There's that sushi ai sushi I
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Hong Lieu: They do. Monday nights. They have hand rules for I think two hundred and seventy five a handful, and it's It's a great deal, and it's all it's like
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Hong Lieu: good enough for me, because everyone's like Oh, is it good? I don't. I don't know about, and it's like I can't say It's like, you know. Sushi bar style, but I can say that for a hand roll it gets a job done, and i'm happy. So you know I was good. I get the salmon stein roll. I get the spicy tuna, and they do a little spicy scallop,
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Akil: which is the little guys, and they also do what I like is they do the sushi boat, You know the old school like in both.
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Akil: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Akil: Theora California roles and teriyaki. So like it's this big old boat. It comes out enough food for like four or five people, but it's just like
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Akil: we, because L. A. Is such a sushi town like, yeah, like we've had really high in sushi in la, for a long time. So everyone, everyone, whenever they want to go, get to shel a You always gotta take it to like like It's homicasse and all this stuff. But sometimes I just want that like gut busting like. Give me the sushi boat and some some Ghetto California rolls, and then my ice cream tea, and i'm happy so like sushi, ai really sushi! You you want that hood, sushi!
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Paloma Arnold: It really scratches that edge. It really does like like I don't. I don't even need to see the fish in like a shape. I just want to ground up, you know, like That's okay, you know. Like it's something that I mean, It's what I came up on.
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Hong Lieu: I think my first sushi world was at a supermarket. So then there, Then there was other like. Then you go to the Japanese markets and get that next level up, and then you start going to restaurants to get that next level up. So I mean some of the first places my my friends were taking to with their parents when I because I couldn't afford to get it myself. To get these kind of meals was,
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Hong Lieu: you know It's a place now, they called Tokyo Lobby that did a similar kind of thing. They They get a big old boat of food, and then they get some. Some Ghetto rolls like, you know, like dynamite goes in the toaster oven, and all this stuff, and and like spicy tuna and stuff, and that's that's like. It's very nostalgic, but it's also really delicious. And sushi
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, sushi, i'm not. I'm not saying it's not. It's not it's not like it's bad. For it. It's really good. But but in terms of if someone's looking for that like Upper Echelon, because we do have like you, said Sushi Bar to someacassee. There's another place to Toshi's, I think downtown does does like a shift choice. So there's also high end high in Japanese superior in our body. Gato Tokana and Montecito. So there's a lot of places here, too, so i'm not trying to see like, you know this is this is better than that. But if you you just have that in your
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Akil: solid like homey, more comfort, food, South Japanese like, Yeah, Yeah, I's where it's at
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Akil: it. She bought on the mesa that has the boat, too. Oh, yes, the Chubon has the boat as well that that's definitely worth mentioned.
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Yeah, Yeah,
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Akil: yeah,
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Akil: absolutely.
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Yes,
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Akil: all right. So you get a pick to a queue.
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Akil: Yes, so i'm going, since it realized they had to. Just you know you don't you don't you think as many as you want It's just that. You know it like one or more, you know. We don't cap it, and we don't,
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Akil: so I i'm gonna throw, since it's his Hispanic heritage month. I'm gonna throw. I I think I've already talked about it once, but i'm gonna throw monies out
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Akil: um. It's coast to Santa Barbara City College. So you know, employees, if you guys are on their much breaking into place, place that's close to one and grab it's literally. What I would suggest is going. Take an early lunch like eleven o'clock, because, uh, in the height of lunch it The line is, too, on the lines, you know, but they did expand their outdoor seating um, and they kind of did a little build out, and there's more seating. So. Um! I would definitely highly recommend that
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Akil: monies. I usually go with the Moly. That's one of my favorite dishes from for monies, so
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Akil: i'm going to throw that, and then the other recommendation i'm going to go to a place that's even closer to City College, and it's, I think it's called Market. Still, it's right there where Rudy's is in that same shopping center.
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Akil: Ah, yeah, right there on Ah Bonuseto Street, and that's been my go-to for the last maybe month, like almost every day I go down there. I get the hag on a Prescott. Um! They have the full menu. They have the
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Akil: they have uh the mid, the mainlandadas. They have it's everything, and it's a market, too. So uh sometimes I stop on the way home, pick up to me uh throw it on the grill on their their Sovieta is really good, too. So those two spots are my my my pick for the week, and uh, it's good to support local business and things that are actually close to campus, so you can just run off real quick, because sometimes you feel like you know, it is like you're like thing. I want to get somebody to eat. But then you start thinking like
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Akil: um. I don't if I go to the mesa. I have Mr. Burger, you know I have Mcdonald's, there's your options are limited. These are a couple of spots I may get over with monies right down there in the funk zone, and
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Akil: ah! The market right next to Route East, right down the street from yeah in college, and that market is walkable. You could theoretically yeah, walk down there and walk back in time. And and yeah keel doesn't send me photos of drinks very often. But he sent me a photo of the strawberry cream on the
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Akil: the What is it the fresco called creama, or something like that? Yeah, that's really good. That's That's i'll tell you a secret, man. That's why I go to when I um i'm hungry, but I don't really feel like eating, because it's really filling because of the cream and the strawberries. I get it every time, and the the lady that works there. Super, sweet lady. So
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Akil: I've been. I've showed up a couple of times with the other employees, and he's like you're bringing everyone from City College. I'm like, absolutely,
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Akil: Hey, We got to support local business.
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Akil: Yeah, And they have a full mutual concept. They have everything.
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Akil: Yeah. So in terms of. There's a one on milk bus which can't get busy in the parking there to be rough. I mean the parking of that. One can be rough to you. But,
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Paloma Arnold: Joseph, you had to not if we do it all the time. Yeah, cause I definitely went to Ruby's walk to release one time to get lunch. And I mean, I got those crispy talk because i'm like, Well, if I should have only got one or two yeah, not the three item combo, because i'm i'm in trouble right now.
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Hong Lieu: It's an emergency situation, but I didn't make it back up.
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Akil: I mean to walk up those stairs after three. Rudy Starcos would not be and not be an easy task on.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah. And I had some soda, too, that I was like I should have cut the sodown. This is a bad idea. It's churn it, it's churning. But I made it so.
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Paloma Arnold: Ok, one last thing, Hong, I know that you live down the street for me on the west side. Have you been to don't Boncos?
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, yeah, go check.
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Paloma Arnold: Draco's. Don Pacos has been holding it down for a long time, so you know, like I do like Mozart A, you know, Shout up to the Gil family, but i'm absolutely.
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Paloma Arnold: That's all the down
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Hong Lieu: now. Paco does hold it down for sure. And even like the El men are the one they buying food, that data.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, their hours are not as yeah, their hours are more non-traditional, where they're not open all the time, and I think they're going to be open but when they are, it's good. And then even on Korea. There's that glorious gourmet. They're pretty good, too.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, So it's Korea and Santa Andre's right across from the gas station where that ninety eight cents story is right. The
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah,
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, yes, there's a truck always parked right there. Yeah, they're pretty good.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah, if you haven't checked them out yet they were checking out. I haven't my husband Matthew probably has.
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Akil: If it weren't for him. I wouldn't have tried,
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Hong Lieu: and topog was good. Yeah,
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Akil: there's a There's a Mexican food truck, that is, I don't know the name. Of it but it's parked right there where the tri-county produce.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, yeah,
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Akil: yeah, yeah, I forget. But I I love. I'll go to Francisco. So I just won't let everyone know if you're into arguing for us guys, they have a pineapple hack on the fasc about that. It's just absolutely amazing. So if you see that truck, make sure you stop and get this.
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Yes, I
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Akil: it's worth stop it! It's that good! And and the pineapple flavor just to be. Ah, my first love of of so many kind of a flavor was a kind of a palette of the cart that would come by my house when I was born in La Like. I was like cause I always have to find out by the can. You know my parents would get fresh pineapple in it, too. I just it's. I was just like another dimension. I was like, I don't know what it is about this, but this is heaven right now and ever since then that's like
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Hong Lieu: my true nostalgia is. I'll go to like. Now I go to be choked. Get the pineapple palette and all that. So So that's just that the way that pineapple flavor just gets.
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It's so funny.
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Akil: That's what it is. That's what it is. I believe you hang out. I live right by the Cooper Junior High. They're there after school every day.
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Hong Lieu: Oh,
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Paloma Arnold: with the little cards,
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Akil: all right, Segue, now into a higher learning. So a Paloma piece of culture could be anything Tv movie, music, book anything
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Hong Lieu: favorite now, or growing up, or something that really kind of changed the way you think about things that you on a path?
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Oh, wow,
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yeah.
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Akil: And and we leave it open. It could be Tv. Movie music and poem was an Ivan reader, or she used to be a navigator. I think she even used to be in a book club. So I know you can. I know you got something in the database.
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Paloma Arnold: Ah, okay. So books books. But yeah, I do love to read. I Haven't had as much time to read recently, but I do definitely love to read. Historical fiction is usually my favorite, and I like to read books a lot about historical women.
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Paloma Arnold: Let's see. Oh, well, one of my very favorite books was Michelle Obama's book. I mean that book was
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Paloma Arnold: outstanding. I love that book Um.
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Paloma Arnold: Alice Hoffmann is also one of my favorite authors. She writes a lot about women. They're usually sort of unique women. They're kind of what is the right genre called like magic realism,
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Paloma Arnold: the the practical magic Stuff.
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Paloma Arnold: Exactly. Exactly. So. She's one that I really really like. But she also wrote one called the Dove-keepers, which took place about two thousand years ago, and that it was my first Alice Hoffmann book. And I loved that book, too.
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Paloma Arnold: Hmm. Yeah. I do like to read.
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Hong Lieu: Those are those aren't good choices we can. We can unwrap those a little bit in terms of and magical in terms of the magical realism and the historical fiction I mean, is Is there a piece of it that kind of resonates with you in terms of tying it to the current time. They're just kind of seeing how people lived
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Paloma Arnold: in the in the. So I was actually a history major in college. So I love the thought of thinking about how people lived, you know, is something that I really like, and I realized that that
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Paloma Arnold: I like reading about
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Paloma Arnold: women who played unique roles in history, or who did something that was out of the ordinary, or something that made a significant contribution.
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Paloma Arnold: I never really would have thought about it until I kind of looked back at all the books that I've read and realized that that seems to be the thing that I pick over and over and over again. So I do really love history, and I really like
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Paloma Arnold: when I read, I really try to read things that are more fun.
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Paloma Arnold: I have a hard time reading
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Paloma Arnold: more serious books, I think, because I feel like I've focused so much at work that when I go home and read. I want it to be something that is maybe not work-related. That is something that's just sort of
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Paloma Arnold: that's something. I have to think about a lot, but can just enjoy watching a good movie where you can kind of check out and just enjoy it. Enjoy it for the story.
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Paloma Arnold: And so those tend to be the kind of the kinds of books that I usually choose to read,
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Hong Lieu: and those nuggets of wisdom are there, you know, like in terms of you meet scholarly journal articles where you read those quote unquote fun books, and you call them I mean, they a lot of them have similar moral similar ideas, similar things that are trying to express it's just kind of a medium in which they choose to express it, via, you know, via parable or narrative flow, or or just direct to the point I I reach. I bet that facts so it's It's really just about, reader, is that for the reader to kind of
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Hong Lieu: that stuff out.
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Hong Lieu: You just read the surface to say that you read it, and you got this point A to Point B, or did you pull out that deeper wisdom. And so that's really kind of It's a good exercise as a reader to to really understand that we have the reason This is higher learning, and we're asking you to anything that you love is because it's not just what the piece itself it's, what you extract it from it that made it so important. And so I mean, especially with the magical realism and a
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Hong Lieu: I like that kind of stuff, because we've we've we've forgotten a lot about that. The mysticism and the spirituality that kind of drove, you know, ancient times, I mean like like we. You know we know all about religion. But we don't know all about, you know, like all their other traditions before, kind of you know, various religions kind of took the sole focus away from other kind of traditions and stuff, too, you know, in terms of, you know, indigenous peoples, and and and all the kind of other very spirituality things like that. Just me. Me. I'm lucky that I have my mom, because my mom is
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Hong Lieu: a you know, relatively uneducated, you know, refugee for being on it. She can tell me a lot of stories and a lot of like you
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Hong Lieu: like superstitions and stuff that I wouldn't know about. And and and as a result of over the years. I I believe in a lot of stuff, you know, like I'm not sitting here like making sure that, you know, when I play basketball. I don't step on a ghost for my ankle, because she has said that a couple of times in the past, but at the same time I am confident of go to go. Good luck and bad luck, and the things that you do that can affect
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Hong Lieu: your position on the scale of good-looking balance, you know. So those kind of things,
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Paloma Arnold: and I I feel like I could stand for the magic realistic. Yeah,
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Paloma Arnold: it It was totally people's way of explaining things in the world that sometimes seem in inexplicable, and the thing that becomes like super fascinating to me. I think i'm going to become a you know Totally Dorky for a minute is like
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Paloma Arnold: when you start to look at the connections between all the different religions, and even like you were saying the the pre-established religions, even the connections there, and how
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Paloma Arnold: there's so many similarities, and there's so many things in common, and you,
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Paloma Arnold: you know we could learn so much from learning more about that, you know, in terms of being open minded to other people and and other cultures and other religions, learning about the similarities that everything has together, and and the commonalities and
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Paloma Arnold: the reasons that people um
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Paloma Arnold: not necessarily the reasons that people believe, but you know the purpose that spirituality and religion had and has had in people's lives, I think, is really
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Paloma Arnold: it's really fascinating to me.
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He's,
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Hong Lieu: and in terms of translating that I mean, we talk about, you know, equity, diversity, and inclusion, those kind of you know, belonging, and all that stuff like giving, giving that equity lens and giving folks the the elevating those perspectives that you might think of, as you know, way too different or weird, or something like like understanding that it's not like you said it's not just a way to explain. It's a way to justify one's existence, I mean. My mom has not had nothing to guide as like to guide her. Besides what she knows about. You know the age, customs,
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Hong Lieu: traditions in terms of how she's living her life. She she, you know, like she doesn't have a book because she can't read. She doesn't have so much she can write, she can write. She only has the oral tradition that she knows, and the things to guide her in that way, but that has propelled her through her entire life, and has kept her on this, whatever path that she made for herself, and has justified that existence. So it's it's It's one of the things where, like you have to carve out a path for yourself in this world, and if no one gives you kind of, if no one is there to mentor you,
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Hong Lieu: and kind of lay that path out for you, then you kind of use the ways in the of the world, of how you think the world works, and you create that path yourself. And there's so, and there's there's beauty in that, and there's beauty and elevating everyone's perspective in that way in terms of you. I can't look at someone else. I'm. Personally, I don't look at anyone else to be like. Oh, man, you're You're totally crazy with the nice away. I think of it more of like you. You chose that path for a reason, and even if it's at in the moment, maybe not
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Hong Lieu: optimal Eventually, if you, if you keep, you know, if your worldview and your everything is is right. Then you'll come around and it'll It'll work itself out, you know, like it feels like it's a lot. It's kind of where you where you're supposed to be, and and it over things that work out how kind of how they're supposed to be, and and so how you kind of justify that to yourself and say, Okay,
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Hong Lieu: that's I just got to keep going like, How do you? How do you do that? How do? How do we all do that and say we're on the right path. We should keep going, or we need to check ourselves and flip it like. What is that turning point that crux, and I feel like the lessons of the past and lessons of great great books and stuff there. There was kind of help along that path.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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So
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Hong Lieu: so yeah, see it
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Hong Lieu: excellent.
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Paloma Arnold: I mean, if they're okay. So I guess the next question would be in terms of Alice Hoffman. If there's a book, an entry point Jalous Hoffman that you would give folks. Was it the Practical Magic series? Or would it be? I think the Practical Magic series is a fun.
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Paloma Arnold: It's pretty fun series. And most people have probably actually seen the movie, too. Right?
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. Yeah, that's the the basis for the movie with What's your name? Nicole Kidman: Yeah, is it? Sandra Bullock?
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I forgot. I totally forgot about that movie.
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah,
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah.
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Paloma Arnold: And
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Paloma Arnold: yeah, it's definitely a a good
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Paloma Arnold: good. And how, if and Rachel would was in that, too, if we got about No,
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Hong Lieu: is she
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Akil: he's! He's a he's a raven call.
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Akil: I haven't sorted yet. Officially,
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Paloma Arnold: he hasn't officially declared. Yeah, I'm unhoused at the moment.
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Paloma Arnold: Yes, that's a good one i'm trying to think what it the
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Paloma Arnold: she's written some really interesting ones, I think I mean, and some of her books are so different, you know. Some of her books are about like American women. Some of her books she does write about Jewish women.
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Paloma Arnold: There's often like a like, you know, lineage of women that she writes about practical magic is kind of like the the fun one, though she writes for um young adults, too, I've written read some of her her young adult books. And those are.
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Paloma Arnold: They're just really interesting books.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, I would definitely get a link in the show notes for Alice Hoffman. Because, yeah, I. We used to recommend her books a lot when I was at the library.
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Paloma Arnold: Oh, did you?
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, Because she did like the rules of mad. She's done a lot of books about rules of magic and kind of. So when kids are first getting into that kind of mysticism and stuff like, i'm not. I'm not trying to get them out, like, you know, demonology and all this stuff right away. So you got to start with like the gentle, you know. So yeah, Because I don't want to get in trouble, parents, either. Yeah,
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Paloma Arnold: yeah. He gave my son Pagan, you know he gave my my my child pagan writing. So I said, No, i'm not. I'm not Federal,
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Paloma Arnold: I mean, you know, I think with her books you can kind of take out of it what you want,
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Paloma Arnold: you know you can. You can
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Paloma Arnold: dive deeper into some of the magic, real magical realism parts of it, and you can. Also,
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Paloma Arnold: there's like a lot of layers to to her stories, and so I think you can kind of take the pieces out of it that that you want the dove-keepers was my favorite favorite one, but I know that one's a little bit more historical. And so some people don't like that one as much, I think, because that One's a little bit more of a historical and historical book.
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Paloma Arnold: I'll throw links up to both, and listeners decide. Thank you. Thank you, Paloma.
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Akil: No, no. We don't I haven't got any feedback yet. Maybe one day
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Hong Lieu: i'll go next just because it's like again. It's segue into what Paloma mentioned. My pick for this episode is.
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Hong Lieu: There was a talk the early public library just did with the the brothers Hernandez, Jaime Gilbert, and Mario Bay started writing a comic in one thousand nine hundred and eighty two. So it's been forty years the comic eleven rockets, you know. We talk about Hispanic heritage months, and those bros. Her name is are kind. Of
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Hong Lieu: The pioneers are one of the pioneers of the kind of style underground independent comics movement they They were self-published a start and now we're published by phantographics. But
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Hong Lieu: the lemon rockets, books, and you know there is a band for love and rockets, and they actually took their name from the comics. People always get it twisted like love and rockets, you know, like the the comics who the name from the band. But no, it's the exact opposite. That's how That's how kind of entrenched in the culture the Hernandez villas are, and and for folks that don't know Jaime at Gilbert and Mario they grew up in Oxnard, So they're They're predominantly known as Southern California L. A. Comics, artists, and writers, but they grew up in Oxford, and their stories kind of pull from what they know. So
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Hong Lieu: I gravitate to their stories a little later in my life. You know my twenties and stuff, so they've already been writing for, you know, twenty thirty years. By the time I started I got their books in because they wrote a lot about the punky
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Hong Lieu: funk seen at Oxford. I the punk scene in La. They are the Jaime's books. They're called low-ass, so it's um it's.
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Hong Lieu: It's in the fictional town of hoppers and hoppers is an analog, you know, or to hoppers it's an in a lot for Oxnard, and then, you know, Jaime now lives in La. So he is illustrated by go in. La. So the Love and Rockets books are kind of split into two stories where Gilbert writes about this, his universe is kind of like the Palomar stories. It's like a fictional Ah, Central or South American Central American town.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, that just it's. Ah, it deals with a lot of magical realism. People Ah throw around magical realism a lot to talk about Gilbert's work, whereas Jaime is just straight up. Yeah, he tells like the stories of kids living in the city, you know, kids living in in hoppers, and what they have to deal with in terms of bunk, rock and and and and trollo life
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Hong Lieu: low riders, you know, like he talks, he touches on all those things. So as a kid who grew up in East La, and there's a lot of analogue. There's a lot of connections there that I can make where he was working instantly. It was just like it was Love it for sight, and it's just It's just a seminal work, because
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Hong Lieu: the I grew up. You know, I got into comics after I watched the first batman movie in eighty nine, so I was reading superior stuff,
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Hong Lieu: and you know I was also reading like Kung fu comics from from Hong Kong, so I was always into kind of my head around comics, and it wasn't until, like you know, I got a reporter that I started really got into it because there was a movie, you know, American splendor about Harvey P. Car, who was writing stories about comics in Ohio, you know. So it was a midwestern existence. It was one of those like slice of life. But you just write stories about his life, and it was the thing where I read the books. They were fine, but they didn't connect with me because I don't have any connection to what life in Ohio, you know, like it doesn't really speak to me
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Hong Lieu: jaime stories and Gilbert's stories to a lesser extent, Because, yeah, I don't have relatives, you know, in Central America, and things like that. But I still kind of connected to it to his story as well because of the magic realism because of the mysticism and spirituality he abused his tales.
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Hong Lieu: But Jaime's Tales of of like he was at the forefront of Narcore, if you know about, you know the pumpkins and an oxen or an arcore, is a huge deal in the history of of hardcore music and punk rock, and he was there when it started. So his stories are really at the ground level. And then also that connection of of
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Hong Lieu: punk rockers and Trollos in the same family, and the tension, and that kind of that creates an hour, you know, like how you know you. They they kind of coexist with their totally separate worlds, and I would kind of tangentially bump into that, because I would hang out with all the fun kids, and they would go, and we go to their house. And also they're like,
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Paloma Arnold: you know, their cholera brothers. The trolley cup would be hanging out, so i'd get a little bit of that as well. So So it was just. It was just like really really spoken. And they they're really great stories. And and now seminal works in the cannon. So I mean, they've been doing for forty years. There's something you said for when you started it. And yeah, they're they're they're all the famers. So those those bros are nowadays.
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Hong Lieu: I'll put some links in in terms of anthologies that you pick on phantographics, and you know you you should read the stories in order, but at the same time, because there's they, they go the characters age. As you read the books. You can kind of jump in at any point, and you want to go far the back or head. You can kind of work with that, too. So
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Hong Lieu: yeah, that's my pick for this episode.
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Akil: Good choice appropriate for a seventeen-year-old.
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Hong Lieu: Yes, I would say so, because I mean seventeen year olds are, you know and Ah know a lot more about the world than they will tell you about. So in terms of they they might look like to my mom. I was like, you know, hands folded at the dinner table and that. But behind the scenes I was like
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Akil: already, you know, breaking, you know, watching people get bottles and stuff like that. So yeah, I would say, I would say yes, and I have the books in my office if you actually want to borrow them, because the there you can buy the individual trade paperbacks, but the the stories I've been collected into larger volumes that are out of print. But I did pick them up all on ebay, so I have have a couple of them. If you want to.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah,
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Hong Lieu: I would say definitely,
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, Come, find me or I'll I'll just find you. I'll I'll drop them off.
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Akil: She's the Student Service Building
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Akil: absolutely.
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Akil: I don't know what you got.
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Akil: Well, i'm going to go um we before we started actually recording the show we were talking about Headache Carter. So i'm gonna go to Harry Potter because uh one of the best audio books I've ever listed to since we're talking about books is Harry Potter and the Sorcery Stone, by J. K. I think it's J. K. Rowling:
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Paloma Arnold: Yeah,
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Akil: yeah, she says, rolling
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Akil: Yeah, is it rolling right?
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Akil: Yeah. So I mean, everyone knows Harry Potter. I don't really need to explain too much about it. But literally, if you're into audio books, and if you're into Harry Potter. You definitely have to listen to it. It's just so well done. And so that definitely is my
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Akil: by choice for the week, I mean, you know. Obviously i'm a Harry Potter guy. But go for to her house. You know how
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Akil: you already know. You already know. How does the author read the audiobook
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Akil: in that one.
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Akil: Yeah, it's. It's really good. If you're going on a long trip, and you need someone just to listen to uh um deaf, I would definitely uh advise that we're I'm taking vacation later in the week, or actually next week since it's Friday,
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Akil: and I'm driving up to Monterey. So i'm looking forward to getting into that
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Akil: Ah, next week on the trip. So
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Akil: yeah, i'm,
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Akil: you know. And Hong, you have to. You actually have to actually take the test.
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Hong Lieu: I still need to finish all the books I got to be honest, Full disclosure, full disclosure. I've never read all the books I've seen all the movies, But I have not read all the books.
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Akil: Yeah, they are pretty good.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah. And and in terms of I worked at a library. So if I was still working library, someone would come smack me upside the head right now, because I
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Paloma Arnold: you haven't read all the Harry Potter.
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Akil: Yeah, I mean because we we would do midnight openings at the library, not even in the books. Yeah. When When the last book came out we were open late, so we could check books out for kids like it was like I was there for for for the ground level of that. And I saw how important it was to folks how it changed. Folks lives because there were kids. Yeah, there were kids that came back that I recognized. And when they were in your high reading's books still reading the books in high school,
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Hong Lieu: and then going on, and you know, to to bigger and better things.
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Paloma Arnold: It was Well, it's insane. I mean, the first book was written over twenty years ago. Right?
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Akil: Yeah. And it's still. I mean,
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Akil: I mean what? Incredibly popular.
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Akil: Yeah, And that's the piece that to me that I just I can't I? Just this leaves me puzzled is,
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Akil: how does she?
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Akil: How did this all come from her mind, from her brain.
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Akil: Yeah, it's just absolutely amazing. And the thing about it is there's a lot of There's a lot of young adult and kids books that are popular that Aren't well written.
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Hong Lieu: These are books that are very well written, and very well craft in terms of from a literary perspective, like, if you read like reading the books you learn about a lot of words you learn about good sense and structure like they're just really well-re booked. Like. That's That's why things like Tolkien, and you know, like particles and art and stuff. That's why they really hold up is because when you read them you feel like you're having a good time. But you're also learning, you know. Harry Potter was like that. Where, like I said, all the books so full disclosure. But the books I have read have been a run, a robotic and good time, and I feel like I feel like this is the the way they're structured the way they've
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Hong Lieu: like It's It's It's teaching me about writing as well.
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Yeah,
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Akil: hey, Paloma, What's your house?
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Paloma Arnold: I'm: pretty sure I was Gryffindor when I did it
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Akil: really okay, I could say, Well, what would you think I was a kill? Well, now, I want to know what was there. What's the really for?
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I think
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Paloma Arnold: he was about to put his sorting hat on. Give a second, maybe I should do it again.
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Akil: Yeah, like I think you should do it again.
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Akil: Do it. Get a telly if you get it, if it's different, because I won't, tell you what I think, and so after you take the next test,
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Akil: I have no choice but to be at the front door.
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Akil: You went, I said. I have no choice to be a griffin door. I'm not even together, that Yeah, i'm not anything other than that.
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Paloma Arnold: Pretty sure I would. I should ask Alexandra because she ah was the huge Harry Potter Fan. I mean kind of to what you were saying, Hong, Alexandra! Ah doesn't love to read, which was super different from her brother, who did but the books that she
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Akil: did read all the way through every single one, even the play. The play was tough to get through right. I read like, read even them twice, and still is all of the Harry Potter books, I mean, that is the thing that she got her that got her to read. So I think what you just said is really really true, but she's the one who did the sorting the sorting with me and I
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you sure it was Griffin.
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Paloma Arnold: But i'll go back and ask her. She'll remember a bit.
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Akil: I know you, Aren't. Mom,
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Akil: What house was she?
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Akil: Yeah, yeah,
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Akil: i'll get a follow-up. And i'll definitely put that in the show now. So you really
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Akil: yeah,
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Hong Lieu: kind of like Paloma's real house how to put the emphasis that Ikea put on.
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Akil: Yeah, yeah, we uh
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Akil: I drop a few wise on that
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Akil: like really, really, really really emphasis. Noted? Yes,
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Akil: yes,
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Paloma Arnold: thank you, Keel, and thank you, Paloma, for you coming on the show. It was an honor honor to have you before we say goodbye. Any other final words, anything you want, any plugs, anything coming up that you want to mention, or
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Paloma Arnold: um. Not that I can think of.
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Paloma Arnold: Just happy to be here. Appreciate the invite and the patience with me actually
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Akil: finally coming
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Akil: It wasn't that bad. It was funny.
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Akil: Yeah, you guys are are super fun and easy to talk to. So thank you. We're we're we're glad you could do the show. We're also glad and overjoy that you are the vice President of student affairs. So absolutely, very much. We hope for many more years here at Sbcc.
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Hong Lieu: Just yeah, you keep it right.
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Akil: Rock it till the wheels fall off as they say, Right?
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Akil: But yes, until until next time. Yeah, Thank you for your feel as always. And so next time this was Vaquero Voices; take care y'all.