Akil and Hong welcome Jesse Felix to the show as he gets ready to depart SBCC for new adventures; the three discuss the purchasing department, the various positions and transfers Jesse held while at SBCC, and some of his favorite foods (pierogi, pigs in a blanket) and books (The Covenant of Water, This Poison Heart).
Mentioned in this episode:
SBCC Purchasing - https://www.sbcc.edu/purchasing/
Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers (SMOOTH) - https://www.smoothinc.org/about.php
Santa Barbara Brawlin’ Betties - https://brawlinbetties.com/
KCSB - https://www.kcsb.org/
Grocery Outlet - https://www.groceryoutlet.com/
Fresh & Easy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_%26_Easy
Pierogi - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierogi
Sweet vs Savory Grits - https://www.ebony.com/soul-food-grits/
Mantu - https://afghancooks.com/mantu-recipe-afghan-dumpling/
Pigs in a Blanket - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigs_in_a_blanket
Halupki (Stuffed Cabbage) - https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/220002/halupki-stuffed-cabbage/
Warbler Records and Goods - https://www.instagram.com/warblerrecordsandgoods/?hl=en
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - https://www.abrahamverghese.org/the-covenant-of-water/
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Cullors - https://www.patrissecullors.com/books
SURJ - https://surj.org/
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson - https://charmspen.com/black-cake/
The Sun Magazine - https://www.thesunmagazine.org/
The Big Lebowski - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Lebowski
Margaret Atwood - https://margaretatwood.ca/
Heather Cox Richardson - Letters from an American - https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
Libby - https://libbyapp.com/
Eastside Library - https://library.santabarbaraca.gov/visit/library-hours-locations
House Sorting Quiz - https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/discover-your-hogwarts-house-on-wizarding-world
Marvel’s Defenders - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Defenders_(miniseries)
Novelas - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenovela
Resurrection: Ertuğrul - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirili%C5%9F:_Ertu%C4%9Frul
This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron - https://www.kalynnbayron.com/this-poison-heart
Justina Buller - https://www.sbcc.edu/raices/facultad-de-raices/justina.php
WEBVTT - Captions Provided by Zoom
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Hong Lieu: 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.
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Akil Hill: What's good.
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Hong Lieu: And today we are honored to welcome Jesse Felix to the show. Welcome, Jesse.
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Akil Hill: Welcome Jesse.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, thanks, guys so cool to finally, you know, be in the space with you all.
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Hong Lieu: It's an honor to have you. You know our last episode was our 1st Sbcc alum, and you are our 1st unofficial Sbcc exit interview, because while you are currently working in the purchasing department, you are also on your way out of Santa Barbara. Is that correct?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: That's right, and there's no person I would rather have my exit interview with.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, it's not gonna be nothing formal like that. We're not gonna ask, you know, but but at the same time, if you wanna just touch on
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Hong Lieu: the purchasing department for a little bit, and all they do here at Sbcc. I know y'all are are constantly busy, and your fiscal year is wrapping up now, but in terms of the idea of purchasing.
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Hong Lieu: I mean, are we talking everything the college buys? I mean each department, everything that the colleges purchase it runs through y'all at some point, or is, do you only handle the big ticket items, or or what? What's what's the purview of your department, and what y'all do
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Hong Lieu: at the college.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Well, thanks for asking and thanks for the understanding that this is our our busy time of year, you know. I think that's 1 thing that we just don't know enough about in each other's worlds, and like would be so great if we really could like Job Shadow, or or better understand what you and I do, because, like, you know, when the school year kicks off, everybody's like, Oh, man, it's crazy. And I'm like it's cool
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: like my job isn't like, necessarily as impacted. But I'm aware of it all of a sudden. There's all these students on campus, and like everybody's kind of stressed out and stuff. But on my end it's like everybody's kicking it. It's June. And I was like, like, I gotta get everything done. I've got like how many board items go into the board. And then, like these people who haven't had anything, and like we told them months ago that we need to get this stuff are suddenly like, Oh, it's gotta happen right now. So I think appreciation of of what everybody does is super important, and something that I've been
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: waving that job shadowing banner in a lot of different places over a lot of different time. It's really helpful for me like I can do my job better if I understand what the people on either side of me need like. If if I can do this a little bit differently, and the accounting folks makes their job easier. Then why don't I learn what, how they do, what they do? Or if people can better understand, like you know where, why we require our forms, or you know these different thresholds and things like that. They can understand
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a little bit better, you know, if I can show them a little bit more clearly why we need these things.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: then they can do that better and makes it more seamless. And so, yeah, we do. We cover a lot of the purchasing, but really like what purchasing does. I think the big misconception there is like, you know, we're just shopping or something. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: what we do is we illustrate how the resources of the college are spent. So when it comes time to say like, Why did we buy this, or, you know, audits or just things like that. We can demonstrate the whole path to procurement like this is, you know, request over here. It goes through these different stages, and then it finally gets purchased, and then it comes, and then it's received, and then it's put into action, and then the invoice is paid like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: illustrating that whole process is kind of what I do. But yeah, it's it's been a long, interesting road in becoming a purchasing
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: partner. And yeah, it's it's been bumpy along the way for sure.
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Hong Lieu: And and you know, when you talk about illustrating that picture, I mean, that's a lot of work, and y'all are a pretty small team right? It's you, Mark and Rui, and and that's
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Hong Lieu: the entire department, or there are more folks.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: That's the office. So we have the purchasing and central receiving the resent central.
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Hong Lieu: Yes, he!
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Element has got Mike and David and Marielle and our warehouse crew.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But yeah, it. The the bumpy aspect that I I say is rui came on with Santa Barbara City College about 5 years ago, and didn't have a buyer
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: as like a purchasing department with no purchaser.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and it was like, Wow scratching her head. And it's like, what am I gonna do? And then I got my second involuntary transfer. And suddenly I'm an admin assistant in the purchasing department. It's like, but we need a buyer. So you know it. It became
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a team, and I definitely credit Rui to her team vision, her team orientation, and her great strategic and conscientious onboarding
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: onboarding is not a bad word, contrary popular belief. It seems like a lot of folks just kind of get thrown into it including, really. But what she has done in building the team that that I've been a part of and enjoy being a part of, has been really conscientious in the team building in the onboarding, and gave me the tools to succeed in my role. Even as my role was
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: outside of other duties as assigned. And yeah, so it's it's small, but mighty we just recently, we're able to get a buyer position. So now we have a buyer in the buying department, which is great. That's our our newest teammate, Mark Selec.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And he was previously a buyer on campus so he's now able to be a buyer in the purchasing department, which is just super helpful and probably super duper, helpful in that like what you said before now, I'm exiting away who knows what the future will bring with staffing challenges, you know, across the campus, etc. But yeah, that's a that's a little bit of the bumps along our road.
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Akil Hill: You know, I I like the idea. What? What you have alluded to about basically job shadowing. It's like kinda like cross pollinating, you know. And I think about
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Akil Hill: making you know our institution more effective that way. I really, I'm glad that you hit on that, because in so many ways like, you know what I mean. Like, we were creating more work by not really being intentional about, you know, cross pollinating with other departments that you work directly with. And so I I really appreciate you for making that comment. Because that's something I think we can improve on as an institution.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I think that we're really poised to take advantage of that in a lot of ways, and and not even just the direct relationships.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, when I ran the Bowling League for all those years, like the connections that I made with Bowling, like, I don't have a lot of interaction with Dean Nevins.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but, like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I bowled with them, you know I I know them that much better, and every interaction that we do have is kind of like those wheels, have already been greased like.
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Akil Hill: Year.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I already know what he's about. Like, we like the same kind of, you know things and like. So it it's interesting, like the ways that it doesn't even necessarily have to be like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I wanna know how to be more efficient and doing my job by understanding, like what you need or having you understand what I need, but rather, you know, just like, Hey, maybe admin assistance like, Hey, how do you do what you do? I'm in a different department. I have different people, different pressures. How do what are your best practices? Learning like things like that?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Or you know.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: as the pandemic Illustrated? You know, some people and their positions and their departments with their supervisors, are able to be in a flexible work environment where you know, maybe they can flex their hours because they've got
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: kids in school, and they need to be able to, you know, Flix, those hours, or maybe they're you know, in a position where they can work remote. And and so those things like while they're really good. And it allowed us to weather the storm of the of the pandemic. They're they're also good of chance, created sort of feelings of or actual iniquities, like where
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: my boss says I can't be remote. Your boss says you can. And so sometimes those job shadowing could actually lead to things that like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, in in that from my perspective, it's it's really that relationship piece, like connections, understanding how things interconnect and and better be able to do what we do. But also it could be like, you know, you've got the same role. And you know, I've got this role. And and I think that what I really want to do is transfer out of this department into this one like it'll help us to not only like retain people, but it even could even like attract new people.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And I think that whole like we've seen it not being able to retain folks, says the guy who's on his way out the door has been a real challenge, for, like, you know continuity of leadership or continuity of things. You know.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: We had talked a little bit about my
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: my purchasing processes and stuff, and how they've changed.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Part of that has been because we've had a rotating door on the Vp of Bs. And it's like right now we're still with an interim person in there, and that's been great. We've done a lot of good work. But every time that that
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: position changes, maybe priorities change or processes change, thresholds change. And then somebody who we've trained on how to work with our department in years past suddenly comes up and they're finding new things. And it's like, Wait a minute. Am I crazy? Or do you guys change this? And it's a it's been a challenge. So the consistency piece, I think, would really be helpful, too. But honestly, I think it's like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: as simple as going bowling with somebody, you know. It doesn't have to be that it could be sitting down with them and and watching how they do their job for an hour, or them sitting with you and watching how you do your job for an hour, and you just like feel con more connected with the person like, Hey, this is a real person. It's not just a name on a screen, or something like that.
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Hong Lieu: And and it's a it's a complaint you hear about it. A lot of organizations at larger scale in terms of. I heard it when I was at city. You know, when I was working private sector and video games, it's that folks in departments are too siloed, you know. You hear that term a lot siloed, siloed it's and that's 1 thing they, in terms of people get kind of locked into what they do, or they're so busy that they don't have really the time, or to reach out and
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Hong Lieu: and and go beyond what they're doing in their own job duties or within their department. And so that's where these silos kind of start up. So it is kind of what a key saying you have to be intentional about going around that about getting around the idea of being siloed and and to your point, Jesse, it doesn't have to be a full on channel, because someone could say, Oh, I'm too busy to just see what someone else is doing for an hour. I don't even have an hour in my day. I eat lunch in my desk, you know, but if you talk about it in another term like you say, with the bowling.
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Hong Lieu: you know, we've worked together on the coffee and conversations with Kirsten and Christina Garciotero and Becky Saffold. We were to do those kind of events to bring people together outside of their own department, you know, in interacting with other departments and just getting to know people. I mean, that does do a lot to help that kind of silo kind of situation. And also wanna shout out,
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Hong Lieu: my office, Kirsten, and my my supervisor Jordan. They they! They started a a meeting, having getting some of the executive assistance to meet together to discuss some things as well and, like you said, just having those kind of conversations where folks can have a a, you know, can bring in their individual perspectives from their departments about an a unified topic that they're all working on together. I mean, all these things combined to kind of help with those kind of situations, so that but it's good for you to raise that. Raise that as a concern, for sure.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Silo Buster. I I love busting down those silos, I mean, like, in my previous position here, when I was in special events, it was astonishing we were getting ready to launch 25 live. We had been interviewing all these different companies that were offering their scheduling solution, and somebody else in a different department.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: had no idea that we were doing this, and they were trying to recreate. They were trying to do the same thing, like talk about inefficiencies, or or double work like that happens on small and on large scales all the time, because we don't know what one another is doing, and some of that's a product of the size of the system. But other parts are because we're siloed, and we don't have enough of that connection. So I mean the community of community. College is super duper, important, whether it's just getting together. And like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, I've I've had a number of people have said like, wow! I remember you from the 1st day with I started, and you were so welcoming. And we had that coffee event, or whatever, and things along those lines like it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me is like, Show up with coffee and donuts, and, like, you know, good time, everybody, and just like shake hands and say, howdy and stuff. But at this, you know, at the same time, that's the stuff that's the work right there.
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Akil Hill: Yeah, you're definitely right on that. I mean, I I think, and that I think actually that I mean, that was one of the the root things that Hong and I were thinking about in in regards to the podcast was
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Akil Hill: just being able to listen to your up coworkers and kind of find out what other people on campus do, and in in hopes of maybe rein it into that person, and just having conversation around some of the their likes, you know. And and so and I like the piece of just happening it happening also organically, you know, like like you're saying like the just with the Bowling League, or some donuts and some coffee like
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Akil Hill: that's that's really like that's humanizing the the positions right?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I love the book at our voices for that exact reason I've been so
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: astonished at like the things that I've learned and so impressed. I mean, I've I'm a big, huge fan of not only the the podcast but of you all. Individually like, I, I mean your reputations definitely precede yourself, but for good reason, and that conscientious like community building that you do is amazing like, I would have never known that. You know
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Mike Medell's a tacito. You know
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: some of the things that you know, that that your podcast have shown me. And yeah, I think that that's like, I say, just one of those things that we can do.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: With the Bowling League. That's not for everybody. We haven't done it for years, you know, but like things like that Security had put together a softball league for a hot minute. That was a blast. You know those sorts of connections.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: that don't necessarily have
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: to deal directly with productivity and those tangible outcomes, you know. Sometimes those are the most important.
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Akil Hill: Yeah, I'm still hoping for a Kickball League.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, yeah.
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Akil Hill: Let's go. I'll make you happen.
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Hong Lieu: Man. I don't even know. I I my my knees already ache, and just just thinking about it.
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Akil Hill: That's okay.
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Hong Lieu: Try.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I can smell that big red rubber ball.
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Akil Hill: No big bounces.
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Hong Lieu: So in terms of segway into our next section, we what brought you? Sbcc, we're also gonna spin this, as also, you know, not to, not to get all the details of where you're going. But if as much as you wanna share. But yes, we're gonna talk about with your path. Sbcc. So, Jesse. What brought you here? What you know I need. I know you've had a lot of stops in the college itself. You mentioned you alluded earlier.
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Hong Lieu: But what what would your path like to even come to Sbcc? In the 1st place.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, thanks. Yeah. I think that that's
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a natural point of the
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: that question is the path within Sbcc as well. The getting me here. You know, I had been working in the private sector for a while. I even worked in family businesses.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and there's
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: challenges and everything. But when I was working a nonprofit industry before starting with City College.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: it was was really great. I was working up in Santa Maria. They have the Santa Maria Organization of Transportation Helpers, Sm. OTH. Smooth and I. I love the you know. I was like a smooth program assistant, but I I think I would have preferred to have been like an operator, so I could have been called like a smooth operator, but.
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Akil Hill: Yeah, that's yeah.
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Hong Lieu: That's right. That's right. Yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: That was a grant funded position, and the grant was sunsetting. And they were really just helpful. They gave me letters of recommendation before. You know, the grant was ever done, so I could start applying, and so the transition was pretty smooth.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: feel really fortunate about that. I was able to get in
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: as an senior office assistant, and I began my my 1st position out at the Wake campus, and at that point we had several different directors that were over different portions of at that point, what was called continuing Ed.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and almost as soon as I began there was a lot of upheaval, and things were changing. We were having previous president. On the way out Jack Friedlander was stepping in as a temporary President, and
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and they were already talking about sort of decommissioning continuing Ed and making it all fee based. And there was a lot of confusion and a lot of
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: challenges and around that and you know, my, my 1st thought was, I've just begun. And I'm already gonna lose my job 1st in, you know last in 1st out.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But fortunately that was my 1st involuntary transfer. They found a position over in community services administrative services on the main campus for senior office assistant, and so
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: What was looking like. I don't know what sort of future suddenly became a well, if you want a job. You're gonna work over here on this campus. Now, I was like, Okay, no problem. Thank you very much. I'll I'll work across the street from the beach.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And that was an interesting fit as well. We had a lot of different
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: things coming under the same
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: lot of different responsibilities coming under the same umbrella.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But what essentially turned out to be
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: more of a special events, coordinator position?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And, in fact, so I was in that position for 7 years, and
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I like to say the truth in the matter, but I also like to say, in the in those 7 years I was caught up twice.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's not really a position to be caught up with, but like at the same time, like I, I was
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: busting my butt trying to like do my best but yet it was just untenable to ever really be caught up.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And unfortunately, that was that was what made the pill extra bitter to try Swallow when my second involuntary transfer came up. And they said that your position isn't full time. It's only 3 quarter time, and I'm like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It feels really full time. I had been working with human resources cause they were trying to figure out who to put me with my director at the time, had taken another position, and like I was reporting to the vp of h or a Vp of Bs at that time, and and so there was just some. It didn't really make sense in a organizational chart.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: since where does Jesse report to. And so they were trying to find a home for me, and that exactly the 1st time that I really got to know you, Hong, a little bit was they were trying to put me in the office communications, and that made a lot of sense, you know, with advertising events. And just you know that that campus culture perspective.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: So I've been working with human resource resources on building a job description that accurately described what I did
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but before that could happen I got my second and voluntary chance, for as we talked about and landed up in purchasing.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and I gotta say it was a again bitter pill to swallow, but it wasn't too bitter for too long, because then the Covid
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: pandemic happened. Then all of a sudden it was like, Well, what a time not to be in special events, when there are no events that are special or rather everything so special that you're just not. You're not. You're not doing it.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: So it was. It was a. It was a heck of a ride to get there. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I like, I said. I've been
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: super excited to to work
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: in this position
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: with this team.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: That is something I had been missing, I mean, especially during those years when they were trying to
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: find a home for me, you know. Like, who who does this guy? Should this guy report to it made it made it feel really good, like, I want to give my best for the person that I'm supporting, and I don't even really know who that person was, and you know I wanted to have respect and feel respect for the person I was supporting, and that had been lacking for a long time. And so now that's not something I feel like when I say about my transition out of Santa Barbara City College. I just want to be really clear that like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: it is not because I'm in a bad position. Now I feel as a department we've been so fortunate to finally get the the buying power, the purchaser, the buyer, into our department, and then working with the individuals on the team. That we do. It's, I mean, not only has Rui, you know, very conscientiously built and fostered a team camaraderie.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's the individuals on our team like we've seen some folks that came from other departments kinda like myself.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Maybe they didn't
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: find it really great where they were before. But in this new
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: entity, the purchasing department it really has allowed a lot of us to thrive. And that's actually, you know, my next stepping stone is because of that same sort of thing. Had some unlooked for unrequested on the job training, and that prepared me to be able to start applying for purchasing positions elsewhere. And so.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: fortunately, I'll be starting at another college in another state in another purchasing department. So, but looking very much forward to that but I'm also.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, like a lot of folks have said to me when they hear my news of taking off. Is that bittersweet?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's bittersweet for me, too. Not only the current environment. I've got a boss that I respect and respects me allows me a lot of that flexible work schedule that that works best for my life. Has a great team, and all those things. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: some of the work that we've been working on. The embodied Social Justice group that has been started by individuals on campus where, you know, like kindred, was always dr. Kendra Mario was always famous for saying, Let's President. Proof this like this
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: is for us by us. You know that that I love that sort of thing where it's not waiting on somebody up above to say, Alright, this is now a group, and it shall function in this way. But rather, this is a group we need. Let's let's build this. Let's make it work for us. And so a lot of those communities, the Restorative justice community and the the circles that we've been sitting in there, and the trainings that we've been involved with
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: have a lot
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I have a lot of respect and appreciation for those opportunities, and I'm gonna be
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: sad not to be a part of them going forward at City college, because I I believe in them, and I feel encouraged by
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: what I've been seeing
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: coming about and the people that have been involved with them, and the passion and the talent that have been involved with creating those spaces and and maybe moving forward towards what Jordan was saying on previous voices, podcast some of that healing to be able to really envision a new future. And and improved campus culture.
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Hong Lieu: Well said, well said, and your touch, you know your extends beyond even the campus culture in the community. I know how you roll. You know you're a Dj. And Kcsb, you were doing the the the color commentary at the brawl and Betty's match last weekend. So yeah, you I mean it. Just just you leave, and you will be dearly missed in in the on this campus and in this community, you know you're you're.
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Akil Hill: So.
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Hong Lieu: And man of the people, and we we appreciate you.
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Hong Lieu: and you'll be missed. But we're we're happy for you as well, you know, because you wouldn't be leaving unless it was something that you felt. Wasn't. Wasn't that positive for you and you and yours? So
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Hong Lieu: so we're happy for your opportunities, and and hey, all those opportunities for, you know, embodied social justice, restorative justice, all those things. You're going to another campus. So you you get a lay of the land, and you'll get to see what's going on there as well, so I'm sure your your voice will be. We much appreciated over there as well.
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Akil Hill: Absolutely.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Thank you. Yeah, I I'll I'll get the lay of the land and then start being a squeaky wheel.
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Akil Hill: So.
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Hong Lieu: How it goes. If you squeak before you know what's up, then people will call you on that. Then then your voice, your voice, lose a little bit of that. So yeah, it's always important to
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Hong Lieu: to to get a feel for things. But you're you're so in tune with those kind of things that I have no doubt that you'll you'll you'll get in where you fit in. You'll be. You'll be great over there so.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I'm excited that they do have a radio station over there. I'm definitely gonna get my feet on the ground before I you know, sign up for anything like that. But it's been a really you know, the the 2 communities that you you kind of mentioned here. I'm the big one that we're talking about, Santa Barbara City College, and then my tenure over at Kcsb. I'm just wrapping up now on 11 years over there. I've been with City College about coming up on 13
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I had a few
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: chaotic times in my life. I used to live in Lompoc. I used to be married to another woman and have a whole future and a and a house that I thought you know I was gonna live in for, you know my, my golden years and all that stuff. And and then the rug got yanked out from under that. And you know lots of different changes over the years, but some of the relationships and the outlets of creativity
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and purposefulness that both Kcsb. And Sbcc have offered me have
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: allowed me to survive, and then allowed me to thrive like some of the relationships in from both of those
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: we're we're the couches that got opened to me when I was on the couch circuit, you know. And it's it's amazing the the different ways that you know. I'm just a Dj, I'm just spinning some of the records. It's very egotistical if you think about it like, Hey, you should listen to music that I like. That's that's kind of what a Dj is doing. But at the same time, like all the listener relationships, all the Dj into relationships. Yeah, it's really
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: it's provided me, not only like, you know, stability, but joy throughout that that whole tumultuous times, you know it's certainly been
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a real blessing on my end.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, that's that's the big one of the things about Dj, djing the people. It's not necessarily about having people listen to stuff that you like.
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Hong Lieu: It's really about the playlist and trying to get that. You know the segways and the and the the musical flow. And then, if you could do it in a crowd, and the people rock with it. That's just a bonus on top. But for me it's always been about like kind of the curation, and like the the mixing and the stuff they like, but having it in in a way that it flows and kinda like vibes. And you can kinda create this groove, I mean. Yes, there is an ecotistle element to it. But
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Hong Lieu: and a lot of ways I mean, I mean, a lot of it is just me building it for myself and just putting it out there and hoping someone else likes it. But I can't see how it can can kind of lean all the all the way the other way, and just be real. Yeah. But.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Now that magical word curation, I definitely I I didn't appreciate necessarily that element right away. You know, I had to get
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: comfortable behind the microphone. I had to, you know, learn the the equipment and stuff like that. But then I realized, like the real gem of Kcsb in this area is is that folks
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: take the time to curate their sounds in their show, and, like, you know, one of the fun things to do is like, Hey, you know we're not always available all the time. Somebody needs to take a vacation or something, and you
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you ask for a substitute. Dj, and somebody will like, cover your show and like man, that's just such a neat thing to do is like you're kind of doing an homage to their show like this is what Tee does. And like I'm gonna do it like teochewy does it? Or like you know, from my perspective. Oh, oh, I'm gonna go cover, you know Hattie Bell on the Rambler, what does that look like? And you know, try and do justice to
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: how I perceive their show. And it's a really interesting reflection. When you listen to somebody, cover your show, you're like, Wow! Is that how you hear me? And that's pretty cool and and curation is like it's magical. I mean, it's not an algorithm. It's not like, you know, something that you choose out of your
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: musical library is something that somebody put together would love for you.
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Hong Lieu: I mean, it is an algorithm. But it's it's a human algorithm comes from the brain fully analog, you know. And
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Hong Lieu: and that's the thing about covering shows. Yeah, go ahead again.
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Akil Hill: No, I was just like it, may it? Maybe it reminded me of the mixed tapes used to pass in the hallways to the people who were special.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, yeah.
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Akil Hill: Yeah, I made you a mixed tape over the weekend.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, and you say, and you and you save certain ones for that middle break down.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, yeah, and the thing about covering a show. I will say you can only cover a show once or twice, because I remember I had to cover a funk show one time. And I'm like, Oh, yeah, I got a lot of funk records, but I don't have that many honestly cause. It was a 3Â h block. So after about the second hour in, I'm running dry. I'm like, Oh, man! Now I'm starting to see where it's a true art form you do in that week in, week out, you've really gotta be digging and pulling and like really into like knowing a lot of stuff.
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Hong Lieu: and where this can segue into that and that segue like like. So if it is an algorithm, but it's it's a, it's, it's 1 that it's a human algorithm
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Hong Lieu: built up with all this knowledge that you've accumulated over the years. And it I mean it truly. Yeah, yeah, love, love, love the art of Djing love the the true culture of it, and like
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Hong Lieu: that, that aspect will be missed as well, Jesse, because doing a show for 11 years. You know how deep you've had to dig in those crates. So yeah, absolutely.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, yeah, it's been a. It's been a joy, a lot of different music that got introduced by just, you know, being a part of the Kcsb community like learning what other people are listening to. But also they've got an amazing
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Music library 62 years. I mean, they got a lot of final. It's it's pretty cool
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: again. Back to what Aquila saying next tapes. Man I I, that is definitely the lost art. And people are like, you know, books on tape. No, you mean like an audio book like no, I mean tape you know that sort of thing. I I don't know. Now a lot of people will see my handwriting anymore, because we're all typing on these keyboards and stuff. But my my handwriting is specifically based on a a Van Halen mix tape that I got, you know, when I was in like I don't know. Somewhere 8 or 9
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: great or something like that, I conscientiously said, I want to write like that. And so yeah, it's it's all that person's fault whomever gave me that mix tape.
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Hong Lieu: And and cause sit writing tracks on cassettes. There was not enough room. If you fit a lot of tracks on there you had a ride super small to fit all the track. If you were actually doing a track listing, I just stopped that. Probably. Just listen to this. I can't even tell you it's on here. And I and you asked me, I'll tell you. But I'm not gonna write it down because my yeah, my writing is atrocious. Anyways.
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Akil Hill: I remember my hands shaking.
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Akil Hill: cause you're like you wanted to be all you didn't want to misspell anything. You wanted it to be all nice because you're about to give it to somebody you cared about, you know, like all of that.
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Hong Lieu: And I'm a lefty so like the the the tape covers were glossy. So when I'd write, I'd smear my own writing.
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Akil Hill: Writing.
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Hong Lieu: Second hand. Oh, man, it was. It was a nightmare.
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Hong Lieu: The big CD help the big CD helped. But yeah, it's still not not perfect.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah. Well, thank you for that trip down down Memory Lane, and again you will be missed. But
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Hong Lieu: on that note we are segwaying Jesse good food or good eating, which is
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Akil Hill: Which is good, which is good food.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah. So so a a dish or restaurant, anything you wanna talk about food related?
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Hong Lieu: Recently, or throughout your life, if you want to kick us off.
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Hong Lieu: Go for.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Right on, right on. Oh, I'm a i'm a definite foodie, but I'm kind of a recovering foodie in the sense of I used to in another life, and whatever spend, probably far too much money on food. And now I'm a oh, man, I'm unabashedly a grocery outlet fan like I I love that whole like opportunistic thing, like sometimes, especially when I was like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: fresh out of doors from the the 1st marriage was like, oh, man, what am I gonna create? And at that time in Santa Barbara? For a short while they they built the store. They ran it for a couple of years, and then they bounced, but fresh and easy, was in town.
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Akil Hill: Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And fresh and easy, had that like clearance section, and I'd be like I play fresh and easy roulette, and it's like very few times did I ever get to? You know? Nothing. Get skunked. But yeah, I go over there and find you know what they have, and then start creating something, and just, you know, try to keep it budget styling, because, you know, I was paying that like family rent up in long poke. And then all of a sudden. It's like I'm paying full bore rent down here in Santa Barbara, and it's like, Wait! How do people eat and, like, you know, get paid once a month, and like, Oh, man, what's that look like so
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: fresh and easy roulette then became grocery outlet, you know. But I love me some pirogies there for a while, like it was. It was kind of funny
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: speaking of grocery outlet they have these these sort of off brand parokies. But they were super cheap, and I was like, man. Well, I'm gonna spice them up the way that I want them. Anyway, all I really need is this,
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: So I was
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: getting those for a while, but I'm originally from Pennsylvania, and I grew up with like homemade barogies, and, like, you know, the good ones have sauer crowd in them, or I mean there's all sorts of good ones, but the ones that I like the best, had sour crowd in them.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and no matter how you know
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: many different stores I went to, I can never find anything like that. So at 1 point in my life. I'm like, all right.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It is the I learned to make perogies part of my life. But that's kind of a major operation.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And so I ended up getting a couple of friends together. And we made this whole big parogi party.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yeah, it was labor love. But you get them in your freezer for a long time, and that was good. But do you guys know what a perugi is.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, yeah.
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Hong Lieu: my my wife had a friend whose grandmother
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Hong Lieu: was Polish.
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Hong Lieu: and so she would invite us over for dinner every now and then once in a blue moon. But it was like such a treat, because she would do this giant like oven, roasted pork, knuckle thing, and she would also have perogies as well, and it was some that was some good eating I'm telling you. So. Yeah, you you're hitting a sweet spot right there, cause I I remember, just cause I it was something where I grew up with pot stickers and dumplings and stuff like that.
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Hong Lieu: But the perogue is different enough, and and the and the seasoning. You're right. The seasoning gives it a different enough flavor that it was totally fresh and unique. When I was eating, cause I was like, Oh, yeah, I understand this just looking at it. But the flavor is so different. It is a uniquely kind of.
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Hong Lieu: you know, European kind of that kind of flavoring.
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Hong Lieu: so it's it gives it a totally fresh spin on it and it they were always so good, and it was the same thing as a dumbling pop sticker, where, in terms of a quick meal and a pinch.
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Hong Lieu: and at the end of the day you make it as complex or as simple as you want, because in a day it's just rolled out dough that you cut into little pieces and fill so you could fill with it. I mean it the most. The basic one is just fill a little bit potato or.
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Akil Hill: Potatoes.
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Hong Lieu: Just simple things, or you can make it as ordinary as you want. You can add ground beef, you have access to that, or you can add. So it's just it's a classic, you know, food of the people.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's a.
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Hong Lieu: Choice. I love.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: The connection you said about the dumplings pot stickers like, I've really thought about that before. It's like, Wow, it's kind of like an empanada. It's kind of like a tortelli or ravioli like these are like something that we can all agree on. But yeah, I'm interested our our colleague amity and human resources has a progi special that I have yet to enjoy. But I think they yeah, she goes
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: more of like a suite rather than a savory.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Right? Yeah. So there's all sorts of different ways that you.
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Akil Hill: Oh.
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Akil Hill: that's the classic argument, just like great, this sweet.
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Hong Lieu: That's easy. That's that's fine.
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Akil Hill: That's a that's that's a always a raging debate.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But why we gotta choose like, why can't it be both.
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Akil Hill: Both, to.
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Hong Lieu: Depends on the date absolutely.
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Akil Hill: But you know there's people out here, peers, you know, so they're like, no, don't put any sugar in my grits or
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Akil Hill: you know, whatever the case may be. But you know also, here's something that to put on, you guys plate. There's also an Afghan dish. One of my favorite Afghan dishes. It's called man tune and it's kinda like along that same similar lines of of the Progi, too, where it's like the pinch, and you can stuff it with different things. But yeah, if you ever in a spot where you're in a
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Akil Hill: trying to order something from an Afghan restaurant.
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Akil Hill: It's definitely worth trying it. It's 1 of my 1st memories of eating Afghan food.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, man, man tune. I'm I'm gonna check that out, you know, learn something. Listen in this. Podcast. Now, I'm learning being on it, that's cool.
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Hong Lieu: And they do. They do in like sometimes with like, it's kind of a tomatoey sauce around it.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: That that another little spin just a little tweaks the flavor, completely, change the dish, give it that regional specificity, and that's what makes things like that like.
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Hong Lieu: yeah, you, you just there's there's familiar aspects, everybody but those unique elements, what? Tied to a place. And that's what really makes like, oh, yeah, there we go. So.
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Akil Hill: And then they put a little bit.
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Akil Hill: Go ahead, Jesse.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: No, you go ahead.
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Akil Hill: Nothing. They just put a little bit of yogurt, and then they throw some dry mint on the top.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Well, you guys, mind if I geek out on that regional specificity for just a minute.
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Akil Hill: 7.
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Hong Lieu: That's what we're here for.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: No, exactly. I I've this is not interesting to maybe anybody but myself. But I'm I'm curious about like what constitutes a pig in a blanket where you're from.
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Hong Lieu: See, I I someone totally out of the game. It just like like learning about trying to make it. I think of it like a sausage is like a pancake, something like that, like a break.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Uhhuh. How about you? Akil.
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Akil Hill: My 1st would be
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Akil Hill: our dogs and
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Akil Hill: croissant.
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Akil Hill: but that's how I remember, like pigs in a blanket
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Akil Hill: like the Pillsbury's croissant. My mom used to make when it you know.
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Hong Lieu: No one. I was growing. Oh, man, roll a hot dog in there.
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Akil Hill: They put a hot dog in. Yeah, that's that's what I thought. Picking the book.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah, yeah, no, no, I I feels like that's sort of similar to what I understand. Like most of the California ones that I hear about. They're like, Oh, yeah, it was like one of those little cocktail weenies.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Like Croissant, I guess.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And I was like, Okay, okay. But my world was kind of really messed up because I was only 10 when I moved away from Pennsylvania. But it's very, very different in Pennsylvania, and I moved to Colorado, and they're like, it's like a hot dog sticking out of a drop biscuit. And I'm like, What is that like that? That's not. That's not picking up.
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Hong Lieu: That sounds really good, too. Someone who loves. I love biscuit sandwiches, and you know, biscuits, biscuits are like.
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Hong Lieu: That's probably my favorite cause, you know. With that batter you can make pancakes. You can make waffles, you can make biscuits. I think. My, the biscuit is my favorite of the 3. I love a good pancake, but the biscuit is like the most consistent in terms of. I've had really good pancakes, but with the same batter I've had really bad pancakes, but I never see anyone mess up a biscuit, you know, like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, no, but you never had a ricochet biscuit.
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Hong Lieu: What? Okay, I don't even know what a ricochet you gotta. Now you gotta let me know what a ricochet biscuit is. Is it so hard that you could throw it off the wall, and it bounces or.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: That's right. That's right.
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Hong Lieu: But then you could. You could.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Brothers.
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Hong Lieu: Crack it like. Oh, that's right, the blue! That's right. Never mind, but you could crack it like an oreo.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Hungry, bell Bobo.
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Hong Lieu: Crack like an oreo, the inside is gonna be still moist. So yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Well, that's true. No, but in Pennsylvania, I've I've heard different folks compare it to like a haloopy, but it's basically like rice and ground meat. You would think that it'd be like ground pork, but it's usually ground beef in our house and mixed with seasonings, and then, like wrapped in cabbage leaves and then slow cooked in a tomato like all day. And oh, my God, yeah, like, I still make those every now and again. This, oh, it's this next level. It's just some people call it stuff cabbage or haloos. But like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yeah, that was a pig in a blanket, and in my neck of the woods. And yeah, it's just always like that regional specificity of like, you know what people call like beefaroni or Chili Mac, or, you know, like all we all have different names, for, like essentially the same thing, you know, it's it's interesting to me.
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Hong Lieu: I mean chilly in Colorado versus chile in Colorado, New Mexico, versus chile in Texas. Versus chile, you know. So yeah.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Oh, yeah, well, I, I remember definitely a few barbecue conversations on previous Booker voices contest or podcasts. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yeah, the the regional specificity of barbecue is something else too.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: Alright so real quick, bringing it back to to grocery outlet because my wife, recently just just converted as well, and she goes there every weekend. I was part of her shopping shopping routine for the students out there that might be wanting a a meal on a budget. If you hit, go to grocery, outlet chopstyle, have to. You have, like 20 bucks to spend. What would you advise in terms of purchase and preparation? What are you buying, or what are you making with it?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: For some reason. Recently I have become a full on serial addict. I mean.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, oh, cereal is the best.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I used to like cereal like with Saturday morning cartoons and stuff like that, and that was about it, you know. But then, at some point I like started putting peanut butter and fruit in it, and like so they got like the cheapest
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: almond milks and stuff like that around like I'm I can't afford to be an almond milk. As much cereal as I eat like so grocery outlets keeps me like that. They also like as much as I love, and we'll miss living or close by walking distance to a trader. Joe's I I can't get with Trader Joe's tortilla chips. They're just they're they're not
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: my bag, but grocery outlets got the greasy ones. They got the crispy ones. They got lots of different chips, and those ones are kind of like things that are always there, which is like kinda nice, that and ice cream like you'll be spending like 7 or $8 for like a pint of ice cream else elsewhere, and like you can get it there for a dollar 99. I'm like, all right, I can work with that.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But yeah, honestly, another one of those things.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I remember Jordan was talking about during the pandemic and and everybody going sourdough bread. Yeah, we definitely
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: we still make Zardo on my family, too. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: all of a sudden all the like, the spaghetti, sauces and stuff were disappearing off the shelves, and the only thing left was paste, and I'm like, well, I should be cooking with paste, anyway, and so like that became a thing like I started buying tomato paste and making my red sauces out of that. And, man, you really like, it's it's yeah. It's a super cheap thing that you can do. You can make it into pizza sauce, you can make, you know. And then there's that sourdough again. It's like, Oh, I got a I got a pizza crust already, you know I made it with with
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Clyde is my sourdough starter's name.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know. You gotta have a name for your sourdough starter. I had like several different iterations of the Sourdough starter, and when it got to be the 4th in honor of our previous colleague, Clyde Lee Nelson, the 4.th
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Akil Hill: Like Lee.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah.
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Akil Hill: That's exactly who I thought about once you said it.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: So yeah, Clyde, you know, busts out the pizza dough, and then, you know, you got your your cheap can of sauce, and you got yourself a pizza.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and it's so good cause it's like you put all the things on it. You want none of the things you don't.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yeah, it's kind of spoiled me. I I haven't gone out to pizza in a long time. And when I do, I'm kind of like, yeah, just I want
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Pepperoni, because I want all the grease cause I don't really get all the grease on my homemade pizzas. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yeah, I I'd say that's a 1. But that's the thing about grocery outlet is like you can go with a list and grocery outlet just laughs at you like you're just you're going there to like, you know. See what they have.
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Hong Lieu: Have. Yeah, exactly.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I kinda compare it to like Ross, but for food, you know, they got good stuff, you know. But you don't know what you're gonna get.
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Akil Hill: Yeah. Well, look I, I'm I'm a firm believer. It's sometimes it's innate to human beings. It's about the hunt. You know what I mean, like.
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Akil Hill: you know, I think sometimes you know you know, when you're into a certain thing you the hunt makes it
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Akil Hill: like that. Much more rewarding, you know, like
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Akil Hill: you know, I remember when the pandemic hit and kind of got into thrifting a bit for like like home decor and stuff and and Facebook marketplace. And and then sometimes I'm like, I'm like, it's just really about the hunt, like really trying to seek it out, find it at a cheaper price, and sometimes you can haggle. Like to me, man, that's good living.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I had to come to that the the roundabout way, like I was much more of a buyer like I want in and out. And then you're exactly right, like when it came to grocery outlet. I'm gonna take my time. I'm gonna enjoy this. We have literally gone there as like date night cause that we're that old, you know. We're like, let's go to Grocery Outlet, you know. But the the thing that I I really can relate to you, said Driftin, is like, you know, I'm a i'm a Vinaal Dj, but like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: buying records the full price. Oh, no, I ain't. Nobody got enough money for that. So it was like, let's go to the thrift, and then it's absolutely like, Alright I I don't need any more carpenters or Tennessee or any Ford. Where's the good stuff like? It's the thrill of the hunt, and like, I don't want to go shopping at all. But I'll go record shopping for hours.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And yeah, and it's usually because I've gone to like 2 different thrift stores. And yeah along those lines. That's another thing that's interested me is that like we've got several different.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know. There's a bunch of different alpha thrifts in town. There's the Catholic charities. And then there's this one
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: over by like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: the Ralphs and the and the
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: barbecue join off there and delete it.
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Hong Lieu: Yep.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And they individually price their records. And it's just astonishing, like most of the time. It's like 50 cents, or, you know, here in Santa Barbara. It's like $2 for a record or something like that. But you go there, and it's like a dollar 88 or something like that. I'm like, what makes you think that like, you know, I don't know. It's just interesting to me. But yeah, I I do.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I do like the thrill of the hunt when it comes to grocery, deals and and records.
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Akil Hill: Well, we all 3 of us have to get together, and and, you know, just do like a a record
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Akil Hill: Vinyl crawl, cause I'm the I'm just recently got into Vinyl. I mean, I was when I mean, I grew up on Vinyl because my parents and stuff but recently kinda just circled back to it, and like
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Akil Hill: the the addiction is real. So I mean, we gotta we gotta. We gotta plan to do something like that. Some shops down in Ventura, and as well as in Santa Barbara.
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Hong Lieu: Before you leave. Warbler. Yeah, Warbler, you can get.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: Get in there on because they have the bottom. The bottom row is like a lot of their their cheap bins, and they get a lot of decent stuff for pretty cheap over there.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah, love me, some warbler they got that section called cheap jazz exotica. I'm like, that's that's me. That's exactly right.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But, Ventura, you got Grady's. You got saucers? That's some good stuff right.
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Akil Hill: Yeah, I stay in Salisbury.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah. Sauces is such a like, a that's an institution. I don't know what the saucers video was ever like before that went up. But yeah, sausers, that self. It's like man. It's like, part head shop, part record store. And like, yeah, it's just a full day's entertainment going there, too.
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Hong Lieu: It's a bona fide designing all those old concert posters for the bowl and stuff. So yeah, it's it's pretty cool.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: thank you for that. Thank you for that. That was that was good eating right there from pierogis to grocery outlet, to digging in the crates like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Liquor's pizza.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, you can't beat that.
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Hong Lieu: Can't beat that
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Hong Lieu: alright. Should we go queue? Or should we just go to go to higher learning? What do you think.
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Akil Hill: Just go straight to higher, like.
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Hong Lieu: Yeah, that's good. Cause I think Riff, riffing off. Jesse is just the way to go. I feel like.
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Akil Hill: Yeah.
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Hong Lieu: I agree. So it's alright. Jesse. Kick us off again. Higher learning piece of culture, anything, book, music, movie, food, I mean, not food, but book, music, movie, TV, game, anything you got.
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Hong Lieu: Let's let's do it. Let's Riff.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah, you know, I
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I've started to.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I'm now a convert. You know, I like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: physical media. I really like records. I like the smell of them. I like, you know, looking at the old liner notes, and like things that are inappropriate now, and like you know, I I like the time capsule element. And I I'd literally like the smell of old records. And the same thing goes for me for books like, I really like holding the book.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but I recently enjoyed the covenant of water, and I was like man. I could have used that on my kindle cause. That thing was like I was like, gonna knock myself out if I fell asleep reading that thing it was heavy because it's a tome
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: so recently I got into a kindle and that, you know, I saw my wife having one, and she's like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, we're going on these bike packing adventures. You know. We're in the middle of the woods, and you know, and she busts it out, and she can read in the dark, and she's got like 18 books on there, and I'm like, you know, I got half of a a book that I ripped in half because I already read the other one, and I didn't want. I didn't need to carry the extra weight, you know, or something. So it it.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's definitely open my eyes. But the the challenge on that for me is like sometimes I don't even remember what I'm reading while I'm reading it.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I'm I'm reading that Margaret Atwood right now, but it was like I had to like, go and like, go back to the home page a couple of times, cause it's like, you know, you pick it up, and it doesn't that you're not looking at the cover. You're not like thinking about like who you're reading.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: But yeah, I've been
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I'm an old white guy. I'm pushing, coming up on 50. And you know, all the systems of oppression are aimed at benefiting me.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And we've seen a lot of old white guys in print for a really long time. And you know, it's kinda
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: nice to get away from that.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I definitely have had a lot of people in my life. That have introduced me to great works
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: from people of color from women. My wife is definitely included in kind of just like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know they had their time. Let me let me read somebody else. But then, you know, like, along with the rest of the world. During these last few years there's been a
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a real racial reckoning, and when Patrice Collurs came through
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: City College and gave her talk, and was talking about
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: when they call you a terrorist and I started reading that, and it was like game change like I still like my mental chewing gum, and just, you know, reading something
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: light and fluffy at the end of the day. My, you know
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I don't know Harry Potter, or something like that, you know. But
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's it provided a
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: a necessary outlet for me to like. Be able to dig in
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and read about.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: even if I don't feel like I've I know what the work is, or how do I get involved with the work, or what do I do? You know?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I mean definitely
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: sign up for your local search chapter, you know. Do what you, whatever you can do. But the being able to read and fill your mind. So you're not asking the question. You know, of folks of color, colleagues of color, friends of color like you're you're filling in some of those
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: gaps of knowledge, those areas that you might should have known. But your privilege blinded you to them. So you know, I
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I just really enjoy going through different books. I I know our friend up in the foundation
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Rachel Johnson has, definitely inspired me on a lot of different books along those lines about getting away from
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: just
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: white chopes and just getting into a little bit more. Substance. It's always kind of fun to like. See? I I think I introduced her to black cake. I was like, Oh, man, you know I actually read something before you read it like that. Felt like a badge, you know, or something with that. But it's I think, books and the sun magazine. Those have been my real big enjoyments. Recently, I don't have a television. I still love me. Some movies. I definitely
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: we'll watch a movie on the laptop. From time to time I got my old Dvds. You know I got some big Lebowski that I watch, and all that, but in in general, you know, I'm I'm a i'm a book guy, you know. I just get a chance at the end of the day, after doing all the things. And believe you me, there are a lot of things to do these days. At the end of the day. It's like, Oh, man.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: what I really would like to do is like, curl up in bed and read a book. My wife and I are like reading books next to each other, and like, That's that's heaven right there. But it's it's kind of nice like sometimes it's it is like watching television. I'm just reading, you know, this Margaret Atwood right now, it's really interesting. And it's kind of science fiction, and it's kind of.
365
00:51:10.060 --> 00:51:15.390
Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, social commentary. But at the same time it's like light and easily digestible, and something that I like
366
00:51:15.580 --> 00:51:18.349
Jesse (he/him) Felix: it allows me to just relax at the end of the day.
367
00:51:18.750 --> 00:51:37.950
Jesse (he/him) Felix: And then, like I mentioned the the Sun Magazine, a friend of ours gave us a subscription to the Sun magazine. And it's it's amazing. It's been around for 50 years. There are no ads. And it's all black and white photography. And these amazing pieces. They always have one large interview, and, like several
368
00:51:38.260 --> 00:51:44.209
Jesse (he/him) Felix: poetry sections, essayists, excerpts from different things. And it's really
369
00:51:44.250 --> 00:51:48.169
Jesse (he/him) Felix: topical. And get revolutionary, and
370
00:51:48.260 --> 00:51:51.359
Jesse (he/him) Felix: every single time I mean, I can't think of a single one
371
00:51:51.580 --> 00:51:54.040
Jesse (he/him) Felix: where, like I'm reading it.
372
00:51:54.310 --> 00:51:57.250
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I very frequently on the same page. I am
373
00:51:57.550 --> 00:52:00.869
Jesse (he/him) Felix: absolutely laughing like, embarrass yourself
374
00:52:00.890 --> 00:52:02.909
Jesse (he/him) Felix: in public kind of laughing, and then
375
00:52:03.110 --> 00:52:08.249
Jesse (he/him) Felix: literally crying. I mean, I cried pretty easy, anyway, but like man, it's it's a
376
00:52:08.310 --> 00:52:11.180
Jesse (he/him) Felix: really important touchdown on, like.
377
00:52:11.980 --> 00:52:14.299
Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, I'd like to be informed, and
378
00:52:14.500 --> 00:52:21.220
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I love me. Some heather, Cox Richardson, and her letters from an American like just encapsulating the news in a way
379
00:52:21.420 --> 00:52:28.079
Jesse (he/him) Felix: that's sort of gauged against a historical lens. But there's something about like being
380
00:52:29.160 --> 00:52:34.010
Jesse (he/him) Felix: that news cycle, you know, rinse and repeat, and like the the amnesiac
381
00:52:34.020 --> 00:52:44.410
Jesse (he/him) Felix: sort of way that it like. There's so so many turns in the new cycle that it we all either get overwhelmed or just decide the 2 now, and there's something about like reading
382
00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:46.870
Jesse (he/him) Felix: the Sun magazine that just kinda
383
00:52:46.990 --> 00:52:48.419
Jesse (he/him) Felix: gives me a little bit more.
384
00:52:49.395 --> 00:52:52.719
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Sometimes it's like really tempered with dang
385
00:52:53.050 --> 00:52:59.070
Jesse (he/him) Felix: like that's tragedy that's happening right now that I'm not experiencing. And so it it's definitely not
386
00:52:59.850 --> 00:53:06.470
Jesse (he/him) Felix: like just sunshine. It's definitely some some darks as well. But I yeah, I think those are
387
00:53:06.939 --> 00:53:19.400
Jesse (he/him) Felix: some of the things that I've been enjoying, just a lot of books getting into my kindle. And you know, seeing what I can get right my right at my fingertips. I love me that Libby app, you know you get, you know, because I'm not a big.
388
00:53:19.470 --> 00:53:28.601
Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know. Again we live in Santa Barbara, you know I can't be buying books all the time, but if you can borrow it through your kindle, or, you know, borrowed our local public. I love my my East Side.
389
00:53:29.336 --> 00:53:33.703
Jesse (he/him) Felix: library annex. Yeah, it's it's what really fuels me.
390
00:53:34.350 --> 00:53:40.059
Jesse (he/him) Felix: helps me to relax at the end of the day, entertains me, and sometimes informs me.
391
00:53:41.320 --> 00:53:47.269
Akil Hill: Now you cannot bring up Harry Potter and not tell us what your house is, cause I know you've taken the test.
392
00:53:47.830 --> 00:53:52.019
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I don't know that I have taken the test. Oh, are you good to guess so? Yes, please. What? What.
393
00:53:52.404 --> 00:54:00.485
Akil Hill: I'm gonna ask. I think you are. I'm Gonna guess, Ravenclaw, either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. You're you're one of those 2.
394
00:54:01.186 --> 00:54:10.163
Akil Hill: But then I don't know, because then your other so many. You're you got so many facets to you, though, because then I would say, like, you're super outgoing. Then I would be like, maybe he's a gryffindor.
395
00:54:10.470 --> 00:54:17.959
Akil Hill: But I think your mind is definitely, you're like a researcher. You're like, I'm gonna say, either. I'm gonna say, Ravenclaw.
396
00:54:18.050 --> 00:54:19.109
Akil Hill: final answer.
397
00:54:20.148 --> 00:54:21.702
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I don't know.
398
00:54:22.250 --> 00:54:41.700
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I never did contemplate. I never took a test. But you know I I when you when you asked it, Ravenclaw was one that popped in my head. But that's probably because I think my niece like had switched alliances over the years and landed on Ravenclaws her final house. But yeah, it's definitely got me some good uncle points knowing some Harry Potter lore.
399
00:54:42.230 --> 00:54:45.169
Akil Hill: I'm gonna send you the test, and that's 1 of the things
400
00:54:45.700 --> 00:54:47.879
Akil Hill: things you have to do before you leave. Hang out and let us know.
401
00:54:47.880 --> 00:54:51.660
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Hey? You know the exit interviews got these mandatory things. I'm cool with that.
402
00:54:53.280 --> 00:54:59.671
Hong Lieu: And shout out to Santa Barbara Public Library in the Liby app. You know, the East Side Library is part of the Santa Barbara public library system.
403
00:55:00.519 --> 00:55:07.549
Hong Lieu: checking out all the books you need, although. Yeah, I'm still ha! I still have trouble with ebooks and and audio books.
404
00:55:07.770 --> 00:55:12.349
Hong Lieu: I still like the physical book. But again, for your situation, those situations where you're camping you're on a trip.
405
00:55:12.500 --> 00:55:15.880
Hong Lieu: Lugging around a bunch of books is very difficult. But
406
00:55:16.280 --> 00:55:25.969
Hong Lieu: but yeah, great takes and shout, yeah, shout out the sun magazine just cross 50 years. I think they started in 1974, based on North Carolina. Just
407
00:55:26.060 --> 00:55:27.300
Hong Lieu: a really good.
408
00:55:27.320 --> 00:55:39.430
Hong Lieu: not just a good thing for people to read, but a good outlet for creatives. If you do poetry, if you write, you know, essays and short fiction and things of that sort. They've been taking submissions, you know, in an ad free format for 50 years. So.
409
00:55:39.550 --> 00:55:42.980
Hong Lieu: both in terms of their service to creatives, giving them a place to submit their work
410
00:55:43.040 --> 00:55:49.990
Hong Lieu: as well as for folks to just read, to enjoy it. I mean, shout out the sun just just 50 years started, you know, just just this year. So that's awesome.
411
00:55:50.170 --> 00:55:59.419
Jesse (he/him) Felix: And and that's they even have like a readers. Right? So you know, if you want to warm up, you know, you can just submit on different topics. They they cover. You know.
412
00:55:59.460 --> 00:56:25.059
Jesse (he/him) Felix: this one's about yard sales. And so everybody's got something they can say about yard sales. And yeah, yeah, that's that's great. And and Eastside public library. Yeah, I I love the folks over there. I think they're getting a face lift. They're gonna be doing some construction this year, but that's been super good for me, like I don't get over to downtown all that time. I like being able to walk over to my local library, have my favorite little librarian over there, and all that stuff. I I'm certainly a big fan of that. I
413
00:56:25.150 --> 00:56:31.588
Jesse (he/him) Felix: for myself. It would. Didn't always work for me, either, because I wasn't. I wasn't really a reader growing up.
414
00:56:32.260 --> 00:56:42.879
Jesse (he/him) Felix: my! My mom's always saying like, Hey, you should read the Chronicles in Narnia, or you know, Lord of the Rings. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm good. And then it didn't happen until like
415
00:56:42.960 --> 00:56:44.819
Jesse (he/him) Felix: somewhere, I think it was like
416
00:56:45.150 --> 00:57:01.250
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I wanted to read, and all I could read were all the things that I had to read for college. And then, once I graduated. It was like, I'm gonna read what I want to read. And I started becoming a voracious reader, and I was just like, couldn't get enough. So it came to me sort of late, and I think for a
417
00:57:01.250 --> 00:57:16.570
Jesse (he/him) Felix: long time I was like, man. I don't know if I can finish a book before. It's you know, I have to return it. And so that was kind of like kept me on the fence. And but now now I'm I'm yeah. Instead of TV or whatever I'm I'm reading all the time. So it it's not an issue there, but
418
00:57:16.890 --> 00:57:23.379
Jesse (he/him) Felix: along the lines of the convenience of the the E-readers, you know. You could just turn off the Wi-fi.
419
00:57:23.721 --> 00:57:31.330
Jesse (he/him) Felix: and all of a sudden, you know you don't have to get it read by the time that it's you know, it disappears because, you know
420
00:57:31.570 --> 00:57:35.951
Jesse (he/him) Felix: it's it's there on your reader. But no, it it's been
421
00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:39.809
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah. It's been a cool thing to be able to like
422
00:57:40.190 --> 00:57:53.220
Jesse (he/him) Felix: change gears, you know. Sometimes, like I say, I love the smell and and the feel of tactile media like, you know. One of my dear friends is, you know, Mark. So Letsie, and he's a you know, was a book buyer, and
423
00:57:53.390 --> 00:58:18.060
Jesse (he/him) Felix: for a long time, and you know he's he's got a love affair with books that surpasses my own. I think they're like furnitures made out of books, but it's definitely like one of those things where? You know, there's there's a there's a time and a place for that. And then, you know, sometimes when you're in bed and you got something that you don't have to have a light on. You can just have like your little screen glowing at you, and you'll be able to read. That's that's pretty cool, too.
424
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Hong Lieu: I don't know if I could live. I didn't have a TV. I'll be honest with you, but good for you.
425
00:58:29.060 --> 00:58:36.170
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Well, I told you like, you know, there were times, you know, different times in my life. I remember when I went to college, and it's like, you know, man.
426
00:58:36.740 --> 00:58:42.129
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I'm above that. I don't want a television, you know, like that's, you know. I felt like I was superior like, Oh, I mean.
427
00:58:42.130 --> 00:58:42.780
Akil Hill: Yeah.
428
00:58:42.780 --> 00:58:43.180
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I don.
429
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Akil Hill: Kill your TV, kill your TV. Remember that slogan.
430
00:58:46.670 --> 00:59:07.289
Jesse (he/him) Felix: That's still on my bicycle. I got my bicycle that that I've been riding out for 30 years. It still has a killer television on it. But yeah, yeah, it was like very elitist of me. And I felt superior or whatever. And then I realized, is, really, I'm just as escapist as anybody. I'm like, I just, wanna you know, go into a different world and the one I'm living. And you know, that's that's reading. It's just given this, like.
431
00:59:07.600 --> 00:59:09.219
Jesse (he/him) Felix: you know, sort of
432
00:59:10.660 --> 00:59:29.059
Jesse (he/him) Felix: image of of being like intellectually superior or something, but it's not and and then different times, like I shortly after college. Then it was like, Oh, well, I began to appreciate comedy, and like how, at the end of the rough day, or whatever having a little bit of comedy a little half hour. Comedy was like, Oh, makes me feel good and like, so I kinda like got
433
00:59:29.380 --> 00:59:36.919
Jesse (he/him) Felix: brought back into the fold with television, so much so that, like when I separated from my 1st wife, it was like man. But what happened on game of thrones
434
00:59:37.670 --> 00:59:57.959
Jesse (he/him) Felix: like I didn't know, cause. Like, all of a sudden, I didn't have a TV. And like, yeah, it was life, what? Life was different, you know. But yeah, that was another thing. It was like, alright. You know I'm on the couch circuit. I I can't keep up with my television. And then I was like, Man, I I gotta pay rent, I can't afford to, you know, like, pay for cable. And yeah, it's been interesting. I am.
435
00:59:57.960 --> 01:00:12.409
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I had the Netflix for a while, and you know I love me some. I don't know what it is like. The story is as old as time, like good versus evil, you know, Superman, or you know, super being or whatever. But for some reason
436
01:00:12.440 --> 01:00:21.969
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I am a comic geek like I give me all the marvels I'll I'll take them. You know all those like Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, and like I that was like when I had Netflix and was man, I
437
01:00:22.090 --> 01:00:33.609
Jesse (he/him) Felix: the more the merrier. But again, I like, I don't know what it is. It's like intellectually, it doesn't seem like it would be that satisfying like, yeah, the good guy wins in the end like. But yet, for some reason, yeah.
438
01:00:33.984 --> 01:00:35.040
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I'm attracted to it.
439
01:00:35.200 --> 01:00:41.045
Hong Lieu: But they don't always win, and it never ends, because that's how they keep you going right? Gotta keep buying those issues. So.
440
01:00:41.760 --> 01:00:44.550
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Yeah. And the and the good guy isn't always all good.
441
01:00:44.550 --> 01:01:07.610
Hong Lieu: Yep. And then, yeah, cause there'll be a plot to us like halfway through to get you to to buy more issues. That's why I love the stories that begin and end like. I love comics myself, and I was an avid collector when I was young. But then some of the stories like the Spider Man, the Superman, those never end. So then I started to go into those one shots. You know, the 12 issue Mini Series 24 issue Mini series. Same with anime like the stuff that begins and ends I really love. Now, where's the stuff that goes for 500 episodes?
442
01:01:07.610 --> 01:01:17.540
Hong Lieu: I ain't got time for, but at the same time I love it all. I respect it all, but in terms of what's for me. I need that I need that beginning and the end, and the you know, finality of of those kind of things.
443
01:01:17.830 --> 01:01:21.614
Akil Hill: That's that's why novellas are s superior to soap operas. Dude
444
01:01:21.950 --> 01:01:25.889
Akil Hill: cause they all they all they're gonna end. They're all gonna end, you know.
445
01:01:26.040 --> 01:01:26.640
Hong Lieu: Yeah.
446
01:01:27.442 --> 01:01:35.477
Akil Hill: Yeah. But I will say, if you're looking to watch something that that goes for days, but it eventually doesn't.
447
01:01:36.212 --> 01:01:39.717
Akil Hill: Oh, I don't know. I don't think it's on Netflix anymore. But
448
01:01:40.080 --> 01:01:42.600
Akil Hill: it's a show, a Turkish show. It's called Artigo.
449
01:01:43.010 --> 01:01:45.610
Akil Hill: And it's basically the history of Turkey.
450
01:01:46.080 --> 01:01:47.520
Akil Hill: Really really
451
01:01:48.200 --> 01:01:49.016
Akil Hill: good
452
01:01:50.710 --> 01:02:00.370
Akil Hill: series. But it's it's wild. There's so many episodes in that. I don't even know how long it took to for them to film it. But and ironically I was. I was head in
453
01:02:00.460 --> 01:02:04.349
Akil Hill: like I was deep in, and I couldn't stop, and so
454
01:02:04.840 --> 01:02:22.629
Akil Hill: I had the fortune of actually finishing it when I was in Turkey. So that was that was pretty cool. I had a I was on my phone. I was finishing it. I'm like it's over, it's over, it's over. But yeah, so if you're looking to indulge yourself, that's definitely something that's worth checking out.
455
01:02:22.790 --> 01:02:23.839
Jesse (he/him) Felix: The title again.
456
01:02:24.750 --> 01:02:26.060
Akil Hill: Article.
457
01:02:26.250 --> 01:02:32.569
Akil Hill: I'll send it to you. Yeah, it's it's like the history of Turkey with and
458
01:02:32.640 --> 01:02:35.099
Akil Hill: from the triggers perspective.
459
01:02:35.816 --> 01:02:42.989
Akil Hill: I'll I'll go. I'll send it to just we'll get in the show notes, or I'll send it to Hong. We'll get in the show notes.
460
01:02:42.990 --> 01:03:02.401
Hong Lieu: And then touching on your your earliest, your earliest picks. You know you mentioned Patrice colors. You mentioned the covenant of water. I mean it. It's 1 of those things where the ideas I mean a lot of a lot of older folks, you know, like straight up boomers. Let's just say it a lot of boomers. Some of these ideas that are now becoming to the forefront and being written about and being, you know, just discussed.
461
01:03:02.890 --> 01:03:17.000
Hong Lieu: I mean it. It just wasn't a just wasn't talked about very much back in the day. It was just not. It was just like kind of hidden, but kind of also just not bubbled up to get published, and things of that sort. So I feel like a part of it is, a lot of folks just didn't know, and they're coming to a late.
462
01:03:17.000 --> 01:03:43.229
Hong Lieu: And then some folks are just straight up deniers where they're like now, now, they know, like, Oh, well, this is what I know from what I know. They're just, you know, refusing to get their head out of the sand, so to speak. But I like that. You I couched, you know the Governor Waters, a historical fiction. So there's there were ways where this stuff was bubbling up, and you mentioned science fiction and fantasy. And that was primarily the way I learned a lot about, you know certain political concepts and certain political ideas and theories and things. That sort was
463
01:03:43.470 --> 01:03:57.429
Hong Lieu: when you couch it in a sci 5 veneer, you know, like that something like dune, or those kind of books where you have these full political systems. You know, as I ask them, else, foundation trilogy. You can have these discussions about what's right and what's wrong within these systems without actually
464
01:03:57.430 --> 01:04:24.309
Hong Lieu: using the names of the actual systems and getting yourself in trouble, you know, in terms of the editorial controls of the forties and fifties. And before that, even so, I I? It's 1 of those things where I like that you not only name drop current books that are actually having these conversations full throated out in the open, which is long overdue. It needs to happen because people need to be seen and represented in kind of the stories and ideas that are being floated today. But then you're also referring to the things of the past where these things were bubbling up before.
465
01:04:24.310 --> 01:04:50.949
Hong Lieu: So it's kind of like a a a cultural anthrop anthropology of the whole idea of like, you know, science fiction, fantasy, bringing these ideas up, comic books kind of bubbling these ideas up in secret and then to now, where we finally have these conversations, and hopefully, more people commit to engaging in these conversations, and really trying to kind of put themselves in there and see what? See, what they they really know about themselves and their communities, you know. So yeah, thank you for all these picks.
466
01:04:50.950 --> 01:04:54.950
Jesse (he/him) Felix: Beautifully put. No, I I mean, who doesn't love Octavia Butler, and
467
01:04:54.980 --> 01:04:57.509
Jesse (he/him) Felix: and you know just that. What you said
468
01:04:57.550 --> 01:05:02.989
Jesse (he/him) Felix: it. It makes a lot of sense like not only the historical and the contemporary
469
01:05:04.613 --> 01:05:05.720
Jesse (he/him) Felix: connection, but
470
01:05:06.120 --> 01:05:08.200
Jesse (he/him) Felix: what people are willing to
471
01:05:08.670 --> 01:05:26.469
Jesse (he/him) Felix: interact with like if it's just entertainment. And then they're suddenly realizing that they oh, I I didn't think of it that way. And like, you can contextualize it for them and say, Yeah, but don't you feel like this way, you know, in reference to this, it's it is one of those stepping stones that can maybe
472
01:05:26.720 --> 01:05:41.430
Jesse (he/him) Felix: segue into a more courageous conversation with that uncle or with, you know, that problematic person, or you know, something like that getting a chance to say, like, Yeah, but we have this common ground like, don't you understand? Like, you know, it's I really enjoy that that notion.
473
01:05:42.103 --> 01:05:44.786
Jesse (he/him) Felix: I I was thinking along those lines,
474
01:05:45.400 --> 01:05:46.490
Jesse (he/him) Felix: one of the
475
01:05:47.190 --> 01:05:48.714
Jesse (he/him) Felix: one of the ways that
476
01:05:49.290 --> 01:05:56.639
Jesse (he/him) Felix: My wife has helped me to understand like an interesting concept. You know, we we hear about like the book bands
477
01:05:57.297 --> 01:05:59.982
Jesse (he/him) Felix: from ridiculous States and ridiculous.
478
01:06:01.650 --> 01:06:03.890
Jesse (he/him) Felix: very power hungry and
479
01:06:05.110 --> 01:06:06.540
Jesse (he/him) Felix: challenged people.
480
01:06:07.700 --> 01:06:21.490
Jesse (he/him) Felix: but like it, it almost makes sense. It's like, not that like I'm approving of that. I'm very much the opposite. But like I can understand, like, Wow, you know, it's because, like in this. I I love, there's this young adults, book and
481
01:06:22.042 --> 01:06:25.170
Jesse (he/him) Felix: forgetting the exact title, I think, is this poison heart.
482
01:06:25.180 --> 01:06:35.310
Jesse (he/him) Felix: and it's about this young black woman who's got these extra powers and stuff. And you know, so it's it's really engaging on like a sci-fi fantasy way. But then, you know, like
483
01:06:35.550 --> 01:06:42.259
Jesse (he/him) Felix: the police officer in this particular town is more of an information officer, because they, like, you know.
484
01:06:42.500 --> 01:07:03.409
Jesse (he/him) Felix: went through some semblance of like defunding the police. And, like, you know, like there was that thing. And like this, the protagonist parents were 2 moms and like things like that where it was like, not only representation but normalization. And it's like, yeah, like, isn't this an amazing book? And like, aren't you intrigued? And and and at the same time you're not, you know.
485
01:07:03.650 --> 01:07:10.060
Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's not indoctrination as as I think that we like hear from the the far
486
01:07:10.190 --> 01:07:10.885
Jesse (he/him) Felix: right
487
01:07:11.830 --> 01:07:15.850
Jesse (he/him) Felix: we nuts. But like the the the actual
488
01:07:15.970 --> 01:07:38.499
Jesse (he/him) Felix: representation of non white, like protagonists. And like, Hey, isn't this an intriguing read, and like seeing yourself in these different roles and like, whether it's because you know, you've come from marginalized identity or or community, and see yourself represented here, or whether you're like myself, you know, an old white guy, and you're reading this and seeing yourself in there. It's like it.
489
01:07:38.500 --> 01:07:53.579
Jesse (he/him) Felix: It's super connective. And I think that like normalizing that like, Hey, let's let's read a book about this. And it's not like, Oh, well, yeah, that was weird because it had this like, no, it was a fantastic book. Oh, yeah. Then it also had those things in there like, I I think that's like
490
01:07:53.830 --> 01:07:56.120
Jesse (he/him) Felix: part of that, that that
491
01:07:56.350 --> 01:08:02.830
Jesse (he/him) Felix: getting it on multiple fronts like we can have those courageous conversations with individuals. And we
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: learn we need to learn how to better do that. I'll like to talk a little bit more about that in a second. But I think, like the multi-pronged approach is really what's gonna help. Like, if popular media, we're really more reflective of the complexity of who we are as individuals and how we interact.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Then it wouldn't be so like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: strange to so many boomers or or other folks in in like really coming up with. You know, an understanding of not everybody's like me. I I think
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: the the current, the courageous conversations bit I'm
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: tempted to talk about a little bit. We
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: shortly after George Floyd's murder and a racial reckoning hit not only the the nation, but our
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Santa Barbara City college community. We started having folks going through crossroads, anti-racism training. We started getting little pieces of
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: allyship, of people wanting to learn, of people wanting to do something to make things better, not only in our community, but in ourselves, and and maybe the nation as a whole.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: You know that that we suddenly.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: especially for us white folk, was like, oh, is that what's happening here like? I didn't realize that. And all of a sudden this like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: urgency or call to action. And
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: within the Santa Barbara City College community, we have, like an anti-racism community that was sort of evolving sort of with some structure, and also yet sort of loose
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but in that Justina Buller, who i i i don't know if you have had on the podcast already an amazing resource here at city college,
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: for her work, not only in her instruction, but specifically in her new role as a faculty resource. I'm not exactly sure of the title, but basically professional development for faculty members. Has really taken that role and and run with it and opened up. A lot of things like we're we're talking before with the
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: embodied Social justice community with them. Restorative justice, community and and other things has really been amazing. With that we work together,
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and along with previous colleague, Ken Lee sort of being tri chairs of a group that was basically called that we basically called ourselves courageous conversations. And it was like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: an attempt to
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: get out of our bodies like when we're having that, you know, sort of the etiro training and enlightened a lot of us to that that like when we're in an uncomfortable situation, or when we're triggered and our body goes into that sort of
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: fight or flight or freeze sort of situation. How do we regulate our body? How do we know, you know? Get to a place where we can think creatively? And not be reactive? And how do we move forward, and sometimes, you know, somebody says some straight up racist stuff, and you're like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: triggered by that, and you don't know exactly how to have a conversation, or if you should be having a conversation, or how you know, that'll work like we were really looking to grow our ability as individuals to interact. And of course, I see that being helpful at our community level, at our Santa Barbara City college community level.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but as individuals and taking it into our our bigger world and our bigger reach, because as much as we would like to think that like, it's the administration's job, or it's, you know, some, the politicians jobs. It's like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: yes, and we it. It is also our job. And like, how do we learn? And especially as a white guy like, I have an in with other white guys like they're gonna listen to me in a different way, or or they might, you know and like, How do I, you know, bring perspectives and and things that would be illuminating, illuminating, or elucidative. To to that. And and how do I do that without
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: being preachy but with an honest sense of curiosity, and so working in that, like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: courageous conversations, Group was really helpful, and we unpacked. Justina brought a lot of resources. One of them was this model of deep canvassing where
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: we're listening to somebody not with an agenda.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I mean. I guess it's still kind of an agenda, but not really an agenda. The agenda is like, how do we just
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: share? How do I hear
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: what you are going through? And how do I share what I'm going through. And then maybe this is the maybe agenda piece is like, we'll find that like.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Hey, we we both want what's best for our kids, or like some sort of common ground like that. Like as humans, we may be
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: way across the board politically or in other ways, but like, what sort of common ground do we have?
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And if we humanize folks, if we're rehumanizing people that are different than us.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: and we're able to see a little bit more from their perspective, like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: it allows us to be in that space where we actually can co-create where we can listen.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: So I think that's
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: one of the the elements of the work that's been going on here that I'm really excited about, and and hopeful that it'll continue in in some form or another, it's definitely enriched. My life.
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Hong Lieu: Great shout out Will Sid.
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Hong Lieu: Nice way to wrap the segment. You've done it all, Jesse. You've done it all today, so.
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Akil Hill: Thank you. Jesse.
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Hong Lieu: Thank you very much for coming on the show. It was an honor to have you
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: You all thank you so much for the work that you do in this podcast and and with me today for helping me feel comfortable and welcome. I didn't like I was telling Hong before we started. This is like, I don't really know that
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: that we need to hear more of this old white guy, you know, but but we are all different voices, like we all have different experiences. You know I'm not trying to
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: say that it was all roses for me along the the journey here at City College. But yet I'm not also trying to say like, Oh, I've had it so hard, either, because, you know, I know that I haven't, especially even in comparison to to to my colleagues. But in general but it it really did make me feel like
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: you. You all made me feel really welcome, and that you wanted here some of my perspective. And hopefully it could be edifying to somebody, or you know, at least, interesting or something.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: And and I mean, I'm really just. I just wanted to talk to my
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: my favorite foodies, and long, you know, I I leave the institution knowing that it's it's hot sauce needs and spice needs are well air in good hands, because you're still here.
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Hong Lieu: Man. I gotta ask a reflux now it's it's it's it's touch and go with the hot sauce. I hate to say it. I'm getting old, too, but.
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Akil Hill: You know.
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Hong Lieu: I go ahead. A queue.
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Akil Hill: The only 2 guys I've ever ate lunch with that make the food so hot and continue to eat it while they were sweating. Are you 2.
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Hong Lieu: I've no.
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Akil Hill: Experience that with anyone else.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I remember people like went out to lunch. And Whoa! Are you? Alright, Bro, or like? I was sweating, and and I remember our colleague, Adrian was just like, Oh, you've never had lunch with Jesse before.
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Akil Hill: They definitely, they definitely hadn't.
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Hong Lieu: M. My wife actually thought I was having a heart attack one time, and I was like, No, I I'm okay, I promise, I promise, and she made me stop eating something, and I was like I was sad. But I listened because she was getting legit, anxious and worried about my health. So.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: The only the only time, the only time I had a legit worry about my health with the hot things was I was in Spain of all places eating sushi. And I had this tradition that like, yeah, I mean Spain for sushi. But hey, next to the ocean it was fresh. I'm like cool.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: but like there was the silly tradition that I had of like putting all the leftover Wasabi onto the last piece was the Wasabi bomber, and I thought like my heart might stop like I was like, all right. No more Wasabi bombers for me, but, like you know, it wasn't even necessarily enjoyable. I do love me some wasabi. But like, yeah, like I was, I was kind of worried that I might have caused myself actual like.
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Hong Lieu: Damage cause that was savvy spices? Different. Yeah.
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Akil Hill: He's diesel damage.
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Hong Lieu: But that's the things I'm a big guys. I just sweat normally. So I that's what people gotta know. With me, Jesse different. But me. I'm a big guy. I'll probably sweat when I eat non spicy food just because I'm eating a lot. So people need to understand. People need to give me some contact. Let me grade me on a curve here if I'm sweating, that's normal. Only be worried about me if I'm like hyper ventilating or panting, heavy. But if I'm just sweating, that's just like a Tuesday for me. So you gotta give me some credit here.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: Man. I can't believe you're leaving the team, though you getting the acid reflux and stuff that's not.
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Hong Lieu: Oh, i i i'll still dip it, but I gotta time it now, like like if it I'm like a Mogwire, you know. Like, if it's past 8 o'clock, I'm not trying to eat no crazy spice, but lunchtime. I'll let it rip. I got time to recover if it's lunchtime or or mid afternoon. Even so.
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Hong Lieu: But yeah.
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Hong Lieu: but yes, again, Jesse, your perspective, I mean as one of the many billions on this planet, we by definition, literally, we all have our own unique individual perspectives. But we all have unifying aspects, you know, that's what makes a community the communal aspects of our perspective. So it's important for you to share that perspective. And and it was a treat. It was just great, you know, lovely to have you, and it was an honor. So we thank you so much any final words. Parting words shout outs before we take off for today.
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: I love you both very much. I'm super thankful to have been in your orbits. And I'm I'm very proud of you, and what you're doing not only here, but in your jobs. And yeah, I'm I'm just very thankful to have
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Jesse (he/him) Felix: shared some times, and I'm hoping to share some Jonesies with you.
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Hong Lieu: Shortly, shortly. Yes.
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Akil Hill: Certainly.
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Hong Lieu: So. Yes, until then, until next time, folks. Thank you again. Aquila, as always.
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Akil Hill: Thank you. Jesse.
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Hong Lieu: And until next time y'all this was Vaquero Voices. Take care.
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Akil Hill: Peace, alright.