Call It What You Will Salinas

This week we talk deliciousness with Orlando from Tortas al 100.  How does one keep their tortas 100 in a town where good food isn't hard to find?  Listen in and find out the care Orlando puts in to making sure the food is straight grub status and the ingredients are always Sunday dinner quality.  Take a listen, go try a torta, and let us know what you think as you Call It What You Will Salinas.

It's been a minute, but back with a new episode! Dom sits down to talk with Alejandro Chavez, Soledad City Councilmember. Councilmember Chavez was the past chair of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) and was cool enough to sit down and talk about Measure X and how funds could be more equitably distributed in Monterey County, especially in South Monterey County.

This episode we hear from Dr. Asif Mahmood, candidate for Lt. Governor of California.  Dr. Mahmood is a pulmonologist and doctor of internal medicine that practices in the Los Angeles area.  Hear why Dr. Mahmood is running for statewide office and why he feels he can be a candidate for change.  There are many races that will be on the ballot in 2018, and the Lt. Governor's race will be an important one.  The Lt. Governor sits on the UC Board of Regents and the CSU Board of Trustees.  The Lt. Governor also serves on the State Lands Commission and is on the Agriculture-Water Transition Task Force.  Whomever you vote for, make sure you find out how the candidate you choose stands on the issues you care about.  Listen in to hear more about where Dr. Mahmood stands on issues such as education, the environment, health care, and the economy of California.

This episode we speak with Professor Michele Dauber from the Recall Judge Aaron Persky campaign.  Why would a group be working to recall a judge?  Many of you have probably heard of the infamous Brock Turner case that took place in Santa Clara County.  Brock Turner was convicted on three counts of felony sexual assault.  Judge Persky sentenced Turner to a 6 month sentence of which, Turner served only 3.  Normally, a 2 year sentence would be deemed the normal sentence for this crime, but a judge does have leeway to reduce the sentence based on a defendant's lack of criminal history and the effect of the incarceration.  However, as you will hear in this episode, Judge Persky has a pattern of being lenient on defendants in sexual assault cases and even in a case involving child pornography.  Community members came together to form a campaign to recall Judge Persky before his next election in 2022.   It is important to note that a recall vote does not remove a candidate from office, it is simply moving up the ele

Domestic violence is a problem that plagues too many communities and can often be a difficult topic to even bring up.  October is domestic violence month, so we sat down with Lideres Campesinas in Greenfield to talk about the wonderful work they do to help out women that have been the victims of domestic violence and what they do to support them.  It can especially be a problem in a community facing additional issues such as someone being undocumented, cultural norms, or economic issues that can all hold someone back from speaking out.  Hear from Sorangel and Audelia on what they do to be supportive of women in their community.

This episode we speak to local artist, Willow Aray.  Monarch butterflies have come to show support for immigrants and Willow painted a mural of a butterfly to encourage people to take their picture with it and show their support for immigrants.  In this episode, hear how one person has used her talents to create something good for the community to share in.  

We spoke to local Hip-Hop artist, Alaric, a few months ago on the show.  He spoke about his upcoming project that he was working on and he was cool enough to come on and share with us the entire album, Unheard Talent.  Released to Soundcloud on Friday the 13th, you can check it out by searching for Alaric_QP.  We sit down in this episode and talk about what it took to get this album made as well as discussing each track and how they came together.  Anyone can drop a track on Soundcloud, but Alaric put in work to make sure that his album was something to be appreciated.  Listen in and see what goes in to the making of an album!

What goes into a city budget?  What are the priorities that are considered in that budget, how long does a budget take to write, and how many people need to be spoken to before a budget can be presented?  These aren't questions that we can just google and find the answers to easily, so this week Dom speaks to Matt Pressey, Salinas Finance Director.  Listen in to this episode and learn more about the way our city pays its bills and what the challenges are for Salinas to budget accurately from year to year.  Feel free to let us know what you think after as you Call It What You Will Salinas!

Around the world Ciclovìa festivals are held.  Streets are closed for pedestrians and bicyclists to have free reign to travel.  Booths and activities are set up for the community to take part in.  What makes Salinas Ciclovìa unique, is that our local festival is completely youth organized.  If you have gone an marveled at the organization of the event, know that these young leaders start their planning early and put on what has become a great yearly event.  Listen in to this episode and hear how these young community members became leaders and learned how to collaborate in putting on a wonderful event for Salinas!

How hard do you have to look sometimes to see yourself on the tv screen, on the theater screen, or even on a stage at a play?  This week we speak with xago, a longtime Salinas resident that has been active in the arts in our community.  Currently, he is teaching a teatro class at the Monterey County Youth Center to work with talented youth, to better develop their skills and voices.  We talk about the time xago spent at Teatro Campesino, a landmark theater group in nearby San Juan Batista.  xago speaks about the many projects that he has been involved in and that are to come.  Listen in and find out more about some great projects that you can see! 

Understaffed and overworked, members of the Salinas Fire Department are on pace to answer 14-15,000 calls this year.  Salinas is home to 76 firefighters at the taping of this episode and there is room for at least 9 more.  Being understaffed by 9 firefighters may not sound like a lot, but realize that Salinas Firefighters are sent to help in emergencies such as Hurricane Irma and wildfires here in California.  That puts on extra pressure for the firefighters here in town to pick up extra shifts week after week.  This week it's an honor to sit down with Josh Hostetter, President of the Salinas Firefighters Local 1270, and Martin Flores, Salinas born firefighter on 9/11.

This episode, Dom sits down with Marcos Cabrera from the Monterey County Youth Media Project.  This was a 2 week course that local students could participate in to learn from industry professionals on how to become better journalists.  This free program for high school and college students brought in veteran journalists that were able to work with students on taking their journalism skills to a higher level.  This program was modeled on the Mosaic High School Journalism Workshop that was founded by San Jose Mercury reporter, Joe Rodriguez, in 1993.  One of the first graduates was Marcos Cabrera and now he and others are sharing what they know with young journalists from our community.  This episode takes us not only into the program the participated in, but also the work Marcos has done as a reporter and as an active member of the local arts, such as Baktun 12.  Dom tries not to go off on tangents, but Marcos brings a diverse experience to the mic, so that there were a lot of interesting conversational roads

This episode we talk to Mike and Jeff from Mike PZ and the Associates, a local band that plays here on the Central Coast.  There is a lot that this episode touches on as it was an interesting conversation that we had with Mike and Jeff.  We talk not only about the sound you can expect from Mike PZ and the Associates, but also all the sounds that we grew up and listen to from the Bakersfield Sound to Old School and Piedmont Blues.  The conversation just kept moving as through the 2 hours we spoke we hit on what goes into a show, places they have played, and dealing with audiences that are good and bad.  This is a great episode to listen to if you want to hear about a group that just loves playing music.  To learn more about the band check them out on social media at: www.reverbnation.com/mikepzandtheassociates www.facebook.com/mikepzliveanddirect Go on youtube and search Mike PZ and the Associates Listen to a fun time with two musicians that love what they do and let us know what you think as you Call It What

Open up the episode and hear a spoken word piece entitled "Incarcerated Introspection," by Alaric, a local artist from the 831.  Listen in and hear how that piece developed and how Alaric went from writing poetry in notebooks to developing his talent further and becoming an artist recording over tracks.  Salinas doesn't offer many opportunities for local hip hop artists, but Alaric was one of the many that brought it at the recent Speakeasy show here at the XL Publichouse.  Alaric shares how he's developed his talent and the work it takes to get his music out to the public.  Hear 2 tracks during the show, Believin and Black Roses, they will be on his upcoming project release Unheard Talent.  Talent grows in the 831 so take a listen and Call It What You Will Salinas.

This week we talk to Miguel Lozoya Burciaga from Digital Nest, to catch up on how the summer youth program has progressed.  Hear about the various tech sites that students have been able to visit and the connections students have been able to make with people in the digital field.  Also, hear about what Digital Nest is working to do to increase the number of women in the tech industry by working to recruit more women for their student program.  Miguel also shares what future classes Salinas youth can sign up for with Digital Nest this fall and in the future.  As always, Miguel brings a wealth of information to share with Call It What You Will Salinas!

Platicamos con Miguel Lozoya Burciaga de Digital NEST (el Nido Digital), una organización super innovador que prepara a nuestros jóvenes para el trabajo del futuro y acaba de instalar una rama en Salinas!

Viajamos por décadas de aventura, desarrollo, estudio, romance, y lucha por derechos civiles con nuestro invitado Enrique Mendez Flores, fundador de la organización Aguila aquí en Salinas. 

Digital Nest is a great program that originated in Watsonville and has expanded to Salinas.  This program connects young people in our community with not only technology such as computers and wi-fi, but free classes to learn how to build and design websites, graphic arts, music and video production.  In addition, Digital Nest works to connect those that have learned new skills in technology with companies where they can intern and further develop their skills.  Listen in and learn all about this amazing program as we speak to Miguel Lozoya Burciaga from the Digital Nest at Cesar Chavez library in Salinas.

This episode, Dom hits the road to catch the new local baseball squad, the Monterey Amberjacks.  The Amberjacks are in the independent Pecos Baseball League.  Made up of 12 teams, the Amberjacks join Bakersfield, Tucson, California City, High Desert, and Hollywood in the Pacific Division.  The Monterey Amberjacks will be calling Sollecito Field home on most weekends from now until the end of July so come out and catch a great game for an affordable $10 ticket.  If you don't want to drive to Monterey then you can catch the Amberjacks in Hollister on Mondays at Veterans Memorial Park if they're closer to home for you.  The team even has Monday morning camps for youth in Hollister from 9am-12pm.  Registration is $35 to get your youngster some tips from the pros on how to become a better ballplayer.   It's always great to catch a game in the summertime and the Amberjacks are a solid team to watch on weekends at Sollecito Park!

This week we got to speak with longtime activist, Enrique Mendez Flores.  Enrique takes us through some of his journeys from San Diego, Mexico, Oregon, San Jose, and right here in Salinas to share some of the wisdom he picked up along the way.