Call It What You Will Salinas

Nuestros amigos de Meals on Wheels   De Slinas nos explican de que se trata el programa. No solamente para la gente de la tercer edad, pero también aprendemos sobre algo especial que también trae comida a las mascotas (perros, gatos y asta pericos). "Meals on Wheels" llego a estar en el noticiero nacional cuando la administración de presidente  Donald Trump cuestionó la validez y el valor de éste programa tan esencial para la comunidad. Pues entonces lo tomamos como tarea buscar a representantes de el programa y aprender sobre el maravilloso trabajo que hacen este grupo de trabajadores y voluntarios para la comunidad. 

We get our eyes opened to the amazing service that Meals on Wheels of the Salinas Valley provides here in our community.  Not stopping at delivering meals, we also hear of a great partnership that allows for this Meals on Wheels chapter to deliver meals for pet dogs, cats, and birds as well.  Meals on Wheels made headlines nationally when this essential program had their community value questioned by a member of the Trump Administration.  So we reached out to hear it from the group itself and learned about the wonderful work this group of staff and volunteers does to serve our community.  

Magnolia Zarraga, abogada de inmigracion, nos visita hoy en el podcast y nos platica sobre muchos temas importantes acerca de la cuestion de documentacion incluyedo: la ciudadania; deportacion; que hacer si una se encuentra con un agente de ICE; que es lo que nunca se debe de hacer si se encuentra con un agente; como protegerse; recursos de asistencia;  y mucho mas. 

Salinas is far from an affordable place to live and a big reason why is we have more people crammed into a city that doesn't have enough housing to hold everyone. Getting housing built, especially affordable housing, is never easy and so this week we speak to Matt Huerta, Salinas City Planning Commission member. Matt has long been involved in the process of building affordable housing going back to his days as the first Latino ASB President at UC Davis. This week is a longer interview because there is a lot to learn. Listen to Matt's experiences organizing at Davis as he becomes a student leader and begins his career studying, organizing, and implementing affordable housing from Silicon Valley to Salinas.

El arte callejero de artista Joey Martinez nos abre otras dimensiones del universo donde viajamos por galaxias y agujeros negros en universos infinitos que existen en una célula... Se atreven viajar con nosotros?

Art is meant to provoke conversation and that is certainly the case this week as we sit down with local artist, Joey Martinez.  For those of you that attended the recent Cesar Chavez March, you probably noticed his larger than life sculpture, "La Aguila Negra," that was on loan to the march from Oasis School.  The conversation wanders from the real to surreal to stuff that Dom has no real understanding of, but Rafael and Joey are able to fill in the blanks.  Art is not meant for agreement, but debate and conversation that leads to a better understanding of the world around you.  We hope this episode plays a small part of that understanding.   As always, help a podcast out and like our page and share our episode to help this little endeavor grow here in the 831!

Our 50th episode!  This week we speak to an amazing group of young journalists in training from Radio Bilingue, KHDC, 90.9FM.  This group made up of students from local High Schools and even a Middle School can be heard live on the air every Monday from 4-6pm.  Their program is called Alza Tu Voz / Speak Out and is a chance for bilingual students from our community to be heard by a larger audience.  As part of the KHDC Salinas Youth Radio Training Program, they put on a show that is a mix of talk radio and music requests.  With guidance from KHDC's own Chui Ramirez, the young journalists research and discuss the issues and concerns from our community that they want to bring on air.  Be sure to catch the show every week and if you want to get in a music request, call the request line at 831-758-5432   If you want to apply to be a part of this program go to: http://radiobilingue.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/salinas_youth_radio_app.pdf  

En este episodio hablamos con miembro del consejo (presidencia municipal) Tony Barrera y aprendimos de su vida como un mexicano, un estado unidense, un miembro de la comunidad, un hombre de familia, un politico, hijo, padre, y finalmente, como un ser humano. En esta conversación viajamos con el por aventuras desde Sinaloa a San Pancho hasta que eventualmente cae en Salinas. Seguimos su vida entre pueblos fronterizos de Mexico-EU, y analizamos la frontera que suele existir entre Chicanos nacidos en el EU e inmigrantes nacidos en Mexico.   

In this episode we speak with City Councilmember, Tony Barrera, and learn about his life as a Mexicano, an American, a community member, a family man, a city councilmember, a son, a father, and ultimately, as a person. He takes us through adventures from Sinaloa to San Francisco, until he eventually makes it to Salinas.  We follow his life through US-Mexico border towns and analyze the border between US born Chicanos and Mexican born immigrants. Through it all, his integrity about paying it forward and humility about positions of status and power tie it all together and bring us a message of community engagement and helping your neighbor.

A special episode during the week as Dom sits down at the Brickhouse to speak with Delaine Eastin, candidate for California Governor in 2018.  Dom does his best to keep up with the gubernatorial candidate as she gives us her thoughts on the wide range of issues that California faces.  As a former Assembly member and only woman to be elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction in California, Delaine Eastin has a wide background of knowledge that you will hear in this episode.  Education is a topic you will hear about early and often in this episode as well as issues ranging from infrastructure spending, cannabis, and environmental protection.  Before Donald Trump, California had Pete Wilson, and Delaine Eastin was kind enough to give us some extra time to share how she stood against former Governor Pete Wilson and proposition 187 in the 1990s.  Enjoy this special episode with California Gubernatorial Candidate, Delaine Eastin. For more information on her candidacy, visit: Web:  http://www.delaineforgove

En estos tiempos, reunirse es más importante que nunca. Mientras nuestros derechos vienen bajo ataque es importante tener eventos donde podemos permanecer unidos y representar la unidad de nuestra comunidad. Por décadas el UFW ha representado la lucha que trabajadores han experimentado para ganar la igualdad equivalente al trabajo que hacen. El 2 de abril nos juntaremos para honrar el legado de un gran hombre que creo en la no violencia, la dignidad de un día honesto de trabajo y el poder de una comunidad unida.    El 2 de abril vengan al parque Cesar Chavez para estar juntos como una comunidad para honrar el legado no solo de Cesar Chavez, pero de todos que han laborado para construir nuestra comunidad. Es tiempo para paz, solidaridad y activismo. 

En esta edición hablamos con Juan Martinez del Community Choice Energy Project. Es una conversación super iluminadora en la cual nos damos cuenta que podemos tener mas agencia y ahorros sobre la como conseguimos la electricidad que compramos con pagos mensuales. Normalmente uno piensa que tiene que pagarle a la compañía de electricidad - PG&E - para tener luz, y que tenemos que estar conformes con lo que nos cobren por la luz. Si no nos gusta el precio del la electricidad, pues ni modo. Bueno, parece que si hay otro modo en esta situación. Hay una nueva manera en la que podremos conseguir electricidad en nuestro condado, y no solo sera mas barato, no solo sera mejor para el ambiente, pero hasta habra oportunidad de ganar dinero en este nuevo modelo de negocio comunitario acerca de la electricidad. Escuche esta conversación donde Juan Martinez le da luz a una nueva manera de conseguir la luz en un futuro no tan lejano  

A quick episode of Call It What You Will as we get information on the upcoming march in honor of Cesar Chavez on April 2nd, 10am, starting at Cesar Chavez park.  We speak to Lauro Barajas of the UFW and hear what we have to look forward to at this years march.  If you want more info then check out the event page on Facebook and we hope to see you out there! https://www.facebook.com/events/390751367949240/

This week we speak with Juan Martinez about the Monterey Bay Community Power project.  This project looks to give local consumers the option to choose renewable energy to provide their electricity needs.  This was not a simple matter and required the work of many in local government, community groups, and the input of community members to make this project a reality.  This project could allow the reinvestment of profits earned to be put back into the project to allow the building of more renewable energy projects, thereby reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.  Juan has been a long time activist in our area and was kind enough to come on the show and tell us how he and others from the Romero Institute are involved in making this project a reality.  

En este episodio platicamos con el pintor Rafael Estrada y exploramos lo que es dibujar, y la diferencia entre el pintor y el “artista” en la sociedad. También le entramos a temas sobre la política, la vigilancia del gobierno, el sistema educativo, y las cultura mexicana, estado-unidense, y todos puntos entre medio. 

Una charla informativa, provocativa, e inspiradora con Ramiro De La Garma del Programa de Educación de Inmigrantes. En esta conversación con Ramiro analizamos la situación en que se encuentran los inmigrantes latinos en el condado de Monterey por el lente histórico, politico, sociológico, y moral. 

It's another episode of Call It What You Will and this week we have on a talented artist!  Listen in as we speak to local rapper, Jota Effectus.  We talk about the journey he has taken to get to this point and how it affects his craft.  Hear about the influences he had that you can hear as he shares a track and a freestyle at the end. We hear about an artist trying to keep his art personal and the difficulties being real can bring.  Check out this episode to hear a talented local artist.   Like our page and share our episode if this is what you're looking for!

A large immigration forum took place at Hartnell College and Dom was there to get reactions from attendees as well as speak to elected officials about this important subject.  This episode starts off with a few questions being answered by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman Jimmy Panetta.  Throughout the episode you can listen in to a wide range of peoples' thoughts on the event as it occurs.  Our thanks to all those that attended and took the time to speak to our show.  And thanks to Supervisor Robert Rivas, Salinas Police Chief Adele Fresé, Hartnell Trustee and forum moderator Erica Padilla-Chavez, immigration attorney and forum speaker Michael Mehr for taking the time to give their thoughts on the event and the immigration issues that have been much discussed in our community.  Shout out to the young reporters from Radio Bilingue, KHDC, who were out reporting on their first event!     If you enjoy this episode, like our page and share with your friends!

This week we speak to local activist, Nashwan Hamza.  Dom and Walter have a conversation with Nashwan his experiences as a Muslim-American and what it means to be a Muslim.  Nashwan answers our many questions as we admittedly are not very knowledgable of Islam.  We discuss some of the more well known traditions such as Ramadan, the Hajj, and the how the cultural differences within a country are reflected in Islam.  Dom admits his long confusion with how does one properly respond to or greet a Muslim in Arabic.  This episode was a fun conversation with Nashwan and we look forward to this being the first of many conversations on Islam and Muslim-Americans.  

Listen in to an informative discussion on the challenges Salinas faces keeping pedestrians safe.  Many know about the crimes that occur, but Salinas also has a high rate of pedestrians killed in collisions.  MacGregor Eddy, whose local column, "We Could Car Less," joined the show along with Steve Kennedy, recent member of the Salinas Traffic and Transportation Commission.  They inform us on the reasons for too many deaths that have occurred and what are some remedies to make our roads and sidewalks safer for pedestrians and vehicles.  Steve fills us in on the issues the Traffic Commission would address and the need for community involvement to make sure that problems are not overlooked.  There is a lot to hear about this episode, listen in and find out ways to be safer out there on the road when driving and on the sidewalk when you're out for a stroll.   Like our page and share this episode if you enjoy it!