1 10 183 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Jason Beyer Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Jan Michael Letigio Lacea OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LaceaJan_BeyerJason_2024-11-08_access.xml Interview Keyword This filed adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the "keywords" field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record. Veteran;Hospital Corpsman;United States Navy;Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines;California State University San Marcos OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Lacea, Jan Michael Letigio. Interview November 8th, 2024. SC027-072 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm Veteran ; Hospital Corpsman ; United States Navy ; Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines ; California State University San Marcos Jan Michael Letigio Lacea Jason Beyer Moving image LaceaJan_BeyerJason_2024-11-08_access.mp4 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/018dba3b4aa97ac3f2e94e43a109d4de.mp4 Other video English 0 Interview Introduction 0 60 Military Background The highest rank Lacea attained serving in the Navy was Petty Officer First Class HM1 (Hospital Corpsman). He served in the Philippines as part of Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines. Navy ; Petty Officer First Class HM1 ; Hospital Corpsman ; Philippines ; Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines 0 84 Childhood Lacea was born in Cebu City in the Philippines in 1991 and was raised in Springfield, Missouri since he was three months old. Cebu City, Philippines ; Springfield, Missouri 0 101 Family Affiliations with the Military Lacea’s father had mandatory Army ROTC in college in the Philippines. His twin older brothers were both in the military: one was a Marine, and the other was also a Navy corpsman. Army ROTC ; brothers ; Navy corpsman ; Philippines 0 132 Jobs Before Military Service Lacea worked various jobs in food service before enlisting in the military, including smoothies, snow cones, Chinese food, and sushi. Tropical Smoothie Cafe ; smoothies ; snow cones ; Chinese restaurant ; sushi chef 0 172 Choosing Military Enlistment and Military Branch Lacea describes how school, family, and his identity as an immigrant influenced his decision to enlist. He decided to join the Navy with his brother’s guidance because it was the best way to pursue a career in the medical field. school ; brothers ; dad ; immigrant ; Navy ; Military Occupational Specialty ; Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery ; medical field 0 282 Early Days of Service, Basic Training, and Education Lacea describes his experiences throughout training, including basic training, accession school, and the Field Medical Training Battalion. He also recalls some of his most vivid memories, like the IV labs in school and Marine Corps training at Camp Pendleton. basic training ; bootcamp ; accession training ; A School ; Great Lakes, Illinois ; Field Medical Training Battalion ; Camp Pendleton ; IV labs ; Marine Corps ; physical training ; Third Marine Division ; Okinawa, Japan 0 434 Memories of Instructors Lacea recalls being scared and stressed during bootcamp, but there were positive and funny experiences in hindsight. He says the instructors “mess with your head so that way they can try to prepare you for anything that you might face in the military.” His memories include the culminating event of Navy Bootcamp called Battle Stations, his impressions of his division chief’s accent, his experience as the Guide of his platoon, and his award for Platoon Motivator. instructors ; Louisiana ; Cajun accent ; Navy bootcamp ; Battle Stations ; Corps School ; Field Med ; Staff Sergeant Borge ; Guide ; Camp Pendleton ; Platoon Motivator 0 701 Weapons Training Lacea describes additional equipment training he received for weapons like the M4, M9 Beretta, .50 caliber machine gun, and Mk 19 grenade launcher. In order to receive the Fleet Marine Force pin, he needed these qualifications. Overall, his main qualification was in the medical field. M4 ; M9 Beretta ; Fleet Marine Force ; .50 caliber ; Mk 19 0 782 Military Promotions Lacea started off as an E3. He described his promotion to Petty Officer Third Class while in the Philippines, and how Filipinos like to help each other out in the Navy. He got promoted to E5 through evaluations. Finally, he was frocked to Petty Officer First Class while in Reserves, before leaving the service. Hospitalman E3 ; Philippines ; Petty Officer Third Class ; the Filipino Mafia ; Navy ; Petty Officer Second Class ; advancement test ; evaluations ; Petty Officer First Class ; Reserves 0 910 Difficulties Adapting to Military Lifestyle Lacea describes the high standards of the military as one of the most difficult yet rewarding aspects of military service. However, feelings of burnout motivated him to leave the service. This led to some feelings of anxiety and regret, as the transition back to civilian life included new expectations. high standards ; burnout ; anxiety ; regret 0 1023 Interactions with People During Stateside Service Lacea describes differing experiences while stationed in San Antonio, Texas ; California ; and Okinawa, Japan. Interactions with locals could depend on the political environment and social class of civilians. San Antonio, Texas ; uniforms ; phase of liberty ; California ; Okinawa, Japan 0 1174 Deployment for Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines Lacea’s only deployment was for six months in Zamboanga, Philippines from 2012-13 for Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines. He describes the conflict in the south of the Philippines and the U.S. military’s involvement in it, mostly advising the Philippines military. He was glad to serve in the Philippines, because he felt that he was giving back to his motherland. Zamboanga, Philippines ; six-month deployment ; Abu Sayyaf ; Moro Islamic Liberation Front ; Al-Qaeda ; advising ; rules of engagement 0 1330 Interactions with Local Peoples and Cultures in the Philippines Lacea is from Cebu City in the central part of the Philippines, but he speaks the same dialect of Bisaya as many locals in Zamboanga. So, despite the differences in religion and culture, he was able to communicate with locals. Zamboanga, Philippines ; Muslims ; religion ; hospitality ; Bisaya ; dialect 0 1430 Friendships and Comradery During Service Lacea describes the diversity of military branches and skills of the people he served with in the Philippines. He also describes highly stressful moments when he and other corpsmen would provide medical assistance after mass casualty events. Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines ; Navy SEALs ; Delta Force ; the Air Force ; Air Force ; marine security element ; Recon Marines ; USMC Reconnaissance Battalions ; Headquarters Battalion Third Marine Division ; Truck Company ; Motor Team Marines ; night vision equipment ; opposing forces 0 1639 Keeping Contact with Family and Friends While Deployed Lacea recalls having internet access and using it to Skype and FaceTime his friends and family back home. Skype ; FaceTime ; internet ; friends ; family 0 1680 Recreation While Off Duty in the Philippines Lacea recalls his time spent working out, playing basketball, and learning Marine Corps martial arts. He also recalls his four-day R&amp ; R trip to visit his family in Cebu City and Bohol with three friends. exercise ; basketball ; Marine Corps Martial Arts Program ; Rest and Recuperation ; Cebu City ; Bohol 0 1846 Humorous Events While in the Philippines Lacea tells a funny story about the Marines in his platoon being smokers. Others were surprised to see him, the corpsman, passing out cigarettes to his platoon. smoking ; cigarettes ; Marlboro Reds ; corpsman 0 1930 End of Service and His Decision to Stay in California after Service Lacea met his wife while stationed at Miramar. He started wanting to settle down while keeping opportunities in the military. He decided to switch to the Reserves, but it was not what he expected. After nearly eight years serving in the military, he decided to leave the Reserves and stay in California where his wife’s family lives. Since he was surrounded by family when his service ended, he had support. Third Marine Division ; Miramar ; fourth tank battalion ; Reserves ; wife ; family ; California ; Missouri ; childcare ; family ; brother ; Camp Pendleton 0 2142 Relationships with Family, Readjusting to Civilian Life, and Enrollment at CSU San Marcos Lacea had plans to work at Scripps Health while continuing service in the Reserves and pursuing graduate school, but he was disillusioned with both jobs and left them. When he enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at Cal State San Marcos he initially felt out of place, anxious, and regretful. However, once he got involved with the veteran center on campus, he felt the support of a community of veterans struggling with the same issues. graduate school ; Reserves ; Scripps Health ; quitting ; anxiety ; stress ; enrollment ; CSU San Marcos ; veteran community ; Master of Public Health ; support 0 2384 Experience with the G.I. Bill Tuition assistance supported Lacea’s bachelor’s degree. Using the G.I. Bill, he was able to pay for two master’s degrees in public health and business administration. G.I. Bill ; tuition assistance ; bachelors ; master's in public health ; master's in business administration ; CSU San Marcos 0 2417 Continuing Friendships After Service Lacea admires that he can keep up with his friends on social media and see them when they are stationed at Camp Pendleton or come to visit. friendships ; social media ; Camp Pendleton ; visits ; nostalgia 0 2490 Experience with Veterans Organizations Lacea describes his experience with the Veteran Center at CSU San Marcos, including working for the Veterans to Energy Careers program for a semester. He is also part of the Telesforo Trinidad Committee, which was formed because there is a ship being built, the USS Telesforo Trinidad, named after a Filipino who received the Medal of Honor. CSU San Marcos ; vet center ; work-study program ; Veterans to Energy Careers ; Telesforo Trinidad Committee ; USS Telesforo Trinidad ; Medal of Honor ; Filipino 0 2560 How Military Service Impacted His Life Lacea shares how the military provided him social and material benefits. It helped him network, build friendships, and expose himself to different cultures and political views from across the country. It also helped him pursue higher education. education ; family ; G.I. Bill ; disability ; friendships ; networking ; culture ; politics ; Arkansas 0 2674 Life Lessons From Military Service Lacea admires that his service helped him become an adult, including how to complete his taxes. His experience also gave him positive role models. taxes ; TurboTax ; adulting ; parenting 0 2774 Message for Future Generations Lacea wants people to know that veterans are “regular people who were put into extraordinary circumstances.” He wants people to know that the military may not be for everyone. Veterans have very different experiences, and many veterans have not experienced combat. veterans ; perspectives ; experiences ; decisions ; gratitude 0 2871 Association with CSUSM and the North County San Diego Community Despite it being a backup choice, Lacea was happy with his experience at CSU San Marcos. He chose CSUSM because its Master of Public Health program had CEPH accreditation. CSU San Marcos ; North County San Diego ; community ; San Diego State University ; CEPH accreditation ; Council on Education for Public Health ; Master of Public Health 0 2935 Raising Awareness About Conflict in the South of the Philippines Lacea wants more people to know about Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines. Many people died, notably during the Siege of Marawi in 2017. He says, “I just want people to be aware of what we did down there and the people that we helped.” Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines ; Siege of Marawi ; Abu Sayyaf 0 3005 What More People Should Know About Veterans Lacea wants people to know that even though many veterans did not serve in wars, he thinks all veterans “still would've performed well.” He also shares more about how he volunteered for deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan. However, when he joined in 2011, there were fewer military deployments to those countries. He was disappointed by this but happy to be in the Philippines. Iraq ; Afghanistan ; brother ; corpsman ; Marines ; volunteer ; war 0 3093 Lessons Learned from Military Experience Lacea again recounts how mentors during his service taught him how to manage his personal finances and pushed him to pursue higher education. He describes his journey from military enlistment to bachelor’s to master’s. finances ; education ; career ; bachelor’s ; master’s ; Missouri State ; Third Marine Division ; mentors ; Miramar 0 Oral history Jan Michael Letigio Lacea served in the Navy for eight years. He was frocked Petty Officer First Class HM1 (Hospital Corpsman First Class) before he left the service. Lacea described his service in the Philippines for Operation Enduring Freedom, and he reflected on his own identity as a Filipino American immigrant. He also recounted his return to civilian life, attending graduate school at CSU San Marcos, the support he received from the CSUSM Veterans’ Center, and the life lessons he learned from military service. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:00.525 --> 00:00:56.024 My name is Jason Beyer, and I am a graduate of California State University San Marcos. Today I will be interviewing Jan Michael Letigio Lacea. Today's date is Friday, November 8th, 2024. The general location in which this interview is being conducted is in the Letigio home in Fallbrook, California. Me and the interviewee are both military veterans. The names of the people attending this interview are Marilyn Huerta, camera operator, Adel Bautista, Jason Beyer, the interviewer and the interviewee, Jan Michael Letigio Lacea. The purpose of this interview is to conduct an oral history. Please state your first, middle, and last name. 00:00:56.024 --> 00:01:00.125 My name is Jan Michael Letigio Lacea. 00:01:00.125 --> 00:01:02.664 Please state your branch of service. 00:01:02.664 --> 00:01:04.444 Navy. 00:01:04.444 --> 00:01:07.265 Please state the highest rank that you attained. 00:01:07.265 --> 00:01:12.575 I was frocked Petty Officer First Class HM1 (Hospital Corpsman) right before I got out of the Navy. 00:01:12.575 --> 00:01:17.075 And were you a part of any war or conflicts while you served? 00:01:17.075 --> 00:01:24.734 I served in the Philippines, part of Operation Enduring Freedom—Philippines (OEF-P). 00:01:24.734 --> 00:01:26.564 Where were you born? 00:01:26.564 --> 00:01:41.185 I was born in Cebu City in the Philippines in 1991. And shortly afterwards, when I was three months old, I moved to Springfield, Missouri, and that's where I grew up most of my life. 00:01:41.185 --> 00:01:45.894 Does your family have any past affiliations with the military? 00:01:45.894 --> 00:02:12.365 Yes. So my dad was technically affiliated with the military. He was in Army ROTC in college as part of a mandatory ROTC back in the Philippines—back in those days it was mandatory. And my brothers, my twin older brothers, were both in the military. One was a Marine—he just retired last year—and the other one was also a Navy corpsman. 00:02:12.365 --> 00:02:15.764 Did you hold any jobs before entering the service? 00:02:15.764 --> 00:02:31.925 Yes. So my first job was at Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a small smoothie joint. I started there when I was 15 years old. And I also worked at a snow cone place. And I also worked at a Chinese restaurant. And then right before I left for the Navy, I was a sushi chef. 00:02:31.925 --> 00:02:34.425 So what was it like being a sushi chef? 00:02:34.425 --> 00:02:52.044 Being a sushi chef was fun. I really like eating sushi, so that part was fun. What I didn't like was also I had to work pretty much every weekend, and every day I came home smelling like fish. 00:02:52.044 --> 00:02:55.455 When and why did you choose the military? 00:02:55.455 --> 00:03:32.925 So I chose to join the military for plenty of reasons. School was one. Obviously both of my brothers were in the military, so that was a big influence for me. But the biggest reason why I joined the military was because being an immigrant, coming to America, I saw all the great things that this country provided for my family, for my dad, the opportunity to work. And so I just felt like it was a good way to give back to the country that welcomed our family. 00:03:32.925 --> 00:03:35.694 Were you drafted or did you enlist? 00:03:35.694 --> 00:03:38.594 I enlisted. 00:03:38.594 --> 00:03:42.854 And which branch did you enter, and why did you choose that branch? 00:03:42.854 --> 00:04:42.694 So I chose the Navy and—I enlisted into the Navy because—so again, my brothers influence—my brothers were a big influence on why I joined the military. And my Marine brother wanted me to join the Marine Corps. My Navy brother wanted me to join the Navy. They both gave their pros and cons to each one. I really wanted to be a Marine at first, but my brother did tell me that there was no guarantee that I would get to pick the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) or the job that I wanted to do. Whereas the Navy was a little bit more of a guarantee I would like, as long as I made a good ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) score and I told the recruiter what I wanted to do, if it was available, then I could do it. So ultimately how I decided was I wanted to see if I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field, and the Navy was the best choice, because unfortunately, the Marine Corps doesn't have a medical field. So being a Navy corpsman was the next best thing. 00:04:42.694 --> 00:04:49.314 For your early days of service, what type of training or schooling did you have? 00:04:49.314 --> 00:05:35.004 Sure. So everybody joins military. They have to attend a basic training or bootcamp as some people call it. So, I attended a bootcamp up at Great Lakes, Illinois, when I first left for the Navy in 2011 in March. And that was my first taste of the military. And then after bootcamp, I went to A School (accession training) that's kind of like our corpsman school where we learned our jobs. And yeah, I learned all the basic medical stuff there at A School. And then after that I went to Field Medical Training Battalion, which is pretty much where we learned the Marine side of being a corpsman and being up in the field and learning about weapons systems. And that was at Camp Pendleton. 00:05:35.004 --> 00:05:44.055 What is your most vivid memory, both best and worst parts of your time in training or in school? 00:05:44.055 --> 00:06:57.665 Let's see. I would say one of my most vivid memories in school was the IV labs. Learning to give IVs to patients. It was a bloody mess for everybody (laughs). So that was pretty vivid. I mean, I'm not really that scared of blood, but I had a lot of classmates that were, so I actually had like one classmate who actually passed out when (laughs) they saw blood. So that was a pretty vivid moment for me. And also, one of the big things I remember was in Field Medical Training Battalion, when I started learning all the Marine Corps side of things. I think that's when the military started being more fun for me, because that's really what I wanted to do. Like I said, initially I wanted to be a Marine—and you know, bootcamp and A School, it was kind of like more of the Navy side and like, oh, okay, this is cool. But once I started doing more of the quote unquote, like, the Marine stuff, that's when it was really fun working with weapons, doing fireman's carry, working out, PT'ing (physical training) every day. I think that was kind of where I was like, okay, this is where I want to be. 00:06:57.665 --> 00:07:01.225 What was your first assignment after basic training? 00:07:01.225 --> 00:07:14.545 Sure. So, after basic, I went to A School and then I went to Field Med. And then after Field Med, that's where we get assigned to our first unit in the fleet. And my first unit was Third Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan. 00:07:14.545 --> 00:07:20.665 Before we wrap up your training, do you recall your instructors that you had? What were they like? 00:07:20.665 --> 00:11:41.674 Yes. My bootcamp instructors, so (laughs), they're—it's funny, looking back at bootcamp. Everybody thinks it's a scary experience. When you're first into it, it's very stressful. But when you look back on it, there's a lot of funny stories that we have. One of my bootcamp instructors, he was this tall guy from Louisiana, and he had this Cajun accent, and a lot of people tell me that I can do really good impressions. So I (laughs) used to do an impression of him all the time, whenever it was a holiday routine on Sundays, whenever we kind of have a little bit of free time during bootcamp. And then towards the end, right before—so our culminating event in Navy Bootcamp is called Battle Stations, similar to the Marine Corps they have the Crucible. So right before Battle Stations, one of the instructors said, "Alright, I know one of you has a good impression of Chief, so who can do a good impression of Chief in the division." And sure enough, everybody in the division pointed back and they said, "Lacea he can (laughs) do a great impression of Chief." So I went up there—I'm not gonna do it right now (laughs), 'cause I don't know if he will watch this. But yeah, I did my impression and like even the instructors were busting out laughing. So that was funny. My Corps School instructors, honestly, I don't really remember too much about them. Again, like, they did a lot of messing around with us. But, you know, all in all, I think that's just all what the military is. You know, they mess with your head so that way they can try to prepare you for anything that you might face in the military. So, and then, and my Field Med instructors, I remember them pretty vividly. Again, they like to mess with us a lot. So in Field Med we had two or three corpsman instructors I think per company. And then we had one Marine instructor. And our Marine instructor, his name was Staff Sergeant Borge—I think he just retired as a Gunny (Gunnery Sergeant)—but he was a funny guy. He liked me because I was the smallest guy in the platoon. And, he actually picked me to be guide for our platoon. So Guide is the person who gets to carry the flag for the platoon, and it's kind of seen as the main leader and motivator of the platoon. And he picked me for Guide. And, unfortunately that didn't last too long, because I am the shortest guy in the platoon, the hikes for me in Camp Pendleton were very hard (laughs) because we had guys in the platoon probably the size of Jason (gestures toward interviewer) who were like six foot five, six foot eight-whatever, and their strides were like (laughs), you know, like 10 feet. And for me to make that same 10 feet, I'd have to pretty much sprint the entire hike all while carrying about like 80 pounds of gear. So (laughs), so pretty much the whole time Staff Sergeant Borge is like, Lacea, you better motivate the platoon. And I would run around the entire platoon all while going uphill (laughs). And, as you know (gestures toward interviewer), the hills in Pendleton are crazy. So, I'm running up this hill, running around the entire platoon trying to motivate them. And eventually I just could not keep up with the platoon anymore and I started to fall back. And Staff Sergeant Borge said, "If you fall back, Lacea, you're fired (laughs)." And unfortunately, I fell back. So I eventually got fired from being the Guide a couple weeks before graduating. But at the end, right before graduation, the platoons, they have like a platoon award that they call the Platoon Motivator, and pretty much the platoon puts in votes and they vote whoever was the biggest motivator for the platoon. And they still voted me as the platoon motivator. So I got recognized for that. And at the end of Field Med, Staff Sergeant Borge, he was like, you know, I don't really say this to a lot of students, but I was actually proud of you and seeing how you improved throughout training. So despite the fact I got fired, he (laughs) still liked me. So (laughs)— 00:11:41.674 --> 00:11:51.284 Did you qualify for equipment such as vehicles, aircraft, radios, weapons? If yes, what was that training like? 00:11:51.284 --> 00:13:02.644 Sure. So in Field Med we're all taught on how to shoot the M4—or it's pretty much the carbine style of the M16—so pretty much just taught the basics of it, how to disassemble and assemble an M4. Also, I got to shoot an M9 Beretta—when I was deployed that was my main sidearm. And, let's see, what else? Oh, and when I was with the Marines most corpsmen—you've probably seen corpsmen in their uniforms they have like a, they call it the FMF pin (Fleet Marine Force), it's like an eagle, globe, and anchor from the Marine Corps, and then it's got like these like wings and stuff. So in order to get that FMF pin, you have to do different qualifications. One of the main ones is weapons qualifications. So we were actually taught how to disassemble and assemble a fifty cal (.50 caliber), which is a big machine gun. We also got to play around with the Mark 19 (Mk 19 grenade launcher). So we were kind of given like a basic instruction on those weapon systems. But overall, my main qualification was just the medical field, medical stuff. So being a corpsman. 00:13:02.644 --> 00:13:06.375 Did you receive any promotions? And if so, could you tell me about that? 00:13:06.375 --> 00:15:10.004 Sure. So when I first joined the Navy, I started off as an E3. And for the Navy our rank is also our job, so my rank was Hospitalman E3. And then while I was deployed in the Philippines, I was actually meritoriously promoted to Petty Officer Third Class while I was there. So, pretty much, the Navy, as some people know, there's a thing called the Filipino Mafia. And so a lot of Filipinos like to help each other out in the Navy. And so a lot of people said that I've got the meritorious promotion because of the Filipino Mafia. So I don't know if that's true or not, but there were a lot of Filipinos in the Navy and I had a lot of Filipino mentors that helped me out. So, yeah, according to some people, that might've been why I got meritoriously promoted to Petty Officer Third Class. And then I got promoted to Petty Officer Second Class pretty much through the regular way, quote unquote. So in the Navy, when you get promoted, pretty much, they take into account your evals and they also take into account a test score—you have to take an advancement test once or twice a year, I don't remember. But, so I took it, I got promoted to E5 the regular way, through the test. And then my last promotion was to Petty Officer First Class. Technically I didn't attain the pay grade. It's kind of confusing how it works in the Navy, but like when you initially pick up rank you get frocked, so you get to put on the rank but you don't get paid as that rank. So I picked up First Class from the Reserves—I was in the Reserves at that time—and I picked up First Class, and I put on First Class, but I got out of the Reserves before I actually attained that pay grade. So, that's why I was only frocked to Petty Officer First Class. 00:15:10.004 --> 00:15:16.715 What was the hardest part of the military lifestyle for you to adapt to? 00:15:16.715 --> 00:15:59.894 Honestly, the hardest part—which ironically also was why I liked it too—was just like the high standards, maintaining that and, you know, like just getting the mission done at all costs. And honestly, that kind of translated to why I had a hard time transitioning out of the military, because I was very focused on making sure I get the job done and making sure it gets done right. And so that was a challenge for me to adjust to—and it was also a challenge for me to adjust out of, too. 00:15:59.894 --> 00:16:09.118 And why do you think that that was the hardest? Why do you think it was the hardest part of the lifestyle to adapt to? 00:16:09.118 --> 00:17:03.705 Yeah, honestly, I mean, you know, like I said, so I was in the Navy for about seven and a half years and making it all the way to Petty Officer First Class for—especially as a corpsman—that's a pretty fast pace of picking up rank. And I really was striving to be the best I could be in the military. And sometimes that could lead to burnout. And so, honestly, like, I eventually got burnt out of being in military, and that's why I ultimately decided to get out instead of staying in the full twenty (years) and retiring. And so yeah, it was hard for me 'cause, you know, sometimes I would get anxiety of like, am I good enough? Will I ever be good enough for everybody? Like, everyone's like, oh, you know, you had such a successful career in the Navy, why did you get out? And so, you know, I had a lot of thoughts of regret and those type of things. 00:17:03.705 --> 00:17:10.875 What were your interactions like with people you encountered during your stateside service? 00:17:10.875 --> 00:17:13.315 Um, like, civilians or— 00:17:13.315 --> 00:17:20.605 Civilians or other people from the military at different bases you might have been stationed at? 00:17:20.605 --> 00:19:34.775 Sure. So, definitely 'cause—so after bootcamp I was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, and it's a very military friendly town. So wherever we went, like, people offered to, you know, get us free food, free drinks, wherever. So being in San Antonio was great. But it was kind of funny because whenever we're in Corps School, our first couple weeks while we're there, we're still in our first phase of liberty, as they call it. So you can only go off base but you have to be in uniform. We would be in our service uniforms whenever we went out in town. And when we went there, our school was still pretty new, so folks in San Antonio weren't used to seeing Navy guys, and especially at the time—we also got a new service uniform too, which we called the Peanut Butters, which was a khaki top and black bottoms—so nobody was really used to seeing anybody in those uniforms. So we would go out in San Antonio and this one guy—old Navy vet from like, you know, the Cold War era—and he came up to us and he was like, "Hey, are you guys Boy Scouts?" (Lacea laughs.) And we're like, no, we're in the military. And he was like, "No, what branch are you in?" Like, we're in the Navy. And he's like, "What? There's Navy guys here in San Antonio? You're wearing uniforms I don't even recognize." Like, yeah, this is a new uniform. So, yeah, it was great being in San Antonio. And then here in California, you know, there's a lot of Marines out here and California is a little bit more, as they say, like a liberal state. So, I don't know—I would just say like, we didn't get as much as the same treatment as we got in San Antonio. But I still like it out here in California. And then, I was stationed overseas in Okinawa when I was with Third Marine Division. And interacting with the local Japanese community, you know, there's a lot of folks in Okinawa who didn't really like us being there. But on the flip side, there were a lot of locals who did like us being there, especially the ones who owned businesses. And so it was a interesting dynamic. But for the most part, the Japanese people were really friendly and polite. 00:19:34.775 --> 00:19:44.085 So now we're gonna move on to your wartime and conflict service. What wartime conflicts were you a part of? 00:19:44.085 --> 00:19:55.005 Sure. So, pretty much my only deployment when I was in the military was in the Philippines, part of Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines. 00:19:55.005 --> 00:19:57.483 When and where did you serve in the Philippines? 00:19:57.483 --> 00:20:20.714 Sure. So I was deployed to Zamboanga, Philippines, in the Southwest part of the Philippines. And that was in, I believe, September, or that was in October, 2012 to April, 2013. 00:20:20.714 --> 00:20:25.174 And what were your recollections of that experience? 00:20:25.174 --> 00:22:10.414 Man. Like I said, it was my only big six month deployment, but it was some of the best memories I have of being in the military. Well, for one, being Filipino and being deployed to the Philippines, that was really rewarding for me because I felt like even though I was serving in the American military, I was able to give back to my actual motherland. So not a lot of people are familiar with the conflict down there in the Philippines, but down south there's a big Muslim population in the Philippines. And with that, there were some radical groups there. The main big one was called the Abu Sayyaf, and there's also another big group called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front down in the south, or M.I.L.F. for short. And so those were the main belligerents that were down there, when we were deployed. And, pretty much, they've been causing issues for the government there in the Philippines for a very long time. And especially after September 11th, I believe Abu Sayyaf, they kind of aligned themselves with Al-Qaeda, so that's why America kind of felt like they needed to have a contingency there. And they deployed a lot of their military there mainly for advising. So that's what our main mission there was for was for advising the Filipino military. And so we weren't really like the main combatants, but if we were ever attacked our RRE, or our rules of engagement, were self-defense. So there were I think maybe a couple of times they were skirmishes, but I was not involved in one, though. 00:22:10.414 --> 00:22:21.765 So based off your time in the Philippines, what were your interactions like with the local cultures and the people you encountered during deployment? 00:22:21.765 --> 00:23:50.243 Yeah, so, like I said, I was really proud of being deployed in Zamboanga in the Philippines. But it was a part of the Philippines that I had never been before. So I'm from Cebu, in the central part of the Philippines, and I would visit back there every two years, so I was mainly familiar with that part of the Philippines. But down south, like I said, is a very majority Muslim population. So going there it almost felt like it was a Philippines that I didn't recognize. There's, like I said, a lot of Muslims down there. You would see people in like Muslim garb. Some females even wore a hijab. And so yeah, it was a part of the Philippines I wasn't used to, but everybody there, I mean, they still had that same Filipino hospitality. Everybody was super nice. They spoke the dialect that I speak, which is Bisaya. So I was actually kind of a translator when I was down there—not in an official capacity, but more of like, whenever my Marines went out in town or like, you know, they wanted some food, I would help them out with that (laughs). So, yeah, I was able to mingle with the locals that way. And it was cool because a lot of the Filipinos, they didn't expect somebody—well, they saw like a lot of Filipino American military, but for me especially, because we spoke the same dialect, that was a little bit more rare for them to see. So yeah, that was really interesting. 00:23:50.243 --> 00:23:57.615 What kind of friendships and comradery did you form while serving and with whom, while you were in the Philippines? 00:23:57.615 --> 00:23:59.285 Sorry, can you repeat the question one more time? 00:23:59.285 --> 00:24:05.904 What kinds of friendships and comradery did you form while serving and with whom? 00:24:05.904 --> 00:27:19.365 Man. I had really close friendships when I was deployed. So pretty much when we deployed, it was part of a rotation of—they call it marine security element. So, the main unit that's there in the Philippines was called, JSOTFP, Joint Special Operations Task Force Philippines. So, as the name implies—special operations—a majority of the units that were there and that most people we're supporting were special operations units. So you had the SEALs (Navy SEALs), Delta (Delta Force), the Air Force, PJs—the para rescue guys, I forgot what they're called in the Air Force. But yeah, you had pretty much all sorts of special operations guys there in the Philippines. And then you had all the support people, and we were part of the marine security element. Historically they had Recon Marines (USMC Reconnaissance Battalions) that would deploy there, but then they said, I don't really think we need Recon guys. We could just get a bunch of just regular Marines and fulfill those security roles. So, what they did was they augmented—I was part of Headquarters Battalion Third Marine Division—they augmented Marines from all across the battalion to be part of the mission. So we had guys from Truck Company who were Motor Team Marines, the guys who drove the big seven-ton trucks. We had Comm Marines (Communications) that were there. Even had like a couple admin guys, so it was almost like bakers and candlestick makers, and they just put us all into a platoon. And then it was me and another corpsman who were kind of like the medical. And so whenever they formed the platoon, we all met up and yeah, it was almost like a ragtag group of group of kids. But I mean, like, we immediately bonded, definitely on our first field op (operation). And when we were preparing for deployment, we learned a lot of like, security stuff like how to—like defensive driving and like how to conduct a convoy and all that stuff. So that was really fun. And then when we deployed—you know, like I said, even though we were in an advising role, the Filipinos, you know, they were very active in fighting the conflict there. So it was pretty frequent that there would be mass casualty events. So, a lot of times—'cause the Filipino military guys, what they would do were a lot of night operations. So a lot of times they would go out there—sometimes without even like any NVGs (night vision goggles) or night vision equipment, and there would be a lot of casualties. So of course, me and the other corpsmen, our main job was to assist in those casualties. So, we would go out there, they would evacuate a lot of the Filipino soldiers and even some of the OpFor, the opposing forces, that would get wounded, and they would evacuate them to the local military hospital there and we would assist with anything medical. So yeah, there was a lot of stressful times, a lot of high stress stuff going on. But through all of those difficult times, we bonded a lot. 00:27:19.365 --> 00:27:26.164 How did you stay in touch with family and friends? Did you choose to keep communication with them while deployed? 00:27:26.164 --> 00:28:00.634 Yeah, so luckily for me, I deployed in the 21st century, so we had Zoom—actually I don't think we had Zoom, we had Skype—so I was able to Skype my friends and family back home. I think FaceTime was still a thing back then, so yeah, I was still able to communicate that way. We had the internet in our little fob, if you wanna call it that. So overall, where we were staying at, it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't say it was like resort living, but it was (laughs)—it wasn't too bad. 00:28:00.634 --> 00:28:05.505 What did you do for recreation or when you were off duty while in the Philippines? 00:28:05.505 --> 00:30:46.815 Sure. So, down in Zamboanga, we weren't really allowed to go off base unless it was for—obviously for like official duties. So unfortunately for some of the Marines who wanted to go out and party (laughs) in Zamboanga, unfortunately they couldn't do that. So what we did mostly for recreation was workout a lot. So we had the gym, that was there on our little fob, and yeah, we just worked out a lot. I probably worked out pretty much every day, gained a lot of muscle (laughs). And then we also had like a basketball court, so we played basketball. We had one of our—one of our Marines in our platoon was a MCMAP instructor (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program), so he got me to gray belt. So that was cool. So, learned MCMAP, which is Marine Corps martial arts, and, I learned to hip toss (motions arms and laughs). So that was fun. What else did we do? Oh! So because the deployment was a joint deployment, so it was run by the Army. So how the Army likes to do deployments is if it's, I think, a six-month deployment, then you actually rate four days R&R (Rest and Recuperation). So, it was actually kind of nice. Mid-deployment, I got four days R&R, and I actually got to go visit my family in Cebu. So how they did R&R was you had to go with three other buddies whenever you do that. So most of the other Marines wanted to go to some of the more popular places in the Philippines, like Manila or Boracay, which is, you know, kind of like this resort area in the Philippines. And everybody was going there. And I was like, no, no, no. I was trying to convince my three other Liberty buddies. I'm like, let's go to Cebu. And they're like, where is that doc? I don't even know where that's at. And I'm like, no, it's in the middle of the Philippines. Like, it's a little lesser known but that's even better because then there's less tourists. And they're like, all right, doc, we'll go there. And yeah, they had a time of their life. And so yeah, we went to Cebu—they got to meet my family there, my cousins. And then we also got to take a ferry to Bohol, which is a nearby island, and that's where my dad's side of the family's from. And so they got to meet my dad's side of the family and kind of see the more rural part of Bohol in the Philippines. And yeah, it was definitely a good experience for them to see them experience that. Yeah, I don't know, it's just—it's kind of, I don't even know what the word is—but it's just kind of crazy, like seeing these two different worlds that I never thought would cross together—my military life and my family life, and like my family meeting my military friends. So that was really interesting to see. 00:30:46.815 --> 00:30:55.035 Do you recall any particularly humorous or unusual events while you were in the Philippines? 00:30:55.035 --> 00:32:10.605 Yes. Uh, I don't know how (laughs)—how inappropriate can we be with this? (Laughs.) I mean, I can—I'll keep it PG if you want me to, so—(nods, laughs, gives a thumbs up to interviewer.) Yeah, keep it PG. Okay, cool. Yeah there was a lot of humorous things. Well, for one, when we first deployed—so a lot of my Marines in the platoon are smokers. So you know it's ironic that the Corpsman (laughs) was the one who supplied them with cigarettes. But, like a lot of the Marines they have a certain—they like Marlboro Reds. And so they forgot to pack it with them–which, I don't know why they did that—but I was like, don't worry, Doc's got you. And I brought like three big cartons of Marlboro Reds. And then I was like, here you go. And then somebody else on the base was like, Is that the Corpsman passing out cigarettes? And I was like, Hey man, you know, I'm just trying to keep morale up. Like, yeah, my Marines smoke, that's okay. We're deployed but (laughs) we'll work on tobacco cessation when we get back to Garrison. So yeah, that was pretty funny. Man, yeah, there's a lot of fun times, but I don't know if I could share it for this (laughs). 00:32:10.605 --> 00:32:23.095 So let's talk about your end of service. Do you recall the day your service ended? Where were you when your service ended? 00:32:23.095 --> 00:34:04.825 Sure. So I'll backtrack a little bit. So, after I was deployed, I went back to Third Marine Division and I finished that tour in 2014. And then after that, I got stationed at Miramar at the clinic on base there. And then after that duty I met my wife, and that's when I decided I didn't want to move around anymore. I think I wanted to settle, but I still wanted to keep my foot in the door of the military. So that's when I switched over to the Reserves. So when I was in the Reserves, I served with a fourth tank battalion, and I was only there for a short while. And pretty much I just—I wanted to, like I said, I wanted to join the Reserves because I wanted to still, you know, keep my foot in the door with the military. But honestly, the Reserves was just not what I pictured the military being. I mean, no offense to the Reserves, I respect everybody in the Reserves, but it was just, it was not for me. I think if I wanted to be in the military, I probably would've just stayed active duty. So, pretty much, since I was still within my initial eight-year contract, my career counselor pretty much said like, I did have the option to drop to IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) or inactive Reserves and get out if I wanted to. And so I opted to do that. And so I decided—like I said, I got frocked to HM1 Petty Officer First Class. And shortly afterwards—like, I think maybe not even like two weeks after that—that's when I got out of the Reserves, and then that's when I decided to just stay here in California. 00:34:04.825 --> 00:34:14.000 Um, why did you decide to not return home, or where, like, where did you go? California? And then what played a role in that decision? 00:34:14.000 --> 00:35:08.465 Yeah, so I decided to stay in California because, you know, I met my wife and she's from here, and all of her family is here. And, you know, like I said, I mean, I grew up in Missouri—and nothing wrong with Missouri—but I just, that was also one of the reasons why I joined the military too, was to get outta Missouri. So, I just like the vibes here in California. It's, the weather is, you can't beat it. Yes, it's very expensive here, but luckily I've been blessed to have a job where I'm able to afford to live here. So as long as me and my family can afford to stay out here then we'll stay out here. And, like I said, since my wife's family is all here and I have kids of my own now, all the extended family, they offer their help to raise the kids and watch the kids. So instead of having to pay for daycare, we have family. So that's definitely a big reason why we stay out here. 00:35:08.465 --> 00:35:17.175 On the day when it came time for you to end your service, how were you received by your family in the community that you returned to? 00:35:17.175 --> 00:35:42.405 Yeah, so, when I got out of the military, I mean, I was already, you know, like I said, I was surrounded by my wife's family, who was here. My brother, he was actually stationed at Pendleton at the time, so my brother was here, and yeah, I mean, it was pretty much the same. Everybody was already here in California, so yeah, not too much change really. 00:35:42.405 --> 00:35:47.614 How did you readjust to civilian life? Did you work or go back to school? 00:35:47.614 --> 00:39:44.875 Yeah, so adjusting back to civilian life was actually really tough for me. Like I said, being in the military, that kind of made me have a higher standard for myself. And so when I initially got out of active duty I had a whole plan ahead of me. I was gonna go to graduate school—actually while I was active duty, I finished my bachelor's using tuition assistance. And so my plan was I wanted to go to graduate school. And so that's why I got out of active duty. And while I was gonna go to graduate school, I was gonna be in the Reserves. And then while I was in the Reserves, I was also gonna work out of town. I had a job lined up with Scripps (Scripps Health, a major healthcare system in San Diego County). And so I worked at Scripps for only about two months, and I just couldn't handle it. I think the biggest—the toughest thing for me was because, I don't know, I just felt like in the military I had almost like a sense of purpose. Like I put the uniform on and I was proud to do the work that I was doing. And no offense to Scripps, you know, I did the best job that I could, but I just felt like the job wasn't really rewarding at the end of the day. And, I almost felt like I was just another number when I was working there at Scripps. Nobody really paid attention to me or knew who I was or anything like that. And so, yeah, I ended up quitting that job. And, you know, it was, it was a little bit tough on me and my wife 'cause, you know, that was some income that was lost because of that. But, I decided to shift gears and I was gonna focus on the Reserves and do graduate school. But like I said, eventually, I didn't even like the Reserves either, so I ended up quitting that as well. And so two of my three things that I had planned after I got outta active duty fell through, and I almost felt like, you know, I was a failure. And so, that was really tough for me to deal with. I had a lot of anxiety and stress about that, and guilt. And honestly, I didn't really feel better about myself until I started graduate school at Cal State San Marcos. When I got there and started doing the whole enrollment process and I got familiar with the veteran community at Cal State—and seeing how like, great the veteran community was at Cal State, that kind of actually helped me with my transition. Even when I started graduate school, I felt like I was out of place and felt like I had like imposter syndrome. Like most of my classmates when I was going for my MPH (Master of Public Health), they were coming straight out of undergrad. A lot of them were like—well, to me they were like kids. I was like in my late twenties about to be thirty, and they were like in their early twenties, and so they were in a different stage of life from me. And like you know, I was already married and trying to start a family and stuff. So yeah, I had big imposter syndrome when I was in graduate school. But when I met with the veterans at Cal State, like meeting people like you Jason (gestures toward interviewer) and all the people at the vet center, I'd come to find that I wasn't alone. Like everybody else was going through the same struggles that I was going through when I got out of the military. For some people it was even tougher for them. Like I know some people they did their full 20, they retired outta the military, and then they're going to get their bachelor's and literally their classmates could be their kids. And so they must have felt really outta place. And so, yeah, I think just getting to bond with other veterans and realizing we were all in the same boat, that helped me realize that, yeah, I wasn't alone. 00:39:44.875 --> 00:39:47.275 Did the GI bill affect you at all? 00:39:47.275 --> 00:40:17.105 Yes. So like I said, I used mainly tuition assistance to finish my undergrad while I was active duty. But when I got out, I mainly used the GI bill for my graduate school. So, luckily that helped a lot. I was able to pay for my first graduate degree and my master's in public health. And since the GI bill I had a lot left over, that's when I decided to use it for my master's in business administration. And I also pursued that at Cal State as well. 00:40:17.105 --> 00:40:22.364 Did you continue any friendships after service? If so, for how long? 00:40:22.364 --> 00:41:30.405 Yes, definitely. I've kept in touch with almost everybody that I met in the military. I mean, I met a lot of people, but thanks to social media, I was able to keep up with most people. A lot of my friends are still in the military. I actually have one friend that's stationed out at Camp Pendleton and another friend that's about to get stationed there. And so, I still keep tabs on everybody and message them, and it's great to see them, especially even like over the years when I do see them—like a couple of my friends, they came over to the house about a month ago, and it was almost like we picked up right where we left off, and even though we hadn't seen each other for almost 13 or 14 years. So yeah, you know, just reminiscing on all the good times and the nostalgia that we had. Yeah, the friendships that I had in the military—like to this day, like, I don't know, it's definitely friendships that I almost feel like you can't really get anywhere else. 00:41:30.405 --> 00:41:33.585 Did you join any veterans organizations? 00:41:33.585 --> 00:42:40.000 Yes, so, like I said, Cal State, they had a really great veteran community there. So I got really involved at the vet center, especially my last semester at Cal State. That's when I learned about the work-study program. And so I actually worked for a semester at Cal State, and I worked with VTEC (Veterans to Energy Careers) and helped other veterans mainly with their professional development and writing resumes and stuff like that. So that was great to work with them. And right now, currently, I don't know if it's really a veteran organization, but I'm part of the Telesforo Trinidad Committee. So what that is is there's actually a ship called the USS Telesforo Trinidad that's currently—I think it's still being built—but it's the first naval ship that's gonna be named after a Filipino. So, Telesforo Trinidad was actually the first—and I believe only—Medal of Honor recipient that was Filipino. 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:54.000 So now we're coming up on reflections. How has your service impacted your life, your community, your faith, and your family? 00:42:54.000 --> 00:44:34.000 Well, I would say joining the military was probably the best decision I ever made. I mean, for one, like I said, the GI bill was able to cover graduate school for me, and that led me to get the job that I'm at now, and it's able to provide for my family. So, the military was able to help out with that. Also, I am a disabled veteran, and so all the benefits that come with that has also been able to help out a lot with my family as well. Um, let's see—and like I said, all the connections and the friendships that I made through the military, that has been super valuable for me. Not only for networking, but just maintaining those friendships and always having a good support system. Like I said, I'm able to call my friends all over the country if I ever need anything. Like, if I fly to Arkansas, I have a friend out there. If I ever go to the east coast, I have a friend out there. So, having such a diverse network of people from the military like that, that's one of the great things about the military is, just, it's a melting pot of different people, different cultures, different walks of life, different beliefs, backgrounds. Like, I have friends from all over the country, and they really opened my perspective on a lot of things, like my political views, my personal views, my personal beliefs and everything. And I think I wouldn't have gotten that if I didn't join the military. 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:38.934 So, what are some of the life lessons you learned from your military service? 00:44:38.934 --> 00:46:14.054 Oh, man. I've learned a lot of life lessons from the military. Um, let's see—well, for one, the military taught me how to do my taxes (laughs). So, I mean, you know, a lot of kids like, they just kind of wing it and figure it out. But luckily I had a petty officer who was kind of a leader and he was like, Hey, this is how you do TurboTax, and this is how you do this. And I was a 19-year-old kid, and I didn't even know taxes was a thing. My parents always just kind of took care of that. And so, when the end of the year came and they were like, Hey, all the sailors, did you guys do your taxes? And I was like, Oh, that's a thing? I dunno what that is. So luckily I had a mentor that kind of guided me through that. So, life lessons, a lot of pretty much how to be an adult. I got that from the military, which I feel like not a lot of people get that. They'd have to kind of find it on their own. So the military helped me grow up and it helped me mature. Honestly, the military even helped me become a good dad, a good father. Like a lot of my friends, they got married, they had kids, and I kind of saw how they raised their kids and how they had their relationships while they were in the military. And so that kind of shaped how I was gonna be as a father. So, let's see—what other life lessons? That's pretty much the main ones I can think of. 00:46:14.054 --> 00:46:22.034 What message would you like to leave future generations who will view or hear this interview? 00:46:22.034 --> 00:47:51.675 Pretty much, you know, a lot of people have different perspectives of what the military is like and what that is. Growing up, like a lot of people thought the military is you're going to just, like, it's just a job where you just go and you kill people or something like that. Or like, you go out and you be a hero. But the military is just like, it had a lot of different experiences. A lot of people ask me like, is joining the military a good decision? And honestly, it's ultimately up to you—like, what your goals are, what you wanna do with your life. I wouldn't say the military is a good or bad decision. It really just depends on what you wanna do. So for me it was a good decision. And I just want everybody to know, whenever people come and thank me for my service—you know, some people they respond with "you're welcome." I don't really like saying "you're welcome." I just like saying thank you for your support, because, you know, I'm just a person, just like everybody else is and I just got experiences that some other people haven't experienced before. So, yeah I guess I just want people to know that people in the military, veterans, were just regular people who were put into extraordinary circumstances sometimes. 00:47:51.675 --> 00:47:59.565 How did you become associated with the CSUSM campus and the North San Diego County community? 00:47:59.565 --> 00:48:55.474 Sure. Pretty much I got affiliated with Cal State because I was looking for grad schools. Actually my initial—I wanted to go to San Diego State, but that didn't quite work out (laughs), so Cal State was actually my backup, but it was a great decision. I don't regret it at all. Cal State was a great school, and that's why I went there twice, for both of my graduate programs. But I ultimately picked Cal State because of their MPH program. They had a CEPF accreditation (Council on Education for Public Health). I forget what CEPF stands for, but at the time I was pondering the idea of going back into the military as an officer. And so the program accreditations are really important, whenever you try to put in your officer packages. So, CEPH accreditation for an MPH degree was important. So that's why I pursued a degree at Cal State. 00:48:55.474 --> 00:49:13.894 So we're coming up on the conclusions. I'd like to first thank you for taking the time to share your recollections of military service. Is there anything you've always wanted to share about your service or veteran experience that you never had? 00:49:13.894 --> 00:50:05.375 Lemme see. Well, I think like the main thing I wanted to share was the experiences I had with my deployment. Like I said, it's a lesser known theater that not a lot of people know about—the conflict down in the Philippines. And back in I think 2017 or 2018, there was a big siege in a town called Marawi where, pretty much, the Abu Sayyaf had taken over this entire city, and a lot of people died. And you know, the conflict down there in the south part of the Philippines, like I said, not a lot of people know about it, but a lot of people have died. And so I just want people to be aware of what we did down there and the people that we helped. 00:50:05.375 --> 00:50:10.224 What do you wish more people knew about veterans? 00:50:10.224 --> 00:51:33.005 Pretty much, kind of what I said before, you know, veterans are just normal people who just got put into extraordinary circumstances. I mean, I know I didn't get to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan—my brother did. My corpsman brother. He was with the Marines—or as a corpsman he was with the Marines, with the infantry. And that's what I initially wanted to do. I wanted to go over there. But unfortunately the time that I joined was in 2011, so the wars at both of those places in Iraq and Afghanistan were starting to die down. Literally right when I checked into third Marine division, the last rotation to Afghanistan from our unit had stopped. That was the—so I was asking, I was volunteering like, Hey, can I please go to Afghanistan? That's why I joined the military. I wanted to go over there, and as the Marines would say, "get some," but that didn't quite work out. But when they said that there was a deployment to the Philippines, I was like, okay, well, that's the next best thing. So, yeah, I just want people to know that veterans, even though we didn't, like, I would say a large majority of us didn't even serve in a war or in combat, but we all did our part. And, like, if even if we were put into that situation, I think we all still would've performed well. So yeah. 00:51:33.005 --> 00:51:40.675 In your unveiling of the journey, what are the lessons learned from your military experience? 00:51:40.675 --> 00:54:12.385 Lessons learned. Like I said, I learned how to be an adult in the military. So, let's see, what else? I learned how to be fiscally responsible. Let's see. Hmm. Oh, and I also—being in the military, I learned the importance of education. I had a lot of mentors in the military, and some of them were officers. So they went to school and they told me their pathway to success, if you will. And at the time when I joined the military I did a semester at Missouri State and I just felt like college isn't for me. I'm just gonna join the military, make a career out of it. And then like, when I was active duty, when I was with the Third Marine Division, I mean, we were very busy with operations and stuff, and people would mention going to school, and I'm like, I don't even know how you guys have time to go to school. And so I didn't even think about going to school, but when I got stationed at Miramar, it was considered a shore duty. So it was a little less paced for the operations side. So everybody kept saying, Hey, while you're at Miramar, you should go to school. And then I had an HM1 who was kind of like my mentor, and he went and did all of his classes and he was like, "Lacea, you need to go to school too." And I was like, "All right, all right, fine, I'll do it. I'll see how it goes." And I was I think twenty-two, twenty-three at the time, and I felt like going back to school, even though I was a good student in high school, I thought I was gonna have a hard time going back to school and learning again. So I was really nervous, and when I did my first college class, I was like, Wow, this wasn't that bad. And so I started like packing on the classes and, like I said, at the time I was still thinking about the Navy as a career, so I was just doing some classes here and there, just to kind of like build my time. I could even put those classes on my eval to make it like an eval bullet. But then I eventually saw like, oh shoot, I'm stacking more and more classes. I could actually finish my bachelor's. And so, once I finished my bachelor's, then yeah, it was just up and up from there. I was like, okay, next thing is my master's. So, yeah, the military definitely taught me the importance of education, for sure. 00:54:12.385 --> 00:54:13.844 Thank you for your time today. 00:54:13.844 --> 00:54:14.344 Cool. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END ]]> https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en video Property rights reside with the university. Copyrights are retained by the &#13 ; creators of the records and their heirs. This resource is licensed for noncommercial educational use using CC NC-BY 4.0. Please contact Special Collections at archives csusm.edu if you need reproductions made. Please see the related “Preferred Citation note” for language on citing materials from this collection. &#13 ; Permission to examine Library materials is not authorization to publish or to reproduce the examined material in whole, or in part. Persons wishing to quote, publish, perform, reproduce, or otherwise make use of an item in the library’s collections must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of the copyright holder. &#13 ; The researcher assumes full responsibility for use of the material and agrees to hold harmless the University Library, and California State University, against all claims, demands, costs, and expenses incurred by copyright infringement or any other legal or regulatory cause of action arising from the use of the library's materials. &#13 ; In assuming full responsibility for use of the material, the researcher also &#13 ; understands that the materials they examine may contain Social Security &#13 ; numbers, other personal identifiers, and/or sensitive material on potentially living and identifiable individuals (e.g., medical, evaluative, or personally invasive information). The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=LaceaJan_BeyerJason_2024-11-08_access.xml LaceaJan_BeyerJason_2024-11-08_access.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lacea, Jan Michael Letigio. Interview November 8th, 2024. Description An account of the resource Jan Michael Letigio Lacea served in the Navy for eight years. He was frocked Petty Officer First Class HM1 (Hospital Corpsman First Class) before he left the service. Lacea described his service in the Philippines for Operation Enduring Freedom, and he reflected on his own identity as a Filipino American immigrant. He also recounted his return to civilian life, attending graduate school at CSU San Marcos, the support he received from the CSUSM Veterans’ Center, and the life lessons he learned from military service. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-072 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-11-08 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/60d04d09e3a166c4f22b5b1a4bd5c541.jpg ddd340034bb3c3d8eecf4efbfe47152f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Basic Training Description An account of the resource Forster II at basic training Lackland Airforce Base in 1967 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/a5072c5231a93bd4d71b6c041fd6235b.jpg 1282d05fdbfe1d268ea39500bc2d876a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tech School Description An account of the resource Forster II at tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base, WIchita Falls, Texas, 1968 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/95110933944e95874d25d598da74b0ab.jpg bc4d7024608e94661981266062ceba94 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource C-47 Description An account of the resource A C-47 plane from flight squadron VC-470 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 1969 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/1293751ab6c59ecd22abf820ca69bd04.jpg 17936bec27bc9104dbdd66278dcefcfb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Osan Air Base Description An account of the resource Forster II at Osan Air Base, South Korea, 1969 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Forster, James Robert II. Photographs, Various dates. Description An account of the resource Four photos related to the oral history of James Robert Forster II. Photograph #1 depicts Forster II at basic training Lackland Airforce Base in 1967. Photograph #2 depicts Forster II at tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base, WIchita Falls, Texas, 1968. Photograph #3 depicts a C-47 plane from flight squadron VC-470 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, 1969. Photograph #4 depicts Forster II at Osan Air Base, South Korea, 1969. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 - 1969 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/00489b285627c9a6866f172944112fe8.jpg 35c5e00c18f7596b84d9e666d6751988 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Aviation Cadet Description An account of the resource Williams dressed as an Aviation Cadet at an unknown location and unknown date https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/cbae0566763ce0270fef5d0ce938bcf7.jpg 6cfb3c021344133fed396067d8844597 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource P105 in Saipan Description An account of the resource Williams posing with a P105 plane in Saipan, 1946 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/0282d85f8cb82816431c217d88442ad3.jpg c66638dba65f748b3e0953e8422311a5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Wedding Day Description An account of the resource Camilla and Elmer Royce Williams on their wedding day in Clinton, Minnesota, June 1, 1947 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/4a703a89795ad0efa0544261d8fd56e5.jpg 846e93989267282dbe4cfb29d90d9fdd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Christmas Dinner Description An account of the resource Mark, Elmer Royce, Bruce, and Craig Williams having Christmas dinner, December 25, 1962 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/6cb0bce3640d8b5336eeafafe1c22ca4.jpg cba0af63d47198f9508ab961b6e2ec14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Arrival of VF-33 Description An account of the resource Commander Neilsen T.L., Camilla Williams, and Elmer Royce Williams at the arrival of VF-33 from Key West, U.S. Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, January 2, 1965 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Williams, Elmer Royce. Photographs, Various dates. Description An account of the resource Five photos related to the oral history of Elmer Royce Williams. Photograph #1 depicts Williams dressed as an Aviation Cadet at an unknown location and unknown date. Photograph #2 depicts Williams posing with a P105 plane in Saipan, 1946. Photograph #3 depicts Camilla and Elmer Royce Williams on their wedding day in Clinton, Minnesota, June 1, 1947. Photograph #4 depicts Mark, Elmer Royce, Bruce, and Craig Williams having Christmas dinner, December 25, 1962. Photograph #5 depicts Commander Neilsen T.L., Camilla Williams, and Elmer Royce Williams at the arrival of VF-33 from Key West, U.S. Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, January 2, 1965. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource undated - 1962 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Judith Downie Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Jim Carr OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=CarrJim_DownieJudith_2017-09-26.xml Interview Keyword This filed adds keywords to the Omeka Oral History item type. Keywords are included in the OHMS XML, this field in Omeka will allow for full data migration between OHMS XML and the Omeka Record. This field does not impact the OHMS / Omeka integration and is optional if you do not need to map the "keywords" field in the OHMS XML to the corresponding Omeka record. Distribution Services;CSUSM;Asset tracking OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Carr, Jim. Interview, September 26, 2017 SC027-091 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library oral history collection CSUSM csusm Distribution Services ; CSUSM ; Asset tracking Jim Carr Judith Downie sound CarrJim_DownieJudith_2017-09-26.m4a 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/31e232bd190157b0333d3c3a3d37e764.m4a Other audio English 0 Introduction 0 28 Accountable fixed assets for CSUSM Jim talks about the folder he brought into the interview that documents Cal State San Marcos' fixed assets across 82 pages. That folder is included in CSUSM library Special Collection. Fixed assets ; Cal State San Marcos ; Asset tracking 0 333 Education and Employment in the CSU System Jim talks about his education at San Diego State University where he received a Bachelor's degree in English and worked as a student assistant. His work as a student assistant at SDSU eventully led him to his career as a property manager at SDSU and then CSUSM. Asset tracking ; Education ; San Diego State University ; Cal State San Marcos ; Student employment 0 1008 Watching the University Grow Jim discusses how CSUSM has grown in his 24 years working on the campus. Blossoming into a campus with over 17,000 students. CSUSM ; Expansion ; Student experience 0 1379 Barcoding Assets Jim talks about one of the largest projects during his tenure at CSUSM, barcoding all of the fixed assets on campus. Barcodes ; Fixed assets ; Asset tracking 0 1604 Sustainability and Purchasing Jim talks about the ways that his department worked with other departments on campus to create sustainable plans for the retirement of assets and how on campus purchasing plays a part in that project. Sustainability ; Asset retirement ; Asset planning ; Asset tracking 0 2175 Technology Growth in Higher Education Jim talks about how technology has been implemented within the CSU system over the course of his career. Email ; Technology development ; Higher education ; CSUSM ; SDSU 0 2292 Retirement Jim talks about his plans for retirement which include staying active on the Retiree's Association and backpacking with his grandson. Backpacking ; Retirement ; Retiree's Association 0 2542 Asset End of Life Planning Jim talks about how assets are retired from the CSU system through sustainable means. Donations or reselling old er assets are often used as ways to retire old assets and keep them out of landfills. Sustainability ; Asset retirement ; CSUSM ; Donations 0 2898 Crunching the Numbers Jim talks about how he did some quick calculations to see how many thousands of miles he drove during his commutes and how much money was spent on fuel. Trivia ; Commuting ; Expenses ; CSUSM 0 Oral history Jim Carr spent 23 years at California State University San Marcos working for the Distribution Services team and was instrumental in implementing the first barcoded inventory tracking system for the University. Jim discusses his time working for CSUSM as part of Distribution Services and how his education and background led to him this job. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:01.314 --> 00:00:16.155 Okay, this is Tuesday, September 26th, 2017. Judith Downie, Special Collections and History Librarian at Cal State San Marcos with Jim Carr, of Materials Management at CSUSM to record an oral history. 00:00:16.155 --> 00:00:19.545 Okay, so this picks up very, very well. So-- 00:00:19.545 --> 00:00:19.885 Very well, 00:00:19.885 --> 00:00:20.714 Don't worry about speaking. 00:00:20.714 --> 00:00:21.942 Good morning, Judith. 00:00:21.942 --> 00:00:23.047 Good morning. Jim 00:00:23.047 --> 00:00:28.995 Jim Carr here, also known as James Carr, in case any official documents need to be-- 00:00:28.995 --> 00:00:48.704 Okay. So let's go back to what you were talking about before I got the recorder started. There's about three quarters of an inch of eleven by four or --eight and a half by fourteen (inch) paper. Computer printout with signatures from Ernest Zumwalt, Patricia Harris, and Ron Neu-- 00:00:48.704 --> 00:00:49.395 Farris 00:00:49.395 --> 00:00:50.085 Harris. 00:00:50.085 --> 00:00:51.005 Farris. Farris. 00:00:51.005 --> 00:01:12.355 Farris, I'm sorry, it's been so long since I've used her name. And Ron New who, in regards to an inventory of assets here at Cal State San Marcos. And Jim is giving it to us for storage in the archives as part of our campus startups. The document is dated 1994. And so this will be in the University collection when it is processed. 00:01:12.355 --> 00:01:13.685 Okay. Yes. 00:01:13.685 --> 00:01:14.754 So you wanna explain this document? 00:01:14.754 --> 00:01:50.484 It's 82 pages of, the accountable fixed assets that the university, first accounted for after a long process of converting, manual inventory labels into barcoded assets. And once we were all accounted for, this is what we used and was signed up for as a dollar amount and a number of items that the University was gonna start accounting for in the fixed asset category, for accounting purposes. 00:01:50.484 --> 00:01:55.954 And what I love is I'm seeing computer monitors. Apple. Back in the days when we had Apples. 00:01:55.954 --> 00:01:56.525 Yeah. There's-- 00:01:56.525 --> 00:01:59.564 Then we went to PC and then we came back to Apple. So. 00:01:59.564 --> 00:02:00.000 Yeah, 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.000 We've kind of gone full circle here. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:32.044 Yeah. We kind of went back and forth there for a while and of course back then we were asset tracking at a $500 threshold. And then around the year 2000 we went to a $1,500 threshold and now we're at a $2,500 threshold. Hopefully at some point the Chancellors office will find a way for all the campus' to be on common ground in that regard. But right now every campus is a little different in how they track assets, so there we are. 00:02:32.044 --> 00:02:35.155 That's kind of a campus system standard it seems like. 00:02:35.155 --> 00:02:48.914 Yeah. I also have some old, letterhead that I happen to have acquired somehow that actually talks about, the old address at the University before it moved onto our current location here. 00:02:48.914 --> 00:02:50.564 Without a logo or anything. 00:02:50.564 --> 00:03:00.555 Yeah. Without a logo. It's from the College of Arts and Sciences, and the address on it is 820 West Los Viacitos Boulevard in San Marcos. So, in other words, when we were across the freeway. 00:03:00.555 --> 00:03:03.965 With the area code of 619. That's been a long time. 00:03:03.965 --> 00:03:27.000 Yeah, that's right. Also some old one with our old logo here. From accounting. That's nothing much there. I also have something,(19)91 that was just kind of interesting. back in the earlier days of the University, of course we had a program called Central Stores and it was kind of like what would later become Office Max or Staples or something. And-- 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:28.354 I had forgotten about that. 00:03:28.354 --> 00:03:36.485 --chargebacks at the time, 1991. Just little things of what we used to carry in the warehouse that we would deliver to campus when somebody was interested in that. 00:03:36.485 --> 00:03:39.205 I remember ordering reams of colored paper and things like that. 00:03:39.205 --> 00:04:21.444 And then of course, in the early days too, being a small university, our department, and our warehouse workers were responsible for every move on campus at the time. And Ron Neu at the time, used to track who had asked for a particular move on a date, when it was completed and how long it took. So anyway, that's just kind of interesting in that it references a lot of the employees that were on campus at the time, in fact there's even a few that are still around, like Kathy Martin. It won't be around much longer. Or, Marcy Boyle up in, the provost's office, that kind of a thing. So there's some very interesting history to look at. So if you're interested in that. 00:04:21.444 --> 00:04:22.764 Oh, that's fabulous. Yes! Thank you. 00:04:22.764 --> 00:04:24.444 You're more than welcome to archive that. 00:04:24.444 --> 00:04:32.095 That's in the manila folder. Yeah, I, let's see, Mitchell, I wonder if that's Dannis Mitchell or. 00:04:32.095 --> 00:04:34.264 Susan Mitchell. It's probably Dannis. 00:04:34.264 --> 00:04:38.345 And then there was also another D. Mitchell. It was Judy Taylor's daughter. 00:04:38.345 --> 00:04:39.644 Oh, really? 00:04:39.644 --> 00:04:46.774 Oh, what was her name? She worked in, boy. Yeah, this is going back. Oh, I see. Yee. So that would be probably Michael Yee. 00:04:46.774 --> 00:04:48.963 Mike Yee or Criselda Yee maybe. 00:04:48.963 --> 00:04:50.426 Yeah, who just retired. 00:04:50.426 --> 00:04:51.706 Yeah, he just retired. 00:04:51.706 --> 00:04:52.475 Oh, there's Theresa Handy. 00:04:52.475 --> 00:04:53.764 Yeah. Still here. 00:04:53.764 --> 00:04:58.125 Oh yeah, I'm seeing a lot of names down there that take me down-- 00:04:58.125 --> 00:05:04.925 Yeah, interesting names. So I, again, I just kind of thought something I found when I was going through my files that I thought maybe the archives would be interesting. 00:05:04.925 --> 00:05:17.725 Yeah, no, definitely. Wonderful. Okay. Very good. Well, here's a rough idea of kinds of questions you could answer. And of course, if you take off from those and talk about something else, that's absolutely fabulous. 00:05:17.725 --> 00:05:19.463 Okay. That sounds good. 00:05:19.463 --> 00:05:33.485 And here is a clipping from the San Diego North County Times with-- this goes through 2004. So that's not, of course exhausted by any means, but it might trigger a few things 'cause. 00:05:33.485 --> 00:05:51.024 Absolutely. And I can certainly, relate to this in, in several regards. And I'll tie in my history here. I'll start with where I was before. CSUSM back, of course my history with the CSU actually spans 44 years. 00:05:51.024 --> 00:05:51.634 Wow. 00:05:51.634 --> 00:08:53.206 When you count the idea that I actually went to San Diego State and was a college student there, starting in the fall of 1973. And I graduated in May of 1978. And during that time, I was able to be employed as a student assistant in the property office there under a gentleman named John Hines at the time. And, he put me to work as a inventory student to go around to different buildings and do inventory. So I'd take a clipboard and a piece of paper and I would write down asset tag numbers and record those and give them to John to, you know, do his tracking and accountability for those. And I remember, at the time we had just opened a brand new art building and I was very excited 'cause John handed me his master keys, said, Jim, go through every room in this building and find every asset you can find 'cause we wanna make sure we know what got moved into that new building. So that was fun. And it was a very good experience and a very good precursor to learning all the things that I did that I brought to Cal State San Marcos. But before I got to San Marcos again, I spent a couple years as a student assistant. I also worked over in, what was called the Duplication Department, doing deliveries of printed materials as, what they would call secretaries back then needed particular copies made. And of course, back then they had their great big printing machines. There was no such thing as, printers. There were still mimeograph machines and all that back then and typewriters by the galore 'cause that was the mid seventies (1970s). So, apparently I was well-liked as a student assistant. 'cause I did graduate and I worked off campus for a couple of years. And during those couple of years off campus, I worked for a delivery service that handled a lot of medical accounts. It was kind of like a small, say like a FedEx home delivery type business. And our accounts were mainly, medical at the time. So we delivered to a lot of pharmacies, medical labs, dental labs. And for a short while, there was actually a veterinary account that we carried. And one of my routes during that time carried me from Kearney Mesa, all the way up to the small town of San Marcos. So this would see be around 1979, 1980, somewhere in there. And on one trip at the end of my day, I remember driving down this long road delivering to a chicken ranch, and I can almost guarantee that it was the Prohoroff Chicken Ranch. And I delivered a small box of veterinary supplies. And I don't remember much of it other than it was a long road. And I found someone out there that could sign for the package. I handed it to 'em and off I went. But it's just fascinating that I probably came to the Chicken ranch once in my career. 00:08:53.206 --> 00:08:56.195 And no inkling you were going to be back there for something. 00:08:56.195 --> 00:09:01.294 I had no idea. Absolutely. So that was just a great story. 00:09:01.294 --> 00:10:51.645 later on, I found out that there was an opening in the department, that I had worked for at San Diego State, and I applied for that position and, took that position in September of 1980. And that began my employment career in the California State University system. So I went to work, in the property office. And, I spent twelve and a half years working at San Diego State. And during that time, I certainly remember that, San Diego State, of course had a satellite campus out in Imperial Valley at the time. Well, up there in the North County, growing as it was, the University wanted to establish a North County campus up there. And, again, based on your history here, I can see that in September of 1979, a satellite branch of the university opened in Vista, for 148 students. And I remember, it may have been after this point, but at one point, the North County satellite campus moved to a location on the Lincoln Middle School, I believe. And they actually, assigned an admin coordinator, secretary, whatever you wanna say, in a trailer there at that location. And that secretary needed some furniture. She would need a desk, she would need a table, a file cabinet, maybe, bookcase, something like that. And, John, my supervisor, said, well, Jim and Larry, my coworker at the time, go to our surplus area, pick out a nice desk, pick out some furniture, and you're gonna make a road trip up to that location and deliver that for that secretary. So I do remember making a trip up to Vista at the time and delivering some, surplus furniture. So that staff employee-- 00:10:51.645 --> 00:10:53.725 Yeah. Was this Prison Industry's furniture do you remember? 00:10:53.725 --> 00:12:27.384 It probably-- Well, I, no, it wasn't Prison Industries. It would've been an old, like World War II type metal desk. That would've been what we had a lot of at San Diego State. A lot of that type of furniture at the time. So that was kind of another little piece of history. And of course, as the, North County satellite campus grew larger and larger, we would make trips up there when they would order tablet armchairs that would come into our receiving at San Diego State. And then we'd have to make, again, another road trip up to deliver a tablet armchairs or other furniture as it grew and grew and grew. And then, obviously it got to the point, at San Diego State, John Hines retired and I became the, the property clerk there for a while. So, it became obvious that San Marcos was going to be dedicating a brand new campus up there in North County. And it was about the time I had become the property clerk. So employees were getting hired up there at, the new campus. It officially dedicated again in, I believe, July of 1989. It was, established. And, some of the new employees would come down to San Diego State, like Ron Neu, who had been hired in there at the time, would come down to San Diego State and visit with me to kind of get ideas of how we did processes and set up policies and how we did that kind of business to support the University in categories such as fixed asset tracking, shipping and receiving, if you had a central store's mail, that kind of thing. 00:12:27.384 --> 00:14:21.825 So, I would talk to Ron and, he was impressed with, how we ran things at San Diego State. And it wasn't too long after that, that burgeoning campus there at, Cal State San Marcos, was now going to be separating completely from San Diego State. There was a little transitional time where San Diego State supported Cal State San Marcos in some of their processes and business practices. Well, once the split occurred, I was tasked to go up to Cal State San Marcos when they're still at the Jerome's location. And do an inventory again, of tracking fixed assets to find out what assets the University (CSUSM) was gonna keep that used to belong to San Diego State. And which ones they wanted to relinquish back to San Diego State. So again, I went up to the Jerome's location and went through all the buildings and track things. And I walked around with Ron who said, okay, we're gonna keep these pieces and these, you're gonna, you know, gonna be moved back to San Diego State at some point. So that was, again, a great experience. And again, meeting more people at the new campus and being very excited for them. And, so went back, took care of that project. And then before long I was getting calls from Ron Neu, asking if I might be interested in coming to work at Cal State San Marcos. And this was in, late 1992. And, that was one of the times when, our CSU system was undergoing one of its budget downturns. And there were some, tough times there. There was new management coming in. There were workers that were getting laid off, only because they were temporary, but there were some tough times. And the prospect of a new, vibrant, exciting university just up the road, was very appealing. And, again, Ron was wooing me, and it didn't take me too long to realize that this would be a very good move. 00:14:21.825 --> 00:16:47.004 So in, December of 1992, right before Craven Hall (Academic Hall) was occupied, I came up to the campus and submitted my application for a warehouse worker position that had opened up in, Support Services there at the USB (University Services Building) building, one of our first buildings on campus. And, Human Resources was in Academic Hall at the time. And I submitted my application and I interviewed with, Ron and Ivalee Clark and a gentleman, from procurement at the time, and ended up getting the job. So in February of 1993, I had given my notice, and I came up, started working at Cal State San Marcos, and, a couple years later I got reclassed into the property clerk position. And again, we were starting to barcode all our assets, and it was a very exciting time at the, the young campus. The, Craven Hall building was dedicated in April of 1993. And that was exciting, to go through that ceremony. And, one other interesting thing about, my previous history at San Diego State was when I was a college student, I took an English class and it was called, John Milton. And it was about that writer, John Milton, and a lot of his writings. And the particular faculty member that taught that class was none other than Mr. Richard Rush, who was one of the very first, administrators here at the new university. I think by the time I started, he had already moved on to become president back at, the University of Minnesota that he was. But, it was neat to, have had him as an instructor. And find out he was an administrator here. And then of course, he spent a very great distinguished career up at, (CSU) Channel Islands. And I think he came down to campus a couple times to visit. And I think I got a chance to talk to him a few times and mention that I had been a student of his and, put a smile on his face there. He was a good instructor. So, that was kind of another neat little piece of history. And then I've of course spent 24 and a half years here at Cal State San Marcos, always down there in the University Services Building, whether we were called Support Services or Materials Management, or now we're Distribution Services. And it's been a--it's been a great career and I've loved working here. 00:16:47.004 --> 00:16:48.754 I've always seen you with a smile on your face. 00:16:48.754 --> 00:17:08.755 Well, thank you. It's-- there's been great people here. There were of course, great people working at San Diego State too. So--but to see the university grow and blossom from, you know, just the few buildings that were here when I started to our large vibrant campus now with 17,000 students has been--has been a great experience. 00:17:08.755 --> 00:17:11.204 Yeah. Very. It's been amazing. It's definitely been amazing. 00:17:11.204 --> 00:17:13.243 Absolutely. So-- 00:17:13.243 --> 00:17:16.607 I came in (19)91 as a student, so yeah, I've done that. 00:17:16.607 --> 00:17:17.125 Oh. There you go. 00:17:17.125 --> 00:17:22.924 It's very similar trajectory of being here to help schlep all the stuff. 00:17:22.924 --> 00:17:25.434 Yeah. Yep. And been a lot of schlepping over time. 00:17:25.434 --> 00:17:26.194 Yeah. Yeah. 00:17:26.194 --> 00:17:56.444 It's been great to see the buildings come up and people move and the students come in and, and the technology change to, to see how education has grown over the years. It would've been neat to have been a little more involved on the academic side, but, I was very proud to have, supported the University with our customer service and the frontline people that are behind the scenes on the business side of the University that, you know, really keep it going. 00:17:56.444 --> 00:17:58.404 Yeah. You're the grease that makes the wheels turn. 00:17:58.404 --> 00:18:00.233 That's, that's kinda it. Yeah. 00:18:00.233 --> 00:18:01.684 Very essential to getting things done. 00:18:01.684 --> 00:18:20.005 Yeah. And the nice thing about San Marcos, we've generally had pretty good, support from management to, you know, continue our operation and make sure that we provide the service that's best for the campus. So, very glad to have been part of that. Very good. So thank you, Judith. 00:18:20.005 --> 00:18:26.045 Well and so, you talked about being a student at San Diego State. What was your degree? 00:18:26.045 --> 00:18:27.869 My degree was in English. 00:18:27.869 --> 00:18:28.599 Oh, okay. 00:18:28.599 --> 00:19:11.505 And, I guess I could have pursued a teaching credential or something might've been the logical direction to go, but the employment that I had experienced as a student assistant was really good. And, my mother in fact was a department secretary there at San Diego State for about 20 years. And, her promoting the benefits of state employment kinda said, well, you know, this would be a good direction. I kind of like what I was doing. And, so again, when, that position opened up, it was a great draw and I'm glad I did, because, our benefits are very good. 00:19:11.505 --> 00:19:26.444 And do you think that having been a student assistant maybe also helped you decide to go that way? Just because you had worked with good people, you also saw how the system worked rather than going blindly into something completely different and saying wait a minute I don't think I like this? 00:19:26.444 --> 00:19:57.000 Absolutely. Yep. The student assistant definitely was part--it was fun to work on a campus. You worked with really good people. You worked with, other student assistants that were, you know, enjoying being employed before they headed off in their careers and things. And, working with people that, had--were actually in second careers. Because a lot of the people at the time I worked with were veterans from World War II and they were working in that support business for the University, because that's what they had done in the military. 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.964 The military runs on logistics and things, so, yeah-- 00:20:00.964 --> 00:20:16.275 Exactly. So it was, it was kind of neat. And I had always, enjoyed logistics like that. So it was a very good fit. And, so the student assistant experience was a very good precursor to going into that business. And I was glad I did. Yeah. It was a good fit. 00:20:16.275 --> 00:20:19.785 Okay. So, have you ever attended any classes at Cal State San Marcos? 00:20:19.785 --> 00:20:46.243 I never did, other than, some, you know, classes that you get sent to as an employee. I did join a national association called the National Property Managers Association, which is a nationwide group of property professionals, again, property having to do with fixed assets and tracking. 00:20:46.243 --> 00:20:47.315 As opposed to real estate? 00:20:47.315 --> 00:21:41.674 Correct. Correct. Tracking fixed assets in all kinds of different applications. Everything from the military, a lot of federal programs, universities, cities, counties, state agencies. So, it's a very good support group for property professionals. And I got my certification in that. And, kept that for a while. I wish I could have pursued it more, but at some point, the University decided that, we'd move a different direction in that regard. So I'm hoping maybe, anyone that follows me in the fixed asset world might be able to join that association. Because it's a very great support group along with the other property clerks. In the CSU system, which are also very good resources. 00:21:41.674 --> 00:21:47.894 So is there anything formal in the CSU for the property? 00:21:47.894 --> 00:22:42.855 No, not really. Other than, like the Chancellor's office attempting to, you know, set new standards and guidelines for, tracking assets. Whether it be capital assets, non-capital assets, theft sensitive assets. But the property clerks, had some meetings that they would get together in the late nineties (1990s), early two thousands (2000s). They kind of fell off during the recession, but about three years ago (circa 2014), they started having them again. So, the CSU property clerks are getting together for a conference, in fact next month in October at San Diego State and my successor is gonna be joining that conference and a couple other people here on campus. So I'm glad to see that that's been revived. And that, they get together and talk about different challenges that they have amongst the campuses in their business practices. So it's good to share that information and learn something. 00:22:42.855 --> 00:22:47.134 And communication is only augmented when you can do face to face and build some relationships that way. 00:22:47.134 --> 00:22:48.214 Exactly. 00:22:48.214 --> 00:22:49.365 So that's great. That's great. I'm glad to hear that. 00:22:49.365 --> 00:22:52.674 I'm glad to hear they're doing that. Yeah, absolutely. 00:22:52.674 --> 00:22:58.000 And you talked about your mother working at San Diego State for 20 years and being a champion. 00:22:58.000 --> 00:22:59.515 Yes! 00:22:59.515 --> 00:23:06.585 but what are some of the most notable projects you can remember having worked on? I mean, the barcoding the assets was a huge project-- 00:23:06.585 --> 00:25:10.434 Right. That's a big project because even ongoing, as we add new buildings, you have to go into each building and kind of update where all your equipment is moved. So if everything was in the first science building (Science Hall 1), now they've opened a new science building (Science Hall 2), first thing you have to do is go through the whole building and barcode all the rooms so that you can track locations. And then, you kind of go through and have to update, locations within all those labs, what centrifuges--microscopes, whatever it might be, have moved. And, of course we've been very lucky as a campus that, we have centralized computing on our campus, but we used to barcode every computer that came into the campus. And of course, computers were very important piece of equipment. And even more so these days in our information age where computers are holding a lot of data and basically have become a very, very strong security risk. As we all know, when you're talking about data breaches and things like that. So, IITS we're lucky on our campus being very centralized as we have it, makes it a lot easier for them to kind of grab the reins on tracking data security with the new software and technology that they have, which makes tracking computers much better for them to do than (have) me slap on my paper asset tag and go, it is located here. Well, the datas are the most important part. So, we actually haven't been tagging, with our barcodes, computers in some time because they've been tracking that on their own with their own asset tags. And, the important part of course is tracking the data security of that. Because when a computer is now not gonna be used, they'll pull a hard drive and make sure that's taken care of. Or wipe a computer because you don't want any information to be disposed. Because again, you've got assets that come into the university, they have a life, well, at some point that life's gonna end. And so how do you dispose of assets? 00:25:10.434 --> 00:26:30.164 It's very important that you wanna make sure everything is--there's no data on them. How are you gonna dispose of it? Is it--'cause again, with sustainability, a big part of dispositions of assets, you're gonna avoid having to go to the landfill at all. So you have assets that you might be able to sell. You have assets you can donate to a charity. If you can do that. You have assets that go to an e-waste vendor because of their particular criteria that makes them e-waste. So you do the best you can. Which is a big part of, asset tracking of accounting for how you dispose of assets. How do you think sustainability and you think going forward, okay, what is the University procuring that at the end of its life, it's not going to be, you know, having to be disposed of in the landfill. Is it made of something that can be recycled? Is it made of something that, you know, can be reused for a long time that is gonna have a good life to it. So there's a lot of thoughts that you can use, as the University moves forward to kind of, you know, follow that sustainability. So that's now become kind of a part of my thought process. And hopefully others in that process going forward as, the University grows, 00:26:30.164 --> 00:26:33.964 Which means you collaborate a lot with the recycling program that Carl Hanson kind of-- 00:26:33.964 --> 00:26:34.650 Correct. Yeah, exactly. 00:26:34.650 --> 00:26:44.000 --Spearheaded. And you have to think, not just something's come in or I have to make sure I know where it is, but what's gonna happen to it over a long run. So there's a lot of planning and forethought going into this as well. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:27:30.000 Correct. Exactly. And, we now have a department on campus called, Sustainability. It's part of, sustain,--well, what we used to call, Risk Management. They're in that department. So we work a lot with them to say, going forward, you know, how are we gonna be sustainable in our dispositions? That kind of a thing. So they have a good Sustainability Committee on this campus. They put forward a policy that the University's now been following, and I've been--I believe it's been approved by the President. So, that's a step in the right direction also. So working with them, and again, like you say, the recycling program, under Energy Management, which is now a part of, Facilities Management. So-- 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:35.674 yeah, we have shifted things from department to department to division to division. And, well. 00:27:35.674 --> 00:27:42.434 When you have a brand new campus, a lot of things are gonna change over time and it's exciting to watch those happen. 00:27:42.434 --> 00:27:45.045 Yeah. So any other projects. 00:27:45.045 --> 00:28:54.984 Well definitely have watched procurement change and implement system-wide power of purchasing to bring in our office vendors like, OfficeMax and Staples that we have. So that the unit that the CSU is now again using their purchasing power to try and save money. Certainly makes it better than the central stores that we used to have. So that transition's been good. Of course, as we procure things. Now, of course we've seen procurement go into the credit card business, so Pro Card (procurement card) is happening. But, that kind of implements a new level of asset tracking because now you have to track pro card purchases. Because again, it's the technology of our new world. You know, that's the way to procure. Now all of a sudden you've got Amazon being used significantly, and that's a major development that we have to look at to make sure we're able to account for those kind of packages as they come in. So, the technology is changing and it brings new challenges. Those are always exciting to work with. 00:28:54.984 --> 00:29:08.285 And my impression, since I don't do--I don't order supplies, I don't do any of that stuff anymore, is that the Pro Card and Amazon are generally the smaller ticket items, which means a lot of little stuff coming in. 00:29:08.285 --> 00:29:46.434 Right. And you have to look at those Amazon packages and go, well, okay, yeah, someone can be using the university credit card to buy things and they're getting their packages, but how do we know they're not using their personal credit cards, buying things that they have come into their office through Amazon, you know, how can we in receiving look at those and say, what's a personal package and what's a University business related package? There's no way to tell anymore. So that, that leads to challenges that, you know, we're looking at. And hopefully, we'll come up with a process to check those, so yeah. Other than the end user, which might really be the only genuine way to do it. 00:29:46.434 --> 00:30:00.724 Yeah. And we already have so much workload, but people are here so much all the time. It's kind of like, well, I'd rather have it delivered at my work because I know it's gonna be secure, as opposed to, you know, being left on my doorstep at home and not be there when I get home and stuff. 00:30:00.724 --> 00:30:11.994 Right. Yeah and it doesn't help that the news focuses on look at the thieves taking these packages from this poor person's porch. So, yeah, so there's a challenge right there. 00:30:11.994 --> 00:30:18.065 Just to complicate issues. What campus events are most remarkable in your memory? 00:30:18.065 --> 00:31:07.184 Oh, gosh. The dedication of any new building was always something new because it just showed how fast we were growing and, becoming more focused in our community as we grow, because we're certainly putting a greater thumbprint on our local area. So each time a new building came on, it just showed that, you know, the campus is just becoming more and more of a fixture here in North County. The Kellogg Library was a huge addition because of course, it freed up a lot of space in Craven Hall and enabled the Library to actually be a functioning department that it was meant to be all along. And, was, I'm sure that was great. It was a great project for Marian Reid, and, I'm sure it was the feather in her hat, and it was --that was a great moment in it-- 00:31:07.184 --> 00:31:12.005 It was a delight to get rid of those horrible old hand me down copiers from SDSU. 00:31:12.005 --> 00:31:25.805 Yeah, there you go. Yes. And microfiche readers and all those things that were there at the time. And, of course it made for, you know, much more securing the library to make sure, you know, your archives were good too. Yeah. All your books. 00:31:25.805 --> 00:31:28.684 And a multitude of access points in the new building. 00:31:28.684 --> 00:32:27.755 Exactly. So Library was big. Gosh, just as new programs came on, whether it was, you know, we didn't have a physics program. Visual and performing arts came on, you know, all those different programs as we grew, of course, as we started, we only had upper division. Then all of a sudden we had freshmen and sophomores were coming in so we were a full four year college, which was notable. Again, building a parking structure, it's like, whoa, we are getting big. That kind of a thing. Sports came in, where we had nothing for a long time. All of a sudden, look, we have a memorable and notable coach. Steve Scott is coming. He's bringing a track program, and then all of a sudden we have golf, and then it's like, well, look at this. We're now--we're playing basketball and baseball and, getting big, you know, down the line who knows? I don't know if we'd get football, but, eh (inaudible). 00:32:27.755 --> 00:32:32.265 Well, we are-- they are retiring the first Crash, the Cougar costume. 00:32:32.265 --> 00:32:32.964 Oh, okay. 00:32:32.964 --> 00:32:35.881 And it's coming to the archives. 00:32:35.881 --> 00:32:36.714 Oh, neat. 00:32:36.714 --> 00:32:41.285 And they said it's an off-the-shelf costume, so we're having a custom design costume the second time around so-- 00:32:41.285 --> 00:32:42.884 Oh, okay. Well that's gonna be neat 00:32:42.884 --> 00:32:49.394 That shows they're growing up, too, but, yeah. I wish we'd been able to get an oral history from Debbie Dale about her years with the Athletics. 00:32:49.394 --> 00:32:51.964 Oh, absolutely. In the early days. Yeah. 00:32:51.964 --> 00:32:57.565 Because I know she mentioned to me one time that the athletes used to change in her office because there was no place else. 00:32:57.565 --> 00:34:03.644 Oh, look at that. That's a great--that's a great piece of history right there. Yeah. So things like that. So, just watching the University grow, of course, we've had some of the great challenges that are somewhat memorable. Like, the fires that have gone through were always memorable. They would have to send us home or, something like that. Very scary times. But again, the university's been very blessed that we haven't really been affected by that luckily. Of course, I remember 9/11 (2001) coming to work the day that happened, and then the University sent us home, things like that. And, other events like that. But, again, usually focus on all the memorable things. Of course, we had commencements down at Del Mar for a long time when the students would graduate, and it's like, how many did we graduate? It's like, wow. And then now we're back on campus because we have our athletic fields and things. So, that was exciting. The building of the McMahon House was kind of neat, because it's like, well, they were looking at building something there for a long time and it finally happened, and it's like-- came out very nice. 00:34:03.644 --> 00:34:08.545 I remember the big piles of compost that used to be down there, along that front corner. 00:34:08.545 --> 00:35:41.925 Oh, down there. Yeah. And now that's, it's all been cordoned off as an environmental area of some kind. So that's interesting there. We'll have to see how the University expands in that direction, if anything will change in that regard. Of course, remember the early days just watching some of the springs and waters that would come up out of the ground and flow off in that direction. And, I believe now the university is getting groundwater to help with some of our irrigation. There's some wells that are coming in from further up, La Marea (Carlsbad, California), I believe that flow onto our property. So we're tapping into that to, for irrigation now. So we're using some well water and trying to get very energy sufficient on our own. If we can do that. Solar panels have gone on some of the new buildings now, and they may further that, I know they're looking at--they have the fuel cell going. I don't know how successful that's been, but I'm sure they're gonna be looking at other energy changes as we move on. So, little things like that. They're in the background too. I believe, Procurement's finalizing, working with AT&T to partner with them for a cell tower, but that's gonna be a win-win for them and us, because it's gonna enable us to get some, new, very efficient and, well used, lighting for our baseball fields and any other expanding for sports in that direction too. So, that's something we'll look forward to. So again, all these changes keep happening and it's, good to see. 00:35:41.925 --> 00:35:47.525 Yeah. The side of the house you work on, you know about things that I had no idea. We were talking cell towers-- 00:35:47.525 --> 00:35:57.965 Yeah. Until they happen. Yeah. It has been a very, very long process. Because there's been a lot of issues with AT&T and getting permission from the Chancellor's office, that kind of thing is always something. 00:35:57.965 --> 00:36:03.244 Yeah. You get the state involved, you probably get all sorts of environmental agencies involved. You know, there's just. 00:36:03.244 --> 00:36:03.905 Yep. 00:36:03.905 --> 00:36:09.605 You know, and so many strictures about what we can accept. So it doesn't look like a bribe probably. 00:36:09.605 --> 00:36:15.285 Right. Exactly. Exactly. There's all that, legal-ease involved in that kind of a thing. And, of course, budgetary and logistics and, and all that. You know, what's it--what are we gonna get out of this? So, a lot of tough questions have to be asked. 00:36:15.285 --> 00:36:31.304 One thing I-- that crossed my mind while you've been talking is did you use email at San Diego State at all? 00:36:31.304 --> 00:37:18.445 No. In fact, when I left San Diego State, we were actually just in the early, days of using computers, we had gone through the whole transition of--remember typewriters, well, typewriters were a big thing when I was a student. And then, slowly transitioned into word processors. And then in the mid eighties (19080s) there, the first computers were coming into some of the student labs to use. And, they gradually made their way into our offices. Because being a support agency, we weren't always needing the technology. We had our old business practices. And, that change was a tough time coming. So really didn't start using email until I got to Cal State San Marcos here. And it--the first one was implemented and I think, Netscape was our first-- 00:37:18.445 --> 00:37:20.244 Or was it Eudora? I seem to remember. 00:37:20.244 --> 00:37:23.994 Well, Eudora was the email program. I think Netscape was our first. 00:37:23.994 --> 00:37:24.844 Browser system. 00:37:24.844 --> 00:37:36.445 Browser system, yeah. And then we eventually went to, Windows, of course. But, yeah, I think, I'm trying to remember what we were using for barcodes. It might have been Windows 95 back then, something like that. 00:37:36.445 --> 00:37:41.005 Yeah. And you're scampering out just in time to miss this whole move to SharePoint and OneDrive. 00:37:41.005 --> 00:38:04.635 Yeah. All that going on. So, exactly. So it's been fun to, to work with the new technology and, of course phones are in now, and I'm sure there's, a lot of adjustment to our Millennials coming in that are, only familiar with, you know, telephones and things. So, that technology is something I'm sure they're using. 00:38:04.635 --> 00:38:08.885 They're using equipment and media. Their expectations are so very different than-- 00:38:08.885 --> 00:38:10.364 Yeah, esactly. 00:38:10.364 --> 00:38:12.875 Who've been there through all of this growth and development. 00:38:12.875 --> 00:38:30.965 Yeah. It's been fascinating. So, it'll be, fun to watch and change as I keep contact with the University through the Retirees Association to kind of talk to people to see how things are changing in the education business. So, it'll be fascinating to watch. 00:38:30.965 --> 00:38:38.144 Yeah. I did wanna ask what your plans were for retirement. And it sounds like you're gonna be active in the Retirees Association which-- 00:38:38.144 --> 00:38:39.244 Yes. In fact-- 00:38:39.244 --> 00:38:41.875 I see their newsletter and they do lots of great stuff. So-- 00:38:41.875 --> 00:39:24.744 Yeah. I've been to a couple of their meetings and one neat thing that they advise, they say, well, when you first jump into retirement, you know, don't jump too hard, too fast into like, another part-time job or volunteering or something. But, for someone in, say, a type A personality, which is more like me, it's like, it's gonna be hard to just spend six months chilling, as they say, to transition into retirement. But, you know, that's good advice. So, can certainly do a blend of that. There'll be plenty of things around the house for me to work on and catch up on. I would love to do more traveling. I've got a grandson now. So I'll be definitely spending time with him. 00:39:24.744 --> 00:39:26.566 How old is he? 00:39:26.566 --> 00:40:12.824 He's 13 months. And just a joy. We're-- my wife's been retired for a couple of years, and she's babysitting him two and a half days a week. Because my daughter went to work-- back to work part-time after he was born. And, so we're helping her out by babysitting. So I'm sure I'll be helping with that. And--but I would love to do some more backpacking. I love going up to the Sierras and hiking. I've summited Mount Whitney nine times now. My goal is to get my grandson up to the top. And that would mean four generations have actually summited Mount Whitney, because my parents did it and took me up when I was very young. And then, of course, both my brothers and I summited and two of my daughters have now summited. And I would look forward to seeing if I can get my grandson up. 00:40:12.824 --> 00:40:14.153 That's a wonderful goal. I'm sure you will! 00:40:14.153 --> 00:40:15.335 That would be would be neat. 00:40:15.335 --> 00:40:36.676 Thank you. So, you know, I've talked to a lot of people that have retired and they say, I don't know how I had time to work. I'm so busy. So we'll just see how it goes. But, I'm a little anxious of course, because I've had this wonderful family here at Cal State San Marcos for over 24 years. And, it'll be kind of hard to step away from that. So-- 00:40:36.676 --> 00:40:41.048 Well, the retirees will certainly be a transition. Because that's part of the family. 00:40:41.048 --> 00:40:54.164 Yeah, absolutely. That'll definitely help. So I'm looking forward to that. And, I do see some things they do, and they do look like they're a lot of fun. And to touch base with previous employ--employees who have been here will be a lot of fun. 00:40:54.164 --> 00:40:55.394 And swap those stories. 00:40:55.394 --> 00:41:05.155 Exactly. Exactly. So, that'll--I'm looking forward to that. So, we'll just transition in gently and see how it goes. 00:41:05.155 --> 00:41:08.724 Well, since your wife is already retired, it sounds like she'll be able to help you transition as well. 00:41:08.724 --> 00:41:12.085 Absolutely. I'm sure she'll have a "honey-do" list for me. 00:41:12.085 --> 00:41:52.585 Yeah. What free time? Yeah, I think the same way. I just --I think that all sounds so wonderful, and this is--you have reminded me of some things--and I forgot about Central Stores. I mean, I forgot that that's how we used to order things. And then the whole decentralization where, you know,--because it used to be, back in the old days at Jerome's where you needed something done, you just grabbed whoever was available and they came over and did it. Now it's fill out forms, get permission. Plot everything. Track everything. And so it has been a big change, but we--it's a sign of our maturity. It's not a negative, it's just a sign of our maturity. 00:41:52.585 --> 00:42:02.195 It absolutely is. So, yes, there's always challenges going forward, but, so far we're doing very well. And I look forward to the University continuing that path. 00:42:02.195 --> 00:42:08.224 Yeah. And so how much do you have to do with the (inaudible) building to refer to it by its old name? 00:42:08.224 --> 00:42:10.284 Oh, the one that's being built now? 00:42:10.284 --> 00:42:11.485 No, with the, existing-- 00:42:11.485 --> 00:42:12.445 Oh, the old Foundation (CSUSM Foundation)-- 00:42:12.445 --> 00:42:14.445 You know, where we had the Library collection stored for a while. 00:42:14.445 --> 00:42:20.644 Yes. In fact, I had some pictures of that. I might still have, of the collection that was over there because 00:42:20.644 --> 00:42:22.074 Oh, that'd be fun. 00:42:22.074 --> 00:43:50.545 I'll send them over to you if I can--if I can find them. I hopefully, well, I hope I haven't deleted 'em. But anyway, that was an interesting building because, as the University has grown, of course, in the early days it was--it seemed like we were almost required or mandated that we had to buy Prison Industries furniture. So every year we would expect, okay, we're gonna have another 20 faculty, so we'll need to order 20 more Prison Industries desks, and 20 more--or for each faculty three more bookcases. And a couple of file cabinets. And a chair. And a lot of this was, from Prison Industries. Everything was standalone. And as the University has matured and aged, all that thought process has gone away, and now we've just entered Cubicle World. So it is been very change--much of a change. So as each new building's come online and people have moved as desks and those old pieces of furniture have gone away, we needed a place to put them. And that's what we always used, was that old Foundation building. And it became a challenge to dispose of all that kind of equipment. So we finally were able to find charities that would take those, whether it be Goodwill or we found a very excellent, charity from Mexico that supplies schools and classrooms and libraries down in, the Tijuana area with some of our old furniture that's still usable. We can't use it. Sometimes it's very hard to donate or sell furniture. 00:43:50.545 --> 00:43:52.324 We have regulations within the state system that really restrict what you can do. 00:43:52.324 --> 00:43:59.217 Right. You wanna account for, again, your disposition. So, that's why we were able to find charities to take these and made the process a lot easier. 00:43:59.217 --> 00:44:01.371 That's wonderful. 00:44:01.371 --> 00:44:50.394 So, that building now, after these many, many, many years, looks like it's going to be--we're gonna give up the lease on that. So the admin offices upstairs will come over to campus or into the new Extended Learning building, depending on how all that pans out. And, as far as the warehouse space, that's something University's gonna have to kinda figure out to see how we're gonna work on, you know, moving out, pieces of furniture as they become access. So again, that's part of something we're working on with our Sustainability group, with the Recycling group. And, it's gonna be a little bit of a challenge. So, space is something the University has always struggled with. So, this will be another a little example of how we can adjust to that challenge. 00:44:50.394 --> 00:45:08.695 Yeah. Well, I have to say, the last time I was over at the Foundation slash (inaudible) building, it seemed like there was a lot less down in the Land of Misfit Furniture as I called it. So it shows that you've been very effective in weeding things out and getting them moved through. But yeah, there will always be a need for some sort of holding space. 00:45:08.695 --> 00:45:55.744 Space holding space, right. Staging area. Yeah. And in fact, kudos to, Planning, Design and Construction (PDC) who have really sort of stepped up and taken the lead in finding ways to reuse a lot of that surplus furniture on campus because now we're getting more and more of the cubicle surplus. So as departments sometimes can expand or need extra space, they can refurbish and reuse some of the cubicle furniture that's there. That Prison Industries furniture is kind of finally--there's not much of it left out there. So really PDC has stepped up and has really done very well in reusing a lot of that. They're kind of continuing that. So I've sort of stepped away from that part of it as they've stepped in. 00:45:55.744 --> 00:46:04.664 And the Prison Industry furniture was never ergonomically appropriate, which is something that campus has really been placing a focus on very wisely. 00:46:04.664 --> 00:46:08.545 Wisely. Very important. And it was also very heavy. 00:46:08.545 --> 00:46:29.264 Oh, I remember one time my--the desk, because I still have a Prison Industries desk in my office. And I cannot remember his name, but he was a very-- he was a shorter, very stocky built man. And he was underneath the desk and he just kind of got on all fours and then arched his back to push the desk up. And I was just like, oh. 00:46:29.264 --> 00:46:30.704 Oh, that might've been Eli. 00:46:30.704 --> 00:46:35.525 No, it wasn't Eli. I know Eli hurt his back and ended up going over to Parking Services. 00:46:35.525 --> 00:46:36.125 Went over to Parking. 00:46:36.125 --> 00:46:51.114 But, no, this-- Bobby, maybe his name was? I really don't remember. It's been a lot of years. I mean, I've been in the same office since we moved into the library. And that's--it's kinda like, gee, when I--when do I get a wall painted in my office or something? 00:46:51.114 --> 00:47:27.284 Yeah. Well that you've been in your space for that long is something unusual on this campus. Because so many people have moved so many times, I think there have been people that have moved 20 times just because of--a building comes online and so people move around and you have the whole domino effect. So you move from one place to another, to another, to another over the course of your history. And I may have actually set the record for actually been in the same office for the longest amount of time, in the building that I am. Although once I actually did move from downstairs to upstairs where I am now. But, I think I was 19 years in the exact same location. 00:47:27.284 --> 00:47:29.195 Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. I don't quite make that. 00:47:29.195 --> 00:47:30.445 Yeah. I think-- 00:47:30.445 --> 00:48:14.505 I think all of my colleagues up on the third floor, with maybe the exception of one person have moved because there's an office down at the end that's not very desirable. It's kind of dark, odd shape. And so every time somebody shifts position, it's kind of this, okay, everybody's playing musical offices again and--My office is--it's fine. It serves my needs. So, really haven't gotten--I've moved the furniture around it a couple times. But not moved out of that office. But there are very few of us that are probably in the same location simply because of the, the numbers of buildings. All of a sudden you school or your unit, whatever you're in, has the whole thing's been moved over to another building, which you know, is great because you've expanded. You need that room. But yeah so-- 00:48:14.505 --> 00:48:17.763 But then you have to move all your stuff. 00:48:17.763 --> 00:48:18.000 A lot of people don't move outta choice. 00:48:18.000 --> 00:49:29.125 Yep. Exactly. Exactly. So that was kind of neat to stay in one place. Another thing I was thinking, one day, it's like, well, what is my legacy? And it's like, well, I certainly have a lot of history here, but it's like, I was thinking, it's like, well, in the business that I am, I'm very fortunate that I often get to go over to campus and meet people one-on-one because I'm either doing deliveries or maybe I'm doing inventory or tracking a piece of equipment. So you're out on campus and you're going from building to building. And it was the same thing I was doing at San Diego State. I spent many years doing central stores deliveries down there, shipping and receiving deliveries. So I'd be out on campus quite a bit, and I was thinking, it's like, wow, I might be the only person in CSU history that may have used almost every bathroom on two different campuses. It's like, ah, okay. There's a little bit of trivial information. So it's like, of course then San Diego State has changed immensely since I left. But, at the time, you know, I could say it's like, no, that's an interesting little fact. You know, when you're out and about, you know-- 00:49:29.125 --> 00:49:30.764 That's a wonderful trivia question. 00:49:30.764 --> 00:49:39.204 It's like, yes, it might be--my best legacy right there. 00:49:39.204 --> 00:49:48.875 No you've certainly made an impact on the campus and certainly facilitated a lot of the growth and a lot of the changes we've been through. And like I say, always done it with a smile, but.-- 00:49:48.875 --> 00:49:51.724 Well thank you. I appreciate that. 00:49:51.724 --> 00:49:54.074 Having been in nearly every bathroom-- 00:49:54.074 --> 00:51:03.000 Some of 'em are very nice. Yeah. You know, I don't think I use the president's bathroom at San Diego State, but I did see ours here. That was a little trivia. And, you know, people talk about, serving the campus community and you know, they usually talk about the amount of time that they spent, someone was here for 25 years. I had 24 and a half, 37 in this system. But you never really think about how many miles did you spend working for the CSU driving to work? Okay. How much money over your long tenure, if you are blessed enough to have a long tenure, did you spend on gasoline going to work? And most people don't think about that. Well, when you're in the fixed asset business, you deal a lot with numbers. You have, barcode numbers that you place on equipment. That piece of equipment has a serial number, it has a model number, it has a dollar value, it has a building number location, it has a room number location. There's a lot of numbers. There's-- 00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:05.000 And you just have quantities. 00:51:05.000 --> 00:52:17.000 Correct. So I got to thinking, it's like, well, okay, my brain thinks in numbers a lot. It's like, you know, I'm gonna really do quickly, I'm just gonna do the math. Because having lived in San Diego and working at San Diego State, well that was a short commute. But when I had to start traveling to San Marcos, all of a sudden I became a commuter and I was putting on a lot of miles. So I thought, well, how many miles did I put on driving like five different cars that I had in the course of my time here, 24 and a half years, how many miles did I drive? And I thought, well, okay, this is gonna be a little bit of fun math because you have to figure out a lot of different factors involved, right? So I figured, okay, 365 days in a year, but working days are only about 260 because you have your weekends, right? Well then you'd subtract from the 260 working days, the holidays, well, there's about 15 that come off. And then you figure out, okay, over time you accrued more vacation as you worked, you started with two weeks, you ended up with about five weeks. so I kind of rounded it off. Did some calculations and figured on average we work around 200 days a year. 00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:19.000 Right. I think it's between 200 - 220, depending-- 00:52:19.000 --> 00:53:29.525 Something. Sort of again, depending on vacation and, and how much sick leave you use. I looked at kind of my sick leave, 'cause I used to track it and I--most of my time off was like appointments. So you'd go to work, but you'd leave to go to your appointment and actual days I was actually sick, luckily, knock on wood, I was very healthy and didn't take too many days. So I subtracted that too. And again, it came out to around 200. So, for like the first, 16 years or something like that, I--my round trip to work was about 60 miles and then I moved once and it became maybe 55 'cause I didn't move too far. So I put that all in. And to make a long story short, I calculated that I drove to San Marcos about 286,000 miles. Back and forth over the course of my 24 and a half years. And figuring the price of gas somewhere, maybe averaging around $2 a gallon, I think it ended up like $23,000 worth of gas just driving to work. And it's amazing, you think about that, how far, I mean, people probably come from Temecula and may have put on even more miles. And they had the commute to San Diego State that might been another 30,000 miles. And another $3,000 worth of gas or something like that. 00:53:29.525 --> 00:53:30.364 Yeah. You are a numbers man. 00:53:30.364 --> 00:53:38.724 So it's definitely numbers, but it's just fascinating to think how many miles you put on. It's like 286, somewhere around there, thousand miles. Close to 300,000. 00:53:38.724 --> 00:53:40.795 Wow. No wonder you went through so many cars. 00:53:40.795 --> 00:53:44.324 Exactly. 00:53:44.324 --> 00:53:58.474 Yeah. But that also says something about our, our commuting system here. In San Diego still is not adequate to serve the needs of people. It's gotten better over the years. I mean, we've gotten the sprinter, we've gotten the coaster, things like that-- 00:53:58.474 --> 00:54:21.844 It's great for the students to be able to do that. The ones that either live here or can commute by using the Sprinter. And, I know our, our Parking Services tries to get the commuter information out to everybody. To have them take advantage of that whenever they can. But, yeah, we don't realize how much time we spend behind the wheel when we come to our jobs. So, it's fascinating to kinda look at that. 00:54:21.844 --> 00:54:24.565 Oh my gosh. 00:54:24.565 --> 00:54:25.514 A little trivia. 00:54:25.514 --> 00:54:26.844 Yeah. 00:54:26.844 --> 00:54:27.235 Absolutely. 00:54:27.235 --> 00:54:35.206 Well, at that point I will bring this interview to a close. I wanna thank you, Jim. That's been absolutely phenomenal. Just so much fun. 00:54:35.206 --> 00:54:36.706 Thank you, Judith. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=CarrJim_DownieJudith_2017-09-26.xml CarrJim_DownieJudith_2017-09-26.xml https://archivesearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Carr, Jim. Interview, September 26, 2017 Description An account of the resource Jim Carr spent 23 years at California State University San Marcos working for the Distribution Services team and was instrumental in implementing the first barcoded inventory tracking system for the University. Jim discusses his time working for CSUSM as part of Distribution Services and how his education and background led to him this job. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-091 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-16 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio Subject The topic of the resource Barcoding Distribution Services California State University San Marcos Fixed asset tracking San Diego State University Sustainability Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant San Diego (Calif.) San Marcos (Calif.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Language A language of the resource English Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In copyright</a> Rights Holder A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource. Jim Carr License A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource. <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oral Histories Description An account of the resource Video and audio oral histories can be viewed here. Histories are listed alphabetically by last name. Individual histories are indexed and transcribed and can be searched. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available California State University San Marcos University Library Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <p>Rights to oral histories vary depending on the history. The library owns the copyright to some histories, and has license to reproduce for nonprofit purposes for others. Please contact CSUSM University Library Special Collections at <a href="mailto:%20archives@csusm.edu">archives@csusm.edu</a> with any questions about use.</p> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Robert Sheehan Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed David Taitingfong OHMS Object This field contains the OHMS Hyperlink (link to the XML file within the OHMS Viewer) https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=TaitingfongDavid_SheehanRobert_access_2024-08-30.xml OHMS Object Text This field contains the OHMS Index and / or Transcript and is what makes the contents of the OHMS object searchable in Omeka 6.0 Taitingfong, David. Interview August 30th, 2024. SC027-083 00:00:00 SC027 California State University San Marcos University Library Special Collections oral history collection CSUSM csusm Guam ; San Diego (Calif.) ; Chamorro language ; Decolonization ; Colonization ; Language revival David Taitingfong Robert Sheehan audio file TaitingfongDavid_SheehanRobert_access_2024-08-30.wav 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/7dcf86c4fe6bc8b429316d83d49b9a41.mp4 Other video This interview is conducted in English and Chamorro 0 Introduction Dabit (David) Taitingfong sits down to discuss Chamorro, indigenous Guamanian, culture, heritage, and language. Chamorro ; language ; culture Guam ; Chamorro 0 23 Early Childhood and Growing up in San Diego David talks about where he was born and his early connection to the Chamorro community and culture. 0 183 Visiting Guam for the First Time David discusses how his first visit to Guam and his ancestral village, Yona, impacted his cultural and language learning process. 0 592 Colonial Occupation of Guam David talks about the history of colonialism on Guam and how that has affected the culture and the Chamorro language. 0 1481 Fluency vs. Literacy in Chamorro David talks about the two orthographies in the Chamorro language and how some Chamorro elders are only fluent in Chamorro and lack any education in Chamorro literacy. 0 2007 Chamorro Social Media David discusses how he created his Instagram page which is dedicated to teaching Chamorro language and culture. 0 2515 How the Chamorro Language Creates Connections within the Chamorro Community David talks about how his language learning process has reignited his family's and friend's interest in speaking Chamorro and learning more. 0 Oral history David Taitingfong is a member of the Chamorro community and involved with the group Prugraman Sinipok, which teaches a two week Chamorro language immersion program. David describes his involvement with Prugraman Sinipok and how his interest in sharing the Chamorro lanugage and culture has shaped his life. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION BEGIN 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.000 So today is Friday, August 30th, 2024. My name is Robert Sheehan and I'm here with David Taitingfong for an oral history interview with Cal State San Marcos. How are you doing today, David? 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.999 I'm good. How are you? 00:00:11.999 --> 00:00:23.000 I'm doing well, thank you. Thanks for being here with me today and dealing with our technical difficulties. Um, if it's all right, I'd like to start with your childhood, um, and your family. Could you tell me a little bit about where you grew up and how you grew up? 00:00:23.000 --> 00:01:24.000 Yeah, so I was born and raised in Southern San Diego. Um, my parents, we lived in Otay Mesa, which is real close to the border, about two or three exits away from the border. But because my parents had to work, we actually used my dad's mom's address as like, this is where we'll go to school. That way after school, I can go to my grandma's house. And so my childhood mostly was waking up, getting up, getting dropped off in a completely different neighborhood, like 30 minutes away. But that meant I got to be with my cousins because we all kind of went to the same, we all went to the same elementary school then like one or two middle schools, and then we branched out from high school. But, um, me and my brother, we did that growing up. Um, so that was more in Southeast San Diego. The, it was in the, the Jamacha neighborhood, which is near Skyline, which is, I mean, overall just, yeah, Southeast San Diego. And so that's where, that's where like most of my childhood was, honestly. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:32.000 Okay. And other than your nuclear family, did you have any sort of connection with the Chamorro community, uh, outside of your family? 00:01:32.000 --> 00:02:24.000 Yes, very much so. So my grandma, my dad's mom, um, in the neighborhood she lived in right next door was her cousin, and across the street was her cousin. And then down the street was my mom's sister. And then around the corner was like my mom's aunt. And so it was just, it felt like I grew up around the community a lot. And then also the thing I remember a lot is in Southeast San Diego, in the Lincoln area, there's a club, The Sons and Daughters of Guam's Club. I think it used to be, I don't know if it used to be called the San Diego Guam Club, but either way, the initials work out the SD Guam Club. And every year they host like little fiestas for the patron saint of each village on Guam. And the saint where my mom's mom was from. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:03:01.000 That fiesta always happened around my birthday. And so that's where I, I would say I got most of the interaction with the Chamorro community at large was going to the fiesta, going to the fiesta, which was for the village of Yona, the village of Yona and Guam's. They call it the south. It's like the middle south, but it's where I would say I feel most mostly attached to. 'Cause it's the fiesta we always went to, and it's my mom's side. And like traditionally culturally, Chamorros' are matrilineal. And so for me it's like, I feel like I've always gravitated towards my mom's side at least later on. For sure. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:04.000 And have you ever visited, is it Zonia? Yona? 00:03:04.000 --> 00:04:03.000 Yeah. Um, yeah, so I , I went to Guam two years ago, maybe for the first time in my life. I was supposed to go there for a language immersion program. I wasn't able to make it in time. I got there the day it ended and then I was like, you know what? My cousin was in it, let me just spend time with her. And then I got COVID and we all did actually. So I spent my entire trip with like five people, the same five people. But I was able to go to the village of Yona. I have a cousin who still lives there. I was like, I don't know if I should visit you because I got COVID. She's like, oh, I had it two weeks ago. You're fine. Like, come here. I have gifts for you . So I was able to visit, uh, I don't know exactly which parts within the village, my mom's side is from, but my cousin from my mom's side, she was there. So she showed me a little bit of her land and I was like, okay, this is cool. I, I'm, I actually going back next year. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:10.000 Oh, very nice! It seems like a good way to connect back with family and cultural roots and stuff like that. Can you describe the village? 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:59.000 Uh, you know, not entirely, because again, like when I had went, it was kind of like, I don't know if I should, my cousin was like, just come on through. But where she lived most of the houses, it was like a house, and then I would say a good chunk of land around each house. Because even when she invited me, she's like, you come over and see the ranch. And I was like, what does that mean? You know? And sure enough, we go there. It's like she has a house and I mean, I'm not even good with geography, but she definitely had enough land that I could probably do like, maybe it was like two basketball courts side by side. And she's like, yeah, this is like, we grow stuff and catch pigs here sometimes 'cause they try and eat all her stuff. 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:34.000 But it's, yeah. And I want to say actually where she lives too used to be a lot of military housing. So it kind of has a feel like that where it looks modern American, but the military have since moved out of that specific area. I don't know if that's how it was, but that's how it felt like to me. Like I pulled up and I was like, okay, like a lot of these houses look like they were like, what's the -- cookie cutter? You know? Um, 'cause you go to other parts of Guam and it's not like that, like houses kind of tend to look different. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:37.000 And there's a big military presence on, on Guam, correct? 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:52.000 Yeah. Yeah. Biggest I think would be [US] Air Force and Navy and I know they're building, or no, they've already built a Marine Corps base there, which I mean a department of the Navy. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.000 How do local Guamanians and Chamorros feel about the United States military on Guam? 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:48.000 It's a, it's a mixed bag, I would say. Because after World War II, everyone was split. I know on my dad's side, they were more grateful. So there was, there's a story of a man, I believe his name was, Robert? Robert Tweed? Well, I just know his last name's Tweed. And he was one of, he was an American, service member who was hiding from the Japanese. And a lot of families helped him. My dad's mom, her family was one of the people who had helped him, like, helped him hide until more reinforcements came and stuff. And so I know on my dad's side of the family, they're very much grateful for that. I never really got much war stories from my mom's side. I don't know how they feel about that. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:26.000 But I would say where I'm at in my life now, most of my peers, most of the people I associate with are against it for sure. In the sense of like, at least against it in the sense of if you want to use our stuff, at least ask. 'cause that's currently not the relationship, right? It's pretty much anything at the federal level kind of just kind of just goes, GovGuam [Government of Guam] does a lot of stuff, but if the military's like, Hey, we want to do this. I think one of the requirements that they have to do is just like, conduct studies, but they conduct the study. So it's like, it's kind of kinda weird. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.000 Who's watching the watchers kinda thing? 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.000 Yeah. . 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:35.000 Okay. Can I rewind a little bit back to high school? What high school did you go to? 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:41.491 I went to Morris High School, also in Southeast, skyline area. 00:07:41.491 --> 00:07:45.000 Okay. And was there a large contingent of Chamorro kids who went to your high school? 00:07:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000 Uh, I wouldn't say it was large. There's definitely, we all knew each other. I would say that for sure. And there was enough of us, because again, the Guam Club is literally down the street from Lincoln. Lincoln, while I was in high school, had closed for renovations. And so all the kids who could have went there had to go to other schools. A lot of 'em went to Morris. And I did meet a lot of Chamorros that way. And then because again, of the big military presence on Guam and the other island, on the other northern islands, kids tend to find their way, either through their -- mostly, I mean, if I was in high school -- through their parents. Right. And so most of the people I met, they're like, oh yeah, like my parent, my family just moved out here 'cause they're stationed here, you know? And so not a lot. Well enough for sure. It was nice. Like, you see somebody, you see, in their papers or in class, they're doing roll call. You hear the last name. You're like, that's, that's a chamorro last name. 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:51.000 Okay. Can you gimme some examples of what a Chamorro last name would be or how you can tell? 00:08:51.000 --> 00:09:50.000 Yeah. So like, my last name is, um, we would pronounce it Taitingfong. And so we have a lot of last names with T-A-I, it's a prefix that means like, without, and there's like a lot of history there, but if you heard someone Taitingfong, Taitano, Taimagung, Taisagui and then like on my mom's side, there's Acadino, and then there's some Spanish ones that are mixed in. But there's like, you, you could, if, so like my mom, her middle, um, her name was Mediola Acadino, and a Mendiola is not technically Chamorro, but if, if you say your name's Mendiola, and I look at you and I'm like you look Chamorro. Um, so there's some Spanish ones, but then yeah, like the Chamorro ones, [Chamorro surnames] there's like Q-U-I was another popular one, like a prefix where I was like, oh, that might be Chamorro. Because that's how the Spanish wrote it. But in our language, it would be like a K-E. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:10:09.000 And just like the US military, Spain has a long history in that area as well. And with language it seems to have bled through a little bit. Yeah. Uh, can you talk a little bit about how that heritage or history happened and how it affected language? 00:10:09.000 --> 00:11:08.000 Yeah. I want to say, I mean, 'cause Spain has, Spain had a presence in the Marianas for a long time, since like the 1500s. But from what I've read, it was primarily through commerce. They didn't have intentions of colonizing the islands. They were just like, we want a port here. We want to stop. 'Cause they were going from Mexico to the Philippines straight. But if they needed to stop, eventually at some point they're like, oh, here's Guam and here's the other islands, the Northerner Islands and stuff. But I wanna say Guam was the main port. It was the biggest island. And in terms of how that language spread, I mean, again, through commerce and stuff, and then through eventual colonization, primarily through a religious means, the language bled through. And one thing that I think is interesting though is that the Chamorros kind of took their words that they liked and they don't, sometimes they don't mean the same thing. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:51.000 And then we also treat them as if they are Chamorro words, if that makes sense. Like, we affix them as if they're our own words. And one, one of my friends told me, he's like, the true tale of if we have fully adopted a word is if we afix it however we want, there's some words where we don't, we still -- there's certain phrases I think that stay through. Like, um, if someone says sabe dios, like, we took the word dios for God and say Yu'os, but we also don't say sabe. So like in that context of the phrase sabe dios, it's like, well, we kept that otherwise though. Yeah. We just took words and we're like, we're gonna say it how we say it. Hey, fix it how we affix it. 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:56.000 Very interesting! I like you kind of flip it around and say, no, this is our word now. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:57.000 Yeah, yeah. 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Are you said that happens quite a bit in the Chamorro language. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.000 Yeah. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:06.000 And did you start speaking Chamorro at home when you were little or later on? 00:12:06.000 --> 00:13:35.000 Later on. Much later. When the pandemic started, my teacher at the time, Dr. Michael Lujan Bevacqua, he was doing a weekend class on Guam at a coffee shop, maybe like at max 10 people. When the Pandemic started, coffee shops closed, he was like, oh, I should just do it online. And a few months before he had actually like, kind of trial ran it with another group, a group that was based outta the east coast of the United States. And he did like a, I forgot how long it was, but he did a few classes online and was like, oh, this is a feasible way to instruct and so -- excuse me --. And so he was like, okay, I'll open it up to the public at large, you know, Saturday Guam time, Friday in the States. And that's when I, that's when I like really found a good schedule because the first time, technically when I learned online with him was when he did that trial run. And it, quite interestingly, I was on my honeymoon and I was like, Hey, can I do this? And she's like, if you're okay with the time difference, like, sure. You know, and so I was up at like 2:00 AM in Barcelona, in a class for an hour, you know? Um, but that's when it started for me. So I really only started 2020. At the beginning of 2020 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:37.998 Okay. Do you consider yourself fluent? 00:13:37.998 --> 00:14:05.000 I would say pretty, I would say, I could definitely hold a conversation with most speakers. Um, like the real, real fluent elders. Sometimes they speak really fast or if they're, if they're chewing pugua, which is a bit, um, beetle net, which is just something like we, we chew out on the islands sometimes, like the words can get jumbled. I can't catch it. Um, but I would say I'm pretty fluent now. 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:12.486 How popular is Chamorro on Guam? Do people still speak it as a primary language? 00:14:12.486 --> 00:15:02.000 Not right now. There's definitely a cultural shift to get there, especially recently, just within the past, I think month, there is a school that's been running for I think 17 ish years. The Chief Hurao Academy, they do [an] immersion program for children. And I know sometimes they try and do it for adults as well. They just got charter status. And so I want to say it's gonna grow to become even more. But definitely on Guam, it's been in a decline. It's been in decline since World War II. And then I can't speak much for the northern islands for Rota or Saipan. I know folks still speak it. Um, and I want to say though, it is still mostly a at home thing. 'cause even when I went there, I was like really excited to flex my tongue. And I was like, okay. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:39.000 And then I'd go into a coffee shop, you know, I'm just like, hafa adai and they're like, hafa adai. And then like, that's it, you know? Or the first, actually the first time I was, I had a full conversation was I went to a cemetery to look for family, like family graves and stuff. And I saw this lady and I heard her speaking Chamorro to another coworker. So I walk up and I, I talk, I'm talking to her in Chamorro. And it's funny 'cause she's like snacking on something and she's like, oh, nen, how are you? And nen is short for neni, which is just like, it means baby, but, you know, and a term of endearment, oh nen, how can I help you? And I was just like, oh. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:16:28.000 [Speaking Chamorro] Which is like, oh, I'm sorry, like, if you don't mind, can you help me? And she like wiped her mouth and put her food away. And she was like, whoa. You know? She was kind of like -- and I think it's because I looked younger than somebody who she would assume can speak Chamorro. And I also, I think she could tell I wasn't from the island, you know, the way I was dressed and my accent wasn't good, or like, as typical sounding. And so she started talking back to me and she gave me instructions. And I was just like, okay [speaking Chamorro]. And then, yeah. But I could tell she was like, what is going on? Which was when I realized like, okay, out here, it's still, it's still blossoming, it's still, seeds are still being planted and it's definitely not as much. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:38.000 Why do you think that the Chamorro language was in a decline and it's needed this revitalization? 00:16:38.000 --> 00:17:26.000 So post World War II, effectively it was made -- I don't know the correct, like legal terms -- I wanna say it was made law made mandate. I don't know what legal term they used, but effectively they were saying, you can't speak Chamorro in public. You can't speak Chamorro at schools. And then at schools, if you were speaking Chamorro, you were like fined financially or physically punished. And because of that, when, you know, you go home and that word gets to your family, they're like, okay, well learn English then. Like, well, maybe we'll speak Chamorro more to you at home. Like, I know my grandparents spoke Chamorro to each other, and I know my parents grew up hearing the language, but because of that, it, it just bled out into all of the villages. 00:17:26.000 --> 00:18:22.000 They're like, don't speak this language, it's your language, but don't speak it. And in public, in schools, you know, save it for the home. And because of that, the language -- maybe if it's only being spoken at home, you go out in public -- it's you, you go out in public and now post World War II, life is different, right? There's so many other things happening now. There's industries that are coming to fruition because of post-war. And, now it's like, well, if I can't speak Chamorro, I can't even create new terms for this. So it's like, I can't communicate, oh, we all speak English though, so, or we're all trying to learn English. So it was, I think it was definitely one of those things, 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.000 And that's horrible. First off, ut that, that kind of historical trauma, does it still have its kind of finger around moral culture? 00:18:26.000 --> 00:19:15.000 I would say yes. Um, and I actually didn't feel that way until recently. I tend to be on the optimistic side, I tend to feel very optimistic about the future of the language and the future of many things. Because, on my mom's side, I have one native speaker left. I might have -- my mom understands, I know her, one of her other sisters understands. I actually haven't talked with my uncles in a while. Should probably do that -- I don't know if they understand, but I know a lot of, like my mom's generation, they understand but they don't speak it. And so my mom's eldest sister, um, when I started learning, my mom was like, Hey, by the way, Dabit is learning the language, Dabit is what, like David in Chamorro, like Dabit's learning Chamorro, you should talk with them. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:50.000 And at first my aunt was like, for real, you know? And I think she even said something to me like, really fast. And I was like, Ooh, I didn't catch that. So she said, it began slower. And I was like, okay, I have someone I can at least try to talk with. And when I finally sat and had a conversation with her, she did open up to me. And we actually had a good long cry, which just like it was, we were at a party and then we just kind of sat off to the side talking about our own thing. And she told me something that like her sisters didn't even know, you know? So when I asked my mom later -- like in the moment, I was already crying 'cause it was sad -- And then later I was like, Hey mom, how come you didn't tell me this? 00:19:50.000 --> 00:20:34.000 And she's like, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I was like, wow. Um, and then I found that to be the case with a lot of the elders, at least who I was talking to in my circles. And, you know, I would go to certain events and I would try and find someone who looks like they'll talk to me or maybe someone I already know and I'm like, oh, I can speak Chamorro now, let me try this. And some of 'em were receptive. Um, but I guess it would depend on where you're at. Because recently I had some family file from the east coast and my dad, it's on my dad's side, and he's like, Hey, your uncle speaks Chamorro, you should talk to him. And when I would try to talk Chamorro to him, he would acknowledge me, but respond in English, you know? 00:20:34.000 --> 00:21:24.000 And after a few sentences, he was like, why are you trying to learn the language? It's dead, you know? And I was like, whoa. Like, it was the first time I had an elder say that. So I was like, oh shoot. And so there's definitely, there's definitely people like that. There's definitely people out there and Chamorro's out there who were like, there's no point. Even though they have the, the knowledge and to share. It's the, I would say the trauma is still there. And then there's also the, um -- my, my mom's sister, the fluent speaker, one reason she was hesitant to converse with me -- primarily the way I asked her, I was like, can you teach me stuff? And the first thing she said was, I can't read the language. And I don't know, like the grammar, you know? And so I was like, okay, let me rephrase this. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:22:01.000 Can we just talk in Chamorro? You know, because like, I didn't care, right? Like your my [aunt], your mom, my grandma wasn't a teacher. Her mom wasn't [a teacher], her mom wasn't. Right. Like these official titles I think sometimes can prevent the elders from wanting to pass down the generation. 'cause they're like, oh, I don't know if it's right. You know? But it's like, but if this is the language you speak with all your peers, like it's technically right, right? Like we have grammar based rules, but at the same time, you know, language has changed, languages fluctuate. 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:10.000 Especially with the influx of all the new technology post World War II, we were talking about. How have the Chamorro people in the Chamorro language incorporated those new terms into language? 00:22:10.000 --> 00:23:05.000 I would say there's like three routes that I can think of off the top of my head. The first route is kind of a common sense approach. Like do we just, do we try to make a word for it or do we just call it what it's, right. So like the word bus, they just say bus. For truck, they just say truck for a machete, they just say machete, right? So like there's that where it's like, just take the word and say it in our tone. There's another approach which is like to take -- oh, and actually in that regard too -- it's like, take the English word or take the Spanish word or whatever and just kind of funnel it into the language. I would say the second approach is trying to create the word or change the word using our own words. 00:23:05.000 --> 00:24:37.000 So I would say one example is, -- excuse me again -- Um, the word escuela, we use it for school, but with a lot of my peers, we also have interest in like reclaiming the language, so to speak. And so when possible it's like, can we recreate this word? And so instead of saying escuela, um, I have friends, actually, I think this is a more accepted term now is fa'na'gue yanggen. And the word [speaking Chamorro] means to learn by doing. And then one of my favorite things about the language, we have a circum-fix. Something that encompasses a word. So it's fan and an if it ends in a consonant or fan and yan if it ends in a vowel. And so [speaking Chamorro] means like a place of learning. So there's like, there's that approach. Um, and then the third approach would be, if it's just too complicated, just spell it how it's, so one example is the app WhatsApp, right? Like, Chamorro's love WhatsApp. And if you have to literally write it, if there's like legal text or something, again, you might see escuela, [speaking Chamorro] and blah blah blah. But they'll put a single quote and just write WhatsApp single quote. And that's kind of how they take, that's kind of how we take the approach to the language. It's like what's actually being said? What can we create so that it's said? And then if not -- like no one's gonna translate X-ray. We're just gonna write X-ray. Just leave it alone. 00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:55.000 That's really interesting. I like that. You'd mentioned, um, kind of the grammatical structure of the language and also writing. You said your aunt was not fluent in a written way, but she was in an oral way. Are you fluent in Chamorro writing? 00:24:55.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Yes. And I would actually say maybe more so than some of my peers because in the current moment there are two official orthographies, orthography being the, like the written rules about how we portray the language. And so there's the Guam orthography and the NMI orthography, the Northern Marianas Island orthography. Um, the Guam orthography is a one word, one spelling approach. And the NMI orthography is a one sound, one symbol. And this comes in, I think they both have strengths, they both have weaknesses. Um, but I know both and right now, because, I mean Guam's the bigger island and, I would say they have more resources. I think more people know the Guam orthography than they do the NMI orthography. And so for me, I started with the Guam orthography and I was getting confused at some points. But once I started teaching I realized I liked the NMI orthography more for helping people pronunciate things. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:27:00.000 Because when you read something written in the NMI, it's written how it sounds, which is useful for reading. Um, I would say for new people it's confusing. Because like the word tiningo', which means like knowledge tiningo' that last syllable was like, ooh. Um, but when you start to afix it and change it, like if I wanted to say my knowledge, I would say tiningo'-hu right? And so that difference in sound when you read it, it's like, okay, yeah. But now if you're trying to learn the word, you don't know which one to look up really. Guam doesn't have that problem one word, one spelling, no matter how you say it. Which I think has created interesting variations in speakers already. Like I have friends who only know the Guam orthography and they pronounce words the way they see 'em. And I would say that's due to a lack of speakers around them. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:33.000 But again, like that's probably just what's gonna happen. There's gonna be like a dialect of folks who learned by reading. Not a problem. But it's just like, it's something I've started to pick up on through my, through listening. Whereas like with the NMI orthography too. If I give somebody something in the NMI orthography, they think they're looking up like three or four words, you know? I'm like, oh no, this is the same word. It's just they spell it based on how it sounds and so that it can get confusing there. Uh, but yeah, to answer your question, I would say I'm pretty good with it. , 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:45.000 It sounds like it! Your pretty knowledgeable about both just sets of orthographies. Is Chamorro a gendered language? Like Spanish is where there's a masculine and a feminine 00:27:45.000 --> 00:28:15.000 For borrowed words. Yeah. So like for teacher you would say most folks would probably say maestro or maestra. Uh, but we do have like, let's say an indigenous term fafa'na'gue, which isn't gendered at all. Um, and then we have like the word saina, which means like elder. But we do also have mom and dad, Nana and Tata. But I believe even those are borrowed. So in its the truest sense, no, but when we borrow words, definitely. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:22.000 I see. Alright. Rewinding once again after high school, um, did you go to college? 00:28:22.000 --> 00:29:07.000 Yes. Yeah. So, well, I went to college and then I got DQ'ed, I got academically disqualified, went to community college and then was too proud to pull out loans or ask for money. So I was working. So I did that. School, got kicked out, work. I did that for four years. 2012, joined the military. A lot of irony there. Got out in 2016, went back to school. Well, I went back to school before I even got out. But at 2016, went back to Southwestern College in Chula Vista, got my associates, transferred to Cal State Long Beach. And then I finished up in 2019. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:08.000 Okay. And what was your degree in? 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:09.999 Computer science. 00:29:09.999 --> 00:29:12.000 Computer science. And what branch of the military were you in? 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.998 Marine Corps. Yeah. 00:29:13.998 --> 00:29:26.000 Okay. And after you graduated, did you immediately go into the computer science field or was there a time where you were kind of figuring out what you wanted to do? 00:29:26.000 --> 00:30:33.000 So I went right into it because during my last semester, I had an internship when I was at Cal State Long Beach. I had an internship with Northrop Grumman in their, like, aerospace sector. They like renamed it. At the time it was called Aerospace. It might be called something different like space. Oh, it's called, I think now it's called Space Systems. And they have aeronautical systems. 'cause they wanted that elevation difference . Um, but I, so I was doing that. And yeah, it was a mix of like computer science, computer engineering, what I was doing there. When they gave me a job offer, I asked them if I can go to San Diego. They got me one, went down to San Diego, one of the offices in RB (Rancho Bernardo). And yeah, I was doing, I would say it was still like a mix of what I was doing. There was like a little computer sciencey somewhat IT, like some--they call it DevOps. Like it's kind of like the middle boat. And then now I work at Apple and I'm doing like legit software development. 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:44.000 Very cool. Congratulations! And do you meet Chamorro software engineers frequently or Pacific Islanders software engineers? 00:30:44.000 --> 00:31:55.000 Yeah. I wouldn't say frequently. 'cause that definitely whenever I meet even a Pacific Islander in, in tech, it's always like, oh wow. Um, in terms of Chamorro's though, I wanna say the first software engineer I met was through one of Dr. Michael's classes. I'm not, I'm gonna just call him Miget , um, Miget's classes. And he's a software engineer for Costco. I think he lives in the Pacific Northwest. And I was like, oh wow, that's cool. Like, I've never met another one. He's like, oh, have you met Benny? And so he introduced me to another, another guy older than me. I was like, should I call him uncle? I don't think so. But Benny, he's a, he's been a software developer for like 20 something years. Doing mostly like web development. And so I was like, oh wow, okay. There's more of us. But aside from that, I don't think, I know there is, I haven't met this person, but I know someone is running, there's like an online dictionary. They took this Chamorro dictionary and made it into a website. And I know they're running it or like they were given the grant to do it or something. And so I know, I don't know who that person is though. I, I should reach out. 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:03.968 That's very cool. So they're like a, so it sounds like there's like a network--Or at least loosely? 00:32:03.968 --> 00:32:28.000 If there is, I'm not a part of it yet. I have always wanted to, because even though my interest started in computer science, because I got so deep in the language space, I, I have always wanted to do something in the computational linguistics field. Ever since I started learning, I'm like, man, this would be really cool. But I just haven't because I've been too busy trying to learn the language and trying to teach the language. 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:48.000 Do you feel like you're close to a point now where you might be able to move towards that computational linguistics? Because from an outsider's perspective, it sounds like you're very fluent and very knowledgeable about the language and how it's structured and you could teach it. 00:32:48.000 --> 00:33:27.000 Yeah, I don't think so. I think it's, to me, it's still a dream just because I have found so much community and love and appreciation for the work I'm doing. Like, just like on social media, you know, or just by meeting with people and speaking the language to them. I think right now, that outweighs my desire to try and beat Google at creating a translate. Because if you go to translate.google.com, they have Chamorro. And in the past month we've been roasting it 'cause it's incredibly wrong. It's so wrong. It's funny. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:42.000 Okay. Um, speaking of social media, I noticed that you have an Instagram page that's kind of devoted to the Chamorro language and Chamorro culture and experience. What caused you to want to create that? 00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:53.000 There was a time, I think I started last year. So currently I'm on break because I have a four month old at home. 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:54.000 Congratulations! 00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:32.000 Thank you. But I was like, I'm gonna take a break because I'm probably not gonna have the time. And then my wife's back in school, so it was like, okay, really no time. But when I had started it, my cousin had showed me a video from TikTok and there was a guy, he's not even Chamorro, but I think his wife is Chamorro, and he was just speaking Chamorro. He was a student of the Chief Hurao Academy. He did their adult program. He's like, uh, he's like, I should learn because my kid, I want my kid to learn. And so he had a video and he made stuff he like, was just saying, I think, I don't even remember what the video was about. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:35:14.000 I think it was just phrases. But you can tell from the video that he was on island because he was making references that like, you probably only understand if you're around the culture. And specifically on the island though. And my cousin showed me this and she was like, Dabit, you should do this. You should make videos like you're a good teacher. 'cause at the time too, actually, I was doing my own Zoom class with my cousins, which reminds me, I told them I'd start back up and I haven't, but I was doing that and they're like, you should do this. You're so social, you're so out there. Like, you should just do it. And yeah, that's really it. I just, one day I was like, you know what, here's some lines. Make a video. I put it out there. And then I did it again. 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:51.000 I don't think it was until maybe the fifth video where people were like, who is this guy? Why are you, you know? And then I had people comment, I had friends who were like, do you write scripts? And I was like, not really. They're like, you should write scripts, blah, blah, blah. They're like, it looks like you're doing all your videos in one take. I'm like, I am. They're like, don't. They're like, just say what you can. Don't stop recording if you mess up. Just like kind of run it back and just stitch things together. And I was like, oh my god. Yeah. This is so much better. Um, and then it's actually funny because I haven't made a video since like four or five months ago. But recently I went to Oregon. They had the first annual, the first ever, I don't know what the correct term is. 00:35:51.000 --> 00:37:01.000 There was a Mariana's Festival in Fair, Fairview, Oregon. And I went there and there's another Chamorro social, um, like social media person who doesn't make language content necessarily. It's like, not the focus, but she's trying to incorporate it. And she was like, we should go around and ask people stuff. I'll ask in English, you ask, you want, and when I checked this morning, I think the video, the video's been up for like a week and it has like over a hundred thousand views. Wow. People are texting my mom and she's like, is this your son? Because it came up on my feed. You know, people are, people are texting my wife, they're like, is this your husband? Like, what? he popped up on my feed? You know? Or like my sister-in-law, she's like, oh my God, look what just popped up on my feed. You, you know? And I'm just like, wow. Um, and yeah, like, man, like practically every comment is like, wow, it's so cool to hear the language. Because at the festival I knew the, I knew like my friends who were there, who were speakers who were in the same classes as me, so I felt comfortable asking them, you know, I was like, yeah, like blah, blah, blah. And people were like, wow, these people, these kids, you know, they look at me and they're like, these kids know the language and Okay. 00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:15.000 It, it's a very cool video. I actually watched it before our meeting today. It's really interesting. And I actually had a couple questions regarding the video. Mostly to do with kind of food and culture and how those two kind of intersect. You have mentioned that one of your favorite foods was apigigi'? 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.000 Apigigi' 00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:21.497 Apigigi'. And what is apigigi'? 00:37:21.497 --> 00:38:02.000 So it is a, it's a cooked dessert. So you get like coconut shreds. Well, I used coconut shreds. I don't know if some people use the shredded coconut. I'm not sure. Actually. I use coconut shreds. But you put that and then you have, um, we call it mendioka. It's, I think it's tapioca like the starch and stuff. Um, with some leche niyok , which is the coconut milk and sugar, you mix it all together, you slap it in, traditionally a banana leaf and then you wrap it up, close it, you grill it, and then you wait until it closes down and then you can eat it. 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:03.499 Sounds delicious! 00:38:03.499 --> 00:38:07.000 It is! Yeah. And it's not that many ingredients, you know, so it's like really easy. 00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:11.000 And the other dish that I heard mentioned was, um, Kelaguen? 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:12.000 Kelaguen. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:16.000 And it sounded like you could have kelaguen with multiple different kinds of protein? 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:17.000 Yes. 00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:18.998 So what is kelaguen? 00:38:18.998 --> 00:39:18.000 Kelaguen is effectively, it's kind of like an escabeche. That's how we say it. I don't even know what the?...a ceviche? Okay. Um, I think technically the term comes from a Filipino word, kilawin. And their kilawin was, I wanna say more fish based. But yeah, you, you effectively take a protein and cook it in acid. Like that's really all it is. I think. I was actually taught recently that the traditional word before kelaguen was just, um, naynay. And I could see how that can fall out of use. Mm. Um, but technically that, yeah, that it's just cooking something in like acids. So the most popular one is kelaguen mannok or chicken kelaguen. You grill your meat, you chop it up, not too big, not too small. And then you get like, salt, lemon, add your decorations, like your green onions and stuff. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:57.000 But effectively the salt also helps cook it. And it come and you serve it cold though, you know, so you, after you cook and everything, you mix everything. You don't serve it, you can eat it the same day. Growing up, my family always did it, and then we ate it the next day. Because it's a bit softer. The first and last time I made kelaguen katne, which is beef kelaguen. Um, I cut it too big. But yeah, it was just that. And then it was like lemon vinegar, soy sauce or something. So I forget all the ingredients I added. Put it in the fridge the next day we were eating it, you know, and I was like, I was like, is this really gonna cook it? And they're like, yes, chemistry, it's gonna work. I promise 00:39:57.000 --> 00:40:05.000 That's great. And when you prepare food, is it a communal thing or is it a single chef preparing meals for everyone? 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:50.000 You know, growing up it was definitely a communal thing. At least when it came to, I mean, especially when it came to the Fiesta, you're doing a lot of things. You know, at the Guam Club, they have an outdoor kitchen, or they had, I haven't been there in a while, like the kitchen area, but I remember they had a table that was really just like a cutting board. The, the whole table was like a cutting board. And yeah, they would have people grilling, they'd bring the chicken over and you chop it up, you know, you're doing everything and then you pass it on to the next person. Each person kind of had a role, you know. You had people grilling, you had the people tearing the meat off the bone, then you had the people cutting, then you had the people mixing, you know, and then you had the people like, um, setting it aside, preparing it and stuff. 00:40:50.000 --> 00:41:44.000 When I, the last, the first and last time, no, no, no. It wasn't the first last time I made apigigi' I did it for the language immersion program we did here. Prugraman Sinipok. And I taught the class. And so like, that was a communal thing. We had everybody make it. I was worried at first 'cause like, oh, they're not gonna all be the same. But I think it gave it a kind of like, nice little style. It's like, oh, some people made it this way. Some people made 'em real small. Some people made 'em big , you know. And, and I remember when we brought it to the, the following day, there was a picnic for the Guam Liberation. And I brought it and people were so surprised. They were like, nobody ever does this. And in my mind I was like, what? This is the easiest thing to make . And so now it's like something I want to do, kind of a tradition. Like I almost wanna start in my family now. Maybe with just me first, like, oh, I think I can show you how to make it if you like it. Um, so traditionally I would say very communal thing. 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:58.359 And you mentioned your family and bringing the Chamorro culture into your family and making it a part of your own family. Do you speak Chamorro to your children? 00:41:58.359 --> 00:42:50.000 So I try to with our 4-year-old, gonna be five in October. I try to as much as I can with him because he is more cognizant and more responsive. It can be hard, but I know he's getting it. With our baby. I only speak Chamorro to the baby. Sometimes I'll say things to my mom in Chamorro because I know she understands. Not so much with my dad though, because I know his understanding is less. And so I guess it would depend on what it is. Like, if it's like, I'm like, oh, where's mom? I'll say that, you know. But with my mom, I can say like, oh, are you gonna go outside because if you are, can you do this? You know, like longer thoughts. My wife picks up the things I say to the kids. So she knows those words, but I don't talk to her in Chamorro. 00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:52.000 Okay. 00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.000 And my sister lives with us. She said she wants to learn. She's waiting for me to start teaching 00:42:56.000 --> 00:43:00.000 So you gotta get on it. . 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.994 Yeah, gotta get on it. 00:43:02.994 --> 00:43:09.000 Has your wife or your father or mother, have they shown more interest now that you are so into the language? 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:23.000 Yes. My mom, especially now that I only speak Chamorro to this baby. And so within the last four months I've heard more Chamorro come out of my mom's mouth than the last two or three years we've lived together. Which is something, you know. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.000 That's wonderful. 00:43:24.000 --> 00:44:01.843 Yeah. Even if it's funny little things like, did you poop? Or why are you stinky? Let's change your diaper. But because it's the only way I communicate with this baby, I think it makes my mom want to. And my dad will say words like, you're stinky, you know, or you pooped, you threw up. You know, very short things. But definitely again, like the most Chamorro I've ever heard, leave his mouth, you know? Um, yeah. 00:44:01.843 --> 00:44:09.000 That's great! And, you mentioned the Prugraman Sinipok and that's a cultural immersion program. For two weeks or so outta the year, they take students from all over and immerse them in the Chamorro cultural and language. 00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:09.500 Yes. 00:44:09.500 --> 00:44:11.995 And how did that start? 00:44:11.995 --> 00:45:35.000 So this was the third year. This was the first year I helped though. It started through someone else. Uh, her name is June Pangelinan. She lives in like the Bay Area (near San Francisco, CA). Or near there, I would say. But she, it, it was like her thing. She was also a student of Miget's and was like, I think we should, I think we should do a language immersion program. You know, and Miget was just like, if you plan it, I'll do it. You know, 'cause Miget is always down, but in, in the same way. For me, it's like, I'm always down, but I don't want to plan. Like, if you tell me what I can do or give me a spot, I will fulfill that role for however long. I'm just not good at planning though. But yeah. So it was, it was June's like, whole vision. You know, she linked up with Miget and the first two years they actually did it on Guam. And like, so yeah, like that first year I tried to go. It, it didn't work out for me 'cause I was actually in the middle of switching jobs. So when the program was happening, that's when I was going to join Apple. And so it didn't line up. I tried to, I tried to make it line up. I was like, no, okay, I'll leave work, go to Guam, come back, start working. 00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:37.495 Just didn't quite line up. 00:45:37.495 --> 00:45:38.495 Yeah, exactly. 00:45:38.495 --> 00:45:45.000 And how many students in general have you seen the program grow over the last three years? Or has it stayed kind of the same core group of students? 00:45:45.000 --> 00:46:29.000 It's stayed the same number of students. I would say. Like no more than 20, maybe especially the first two years. Because they had to fly to Guam and then pay for the program and then probably get housing if they didn't have family or know anybody out there. Out here, it was less of a, I would say a burden, but maybe less of a interest for some people. Because from my understanding, from what I was told the first two years, I would say we're definitely more culturally focused. Not as much language. This year, there was a lot of language, but we didn't have as much culture. We definitely had culture and they definitely had language, but the offset was there for sure. 00:46:29.000 --> 00:46:34.000 Because it was harder to do here in San Diego. Couldn't go to the same Island towns? 00:46:34.000 --> 00:47:04.000 Yeah. I, we had a Liberation picnic at Balboa Park. They have a house of Chamorros, which is like amazing within itself because usually it's relegated for countries. Right. and then the Guam Club. And then we have local folks whose parents are still alive. And so like, there was a day where we went out, we went down to Chula Vista and, you know, tried to get with them and hear the language come from them. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:12.000 Very cool. Is it, is it common that elders will want to participate in the program? 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:54.000 I would say not common. Definitely not common. We have some elders. We have some elders in the classes that Miget teaches because for them they're like, oh, I know the language, but I don't know how to read it. You know, or I don't know how to write it. So that's what they join for, but they speak the language mm-hmm. So it's like a big benefit to the other students who join. 'cause they could hear it come fluently. But then, and it's always funny too. Yeah. 'cause when I started communicating with, with these folks and when they would write stuff, I'm like, they're literally writing it the way they say it. And to me, that was amazing. You know, it's like, oh, I wasn't sick. 00:47:54.000 --> 00:48:15.000 But yeah,it was really hard. This wasn't my job and I'm thankful it wasn't my job. It was my friend, Clarissa Mangiola, I call her mames, which just means sweet. Reese, it was, it was, it was her job to find folks who would want to participate. And from what she told me, it was really hard. Yeah. 00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:17.000 Why do you think that is? 00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:49.000 There's, I think this goes back to maybe the trauma part where some folks might not see use in the language. A lot of times they don't feel qualified to teach us. And I, I think it's part of the approach of the way we approach them, where it's like, can you teach these kids what you know? Or can, you know, impress upon them your knowledge or whatever. And they feel like, well, oh, they don't want to hear me speak because I don't speak like academically or I don't speak professionally. 00:48:49.000 --> 00:49:45.000 I don't speak eloquently. You know, which is to me always been funny because that's not the Chamorro I've ever wanted to learn. Like, I didn't want to learn like a city academic, Chamorro, you know, I wanted to hear the way my grandparents spoke, specifically my mom's mom. When I think back, my dad's mom did kind of feel, she definitely had an accent and stuff, but it definitely felt more proper. And where, and the village she's from is like the capital of Guam, you know? So it's like, very much surrounded by the like American culture, but where my mom's mom is from, considered the south and very much different. You know, more rural, you know, country living, so to speak. And so that, that's when I actually started learning the language. She, my mom's mom is who I picked to model my speak chapter. 00:49:45.000 --> 00:50:04.000 And my aunties are like, that's not how mom sounded, you know. But it's gotten me a lot of compliments from elders. They're like, wow, you're good. Like, where did you learn to speak? You know? I'm like, memory really? Because I don't have any audio recordings or anything of my grandmother. Just kind of what's embedded in me. 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:07.000 Were you able to speak more with your grandmother while she was here? 00:50:07.000 --> 00:50:36.000 No. So I didn't start learning until 2020. My dad's mom passed in, 2009, 2010. And then my mom's mom passed in 2012. And so yeah, I did not. The closest I would say is my mom's sister. She's still around, thankfully. And every time I get the chance I talk to her in Chamorro. 00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:44.397 If you could have a conversation with your mom's mom, what would you like to talk about? 00:50:44.397 --> 00:51:30.000 Wow. That's a good question. I would probably, I would ask her about her childhood and just start from there. Because there's, when we started learning the language, when Miget started teaching the language, he told everyone, if you have speakers in your family, talk to them. He's like, don't ask them about the war. Do not ask them about the war. You know, he was always very, you know, because it's definitely not something they like to talk about, you know? Um, but I would definitely just be like, where did you actually grow up? 'cause I don't know if she grew up in Yona, it's the village. She repped and claimed, but I don't know if she like spent her childhood there. I would ask her what she remembers about her grandparents or her parents. What her favorite foods were, what her most annoying chores were. 00:51:30.000 --> 00:52:16.000 Things like, what did you do for fun? You know? 'cause that's like another thing that I came to realize was, something that kind of skipped--it would come into this language barrier where the things, as I've talked to other elders, I asked them what they used to do for fun. It's like stuff I wouldn't consider fun. It's like, not stuff I thought they would say. You know, like I had an elder tell me, oh, when we were cleaning, we would race to see who could clean certain-- a board of the house faster. You know, they would like, okay, these are my two boards. These are your two boards and we'll race. And the reason it was fun though, is because for scrubbers, they would literally use coconut shells, you know, the really husky ones and they would just like scrub it. 00:52:16.000 --> 00:53:03.000 They're like, whoever can do it first, you know, wins. And he told me that and I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I could see how that could be fun if you're doing it with your siblings. You know, your friends. And so I definitely would like to know what my grandmas liked doing for fun, what her favorite foods were. 'cause they're definitely, I would assume different, you know? 'cause even something like kelaguen mannok, I wouldn't even consider that like an everyday meal because it takes so much labor. It's not, it's definitely not something you're doing all the time. You know, we have like soups for that, you know. If she remembers what kind of music. As I've learned, as I've delve deeper into the language, I've become more aware of cultural things. I'd probably ask her that. I'd ask her if there were any talageros who's in her family, which are like the fisher people who go out and throw the nets. 00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:39.000 If any of her family sang. Kantan Chamorrita, which is like a, it's like a free verse style singing, which I've come to been told is some folks used to communicate like that. Like just through singing they would say the language, they'd be singing what they're doing. And then if the other person knows the tune, they do it back. You know, some kantan chamorritas are meant for competition. Some of 'em are meant to be endearing. Some of 'em are meant to be wooing someone, you know. So I definitely would ask her like very specific her things, maybe village things. But then definitely would like, I'd be interested about the culture, 00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:45.000 That would be a very cool way to communicate with somebody in kind of a song. Call and repeat kind of thing. 00:53:45.000 --> 00:54:33.000 Yeah. When I went to Oregon, actually, when I was hanging out, I went there with two of my-- I went there to visit two of my friends, they live there. They're speakers. They're like, I would consider them my teachers now, you know? And we were out in the city, we were like walking back from dinner or something, and my friend just starts going with a tune, like, you know. And he was like and then he looked at me and I was like, oh, shoot, okay. I was like, you're not done with your verse, but I'll go, you know . And we just, we did that for a good couple of blocks and I was actually surprised. I was like, wow. Like I was able to do that, you know? 00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:35.000 I was like, sometimes they didn't make sense, but-- 00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:48.000 You just stuck with it and you were right there in the, the melody and verse.--and I know we're running out of time here, but did you have anything that you wanted to talk about or anything that you wanted to say? 00:54:48.000 --> 00:55:51.000 I don't know if I have anything specific. Just that I'm very grateful that I'm able to learn the language because I've had tremendous support from my family, from my friends, from my wife, my kids, you know. I know people who struggle to find the time, you know, struggle to fit it within the typical schedules, right? Like Miget's class used to be Fridays at 4:00 PM until-- 4:00 PM or 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM all the way up until 7:00 PM. And then, once November rolls around. We do daylight saving times. Guam doesn't. And so it's like 3:00 PM--, you know, now though, it's Saturday in the States 'cause he does 'em on Sunday, so it'll probably be a little bit easier. But, I just know so many people. There's people who we started in the same classes 2020 January. Right. And I'm so far ahead of them. 00:55:51.000 --> 00:56:53.000 It's, and I don't know if that's a testament to just how deep I went or also how much time I've been able to give because, yeah, like, at the festival I ran into someone and I was, we've been in classes for years and I was, I didn't have a good grasp of how fluent they were, but when I saw 'em, I was so excited. I hugged them really tight and I was like, oh my God. And then I just started going, you know, and she was just like, you're so fluent now. What happened? You know? And so, yeah, like honestly, I'm just incredibly grateful that I've been able to learn as much as I can. And actually recently, well not even recently, it's been since December, I have another teacher who's teaching me stuff too. I would say like deeper context of things because as much as I love Miget's class, there was a point where he has to start over. 00:56:53.000 --> 00:57:25.000 You know, it's like college for him. Gotta start over, gotta start over. And so there came to a certain point where I was like, shoot, I need more. You know? 'cause I definitely don't think staying in his classes forever will benefit you as much as getting the taste. It's like college, getting the taste and then going on. And so I'm just happy that I was able to find other people who also want to go deeper into the language, learn as much as we can. We found a teacher and so, I mean, that's really it. I'm just incredibly grateful. 00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:31.000 That's awesome. We're very grateful for you coming out here and spending the time and giving this interview. So I just wanna say thank you very much. 00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:33.545 Yeah, of course. Thank you. 00:57:33.545 --> 00:57:38.545 Alright., take this. We were an hour on the dot. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END ]]> https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en video Property rights reside with the university. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. This resource is licensed for noncommercial educational use using CC NC-BY 4.0. Please contact Special Collections at archives csusm.edu if you need reproductions made. Please see the related “Preferred Citation note” for language on citing materials&#13 ; from this collection. Permission to examine Library materials is not authorization to publish or to reproduce the examined material in whole, or in part. 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The researcher agrees not to record, reproduce, or disclose any Social Security number or other information of a highly personal nature that may be found. 0 https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/ohms-viewer/render.php?cachefile=TaitingfongDavid_SheehanRobert_access_2024-08-30.xml TaitingfongDavid_SheehanRobert_access_2024-08-30.xml https://archivessearch.csusm.edu/repositories/3/resources/19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Taitingfong, David. Interview August 30th, 2024. Description An account of the resource David Taitingfong is a member of the Chamorro community and involved with the group Prugraman Sinipok, which teaches a two week Chamorro language immersion program. David describes his involvement with Prugraman Sinipok and how his interest in sharing the Chamorro lanugage and culture has shaped his life. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SC027-083 Subject The topic of the resource Language revival Chamorro language Chamorro (Micronesian people) -- History Chamorro (Micronesian people) -- Social life and customs Colonization -- Spain -- Oceania Colonization -- Japan Colonization -- United States -- Guam Decolonization -- Guam Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2024-08-30 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video Asian Pacific Islander Desi American experience Community history https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/2f5f1f5e8e2ab849149ddd2d77b15aa4.jpg ba32d71554e6120c0b7841a00e58146b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alphonso Cevera titled "Poc-Chuc Iteraciión 4" Description An account of the resource Guest artist choreographer Alphonso Cevera. Collaboration and Performance with Dance Studies Students: Vanesa Bedolla, Nicole Carr, Kati Echeverria, Xochitl Garnica, Alex Maravillas, Emilia Medina, Raelen Pellos, Karen Rocha, Maria Sandoval, and Nina Watts. This performance is part of the The Experimental Dance Project (EDP), which celebrates dance through interaction with professional artists and project-based learning. The EDP brings outstanding dance artists to perform, lecture, dialogue, teach and create with CSUSM students. Importantly, the EDP offers cutting-edge training and performance opportunities by hosting dance artists across the spectrum, including people of color, Latinx, Black, and LGBTQ identities. The EDP embraces our campus’ mission of inclusivity.  The EDP focuses on experimental and improvisational approaches to dance, with a particular emphasis on social justice and community engagement. The EDP aims to break down societal norms around dance and create a space where students can explore their own unique movement styles. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tim Richards https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/803d77588fbc77f28af85130979c60c1.jpg 9ced4a5c7480b90010047507e5db9e0e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Jaamil Olawale Kosoko titled "The Chameleon Complex" Description An account of the resource Guest artist choreographer Alphonso Cevera. With Live composition/sound designer Malesha Tayloy, Professor/Dr. Karen Schaffman and Dance Studies students: Kevine Benitez, Xochitl Garnica, Alex Maravilles, Emilia Medina, Raelene Palos and Cornelius Stringer. This performance is part of the The Experimental Dance Project (EDP), which celebrates dance through interaction with professional artists and project-based learning. The EDP brings outstanding dance artists to perform, lecture, dialogue, teach and create with CSUSM students. Importantly, the EDP offers cutting-edge training and performance opportunities by hosting dance artists across the spectrum, including people of color, Latinx, Black, and LGBTQ identities. The EDP embraces our campus’ mission of inclusivity.  The EDP focuses on experimental and improvisational approaches to dance, with a particular emphasis on social justice and community engagement. The EDP aims to break down societal norms around dance and create a space where students can explore their own unique movement styles. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tim Richards https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/0e7e677cdb8596e444b17c80b2adfb8c.jpg 45067d84631621666986f8424dcf45c0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Karen Schaffman and Ishmael Houston Jones Description An account of the resource Karen Schaffman and Ishmael Houston Jones at Think Gravity Dance Tank.Think Gravity Dance Tank: Celebrating & Reckoning with Contact Improvisation and Performance was an intergenerational research gathering in Boulder Colorado from March 21-26, 2022. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tim Richards https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/5f893935bd6c92420817c088e0d444cc.jpg 5e968aadd43e72d0487cb77679d8b7c9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Karen Schaffman and Darrell Jones Description An account of the resource Karen Schaffman and Darrell Jones at Think Gravity Dance Tank.Think Gravity Dance Tank: Celebrating & Reckoning with Contact Improvisation and Performance was an intergenerational research gathering in Boulder Colorado from March 21-26, 2022. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tim Richards Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Schaffman, Karen. Photographs, June 5, 2025. Description An account of the resource Four photos related to the oral history of Karen Schaffman. Photograph #1 depicts dancers in a performance of the Experimental Dance Project titled "Poc-Chuc Iteraciión 4." Photograph #2 depicts dancers in a performance of the Experimental Dance Project titled "The Chameleon Complex." Photograph #3 depicts Karen Schaffman with with Ishmael Houston Jones in the Think Gravity Dance Project. Photograph #4 depicts Karen Schaffman with Darrell Jones in the Think Gravity Dance Project. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/010490bb4e1eee6c6b68387114144d01.png a77bcbe5e028ea6754d6a4ff36186b85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource EvansK_250px https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/7f72e1cce3c6fed5bc5600bafc040034.png ba4bfc8c99a3d48117506493f5f2b84a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource EvansG_250px https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/57472b9333efa19b9ebe8960b41ee200.jpg 78719f1ce978bea4311b31c24fd55ffe Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Joe's Pluming cartoon Description An account of the resource This cartoon was submitted by Greg Evans to Playboy Magazine when he was eleven years old. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Greg Evans https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/66a2b1c382db3edb43d61109e166cfd7.jpg a7bdc4a3ce73b3f1bb934a178c6fb8c9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Two Guys comic strip Description An account of the resource This is a photograph of one of Greg Evans' early ideas for a comic strip. https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/fb841c79c6e1cf90c170666c56a9e32a.jpg b9f360d9a7e6e072fc17c96afa546cf8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Seamy Heights comic strip Description An account of the resource This is a photograph of one of Greg Evans' early ideas for a comic strip. https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/c77ab444004d9f888e5725e96492b391.jpg e80723aa476b5a493714592d62bdf4cc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource MaXwel the Robot Description An account of the resource This is a photograph of MaXwel the Robot. Running this robot for entertainment purposes was one of Greg Evans' early jobs. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Evans, Greg and Karen. Photographs, March 25, 2025. Description An account of the resource Four photos related to the oral history of Greg and Karen Evans. Photograph #1, "Joe's Pluming Cartoon," was drawn by Greg Evans for submission to Playboy Magazine when he was eleven years old. Photograph #2, "Two Guys Comic Strip," is one of Greg Evans' early ideas for a comic strip. Photograph #3, "Seamy Heights Comic Strip," was one of Greg Evans' early ideas for a comic strip. Photograph #4, "MaXwel the Robot," is a photograph of a robot. Running MaXwel the Robot for entertainment purposes was one of Greg Evans' early jobs. Click on the thumbnails to view the full images in more detail. https://archivesoralhistories.csusm.edu/files/original/07a30db156660d21bcc54bcf2578a48f.png e13aceb4ac3aad4e6fd69fef3dbf5efe Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource SpackmanA_250px