Speaker 1: Okay, Remia and Sofia are in the studio, hi, and
Speaker 1: this is their theme song. So I guess it's gonna
Speaker 1: be the best day of all of our lives. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys for blessing us with uh with this song.
Speaker 1: Sophia and and Remia are both students graduating, graduating, graduated.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm forgetting it.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, we're graduated goal ties of twenty six.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so I was wrong. You're not Generation Alpha,
Speaker 1: your generation Z. Yeah, they don't want to hear that.
Speaker 1: So I'm you know, I'm having I'm having struggle here
Speaker 1: getting more information. So I know that you guys one
Speaker 1: is a valedictorian and one is a salutarian.
Speaker 3: Right, No, I'm a salutatorian, salutatory.
Speaker 2: I was head of school award recipient.
Speaker 1: Okay, let me get the accolades straight, all right. So,
Speaker 1: and you guys just graduated really near the top of
Speaker 1: your class. So congratulations to you. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think you know, we we don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: gen Z that listened to KBLA talk fifteen to eighty.
Speaker 1: We're hoping to get more. But I think that sometimes
Speaker 1: the millennials and the gen xers and the boomers can
Speaker 1: can stereotype you guys a little bit. Maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit little bit.
Speaker 4: I hear the like Gen Z is a lot lazier
Speaker 4: because we have our phones, like we just rely online.
Speaker 4: But I really feel like using the technologies really helpless
Speaker 4: cultivate better skills versus like using it to supplement those skills,
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Absolutely, And honestly, I've been on the radio a
Speaker 1: long time and I feel like every generation we say
Speaker 1: they're lazy, Like every general, the next generation, you know
Speaker 1: Gen X we were, you know, was lazy, and now
Speaker 1: then we said the millennials were lazy. Now it's like
Speaker 1: every generation is not motivated. I feel like adults get older,
Speaker 1: adults get what I call selective amnesia and forget what
Speaker 1: they were doing when they were your age. That said,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being here and sharing your perspective
Speaker 1: on various different topics. I mean, I congratulate you guys
Speaker 1: both on your graduation big plans. So feel where are
Speaker 1: you going?
Speaker 2: I will be attending UC Davis this fall. I'm going
Speaker 2: to be majoring in sociology.
Speaker 1: Wow, okay, awesome, And where will you be going with.
Speaker 4: Mea, I'll be going to UC Berkeley and I'll be
Speaker 4: majoring in electrical and computer engineering.
Speaker 1: What so really lazy?
Speaker 2: This is just for showing.
Speaker 1: So. And you graduated from Saint Mary's Academy Go Bells,
Speaker 1: which a lot of people you know may be not
Speaker 1: familiar with. Tell me a little bit. You guys have
Speaker 1: a lot of school spirit obviously. Oh yeah, tell me, Sophia,
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about why you have so
Speaker 1: much enthusiasm.
Speaker 2: I think in terms of enthusiasm for Saint Mary's as well,
Speaker 2: it's because they also have enthusiasm for you. So it's
Speaker 2: reciprocated in that. And I think as you move forward
Speaker 2: and you go from underclassmen to upperclassmen, you feel a
Speaker 2: lot of that love, and so you want to give
Speaker 2: it back. And so I think that because Saint Mary's
Speaker 2: was good to me as well as to both of us,
Speaker 2: I think it's only it's only good for me to
Speaker 2: give it back to them and to also talk good
Speaker 2: about the school, because they really deserve it. And so
Speaker 2: when you when you're around girls from SMA, you're like,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, you can feel the energy, you can feel
Speaker 2: their brightness and their enthusiasticness. And I think it's so
Speaker 2: important to also carry that with you. So I think
Speaker 2: that's why I get so excited talking about sam mauries
Speaker 2: because I'm like, oh, yeah, you walk in, someone's singing, dancing.
Speaker 2: It's super energetic, and I love that.
Speaker 3: About it absolutely.
Speaker 4: I feel like, especially like once you go for the
Speaker 4: first time, I remember being nervous, like as a freshman,
Speaker 4: like as you should be, but like junior seniors, like
Speaker 4: upperclassmen coming up to us going like hey guys, hey,
Speaker 4: everyone's so excited, like literally, people singing all the time
Speaker 4: in the pavilion, and when you leave the school wearing
Speaker 4: your thaie color like we're gold tie is the best
Speaker 4: color obviously, but when you leave the school and people
Speaker 4: will come up to you like, hey, I was an
Speaker 4: alumni of SMA, Yeah, this was my Thai color. We're
Speaker 4: the best taig color. Even though if it wasn't gold,
Speaker 4: that's not true.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I love that the school spirit and the enthusiasm
Speaker 1: because there's an intentionality about that, right. It's not just
Speaker 1: we show up and we see what happens. It sounds
Speaker 1: like you show up and you set the intention to
Speaker 1: be vibrant and be to be.
Speaker 2: Light exactly yes. And also when you're just walking down
Speaker 2: the street and someone sees your uniform and they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: go gold, or they'll say, oh, I was a green tign.
Speaker 2: That's so like insane to me because just by a
Speaker 2: thie color, just by what you're wearing, you're already so
Speaker 2: connected and there's so much history and lord to it.
Speaker 2: So I think it's really cool to see.
Speaker 4: Usually you only hear of that like in the university
Speaker 4: space or a college. Yeah, get so patriotic or like
Speaker 4: like riled up by their school, but not to have
Speaker 4: that as a high school or it feels so like empowering,
Speaker 4: like no matter where I go, like I'm a goal time,
Speaker 4: I'm about like we're all together.
Speaker 1: So it's really cool, and I'm sure it's really refreshing
Speaker 1: for our KBLA delegation because again back to the stereotype,
Speaker 1: some of which we will break down today because why not,
Speaker 1: it's Friday. It's that young people are like, oh, we
Speaker 1: don't care about anything, we don't care about school, We
Speaker 1: hate adults, we hate people, we hate education. Sophia laughs.
Speaker 2: I know because I have to disagree. Yeah, if you
Speaker 2: won't get to say married, it's completely different. Atmosphere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I mean obviously you said they give
Speaker 1: love to you, they care about you, so that's part
Speaker 1: of it. But also some of the malaise that we
Speaker 1: do experience from teenagers is you know, developmental hormonal. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys are dealing with a lot, right, I mean
Speaker 1: you're growing into a whole adult human, so I think
Speaker 1: you know some of it, some of it is baked
Speaker 1: into that cake. So what is it that you guys
Speaker 1: do yourselves personally? We can start with you, Rema, to
Speaker 1: keep that spirit of enthusiasm and joy and engagement I know.
Speaker 4: For I mean personally, I think it's just having hope.
Speaker 4: Like I know that if I work hard now, like
Speaker 4: when I in the future, it's gonna like benefit me.
Speaker 4: Like you kind of you put the hard work now,
Speaker 4: and you, I mean you have fun too, Like that's
Speaker 4: why you try and go out with friends, like you
Speaker 4: do the little things that make you happy. I know
Speaker 4: me personally, I love art, even though I'm going to
Speaker 4: do engineering. I love to paint on my own time.
Speaker 4: I like to make crafts for my friends. I like
Speaker 4: to skateboard with my neighbors. Like there's little things I
Speaker 4: do to keep me motivated, like having little breaks throughout
Speaker 4: my hard work, all the like the things we do,
Speaker 4: all the accolades we receive. But I think what really
Speaker 4: helps is having that hope and knowing that, like I'm
Speaker 4: going to work hard now I'm having fun with what
Speaker 4: I'm doing and in the future it's really gonna help
Speaker 4: benefit me in my career and building that generational wealth
Speaker 4: and everything.
Speaker 1: And how about you, Sophie, I mean, I know you
Speaker 1: don't become, you know, get all these accolades without working
Speaker 1: really hard too.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I have to agree with Romeo over here
Speaker 2: because I think that while it's good to also focus
Speaker 2: on your academics, you also have to take care of
Speaker 2: yourself first before you can dedicate yourself to something so important.
Speaker 2: And so I play soccer on my free time. I
Speaker 2: dance for Glorrico, so that's also good for my mind
Speaker 2: as well as my body. And then once I'm okay,
Speaker 2: then I can get to work and start studying. And
Speaker 2: then once you're able to do that, then you know
Speaker 2: what you want for yourself. And so because I'm like,
Speaker 2: you're applying to Colledron and like, but I want to
Speaker 2: see myself succeed because I see the girls around me
Speaker 2: do as well, as well as the women at our school,
Speaker 2: so I just I want to achieve that as well.
Speaker 1: And for those who didn't follow because you said it
Speaker 1: kind of fast foo, I'm so sorry, no apology needed,
Speaker 1: but you know they might not be up on what
Speaker 1: floordigo is that that's you know, cultural dance, right, And
Speaker 1: I see that you're part of La Casa Latina Club.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the club.
Speaker 1: So clearly staying connected with your culture is part of
Speaker 1: the formula for for sure.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm very Yes, I've been dancing since I was
Speaker 2: six years old, I believe over ten years. And when
Speaker 2: we got to SMA, actually there wasn't a club for
Speaker 2: Latinas and so one of the upper classmen created it
Speaker 2: and I saw it as an opportunity to just involve
Speaker 2: myself and continue this beautiful legacy that is our culture.
Speaker 2: And so I would dance at performances and at our
Speaker 2: assemblies and it's just amazing to see how many people
Speaker 2: really do care about what we have to say.
Speaker 1: And REMI you're part of the Associated Student Body and
Speaker 1: Student Leadership Council, a whole bunch of club, the Anime club,
Speaker 1: but also the Black Student unions, so clearly that cultural
Speaker 1: connection is important for you too.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I know I personally, I am a return in American.
Speaker 4: My parents are both immigrants from Maritra, and so for
Speaker 4: me personally, I remember trying to find that connection between
Speaker 4: my African identity and the Black American identity was a
Speaker 4: struggle for me, especially like coming in as a freshman
Speaker 4: and I kind of felt like do I have a
Speaker 4: place here?
Speaker 3: But I think joining in.
Speaker 4: I really saw how we empowered all types of African
Speaker 4: students at SMA, and so with that, I know, me
Speaker 4: and my sister and I believe there's three to four
Speaker 4: other Reacheran girls and a few other Ethiopian girls as
Speaker 4: well at SMA, and so we started doing a reacher
Speaker 4: In Ethiopian dancing as well during the Black Student Union
Speaker 4: assemblies every month or not every month every year?
Speaker 1: Sorry, Oh so we could get to it every year.
Speaker 3: Yet, yeah, absolutely, So.
Speaker 4: I think I raided a point to try and connect
Speaker 4: with my culture in school, and I do it as
Speaker 4: well out of school. I'm a part of SALA, so
Speaker 4: it's the School of a Reacheran Languages in Los Angeles
Speaker 4: and it's a nonprofit organization. So I try and meet
Speaker 4: with them at like maybe every Sunday when I'm not
Speaker 4: too busy, and so I really love like being with
Speaker 4: my community, being with my people, and I think it's
Speaker 4: really empowered me to be more confident who I am.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you guys have time for all this.
Speaker 1: I'm at your resume. Make it me time. Sophia and
Speaker 1: Ramia are here and we are giving a a gen
Speaker 1: Z view on some but also you know, recent graduates
Speaker 1: headed off to college, your perspective on a few things,
Speaker 1: and if you want to join in the conversation, eight
Speaker 1: hundred and nine two oh fifteen eighty is the number
Speaker 1: of course you can do what all these other folks
Speaker 1: are doing. Jump in the YouTube at KBLA fifteen eighty
Speaker 1: on YouTube and put your comment or your question there.
Speaker 1: I'm Dominique de Prima. Happy Friday from all of us
Speaker 1: at KBLA Talk fifteen eight. Yes, you're waking up with me,
Speaker 1: and you're waking up with Sofia and Ramia. Sofia, thank
Speaker 1: you guys for being in today. I want to talk
Speaker 1: about a few things. Sofia Omelo and Ramia Techle Yes,
Speaker 1: having yes indeed again getting it together here on the pronunciations. Okay, Ramia,
Speaker 1: Why why engineering?
Speaker 4: I think for me, I really grew up in a
Speaker 4: space where I saw a lot of like building and
Speaker 4: like entrepreneurship, not that much in like the typical way
Speaker 4: of that people owning business and stuff like that. Like
Speaker 4: especially my parents first came in like first gen, and
Speaker 4: so with us, I saw how my dad loved like
Speaker 4: fixing and tinkering little computers, and like whenever my laptop
Speaker 4: broke or something, instead of buying a new one, he
Speaker 4: would just sit up all day trying to learn how
Speaker 4: to fix it, trying to learn how to fix the cabinets.
Speaker 4: And I love just watching him do that. And I
Speaker 4: think with me, I'm someone who really loves art and
Speaker 4: I love seeing that combination together. And so that came
Speaker 4: with a lot of exploration throughout my childhood of like
Speaker 4: seeing ways to combine art into engineering because it's something
Speaker 4: I loved so much, and I learned that through coding,
Speaker 4: through designing, through making so many innovations. I think it
Speaker 4: especially like impressed me when I saw other Ritrians or
Speaker 4: black women in STEM and in engineering. And when I
Speaker 4: saw them, I immediately was like I want to be
Speaker 4: like them, and I want to do what they do
Speaker 4: because it was just so impressive to me. So I
Speaker 4: think that really inspired me.
Speaker 1: You have a certification AI Powered Woman, Human Centered AI Leadership,
Speaker 1: so obviously you're not ing a fright No AI.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not.
Speaker 4: I really feel like I know AI is something that
Speaker 4: fears us a lot, and I think that's a really
Speaker 4: big reason I want to get into engineering because I
Speaker 4: feel like we can use these resources to help our
Speaker 4: future generations. And I think the problem now is it's
Speaker 4: very valid when people be are afraid of AI is
Speaker 4: going to take over my job, AI is going to
Speaker 4: ruin my future. And I think that's something America's really
Speaker 4: much cultivated in society. I think it's a horrible thing.
Speaker 4: And so I know, last summer I got the opportunity
Speaker 4: to study abroad in Japan, and I saw how AI
Speaker 4: and robotics was used to really help every member of society.
Speaker 4: I saw how like instead of people who were disabled
Speaker 4: or people who were a part of the elderly, instead
Speaker 4: of them being afraid of AI taking the jobs that
Speaker 4: they could have had, and instead worked with them.
Speaker 3: I saw how there were like let's say, cafes.
Speaker 4: Where people were able to work from home and control
Speaker 4: robots instead. So it gave them even more jobs instead
Speaker 4: of leaving them at home to really do nothing and
Speaker 4: not feel like a part of a growing, technologically advanced society.
Speaker 4: And so it made everyone feel more helpful and more
Speaker 4: happy to be a part of it and to grow
Speaker 4: AI together. I feel like in America we're all really
Speaker 4: afraid of it, and I think if we work together
Speaker 4: and got everyone involved, we diversified the people creating the technology,
Speaker 4: then it would be something that everyone enjoyed. It could
Speaker 4: be something that benefited everyone instead of just the rich
Speaker 4: and the empowered.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes sense. I mean, we tend to weaponize
Speaker 1: pretty much everything in this country, so maybe in a
Speaker 1: different model, AI has a different implication. It sounds like.
Speaker 1: But you know the other thing that we hear a
Speaker 1: lot about AI, and I throw this to you, SOFIA
Speaker 1: is about the campus panic that we see at a
Speaker 1: lot of universities. Maybe you guys were just at high school.
Speaker 1: You haven't had to deal with this yet, but the
Speaker 1: professor is not being sure how to deal with it
Speaker 1: and whether or not kids are using it to write
Speaker 1: papers or take tests, and how to you know, how
Speaker 1: to limit it and how to welcome it in. So
Speaker 1: I mean, since you're not in college yet, you might
Speaker 1: not have this experience. But maybe you want to pile
Speaker 1: on to what Ramya said about AI your own thoughts
Speaker 1: on AI your generation.
Speaker 2: If I'm being completely honest, I am an AI. I
Speaker 2: don't like AI. Oh every time someone talks about like, no,
Speaker 2: get jadg Gibt out of your use your brains, because
Speaker 2: I know that we're so capable of doing whatever it is.
Speaker 2: We can write a five page essay without having to
Speaker 2: just ask, oh, give me a five pay say about
Speaker 2: and so I think, oh my gosh, everything someone talks
Speaker 2: about it. But I think I've also seen that that
Speaker 2: teachers are so afraid of seeing their students you resort
Speaker 2: to that instead of just asking a question. And if
Speaker 2: I saw this clip recently about a man in Texas
Speaker 2: who started crying because his students couldn't put together a sentence,
Speaker 2: and I think that that has something to do with
Speaker 2: AI for sure, because when you don't know how to
Speaker 2: do something, it's I your fingertips. Immediately you don't know
Speaker 2: what just something, look it up on the internet. And
Speaker 2: now there's this new installment that you can just it'll
Speaker 2: do whatever you want like it will you ask it
Speaker 2: a question and it'll give it to you to perfection.
Speaker 2: And so I think when it comes to AI, it's
Speaker 2: so hard to use it as a balance, and I
Speaker 2: think that there's, uh, there is a balance between using
Speaker 2: it but then also using it to your benefit and
Speaker 2: using it to just abuse it and just do it
Speaker 2: for you. And I guess I would say that I
Speaker 2: would prefer people not to use it because I think
Speaker 2: that once you when you really sit down and you
Speaker 2: you sit with your thoughts and you can see how
Speaker 2: much you can do. I mean, obviously sometimes it's good
Speaker 2: to get a little bit of help, but that's also
Speaker 2: why there are people around you and you can ask
Speaker 2: for that help. So that's where I would say, you can,
Speaker 2: if you ever resort to AI, come to me and
Speaker 2: I will I will tell you how how smart you
Speaker 2: are and intelligent and how much you can do. So
Speaker 2: if you ever need that help, I know because I
Speaker 2: see people doing it. I tell my friends sometimes I'm like,
Speaker 2: don't do it.
Speaker 4: Every time she sees the tab open on my lap
Speaker 4: of this turned that up.
Speaker 3: But I think it's actually like.
Speaker 4: Coming from an engineering perspective, I really understand like the
Speaker 4: fear of like we don't want students to be supplementing
Speaker 4: their knowledge with just searching it up.
Speaker 3: But I really think it's just a learning curve.
Speaker 4: Like I'm really like, I'm a big advocate for like
Speaker 4: AI is gonna be something that helps us. It's gonna
Speaker 4: be something that stays around, and so we should learn
Speaker 4: how to work with it versus trying to remove it.
Speaker 4: And so I know, especially to say, the first time
Speaker 4: they brought laptops or phones into the school space, I'm
Speaker 4: sure teachers were afraid, like, oh my god, now kids
Speaker 4: are just gonna be googling.
Speaker 3: How to do something.
Speaker 1: Now they're taking them out.
Speaker 2: Yeah now.
Speaker 1: And LUSC has really strict new policies.
Speaker 4: I know, I see like the pockets where they put
Speaker 4: the phones in. I know it hasn't come to our school.
Speaker 4: I feel like my neighbors like who have go to
Speaker 4: LAUSC schools where they put their phones in these little pockets.
Speaker 3: It locks it up, and I'm like, it's really interesting.
Speaker 4: But I feel like there should be ways to add
Speaker 4: this technology because in the real world, like if we
Speaker 4: stop teaching people how to use phones responsibly, how to
Speaker 4: use AI responsibly, how to do things responsibly, then they're
Speaker 4: gonna go into the real world finally having access to
Speaker 4: these things and abusing it and using it in the
Speaker 4: wrong way.
Speaker 3: So I feel like when we teach people how.
Speaker 4: To be more AI literate, which is one of the
Speaker 4: things I had to learn about when getting my sort
Speaker 4: of certificate from the AI Powered Women's Organization, that a
Speaker 4: lot of students and adults aren't like AI literate. They're
Speaker 4: not even like knowing how to use these technologies properly.
Speaker 4: But when we teach them how to do it, or
Speaker 4: when we kind of learn them, like learn how to
Speaker 4: use these things responsibly and allowing you to grow your
Speaker 4: own knowledge and using it all together, then I think
Speaker 4: we'll be able to grow more like responsible technology users.
Speaker 1: What I'm really enjoying right now, you guys are representing
Speaker 1: Saint Mary's Academy Gold Thie class of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: I can see how you guys apparently broke a bunch
Speaker 1: of records at your school. Thirty four point three million
Speaker 1: dollars in college scholarships among the gold thigh classes. You
Speaker 1: all did that, acceptances to all nine University of California campuses.
Speaker 1: That's when you guys go, we did that we did
Speaker 1: that and twenty seven full tuition scholarship offers. Y'all did
Speaker 1: that from one hundred and seventy eight different colleges and universities.
Speaker 1: I see all that, but I also see too on
Speaker 1: very scholarly but also effervescent young women who appear to
Speaker 1: also be friends.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, way back.
Speaker 4: It's actually funny because her sister and my sister are both, like,
Speaker 4: you're younger than each other. So that was one of
Speaker 4: the things we first talked about, like building our friendship
Speaker 4: is that this esme like love runs deep, like our
Speaker 4: both of our families come here, like both of our
Speaker 4: parents hop out the school a lot, and so I
Speaker 4: think both of us are just very involved individuals.
Speaker 3: We both are just fun people.
Speaker 2: So we like both of our sisters are red tie
Speaker 2: shout out, Yeah are better, but yeah, they're also they're
Speaker 2: in the same grade. But I think me and Romya,
Speaker 2: I think it was we had we had aps together.
Speaker 4: Yeah, very intent the trauma bonds.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so when we would need help, I like
Speaker 2: I would go to Ramya and we would just chat
Speaker 2: it up. And then you know, it's easy for we're talkers,
Speaker 2: so it'll be easy for us to get off track.
Speaker 2: But and then all the way till senior year, we
Speaker 2: would we would hang out all.
Speaker 4: The time and we're like calling into like two am,
Speaker 4: string ap computer science, like random stuff. I'm just hoping
Speaker 4: you could all be over. But we went through together,
Speaker 4: so it was fun.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you make it seem fun, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I think fun exactly, so I because we did it.
Speaker 1: I do love that, because you know, we we well,
Speaker 1: we only have a minute here until news traffic and sports,
Speaker 1: and we'll keep talking on the other side of news
Speaker 1: traffic and sports. So it wouldn't really be fair to
Speaker 1: ask you a question and expect you to answer it
Speaker 1: in fifty six seconds. So what I'll do is I'll
Speaker 1: set it up and we can talk about it after
Speaker 1: news traffic and sports. I think that there's a lot
Speaker 1: of talk, I'm sure you hear it about how discouraging
Speaker 1: society feels right now. You know, things are expensive, there's
Speaker 1: political turmoil. We see a contraction of opportunities, fewer opportunities
Speaker 1: perhaps for women, for people of color, for Latinos, for
Speaker 1: black people. And I feel like on top of that,
Speaker 1: we are seeing these lawsuits which reflect the pressure your
Speaker 1: generation has to deal with from the social media world. Right,
Speaker 1: You're not only just dealing with school, You're dealing with
Speaker 1: this sort of alternate universe of Instagram and Facebook and
Speaker 1: Twitter and TikTok. So. I guess what I'd like to
Speaker 1: talk about is how you see those discouraging trends and
Speaker 1: how you seem to be navigating the world without letting
Speaker 1: them dictate or control your lives. Maybe some of the
Speaker 1: gen xers that are in our KBLA delegation can take
Speaker 1: some notes and get a few hints. You're listening to
Speaker 1: KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. You're getting a lot of love
Speaker 1: in our YouTube chat, as you should. Future leaders are
Speaker 1: joining us in the studio. Sofia Omelo is here and
Speaker 1: Rama tech le Yes, yeah, we're getting it together. But
Speaker 1: I asked you before news, traffic and sports, and this
Speaker 1: was for both of you. You can take turns here.
Speaker 1: But you know, there a lot of us who are
Speaker 1: not just graduating from high school are discouraged by the
Speaker 1: political climate, by the affordability crisis and the pressure that
Speaker 1: comes down from social media, which can be in some
Speaker 1: cases so severe that people get pushed into you know,
Speaker 1: self harm, and like, how do you how do you
Speaker 1: handle that you guys are so joyous and you guys
Speaker 1: are just a ray of sunshine in the studio today.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for me personally, like I'm someone who
Speaker 4: really likes to keep up with politics.
Speaker 3: I know, me and my dad like will talk about
Speaker 3: in debate in the car.
Speaker 4: I'll watch the news every night, like we're like that
Speaker 4: kind of like duo. And so I feel like, I
Speaker 4: think this year is probably the first year where I
Speaker 4: really stopped watching the news because on top of like
Speaker 4: underst in the pressure of like trying to do college applications,
Speaker 4: trying to keep up, like kind of realizing that, like
Speaker 4: my life is going to change after this year going
Speaker 4: to college.
Speaker 3: Stuff like that, I kind.
Speaker 4: Of just became too much for me to also be
Speaker 4: watching the news and seeing like what's going on in
Speaker 4: the world, because it kind of be at first it
Speaker 4: was like trying to stay politically aware, but now in
Speaker 4: that political awareness is really stressing you out, which isn't
Speaker 4: a good thing. I feel you should still be political
Speaker 4: politically aware no matter what you're doing. It kind of
Speaker 4: became a lot for me, So I really understand the
Speaker 4: whole idea of like politics stressing out younger generations. But
Speaker 4: I think it also gives us a guideline of what
Speaker 4: to do. Like whatever we don't see that we don't like,
Speaker 4: we learn how to grow from it. I know I
Speaker 4: personally have favorite political leaders who I see on social
Speaker 4: media that I love what they're doing, and it really
Speaker 4: teaches me that when I go into engineering, when I
Speaker 4: go into whatever I do in life, when I vote,
Speaker 4: that I want to vote for people that I know
Speaker 4: will help my generation, will help accommodate. Like crisis is
Speaker 4: like social media hurting generations starting like instead of like
Speaker 4: eradicating them, but helping students, helping with financial crises and
Speaker 4: all stuff like that. So I think politics can be
Speaker 4: a helper. But also I guess I could scare off you.
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like you're giving yourself, you're pacing yourself.
Speaker 1: I mean I do that. It's my job to pay
Speaker 1: attention to what's going on. But I usually give myself
Speaker 1: one news free day per week, and then I might
Speaker 1: cram the next day to catch up what I miss.
Speaker 1: But I need that mental space. It's like a buffer.
Speaker 1: There's other things in life, Sophia, how do you see it?
Speaker 2: I think I can touch on what Ramy said. About
Speaker 2: social media branch off of it a little bit. I
Speaker 2: think that it's super easy, and I'm talking for myself
Speaker 2: as well, to just doom scroll, lay in bed, just
Speaker 2: just go TikTok. Then you don't like what you say
Speaker 2: in tech, so you go to Instagram. You're just switching
Speaker 2: off apps.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But also I think, as for myself, I get tired
Speaker 2: of it a little bit. I'm like, what am I doing? Like,
Speaker 2: I'm just laying down. I should go do something, and
Speaker 2: that's when I text rom.
Speaker 1: Mea're like what should we do? Yeah.
Speaker 2: But I think that also there's a lot of pressure
Speaker 2: when it comes to social media also being on it,
Speaker 2: and I was like, oh, this is how you look
Speaker 2: on social media, but in real life you're nothing like that,
Speaker 2: or you should post this instead. But I think, like
Speaker 2: Ramyo was saying, it's the way that you use it.
Speaker 2: Because also social media is really good for finding your
Speaker 2: scholarships and seeing what schools you want to apply to.
Speaker 2: But I think that it's it's also a balance. I
Speaker 2: think everything you need a balance in between, because too
Speaker 2: much social media, anything, any too much of anything is
Speaker 2: like not so good for you. But I think that
Speaker 2: if you have a balance because if you want to
Speaker 2: take like a mental break, also, don't go on your
Speaker 2: phone or something that I've.
Speaker 1: Been doing is.
Speaker 2: It's not gonna helps get you more stress. It's just
Speaker 2: gonna start. But one thing that I started doing is
Speaker 2: just the first hour when I wake up, I don't
Speaker 2: go on my phone, so just to let myself reset
Speaker 2: and just I've just woken up, so I'll just go
Speaker 2: to a living room. I'll just drink a cup of water.
Speaker 2: And so I think also you have to hold yourself
Speaker 2: accountable because no one is really gonna tell you, oh,
Speaker 2: get off of social media. No matter how many times
Speaker 2: someone complains about social media, Oh you're on it too much.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna stop unless you want it to stop.
Speaker 2: And so when I'm like, do scrolling, I'll be.
Speaker 3: Like, no, I can't.
Speaker 2: I'm like no, no, no, it has to benefit you.
Speaker 2: And also now that we're starting college completely, we're going
Speaker 2: away from home. We're not we can't stay in our dorms,
Speaker 2: and we're gonna be like, I guess I'll just do
Speaker 2: scroll now because I don't know what to do. And
Speaker 2: so I think once you start like, oh, you want
Speaker 2: this for yourself and go hang out with friends, like
Speaker 2: you'll start making memories that you will always remember. You're
Speaker 2: not gonna be like, oh yeah, I just dom scrolled,
Speaker 2: like oh what did you do when you were younger?
Speaker 2: Just sat in bed, I was just chilling. When I
Speaker 2: went to TikTok, I would get bored, so I would
Speaker 2: go to Instagram like.
Speaker 4: You no, yeah, I mean it's funny because it's like
Speaker 4: it's really scary how like tempting it can be, and
Speaker 4: how you may start like I'll just take a quick
Speaker 4: break at three pm and I see you know, six
Speaker 4: o'clock and you've been scrolling for like hours true, or
Speaker 4: like you're just going to bed watching TV. Like you
Speaker 4: wake up like just going straight to your phone to
Speaker 4: check text, Like it kind of just becomes like your
Speaker 4: life is revolved around the phone. So I can like accounsel.
Speaker 4: I think this morning, I probably woke up as like okay,
Speaker 4: who texted me? Or like let me text Sofia, like Sophia,
Speaker 4: what are you wearing?
Speaker 2: It like literally happens today. And then I see like
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my god, can I reply me? Because
Speaker 2: I didn't check my phone?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, So I think I need to start doing that too,
Speaker 4: Like when I wake up, like just give myself an
Speaker 4: hour when I go to bed, Like give myself an
Speaker 4: hour like read a book or something. So of just
Speaker 4: like opening your eyes for a bright screen, immediately closing
Speaker 4: them and expecting to just Actually one of.
Speaker 2: My greatest fears before I go to sleep if I'm
Speaker 2: like on my phone, like I don't. I can't look
Speaker 2: at my phone while the lights are turned off, so
Speaker 2: it's just TV. But before you go, I'm like, oh
Speaker 2: my gosh, I'm gonna need glasses. I'm sorry, Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Take it from us, But I mean that's I've done
Speaker 1: a version of that, which is an hour before I
Speaker 1: go to sleep. I don't let myself because I'll be
Speaker 1: stressing and oh wait, breaking news, breaking news, and then
Speaker 1: I'll be dreaming about breaking news, and that doesn't make
Speaker 1: for good rest. But you're right, I do find a
Speaker 1: lot of great news stories, just as you find scholarships.
Speaker 1: So I guess the flip side of that question is
Speaker 1: what gives you hope? What is that? What you know?
Speaker 1: What makes you feel inspired and hopeful?
Speaker 2: M in general in terms of social media.
Speaker 1: Yeah's just in general.
Speaker 4: I think for me personally, I think it's seeing like
Speaker 4: innovation like when I see like, let's say someone my
Speaker 4: personal idols like Timate Gebru and she's a Reatrin American,
Speaker 4: well not America, a Reatrian computer scientist, and she was
Speaker 4: an AI advocate at Google and she was then fired
Speaker 4: because she was really trying to advocate for diversity with
Speaker 4: creating AI.
Speaker 1: I read about her and she was warning about some
Speaker 1: of the dangers of the evasiveness.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, so I know, like reading people like her, seeing
Speaker 4: politicians I love who I won't mention, but I know
Speaker 4: people that.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're apologetically progressive.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I know me personally, like I love AOC,
Speaker 4: I love mom Donnie. I know she's a new congresswoman
Speaker 4: and she's also a Reatrian, like she's publisher as well.
Speaker 4: So I think seeing like leaders like that, it really
Speaker 4: makes me excited for the future for like our new generation,
Speaker 4: like seeing like new leaders coming in like really like
Speaker 4: being more progressive, and like it makes me hopeful that, Okay,
Speaker 4: my kids are going to have like the teenage years
Speaker 4: with in America that maybe I didn't get and it's
Speaker 4: going to be amazing seeing technical logical innovations that won't
Speaker 4: be used just for like destruction, but used for like
Speaker 4: new I don't know, helping everyone, and I think just
Speaker 4: seeing stuff like that makes me really hopeful the future
Speaker 4: and like makes me want to be a part of that,
Speaker 4: like I want to help make that happen.
Speaker 1: And what makes you hopeful, Sophia.
Speaker 2: I would say I would honestly say my friends and
Speaker 2: my family would be hopeful, like like honestly listen to
Speaker 2: listening to ROMI, so I'm like, yeah, she's my friend,
Speaker 2: Like we're doing this exactly. But I think that's I think,
Speaker 2: like you were saying, there's a stereotype of gen Z
Speaker 2: and it's I don't really think it's that. I think
Speaker 2: that people. I think for some it can be true,
Speaker 2: but also the majority of the people that I surround
Speaker 2: myself with them like, oh, we want the higher education,
Speaker 2: we want to help the world. And so it's really
Speaker 2: I think that that's what gives me hope because I
Speaker 2: know that we're gonna do it. And also when you
Speaker 2: when you're around people, you also want that for yourself
Speaker 2: that you want to be like those people. And so
Speaker 2: when I'm around my friends are like, I want to
Speaker 2: do that too. I want to I want to help
Speaker 2: other people and I want to make that change as well,
Speaker 2: and so I think I think I see it in
Speaker 2: my sisters too. I'm like, oh, yeah, we'll be okay,
Speaker 2: Like it'll be good. So I think it's the people
Speaker 2: you surround yourself as well. And also when I when
Speaker 2: you when I do go on social media, it's like
Speaker 2: I look at like the good things that are happening
Speaker 2: in the world, because some people post like, oh, people
Speaker 2: talk about all the bad things, but there are some
Speaker 2: good things that are happening to them. Like it's also
Speaker 2: good to focus on the positive while also like helping
Speaker 2: the negative and trying to make it better and improve it.
Speaker 2: And so I think that when people think of the negative,
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, it's just negative, but they don't do
Speaker 2: anything to change it. But then I see like people
Speaker 2: of our age, and they're like, no, we have to
Speaker 2: because then so everything is good, so we can continue
Speaker 2: to succeed and excel in what we want to. And
Speaker 2: so I think what gives me hope is that mentality.
Speaker 2: And also I think our generation is gonna do good.
Speaker 2: I think I think we're doing pretty good. So unpopular opinions,
Speaker 2: but I think I think that's will give me hope
Speaker 2: because I go into school, and I'm like, I see
Speaker 2: my well, not anymore because we're graduating. But when when
Speaker 2: we were at Saint Mary's when we would go, when
Speaker 2: I would go into cuss I'm like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: like we're so smart, like we can do this. And
Speaker 2: also I see it in educators, our teachers, like they
Speaker 2: want you to succeed. So that's why I'm like the
Speaker 2: older the older generations millennials or Gen X, even though
Speaker 2: they're maybe they're hating on us a little bit, but
Speaker 2: also our educators like, no, we want we don't want
Speaker 2: that stereotype to be true for you. So you can
Speaker 2: go into class talk it up with them. They'll they'll
Speaker 2: shut down that stereotype. We can talk about absolutely.
Speaker 4: I feel like sometimes stereotypes can be like grown through
Speaker 4: the two or three.
Speaker 3: Loudest voices that say it.
Speaker 4: While there's millions and hundreds of people who do have
Speaker 4: confidence in our generation because they're the people who are
Speaker 4: helping us out. So I think it's really like it's
Speaker 4: a testament to SMA as well when you go and
Speaker 4: you see our fellow bells doing amazing things. And I
Speaker 4: know for me, like especially when I was younger, it
Speaker 4: was hard to like say, I used to be it.
Speaker 4: I still am a LinkedIn addict, Like that's hilarious.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I used to go on it, and I used
Speaker 3: to get intimidated.
Speaker 4: Like I would see everyone's like the things they do,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, oh my god, like I'm nothing like this,
Speaker 4: Like they're so like advanced and so like they're like
Speaker 4: fifteen caring cancer and I'm just here in my room
Speaker 4: doom scrolling and it makes me like so like insecure.
Speaker 4: And I think now you get older and you get
Speaker 4: empowered by like let's say the ESSM community, by your friends,
Speaker 4: and you know that you can do anything. So you
Speaker 4: start going on these sites feeling empowered like hey, like
Speaker 4: I'm like them too, like I'm good as well. And
Speaker 4: you start in your room and then you start adding
Speaker 4: to the room.
Speaker 3: You start learning from the room.
Speaker 4: Instead of going somewhere feeling like like intimidated, you start
Speaker 4: going in and learning from other people and growing yourself
Speaker 4: and them like simultaneously. So I think this generation is
Speaker 4: really giving me home because we do help each other
Speaker 4: a lot, and we do all do great things.
Speaker 1: SMA, by the way, is Saint Mary's Academy. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: where I just graduated from and you know, I love that.
Speaker 1: I've never heard of a young person addicted to LinkedIn before.
Speaker 2: That's I'll probably get your after she broke a Guinness
Speaker 2: World record being on LinkedIn more than the average person.
Speaker 1: Which is such an engineering mindset that I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: doom scroll on Instagram. I'll doom scroll on LinkedIn and
Speaker 1: TikTok they call that job anyway. So Fion Melo and
Speaker 1: Ramya Techle are here. Will continue the conversation when we
Speaker 1: come forward on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty. All right, we're
Speaker 1: having a great conversation this morning. I hope you're enjoying it,
Speaker 1: getting a lot of good feedback. You guys are in
Speaker 1: our YouTube chat. Sophia oh May Though is here, Ramia
Speaker 1: Techle is here. They are both recent graduates of Saint Mary's.
Speaker 1: Sophia's on our way. Do you see Davis to study sociology,
Speaker 1: Ramia is on our way? Do you see Berkeley to
Speaker 1: study engineering? Yeah, it's good stuff. How do you see
Speaker 1: we know? Yeah, we're gonna ask deep questions, but not
Speaker 1: hard questions. Questions you know the answer to, how do
Speaker 1: you see what? What do you see as the most
Speaker 1: important issues for your generation or for our world from
Speaker 1: your gen's point of view, what are the most important
Speaker 1: issues to you?
Speaker 4: I think a big issue I see is like helplessness.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people go in and they
Speaker 4: feel like their life is dictated.
Speaker 3: Their life is dictated.
Speaker 4: By like the millennials or like older generations who are
Speaker 4: just controlling everything in a way that like accommodates their
Speaker 4: older way of living, which I can underst because I bet,
Speaker 4: let's say us like you, you go into like like, oh,
Speaker 4: I want to study politics, So I want to do
Speaker 4: this based on like the societal understanding they had in
Speaker 4: maybe nineteen sixty or something, and now you're in like
Speaker 4: the twenty twenties and you're trying to make issues or
Speaker 4: like make laws that accommodate to that, or like trying
Speaker 4: to create technologies like anything that benefits that type of
Speaker 4: like living without the understanding of us and the current
Speaker 4: issues that we go through. So I think a lot
Speaker 4: of people can feel like helpless, like no one's here
Speaker 4: listening to me, no one's understanding me. So I guess
Speaker 4: like trying to empower people into knowing, like, hey, but
Speaker 4: if you work hard, if you like do what you
Speaker 4: gotta do with the help of some of the people
Speaker 4: of the older generations, the help of each other, that
Speaker 4: we can be in these spaces creating technology that benefits
Speaker 4: present society, and like not even technology, but like making laws,
Speaker 4: making medicines, making everything that can work in a way
Speaker 4: that benefits the entire world, and bringing us together in
Speaker 4: a way that helps everyone.
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, I think it's a good point because that
Speaker 1: idea of helplessness or disempowerment touches every other issue area, right,
Speaker 1: whether you're an environmentalist or whether you're a your fighter.
Speaker 1: If you're feeling overwhelmed, then you know, whether it's racial
Speaker 1: justice or women's rights, or you know, whatever your area
Speaker 1: health rights is, if you're feeling helpless, you're gonna shut down.
Speaker 2: Yes, I definitely have to agree. I think mental health
Speaker 2: is so important, especially because when you're getting into your teens,
Speaker 2: you just think, especially with social media, just like I
Speaker 2: can never be like that, but you can, you can
Speaker 2: be like that. And so I also think that what
Speaker 2: I've seen is and I can. I will include myself. Hea.
Speaker 2: Sometimes I think we're just afraid to ask for help
Speaker 2: because we're like, we don't want them to see us
Speaker 2: as weak or that we were not capable of doing something.
Speaker 2: So if you notice, like in if you walk into
Speaker 2: a classroom, there's not much raising hands, there's not much
Speaker 2: just engaging because when people answer, there's this idea that
Speaker 2: we have to be right, if we have to have
Speaker 2: the right answer. As I've grown up and my dad
Speaker 2: has told me that you're not in school because you're
Speaker 2: in school because you don't know. If you already knew everything,
Speaker 2: that you wouldn't be going to school, right, So I
Speaker 2: think that that has a big Yeah, it has a
Speaker 2: big thing to do with that, that you're already there
Speaker 2: because you want to learn, because you have to learn,
Speaker 2: and there's so much for you to learn. And also
Speaker 2: that ties into mental health because you're like, oh, if
Speaker 2: I'm already, if I already feel that I'm not good enough,
Speaker 2: how am I gonna help or add to this classroom?
Speaker 2: How am I gonna make it better? And I think
Speaker 2: that's a really big issue as well, because also I
Speaker 2: see the people don't really think as mental health as
Speaker 2: important or like older edgeneratially like, oh no, they're just
Speaker 2: they're just faking it or they're just on their screens
Speaker 2: a lot, like it's not really important. But I think
Speaker 2: it is a real issue because it's it has a
Speaker 2: lot to do with social media as well, that we're
Speaker 2: just we just compare ourselves and like, no, we just
Speaker 2: can't do that, and then you can do that, and
Speaker 2: then once you do, like oh yeah, I did do that,
Speaker 2: and it's like it it's just about you knowing your
Speaker 2: limits and also saying that, oh yeah I can I
Speaker 2: can pass my limits and I can do even more
Speaker 2: than that. Like that's a big issue that we should
Speaker 2: also focus on.
Speaker 1: The two young scholars that we're talking to are both
Speaker 1: graduates of Saint Mary's Academy, and if you didn't know
Speaker 1: that happens to be in Englewood, I think they may
Speaker 1: be Oh, Saint Mary's academ Me in Brentwood, Saint Mary's
Speaker 1: Academy in bel Air. No, It's Mary's in Englewood, right
Speaker 1: next to so far you guys are dodging traffic. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but what is it about? You know, you said at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this conversation that you feel the love
Speaker 1: coming from your teachers, from your faculty. Can you pinpoint
Speaker 1: I mean, of course love is paramount. Can you pinpoint
Speaker 1: anything else as far as support systems or methodologies or
Speaker 1: I don't know, things you were introduced to during the
Speaker 1: course of your education that helped you maintain sort of
Speaker 1: the level of enthusiasm and achievement and also personal fulfillment
Speaker 1: that you seem to be showing right now.
Speaker 4: I think for me, like I think the teachers at
Speaker 4: estime really showed like specifically a belief in this, like
Speaker 4: we can do anything, and the fact that they felt
Speaker 4: like I could do anything made me feel like I
Speaker 4: can do anything, like I know, especially when I was younger,
Speaker 4: I struggled with the idea that like if I wasn't
Speaker 4: perfect all the time, if I didn't have awards that
Speaker 4: were signaling exactly what I was doing, like someone highlighting
Speaker 4: my achievements, like someone showing me that like here, you
Speaker 4: did so great, let me give you this, let me
Speaker 4: give you that. And so it kind of just showed
Speaker 4: me like if I didn't get that, like oh my god,
Speaker 4: I wasn't good enough, Like I wasn't doing enough to
Speaker 4: get that, like I'm not good enough. And so I
Speaker 4: used to go to like my teacher, I give her
Speaker 4: shot out, Miss Landry. She was like, what it was,
Speaker 4: your dugs teacher? And I remember once I'm crying to
Speaker 4: her because like I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Speaker 4: I feel like I try and do a lot, but
Speaker 4: no one's recognizing it. And I feel like I'm scared.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go to like places like Berkeley where there's
Speaker 4: so many students and I'm just gonna be a fish
Speaker 4: underwater and no one's gonna like realize I'm doing anything.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to go anywhere in life because I'm
Speaker 4: not doing good enough. And she kind of just showed me, like,
Speaker 4: if you're doing stuff with a purpose, if you know
Speaker 4: why you're entering a room without like thinking about the accolades,
Speaker 4: If you're doing everything for accolades, you're not doing it
Speaker 4: the right way. Like if you're doing everything with if
Speaker 4: you're doing it like for a purpose, if you go
Speaker 4: in proud of who you are and giving everything you got,
Speaker 4: then you're doing good and your rest.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's a great back to your point, Sophia
Speaker 1: about social media, that that plays into that perfectionist thing
Speaker 1: where we think we have to be we can never
Speaker 1: be as perfect as those people. But those people aren't
Speaker 1: as perfect as they look in that in that post either,
Speaker 1: And I'm getting I got a text from my colleague,
Speaker 1: attorney Dion Raymond. She says blue tie here, and she
Speaker 1: points out that the original Saint Mary's Academy location was
Speaker 1: Crenshaw Lawsome so there I didn't even know. Right here
Speaker 1: in the building where we have your fellow alumni, an alumni. Okay,
Speaker 1: we just have a minute here. I know, time flies
Speaker 1: when you're on the radio. Go ahead, Okay, it.
Speaker 2: Was really really fast for those. But I was just
Speaker 2: gonna brag a little bit about our college. Our college
Speaker 2: Knowledge class. We have this class where it's you just
Speaker 2: work on your applications and it's a class just for that.
Speaker 2: But also once you finish your applications, we have we
Speaker 2: have headshots taken of us. We work on how to inner,
Speaker 2: we work on our resumes. We also meditate, we draw,
Speaker 2: we color, so I think. And then also it's not
Speaker 2: outside of the classroom. The college counscert will go up,
Speaker 2: Tom like, oh, I just found this opportunity. I found
Speaker 2: the scholarship, and we would have a wall of all
Speaker 2: the scholarships that she had found. And I think that's
Speaker 2: that's something to brag about. Because also when you're and
Speaker 2: then you go outside and then everyone's playing bingo, there
Speaker 2: we're singing, And I think that that's so amazing about
Speaker 2: SMEs that there's there's fun stuff and then there's like
Speaker 2: there's academic things. Yeah, and so I think I think
Speaker 2: that's what I really love about simat is something that
Speaker 2: has to offer because you can lock in and be
Speaker 2: dedicated and then you go outside and everybody's singing love.
Speaker 1: That's our song.
Speaker 4: That's so Yeah, it's just cool to see how like
Speaker 4: the teachers will go out of their way do anything
Speaker 4: they can to empower you and then still make you
Speaker 4: feel like a kid, like, yeah, you have the fun,
Speaker 4: and they still make you feel like you're a leader,
Speaker 4: You're the best thing you could be.
Speaker 3: And it's just the most amazing experience.
Speaker 1: Well, certainly if you guys are a reflection of what
Speaker 1: they're doing over there, Uh, they are doing it right
Speaker 1: you guys. It's been a pleasure having you in. Sophia,
Speaker 1: Sophia Omelo and Ramia tech Leg. Yeah, congratulations to you
Speaker 1: on your college journey. Look forward to watching your stars.
Speaker 1: The best of Tavis Smiley is up next. Like my papa,
Speaker 1: the late Greater Mary Baraka used to say, a person
Speaker 1: is either free or they are not free. There can
Speaker 1: be no apprenticeship for freedom until the next time. I beloved,
Speaker 1: k b L A delegation one Love