Welcome back to The Main Mic. I'm your host,
Harper, and today I'm joined with Jen. Hi. All
right, so Jen will be your student stories sort
of section for our podcast. Her episodes will
be coming out every Monday, I believe. Is that
right, Jen? I think so, yes. Yeah, all right.
So Jen, you're a student at Johnson County Community
College, but off camera. we were kind of talking
and you described yourself as a non -traditional
student. Yeah. So going into that, like what,
what do you feel resonates with your untraditional
student life? Well, and I guess maybe that's
my word. Maybe, maybe other folks might not use
that word, but to me, I guess I see a traditional
college student as someone that's like 18 19
20 you know and early early in their 20s right
out of high school um i'm 52 i'll be 53 next
week um so you know i'm older than the lion's
share of the students here not the oldest though
i have found throughout my studies here i am
not the oldest student um it's kind of fun in
my classes when i meet another old person there's
like this friendly competition of who's older
and you know who knows more so that's kind of
fun but um yeah i it i think everybody comes
to jccc with their own needs and their own goals
and their own desires and everybody's story is
so unique and so amazing and we grow and we get
stronger and better as students and as people
every time we hear another person's story and
we spend some time and walk in their shoes and
so that's why i'm so thrilled to get to be the
host for the student stories section here on
the podcast yeah i went to college the first
time when i was 18 when i was a traditional student
and i had my heart set on studying vocal music
either as a teacher or as a performer and for
lots of reasons i did not take that route mostly
self -confidence and then life happened you know
i went to college and graduated started graduate
school met the guy got married you know how the
story goes um and then flash forward to turning
50 a few years ago um in that year my father
passed away uh and then two years later uh we
found out that i had cancer and i'm doing well
and i'm healthy i'm doing well um thank god but
um it occurred to me that in the face of so much
change and then coming out of covid and you know
everything that happened if you wait for that
perfect moment to take a chance on your dream
you'll be waiting your whole life there is never
the perfect moment right and they say that all
the time if you wait to get married or wait to
have a baby until the perfect there is no perfect
time the perfect time is now And JCCC is such
a beautiful presence in Overland Park. And I've
driven by it a million times. And I thought,
you know what? I'm going to take a chance now.
That 18 -year -old girl who didn't have the confidence
to take a chance on her dreams is now 50 -ish.
Now will be 53 on the 22nd. And she's going to
do it. and so that's what brought me here um
i work full time i'm married uh our daughter
is 23 she just graduated from kansas state uh
and started a sixth grade teaching job three
weeks later so um i have a really rich happy
life a lot of wonderful friends love my work
love my my colleagues and my bosses um i'm very
round peg in a round hole um but i think there
was always this piece missing because as i went
forward in life and having an incredible career
and a great life and wonderful people there was
still always this little voice in the back of
my head that said you should have done it why
didn't you do it it's too late you should have
done it and then life happened and I said okay
there's no more shoulds it's we're gonna do it
now um and so here I am that's great um well
first of all happy early birthday and so far
I know I've heard a snippet of your life, but
it sounds like you are such a strong woman and
student stories just sounds like it's meant for
you. You are meant to report and connect with
the other students and help them share their
student stories with the rest of us. You have
tons of stories that you have told, like the
crew and I, about. first of all we'll get into
it but i've heard you say you have a story about
eminem being related to you and you're currently
knitting as well and it's it's are you making
like a sweater i am the pattern is called the
sophie hood And if you're on Knit Talk or Knitstagram,
everybody's making a Sophie shawl or scarf or
hood. So I'm about to do the wrap part where
you wrap around your head and pull it down, which,
thank God, because it has been so cold here in
Kansas City. And, of course, we're snowed in
today. So, yeah, it just makes me excited to
wear it, to know that I'll be toasty. I have
been seeing those everywhere. It's on my Pinterest
board. I have been wanting one since forever.
myself i do not knit but i have tried to kind
of crochet maybe okay um i have some crochet
kits i'm not really getting the hang of it um
it's it's a slow start for me is what i'm saying
but um i was looking at kind of prints to like
print out and kind of uh get into that. And,
uh, you know, I kind of just looked on Etsy and
saw one for $36. So I think I might think about
cave at one point. Um, but yeah, you, I should
get into it. No, we should set up a day on campus.
Like if you want to learn to knit or you're already
a knitter or a crocheter, let's meet in the collab
and bring your Starbucks and we'll sit and knit
and talk. We should do that. Oh my God, we should.
The collab is such a... the collab is such a
great and amazing place yeah uh it helps so many
people i mean they have record they have like
small recording studios which for one of my classes
we're going to be using for a small little interview
with each other um however they also have i believe
it's like a music recording booth and they have
like meeting rooms and separate like meeting
areas they're constantly hosting uh scavenger
hunts that uh hopefully help students go and
explore the campus and get to know like uh the
library has so many different opportunities to
like for tutoring or help with math science and
english etc and i know that they're constantly
hosting those kinds of scavenger hunts where
you grab this card and you take it to the library
each time you go and you uh get informed by these
uh mentors of that certain section and then they'll
give you a stamp on your card and then once you
have all four to six sections stamped you'll
go back and Then you get a cinnamon roll or some
coffee or like a donut for the stamps on your
card. And you get all this amazing information
out of it. So it's such a great idea. And we,
I mean, we could totally host our own little
collab knitting crochet session. It'd be so fun.
You yourself have spoken to me about how much
the collab has helped you as well. And I know
you would love to like talk about your experiences
with them, especially you were saying off camera,
like when you were a student starting out, how
much they helped you. Would you like to like
get into that? Yeah. So I work full time. I'm
actually a remote employee, so I'm not in the
office. uh and i live in gardner so it's it's
kind of a trek you know from gardner to to johnson
county um And they, firstly, they were my first
friends on campus. Here comes the little old
lady, you know, who hasn't been a college student
for a hundred years. You know, I don't know.
I've heard of this canvas that, you know, what
is this canvas that you speak of, you know, and
how do I get my assignments? And they just sat
down with me and walked me through, you know,
jccc .edu. And they walked me through how to
print on campus, which I don't know if our students
know that, but you can print all over campus.
um they walked me through resources um when i
would come to campus and have class like let's
say at noon right or one o 'clock i could work
for a little while and then go to class and then
go right back to the co -lab um it's such a cool
place they have as harper mentioned recording
studio meeting space they also have a booth where
you can go and get professional photos taken
for free so if you let's say you need headshots
for a website right or like your avatar for your
i don't know social media um or passport photos
um you can do that totally free there um and
they are constantly hosting i think they did
something with like japanese fan lanterns one
night this past week i think i saw them when
i was on campus late um so yeah no i can't i
can't sing their praises enough um yeah So, yeah,
I will. I'll get with you offline about a knit
night and we'll get the word out. We will. We'll
have our editor and boss, Zach, help us set up
a messenger article and write about our knit
night. So it's not just us showing up. Love that.
Speaking of hobbies, obviously you're coming
to Johnson County to pursue one of your other
hobbies, which you're very passionate about.
One of your other hobbies, is it singing, music,
or? It was, I was always a singer growing up,
you know, in the church choir, in the school
choir, in the plays, in the musicals, and then
college. And then again, you know, the husband
and the kid and the job and the life. i would
say it's actually kind of a funny story and she
will kill me if she knows i'm telling you um
it was one day when our daughter was fifth grade
third fourth i don't know young and she was oscar
night actually and she walked into our bedroom
and she's like mom i'm going to juilliard and
i'm going to win an oscar i'm like dude you're
in third grade like what do you know about julia
you're like what So that's when we kind of started
getting involved in community theater. We did
go tour Juilliard in New York City, which was
absolutely beautiful. And she joined community
theater. And it's because of her that I started
doing it again. And then I was on the board of
a theater company and did. six or seven shows
with them and then covet happens right so the
stages all go dark um like the rest of the world
sadly um and unfortunately the theater company
just really couldn't recover economically so
they shuttered their doors so that outlet in
my life got taken from me I, like a lot of people,
I hope I'm not going to regret telling this story.
Like a lot of people in the early days of the
pandemic, you know, your late February, early
March of 2020, I got on TikTok. If you're not
on TikTok, don't do it. It's a huge time, a huge
time waster. But I started singing on TikTok
and one fan became 10, became maybe 50. You know,
we're not talking Beyonce here, but I really
enjoyed doing that. And then people would ask
me to sing songs for them and I would do it.
And that was really fun. So I enjoyed that. I
love to knit. I love to bake. I'm one of those
Pinterest girlies that will see like some beautiful
souffle and then I'm like, oh, I can totally
make that. No, I can't. No, I can't. But I love
trying it out. I don't know. Yeah, that's about
it. I'm also brand new into journaling. That's
my thing for this year is journaling. So I'm
writing, writing, writing a lot, which feels
really good. Yeah. Well, if it makes you feel
any better, I'm in the exact same position as
you. I am a Pinterest girly. I'm constantly looking
for new things to bake. I think the most recent
thing I did bake, I did blueberry muffins. I
did by scratch, but I do have a box that's been
sitting in my cupboard, which made me think I
should probably make those soon. So, but yeah,
I do love to bake. Earlier you did. off camera
of course mentioned you've recently bought a
kindle i also as well recently picked up reading
again um it's one of those uh one of those i
don't want to say it's a trending hobby but like
when you hear like other people are doing it
like that's why i picked it up because i'm like
other people are really interested in it and
i've always wanted to so it gives me the courage
to be like I know like three people saying they
just started reading again. I'm going to start
reading again because I've always wanted to read.
Or three people saying I just started baking.
Honestly, I've always baked. It just hasn't been
like a consistent pattern. But now I'm baking
like one or two things a month, which doesn't
sound like a lot. But it's like every other week
and then... When that runs out, I'm baking cookies
and then those run out and there's muffins. I
baked some coffee cake the other week and then
before that was pumpkin bread. So good, so good.
I think I totally get what you're saying. There's
a lot of strength in community and a lot of fun
in community. the book talk is actually what
got me into it because people are like, did you
read this book by Jane Doe? And it's the best
book ever, you know? And then other people are
like, yeah, what about this character? You know,
and like, you see how excited they are and you
kind of want to gravitate toward that. And it's
really interesting because it's like anything
else, you know, somebody and this, this one book,
oh my Lord, I'm not going to mention it, but
it was all over 2024's best. It was the worst
book I've ever read. So it was really fun to
like see the camps of people. that were falling
all over it. And then also like, this is the
worst thing ever. You know, so it was kind of
fun to be a part of it. Same with like the Knit
Talk world and the Knitstagram world. I was actually
taught to knit in the pandemic by some wonderful
people. And you get a lot of support online and
it's kind of fun to ooh and ah over people's
projects. Like, ooh, what are you making? You
know? So I totally get what you're saying about
the community aspect of it. Plus, if you can
make food for somebody or make a scarf for somebody,
that's... That's huge because that's of your
heart and of your hands. Anybody can go to, you
know, a big box store or Amazon and buy you something.
But if somebody of their heart gives you their
time and energy, that's huge. You know, I love
that. No, yeah, totally. I live close to downtown
Oakland Park, if not like in downtown Oakland
Park. There's constantly so many. I don't. No,
the word is on the tip of my tongue. They're
not carnivals. They're just, like, pop -up shops.
Oh, yeah, like the farmer's market. Yeah, the
farmer's market. But last one I went to was right
around, like, fall time. And farmer's market,
I believe, had been that same day as well. So
it was, like, in fall. and everyone there is
like showing off their art and things that they've
made and I bought these two little tiny um basically
like plushies and I mean I bought one for myself
and then my mom went the next day to the same
festival fair thing and she bought me almost
an identical one she got me a Frida Kahlo cat
and I got just like a pink cat which reminded
me of um one of the uh stuffies I grew up with
as a baby um so I got it so I was like that looks
exactly like the one I had as a child um but
again like people being able to hand make you
something even if you're like buying it for a
gift or uh that obviously I'm saying I can't
hand make things so like seeing all these people
who can sell their handmade items is wonderful
i bought these mittens and they're absolutely
amazing so warm they're made out of recycled
sweaters and they have this like stuff like soft
soft tissue on the inside they're amazing they've
kept my hands warm through these snow storms
and today as well because we are snowed in our
places right now um but i completely feel for
you when you say that it's just It's an amazing
experience to be able to give someone something
you like make and eat, make and wear, like hang
out with, play with, like a toy doll. My grandma,
she used to hand knit some little mittens and
hats for babies. Yeah, so she kind of inspired
me to want to create something for other people.
you as well you being able to make things for
yourself and other people it's it's a loved a
loved hobby because it's not something you can
just pick up and put down you have to put in
work you have to learn to knit to be able to
knit I mean some people obviously they can pick
it up so easily and I'm so jealous of that I've
been trying to learn how to crochet and knit
for months now two months now and I can't um
but I'll figure it out I'll figure it out um
that's like me with guitar like I'm like how
hard can it be turns out very turns out very
um but yeah I mean if you if you love something
or you feel a connection to it don't give up
You know, I'm your proof positive that you can
be 52 and go back to school. You know, I'm your
proof positive that you can learn how to knit
by watching Zoom things and YouTube and talking
to people on the internet. You know, so if you
have a passion for it, you deserve it. You deserve
to feel good and do the things that make you
happy. Don't give up like I almost did on guitar
because it didn't come right away. It's funny,
I can be like the most patient human in the world
if I'm teaching somebody else something, but
I better pick it up like that or I give up. And
that's not good. So I'm working on it. Yeah,
no, I feel for you the exact same way. have a
hard time like currently i'm trying to figure
out uh i am a huge pc player i'm mouse and keyboard
entirely i was gifted my brother's old ps4 once
he upgraded to his ps5 and i have not been able
to learn ps4 controllers and it's it seems so
easy but the buttons make no sense to me. How
are you only limited to, what, 10 buttons? And
I, like, have a whole keyboard spread in front
of me, and I just type, and, like, that is so
much easier. And, like, moving one hand to control
your whole headspace with your mouse, so much
easier than your thumb. It's wild, but I'm trying
to pick up on it. And it's a very hard thing
to pick up and attach yourself to if you constantly
feel that discouragement. Yeah. And I think that
we have to give ourselves grace. You know, firstly,
if it was easy, everybody would do it. You know,
I remember, I mean, I'm really lucky I'm in the
honors program at JCCC, but I, you know, I'll
get like a 98 on a test and my family's like,
oh, you got a 98. god what a dummy you know like
they're like if you know everything why are you
there you know you're not there to be a hundred
percent all the time you're there to learn and
it's a that's a safe space to make a mistake
in right so it is very hard for me anyway to
give myself grace um but i'm learning and give
yourself grace and um Yeah, I mean, if you knit
something and it's a messy wave of a scarf, guess
what? It's still going to keep me warm. I'm still
going to love it. So it doesn't have to have
neat, perfect edges. You're not selling it. You
know what I mean? I mean, obviously, we have,
you know, our attachments to these hobbies as
well. I mean, do you have other, like, obviously
other hobbies? We have baking that we've talked
about, knitting, and you're a huge, passionate
music lover. I got into junk journaling last
year. Do you know what that is? Is that the,
you kind of just throw a bunch of scraps from
your day into a book? Yeah. So I took a class
actually in the honors program about overconsumption.
and being more intentional and thoughtful in
your choices and sustainability and you know
it happens we all you know you go to starbucks
today or you i know you go see a show and you
got the little printed program you know we have
these relics of our lives that a lot of times
we just toss to the side and then they just end
up in landfills and you know money was spent
and time was spent to develop those relics they're
a part of our life so i went through maybe a
good seven months and made many a Instagram video
about, you know, this was my weekend. I went
to this place, and then we went to the vintage
mart, and look at this super cute little vintage
thing, and here's a teeny tiny picture of me
and my best friends, you know, at the Starbucks
or whatever, you know, and it was just kind of
fun, you know, and you can't really do it wrong.
There's, I can't think of a way that you could
junk journal long, unless maybe you went out
and bought a ton of stuff, then it's not junk,
it's stuff you bought. But yeah, I love to spend
time with my friends and family, love to. My
husband and I went on this quest, oh, 2021. It
was kind of as the world was starting to kick
back from COVID, where we went to... Every coffee
shop we could get our hands on because we wanted
the best coffee in Kansas City. And we have our
opinions. I don't know if I'm allowed to say
them on this podcast. Go ahead. Feed them. Feed
them. Black Dog Coffee in Lenexa. Love, love,
love Black Dog Coffee in Lenexa. Tell them Jennifer
sent you. They know who I am. very very yummy
um summer moon coffee also in overland park is
fantastic um but yeah i mean that was kind of
fun and then to get together with my girlfriends
and um go and have coffee and just sit and you
know girl talk and just that's that's a lot of
fun um i i feel really blessed to have landed
in this life with these people you know my husband
my daughter my friends um we have a really great
time and so just spending time with them and
being silly is a lot of fun um i don't know you're
never too old you know what i mean and we're
all my close friends and i you know we're all
parents now um and our kids are close and in
fact that's how i met my closest girlfriend is
her daughter was my daughter's roommate at their
sorority at k -state so how funny is that you
know um but yeah oh and i'm a collector too i
collect portland leather goods so like bags and
um i have like a couple here's my pink bag with
my knitting in it um and little wallets this
is the little penny pouch that you squeeze and
put your pennies in which is really great for
guitar picks when you're a guitar student um
and band -aids because it makes your fingers
hurt um yeah i love doing that and I don't know.
I would love to learn how to sew, like sew, sew
with a machine and like dresses and maybe, maybe
next year. Right now, I think I'm just going
to keep focusing on my knitting and maybe we'll
pick up a new hobby next year. Yeah. I mean,
you talked about the cafe hopping, basically.
Have you seen the KC coffee passport? Huh? What
is that? So it's, it's honestly. kind of in my
opinion iffy uh it's a passport that you buy
and it gives you all of the kansas city cafes
wow how did i not know this i recently came across
it obviously an instagram ad trying to like cater
towards things that i like right um but it came
across because there's also like uh all the barbecue
restaurants in Kansas in Kansas City Missouri
and I mean it has all of them so you can go visit
and then it has like a little slot next to it
where you can rank it give a little note to it
and I think there's a bigger one where you can
add pictures if you'd like so like you said about
the junk journaling um it's kind of more like
a scrapbook I guess but it gives you like an
actual reason to go yeah coffee bar hopping that's
so fun thank you for telling me that no I'm like
how did I not know about this um yeah I love
I love being in those kind of spaces because
if you if you look around there's somebody knitting
and there's somebody writing and there's somebody
reading and there's people talking you know like
it's just this incredible like cross -section
of life that you get to be a part of for a minute
um i'm really i kind of kind of geek out on people
i love that and i think that's another reason
why i'm so excited to be in the student stories
uh portion of the podcast because it's just we
grow so much from each other You know, every
time that you see somebody do something new or
you hear somebody's story, I can't tell you how
many times people have walked up to me and said,
oh, what are you knitting? Oh, that's so pretty.
You know, and I actually went, I'll never forget
it. I went to Black Dog actually one day and
I was just not feeling it. I don't know. I don't
remember what my deal was, but I had a pretty
dress on. And this woman walked up to me. She
goes, look at you, girl. You are way too pretty
to be wearing that. You don't need to be out
here. What do you do? You got a hot day later,
girl? You know, and she like totally hyped me
up. And I felt so much better. You know, so I
saw another woman and I walked right up to her.
I'm like, hi, you're not pretty and you are not
beautiful. You are stunning. And if nobody's
told you that today, shame on them. You have
a nice day. And she was like. nobody's ever said
that to me i'm like well girl shame on them you
know so it's just it kind of feels good to be
in spaces like that where people are kind and
people are peopling you know yeah um those community
areas are like really empowering uh just to like
be in a confident space and that one person that
starts that always gets the ball ball rolling
yeah yeah it feels good to be a part of that
chain I mean, I'm sure you obviously, your day
was made and you made that lady's day as well.
I'm sure she went out, probably had the courage
to compliment someone else. I hope so. I hope
so. Yeah. I mean, we've all had those days, right?
Where you just feel like nothing is going right,
you know, and then somebody shines a little bit
of light on you and then you just shine like
the sun and it feels, I know it sounds kind of
like a Hallmark card, but I don't care. So yeah,
that feels really good. And lucky me to work
in human resources, right? Because I get paid
to do that. I tell my bosses, I'm like, I cannot
believe you people pay me to do this job. You
know, like, I can't believe I get paid to help
people. But round peg, round hole. Well, earlier
you did mention how you and your daughter both
shared that aspiring dream for like concert halls,
Juilliard, right? so i don't even know how she
fell into acting it was just that one night she
brought it up um and she really loved it she
ended up getting a degree in elementary education
and is a teacher here in the metro and i think
she'd probably love one day to help bring theater
to young people because it really doesn't matter
what field you study you have to be able to articulate
yourself right you have to be able to speak um
and in an explanatory way so that folks can understand
you and you also need confidence and standing
up on a stage with a lot of bright lights you're
going to feel it you know what i mean and you're
going to sink or you're going to time. One of
the coolest things about live theater is it's
live theater, right? A mic is going to fall out
and boom, hit the ground, or somebody's going
to forget their line, or a child's going to scream
in the audience. It happens, but that's life,
right? You have to be able to regroup and go
on. But yeah, we do share a love of the stage.
She went through theater all through high school,
like I did, and was president of her high school's
Vespian troupe. she played Mrs. Gibbs in Our
Town, which is the second female lead. And I
had that same part in high school. So that was
me in the front row for all of her shows, like
bawling my eyes out. And I'm still friends with
so many of my high school friends. And they're
like, you mean she was Mrs. Gibbs too? No way.
You know, so that was really fun. I kind of got
to live those memories again through her and
then share the pictures and the videos with my
friends. So yeah. And she is fearless. She's,
I wish I had an ass. of her self -confidence
but god love her she is up there rocking that
stage so she set the bar high for me so i've
got some big shoes to fill yeah i mean while
talking about theater and setting stage i mean
johnson county also has their own very uh like
theater stage and production as well yeah yeah
i mean i think it's uh next friday so this episode
is recorded previous to this friday but we are
going to be uploading on valentine's day but
in exactly a week of this episode airing there
will be a uh the adams family musical comedy
um it is going to be at johnson county uh so
it's february 21st it's at 7 30 p .m at the yardley
hall um so johnson county tickets uh i'm pretty
sure you can get uh two tickets or it says uh
i'm looking at the website right now it says
uh you can purchase up to two tickets for five
dollars each uh beginning uh 10 a .m oh no it's
literally saying you can purchase tickets now
for five dollars each of your student very very
cool and not only that i mean uh you know johnson
county we also have uh other productions as well
um of the theater department it's a huge thing
here and you're really into music we have um
we're hosting uh elisa amador uh trio uh she's
gonna be at the polsky theater february 22nd
um so that's going to be that following uh from
the adamus family it's going to be on friday
the 21st so saturday the 22nd um we will have
uh her live show um she is immersed in latin
folk and jazz and uh she's an amazing artist
uh but if you may not like the solo artist we
also have a uh band we have multiple bands coming
so we have amani wins and boss the boston brass
uh also at yordley hall and that's the Day After
Her, which is February 23rd, and that starts
at 7 p .m., and you can purchase all these tickets
on Johnson County's website, and it'll be $5
each. Johnson County Theater also has a production
of Lieutenant of Inishmore. It's two weekends,
February 21st to the 23rd, and February 28th
to March 2nd. they there's always something going
on on campus that is such an exciting part of
being at jccc there's always something going
on um before we were recording we were talking
about those big tvs that are all over campus
and the screens are always flooded with monday
you know, here's what's going on Monday. And
it's like 10 screens on Monday before you can
get to Tuesday, you know, with all the meetings
and events and free food and pizza, you know,
it's just, it's such a cool collaborative place.
I know that the music department also does, I
think they do this twice a year. Sorry. think
they do this twice a year um where the folks
in private lessons give concerts so like let's
say and I'm not but let's say I was taking private
vocal on campus all the private vocal folks do
a show and it's open you know anybody can come
and again it goes back to you learn and grow
so much every time you experience a new kind
of music or a new kind of art like we were also
talking offline about the nerman about the the
exhibit coming up at the nerman um it's just
such a great place if you're bored at jccc that's
on you you know that's on you because there's
always something going on and and how exciting
for us to get this platform to share that with
the campus which then aha brings me up to the
messenger if you would like if you um would like
to share your student story um tell us who you
are tell us your journey if you are involved
in an organization or you're doing something
fun on campus we want to know about it please
reach out to us let us link you to other students
on this campus and let's share each other's stories
and grow and learn and make the most of our experience
here together at the campus let me look I wrote
down our brand new email address. We are TheMessengerJCCC
at gmail .com. TheMessengerJCCC, all one word,
no spaces, at gmail .com. Reach out to us, friends,
if you would like to have your story shared on
our podcast, because we would absolutely love
to have you. Jen also mentioned earlier how...
The Nerman has a new art exhibit. It's Jeremy
Scott's. It's a bunch of his costumes that he
has created. You can go and you can see Katy
Perry's, I think it's her hamburger costume.
Yeah. And you can see it in person. Something
that Katy Perry has worn, you can go see in person.
And I think that's great. Didn't she wear it
on the Grammys or like some major, major program
on TV? Was it the VMAs maybe? Oh, maybe. Yeah,
maybe. But yeah, you were also mentioning, she's,
I love her. I love Katy Perry. You were mentioning
how Johnson County, obviously if you're bored
at Johnson County, it is your fault. it's your
fault yeah and let us help you with that guys
please let us help you get connected on campus
um there's never a shortage of stuff to do never
yeah no every week i try to mention thanks zach
but i don't think we're gonna have to correct
ourselves i don't think we can correct ourselves
vmas it is uh jen can you see the chat on this
section the side You're in the show. Everyone
can see and hear you. No. Honestly, that's kind
of like me. This is the equivalent of me talking
in the pod studio with you guys. You can mention
this. You can say that I'm correcting you. I
am in this podcast. I'm just not talking. You
can say, oh, we just got a new message from Zach.
No, clip this itself right now. Keep this in.
Zach has been... He has been editing us as we
speak. It's the Met Gala is where the burger
dress is from. And it's also, it's not just Jeremy
Scott. It's also, oh, sorry, what's her name?
Catherine Bernhardt. She also has a bunch of
art that's also going to be showcased in that
same exhibit. Yeah. Cool, cool, cool. I'm going
to leave again now. Bye, Zach. Bye, Zach. We
look forward to you editing us in the comments.
Okay. But like you said, if you're bored at Johnson
County, it is your fault. We obviously already
briefly said that. And again. I want to mention
it because Johnson County always has those boards.
Like you were saying that like give you the,
this is what's happening at 10 a .m. today. And
it gives you like a week rundown, but I think
it's for the entire month that it gives you a
schedule. So you can see all the club meetings,
all the student union meetings. As the messenger
like articles have stated, we have a, presidency
candidate yeah candidate c coming up um we have
a couple articles uh talking about that already
so we won't dive into that um but i did want
to mention we have a couple fun student activities
coming up like the ultimate birthday party okay
so the ultimate birthday party unless your birthday
is on february 19th when it's hosted sorry you
only get one birthday but The ultimate birthday
party is for students to celebrate, that's an
air quote that you guys can't see, but to celebrate
your birthday again. It's basically, how do I
say this, an excuse to party and have fun. No
shame in that. second birthday party for your
own self will be at the student center on the
very first floor so that's around uh there's
like this little cafe the bookstore where you
get your student id and some other classrooms
um it's also right below uh counseling and where
you can like figure out your counseling isn't
just you know mental it's also like figuring
out your school schedule that is all in the student
center So on the very first floor is where we
will be celebrating your birthday on February
13th. Three days early. Again. And another fun
thing that I saw was on February 21st, there
is coffee and talking. It's in the student lounge,
GEB 154. Celebrate Valentine's Day with a creative
and heartwarming time at the student lounges.
coffee and talking event so what I'm looking
at which I look at the student website which
you guys can go and do by yourselves if you like
because there's tons and tons of events that
are going on 24 7 I just try to report what I
think may be fun um and obviously if there's
something really really important uh that is
like a need to know like February 17th is coming
up that's the last day to drop your classes yep
That's the last day to drop your glasses. I believe
it's without a W. Without a W, I think. On your
transcript. I mentioned it last podcast episode,
and I'm mentioning it again because it's coming
up this Monday. This episode's on the 14th, Friday
the 14th. So Monday is when the last day you
can drop your glasses. If you're not feeling
your glasses, you're not liking it, if it's maybe
too difficult, something happened, and you're
not... Given your full potential to that class,
last day to drop it without a W1 year transcript
will be Monday. That's really important to know,
guys. And I know it's not necessarily next week
that you should be looking forward to this. Not
this week, but the next week, the Student Lounge
is hosting a Mario Kart racing tournament in
the game room. So if you guys don't know, we
have a game room. It's... filled with i think
it has a playstation and xbox and like loads
of other games um it's in geb 151 um and it's
called the game room and that is where you guys
can show your go mario kart racing skills talents
talents i used to it's one of the games that
I believe everyone has to play at least once
in their lives. Oh, absolutely. Mario Kart racing.
So, so, so fun. I used to grow up. I used to
grow up. I used to play that game growing up.
I don't know which one we used to play, but when
my daughter was very little, my parents -in -law
bought all the games and we used to play Mario
Kart all the time. And I am just not good at
it. And there is a video floating around on the
internet somewhere. I shan't say where of me
constantly driving off the cliff. And I think
I, as my family is laughing me at me in the background,
I'm like, okay. state of Kansas, do not look
at this video. I swear I am a good driver. Please
do not revoke my driver's license. Mario Kart
does not reflect how I drive in real life. Oh,
I'm sorry. Go ahead. What were you going to say?
I was just going to joke and say, I swear turtle
shells don't affect how I drive. And banana peels.
Banana peels. Yeah. And the funny thing is, it's
like the reverse for me, like that Wii bowling
game. I can bowl like, you know, a baddie. Can
I say that? Yeah. On Mario Kart, I mean on Wii
bowling, but I can't. Those balls are heavy and
I can't do that. You know, I might get like three
pins knocked over and I'm like, woo, I'm so excited.
My daughter's bestie, the one who was her sorority
sister that I met her mom. She was on the bowling
team at K state and she's really great. And we
always joke about, Oh, we're, we're going to
go out and go bowling. I'm like, yeah, only if
Emily's on my team, I need the help. I need the
help. No. Yeah. We, we sports. That was the game
going up. Yeah. No. I remember I. I got, like,
the Wii figures and then having Wii Sports. But
then it was, like, Wii Sports Elite, I think,
is the second one where it's, like, the outdoor
games or, like, competitive. Do you know, like,
the parasailing and, oh, resort. Zach is, like,
editing us as we speak. It's Wii Sports Resort.
Nice. That's the second one that I was thinking
of. But Wii Sports was the game growing up. Yeah.
um if it wasn't mario kart wow and you know i
mean i grew up in the 80s so all of that was
kind of new for us back then and i mean i'm sure
by you know today's standards and technology
it's really obsolete but old people like me when
we go back and see that stuff it is so cool and
so fun um for that class i was mentioning the
sustainability class last semester we had to
go to the toy and miniature museum and if you
have not been there friends go there it's super
super cool and there's toys from like every generation
and there was an atari 2600 which of course people
my age played with um until we wore them out
and i was so excited and i was geeking out on
it and it was funny because While I was there,
there was a couple and they were older than I
was. And they're like, oh, honey, did you have
one of these when you were growing up? You know,
so it was really kind of fun to see them geek
out about the games and the things that were
meaningful to them when they were younger. And
how those little pieces of you, you know, stay
with you all these years later. Okay. So unfortunately,
my microphone stopped working. Technical difficulties.
We tried figuring it out. We're back from technical
difficulties. But we may have to run this segment
a bit short due to my microphone not working.
I don't even remember where we left off last.
I'm pretty sure we were talking about student
activities. I think so, yeah. My worry is that
since we are on a stream call, that... I think
my headphones were the reason why I was bugging
out. And it started ringing and glitching. And
then my audio, like, I couldn't hear them. And
then I couldn't, like, nobody heard me. No. So
I think, like, I hope there's no echo because
I'm just streaming from my laptop now. No, you
sound great. I don't hear any echo at all. And
I don't see our chat. blowing up with, you're
echoing! We can't hear you! Zach will call us
out if I start echoing. My laptop is still at
full charge. It was on the charge the whole time,
so it's not like it's dying or anything. It's
a mystery. Hopefully we'll never have to use
a streaming tool ever again. I'll just see you
in person next time. Yes! I wanted to mention
before we left, first of all, I've already mentioned
it once, it's going to be Valentine's Day. And
I think we were still around the topic of like
people getting together with like student activities.
There are going to be a bunch of Valentine's
themed activities coming up. So look out for
those. And then I really wanted to hear your
M &M story. Okay, so there was a period of time
where I was related by marriage, not blood, twice
over to Eminem. So here's how that went down.
And before anybody asks, no, I don't know him.
No, I never met him. No, we're not still related.
No, I can't get you an autograph. Yes, I think
he's incredible. But no, I've never met him.
So this is such a long, crazy story. Okay, so
what happened was his grandmother is from St.
Joseph, Missouri, which is where my husband's
grandmother is from. So there's your first level
of marriage right there. So we called her Grammy
in her life. Grammy passed away. Oh gosh, my
daughter was little when Grammy passed away.
So quite some time ago. Anyway, when... Grammy
was married to, of course, my husband's grandfather.
He passed away before I entered the picture.
So I never met his biological grandfather. By
the time I met my husband and married him, Grammy
was married to a man that we called Papa Jack.
So, of course, Papa Jack was no blood relation
to any of us. But Papa Jack, when Grammy passed
away, married his high school girlfriend. M &M's
grandmother. So there's your second level of
marriage, right? So through my husband and then
through Papa Jack's marriage too. grandma eminem's
grandma um papa jack has since passed away uh
sadly he was he was something else he was a lot
of fun he was this very skinny very tall i don't
know where i don't know where he put the food
down i'll share a funny story about him it was
christmas one year a million years ago grammy
had passed but he wasn't married um to the new
gal yet And I made a chocolate trifle for Christmas,
you know, like with the pudding and the whipped
cream and like the crushed up heat bar, you know,
like you layer it. he thought that was the cool
no let me back up i made that for thanksgiving
let me let me get the story right he thought
that was the coolest thing in the world and he
said all i want for christmas is trifle jennifer
all i all i want is trifle i'm like what papa
jack what are you talking about so that's what
i did i made like two trifles and then i went
out and got the little tupperware you know jobbies
and stuffed them full and i said papa jack clean
out that freezer my man because you've got trifle
for the rest of the year um so yeah no it's kind
of a funny story now but um no unfortunately
i never got to meet him so that's my one brush
with fame oh dad and i met dick clark once but
i don't know if you guys know who dick clark
was no okay another story for another day no
but it's a -okay i'd love to hear your story
about mr clark So Dick Clark, they called him
the world's oldest teenager because like in the
50s and the 60s, he was young. He hosted a TV
show called American Bandstand and teenagers
would come and dance on the show and they would
rate records and, you know, people would come
and sing on the show. And it kind of just became
this cultural phenomenon into, I believe, the
90s. um so like madonna you know like in my day
because i you know grew up in the 80s madonna
and and just it helped launch a lot of careers
and it was this big deal well there was a time
that there were restaurants called american bandstand
dick clark's american bandstand or something
like that and when my husband and i were dating
we weren't even engaged yet we were just dating
we went to a dick clark's bandstand and i was
so excited to see him right because i'm a music
girl right i'm i'm a singer i love music there
was constantly music on in my house um you know
my dad was born in 1942 so i always heard about
you know the um the rolling stones and fleetwood
mac to this you know god live if he were still
living he would still be in love with stevie
nicks right because she used to say or he used
to say why is she with that geek lindsey buckingham
you know she's so beautiful um so i was so excited
to go talk to dick clark right because i was
going to meet him at the bandstand one night
they were having an event where if you brought
like 10 canned foods for charity you could meet
him And I guess he wasn't feeling good that day.
He was really sick. And I was like, hi, my name
is Jennifer. You know, and I was like all excited
to see him. And he was like, whoa, hello. That's
way too much, Jennifer. So I think I was a little
too much for him. But yeah, other than that,
Eminem and Dick Clark, those are my only two
brushes with fame. No, I've been to Stevie Nicks
concerts. I was at the... I was very lucky. I
was very, very lucky. My dad, we were in Maine
visiting one of his offices with a couple of
his employees. We went to the Stevie Nicks concert.
He or someone of his employees knew the guy who
makes Stevie Nicks' guitars. no way so he had
a couple extra tickets he wasn't going to be
able to make the main show and he's like would
you like our tickets uh yeah yeah duh there were
floor seats and they were so so cool it was so
so cool uh first of all being in maine and seeing
stevie nicks wonderful combo it's amazing um
i'm sure the concert went on past the law's curfew
for noise she didn't care no she did not care
she says now i know there's gonna be a curfew
it's like 10 o 'clock or something but i have
one more song that i gotta play it was and i'm
doing it it was phenomenal um but yeah the other
like i also went to the stadium tour so that's
def leopard uh i saw oh shoot what's his name
i know every huh um he he dated oh goodness he's
not a good influence there was a uh tv show based
off him and uh the really blonde lifeguard you
know oh tommy lee tommy lee tommy yes tommy lee
yeah he was pamela pamela anderson uh -huh yes
um i saw it was deaf leopard motley crew poison
and joan and jet and the jet no way jet and the
blackheads you got you're talking my language
girl that was that was a concert that honestly
i'm never gonna forget it but i had forgotten
a lot of it because i had a heat stroke at that
concert oh no it was one of our first summers
with like 104 degree weather it was awful but
i went with a friend of mine at the time and
my dad he's the one who got us the tickets um
but us three were there and i remember i like
i could not stand up and at one point i did black
out and i did like i had a crew of people around
me like oh my gosh like are you okay someone
thought i had um like over drink but i literally
i was crying i was like i don't drink alcohol
i was like i need water it was hot i mean it
was hot outside yeah all those people but i was
advised to like sit down for a majority of the
concert one of like the nicest like people were
there um i was given a little package of like
peanuts and like trail mix she's like this will
help you like rebuild it's like protein it'll
give you some strength yeah um and then someone
gave me a water someone literally had this like
spray and they were like spraying me with water
it was great it was a great community of people
and um i remember like i had to sit back down
and someone gave me earplugs just So it was really
fun that I can remember that it was fun. Well,
I mean, those were bands. I mean, Joan Jett,
my gosh, that was like early 1980s. So I was
really young. But I remember Def Leppard. And
I remember Poison. I actually saw Poison in concert
in college the first time. Wow. Did you notice
the guy in Def Leppard plays the drums with his
feet? Did you notice that? I did see that. Yeah.
i honestly wasn't really paying attention it's
so cool so he was you know he played two -handed
but he was in a car accident and lost his arm
and they thought you know oh god our band is
over no they designed this super cool foot thing
and he's got one arm going in both feet going
and you would never know it you would literally
never know it so he's pretty incredible he's
pretty incredible oh that's like man that's taking
me back now i'm gonna have to listen to it on
my spot um well i think he actually don't quote
me on this i think at the arrowhead stadium tour
i think he played upside down what it may not
have been may not have been poisoned but someone
did play upside down on the drums wow okay Well,
it's kind of like Katy Perry on and pink, you
know, when they get on their wires and they're
like floating and they're singing. I'm like,
no, no. Firstly, danger. Second, I don't know
if I could sing all the way up there. My body
being jerked around like that, but okay. Takes
incredible lung strength. Sure. Yeah. I've never
done it. I will never do it, but I'm sure it
takes incredible lung strength. I am risk averse
as it pertains to anything that might kill me.
No, I'm good. I'm good. Well, now that we've
pretty much gotten through everything on my list
that I wanted to talk about. Is there anything
else that you would like to add to this week's
episode of Main Mic? Or maybe give some last
words or some words of encouragement for people
to go and submit their stories or email you to
talk to you and like share with the other people
like their student stories. Is there anything
you want to just like encourage people or like
share with them? Yeah, college is a real unique
opportunity. You know, not everybody gets to
do it twice, right? Like I'm lucky I get to do
it twice, but most folks don't. I mean, sure,
folks might go on to graduate school or whatever,
but most folks don't get the opportunities that
we get at JCCC twice. So use this time and this
space wisely. And that's going to be different
things for different people, right? For somebody
like me, I want to be super duper connected and
know everybody and talk to everybody. Working
full time and taking a lot of online classes
doesn't make that easy, right? I'm not on campus
a whole lot. Well, I am this semester, but in
past semesters, I've not been. So reach out to
the hands that are around you and there are many.
um and know that there is a place for you here
it doesn't matter how old you are it doesn't
matter what you look like it doesn't matter what
you study everybody is welcome here and if you
keep an open heart and and open ears and open
eyes you are going to grow tremendously i've
not been at jccc very long but enough to grow
and enough to have met some really incredible
people that i would never have met otherwise
And in the same way that others can be a support
to you or a gift to you, you can be a gift for
other people. And that's where we come in on
the podcast. Reach out to us, you guys. We want
to know your stories. We want to help connect
others to you and help to connect you to others
as well. We're better and we are stronger for
each other and because of each other. And that
sounds like the same thing, but it's not. It's
two very different things. Um, I personally would
love to meet you. Um, send us a note at where's
my list so I can look up the email address at
Johnson County. Oh, the messenger at JCCC at
gmail .com. Is it the messenger JCCC? No spaces,
so themessengerjccc at Gmail. If you reach out
to us, they will get that email to us and we
can reach out to you. I told Harper before, I'm
always down for a Starbucks run. So if you wanna
meet up at Starbucks or have lunch with me on
campus and talk to us about your story, we would
love to share it with the rest of the campus.
yeah just i guess to anybody in the in the cavalier
community thank you for welcoming me so kindly
you know the the girl who didn't think she could
do it and then thought maybe she could do it
but she's gonna be you know laughed out of the
the space because she's too old it is such a
kind and supportive community to be in and you
will only grow from reaching out and i think
i've beaten that horse dead And to all the other
non -traditional students, do you have a message
for them that can help us wrap up the end of
this podcast? Yeah, I would say believe in you.
Believe in you. It is never too late or too early
because, I mean, I've spoken of non -traditional
students in the older sense, but there are non
-traditional students who are high school students
as well who are complementing their. their high
school training with their high school education,
excuse me, with early college. So there is a
place for you here and you are worthy of your
dreams. And there are a million resources at
JCCC to help you make those dreams come true.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. There is help
everywhere. And just have fun. It's such a dynamic
place. just avail yourselves of all of the opportunities
that are there on campus and we are one of those
the entirety of the messenger please stay tuned
to student media here on campus let us help inform
you about what's going on in the area and please
you help us inform others call us reach out to
us message us we can't wait to meet you and hear
your stories Well, Jen, it was amazing to have
you and such a great introduction episode. It
was so fun talking to you and I loved hearing
all those stories that you had to share with
me. Thank you. I loved being here. Thank you
guys for having me and thank you for inviting
me to be a part of the podcast. I'm so excited.
So excited to be on the team with you. I can't
wait. And to all of our listeners, we will see
you next week for a... Well, today, I guess,
is a very happy Valentine's Day and all that.
But next week, we're so excited to see you again.
Hear you. What? To be back with you. And to all
of our listeners, I can't wait to continue this
podcast with you. I will see you next week. Have
a good weekend or week. Bye. Happy Valentine's
Day. Bye. Happy Valentine's Day.