The Juice with Jeff #114

On this episode of the podcast, Lauren Campbell conducts/co-produces an fantastic and superb interview with me in person. this is Lauren's second time conducting the interview with me for these podcasts.

 

Lauren and I give our introductions during the first three minutes of the show. The podcast itself can be divided into four sections.

 

1. Beginning at the three minute mark and lasting for about 23 minutes, Lauren brings up the subject of "Memories of summer vacations from when we were kids". She asks me what my favorite memories and highlights are from when I was on summer vacation during my childhood and teenage years. I talk with Lauren in great detail about a bunch of things I did during my summer breaks from school (as a child, teenager, and university student): family trips where my family would go by car or plane to various places throughout the United States where relatives were living in, several summers during my elementary years where I got special tutoring a few times a week at the home of a special education teacher I worked with named Ruth McKibbin o.b.m., several summers where I participated in a Jewish day camp in the Des Moines area called Camp Shalom (now called Engman Camp Shalom), how during much of the summer of 1988 I was preparing for my official Bar Mitzvah celebration weekend, a little bit about the summers that I went to Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as a camper (for 4 years during the late 1980's and early 1990's) and then working on their business office staff during the mid 1990's for 3-1/2 summers. When I talked about Ramah Wisconsin, I told a story about how I traveled to and from camp at the start and end of those summers and how Ramah played a huge role in changing my life from the Jewish side of things.

 

2. Then at the 26 minute mark, Lauren shares her answer on the question of "What are your favorite memories, special highlights, etc.... from your summer vacations during childhood and teenage years?" One of the things she mentioned during this segment is about a park in the Windsor Heights suburb of Des Moines called Colby Park. I shared some history I know about Colby Park and I talked about how I videotaped several events for a family in the Orthodox section of the Des Moines Jewish community that were held at the indoor Windsor Heights Community Center building that is part of the Colby Park complex. During this part I talked about how for an 18 year period between 2000 to 2018 I did event video production and videography for members of Beth El Jacob Synagogue (the congregation no longer has it's own building and has merged with Chabad Lubavitch of Iowa in DSM) and Chabad Lubavitch of Iowa and a brief overview of the video production equipment that I used for videotaping and video production from both the videotaping and video editing side of things. This segment lasts for around 18 minutes.

 

At the 44 minute mark, Lauren shares a piece of trivia about the site that Camp Shalom used for several decades (between the late 1960's up until around 2000ish), and then I talk about what Engman Camp Shalom is like today and also about the multi-purpose Jewish community center in Waukee called Caspe Terrace that was built in 2001.

 

And then during the last six minutes of the podcast, Lauren asks the question "Your employer decides that all of the employees in your company will have 10 to 12 weeks off from work and that time will be paid (just like what kids and teenagers get in the vast majority of schools in the US with a 3 month summer vacation). How would you spend that time?"I share my thoughts on this subject and then Lauren gives her answer to this question.

 

We recorded our podcast outdoors at the Campbell Recreation Area in Clive, IA. This episode of the podcast runs nearly 56 minutes long. As is the case with all of "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!