The Quake City Portal features people from all walks of life. The intention is to have mindful conversations to inspire curiosity, creativity, and our explorative spirit. To help uncover the natural resilience within ourselves from all that is seen and unseen. To help each other become self-reliant individuals so that we may contribute in our own unique ways to the kaleidoscopic human experience.
Connor McCann is the host of the Brain Drain Podcast. I came across his video about San Francisco’s graffiti culture on YouTube, which was a topic that I was very interested in for so many reasons.
That led me to his other videos, topics about the far corners of the world, geopolitics, organized crime, interwoven between personal stories about growing up during the early to mid-90s as a son of Irish immigrants in the middle of the city of San Francisco at the cross streets of gang violence and cultural diversity.
“No history, no self. Know history, know self.” -Jose Rizal
Many of us don’t know about the trauma that our parents harbor. As children of parents that immigrated to the United States, the same trauma they harbor could be passed on to us, and manifested in different ways.
Some of us might have these questions like –
Who am I?
Why do we speak this way?
Why do I not know anything about you, our grandparents, or relatives?
Why is it hard to approach my parents with these questions?
GUEST BIO
Our next guest, Stephanie Balon has taken the first giant steps to help answer these questions, and the countless others we have faced for generations. The idea of providing space, even if only for conversation, might provide a way to heal our forgotten, indigenous, colonialized ways of living – of being together in community. Or as we say in our native language – in Kapwa.
Stephanie Balon is a mental health clinician, an expressive arts therapist with a focus on trauma-informed care, narrative and cultural therapeutic approaches. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
With over 15 years in the non-profit sector, and her work as an activist, she helped raise awareness for the Filipina/o/x Community. As a co-chair for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County, she has received recognition for her community activism from District 5 supervisor, David Canepa. For congresswoman Jackie Speier, she served on the Asian American Advisory Committee to devise strategies for community engagement. Stephanie also helped raise over two and a half million dollars with the intention to co-found the first Filipino Cultural Center in San Mateo county that aims to provide mental health and wellness services for the Filipino Community.
A mushroom cloud – like the ones we would hopefully never have to see from a distance after a volcanic eruption or a nuclear explosion, is caused by the process scientifically described in the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (RTI).
I don’t intend and am highly unqualified to describe in scientific detail what happens during an RTI. But my understanding (based on what I’ve found on the interwebs) uses the everyday example of what you see when trying to mix oil and water.
Listen on Apple Podcasts here, and on all major platforms.
Meet our dear friends, Ria and Raul Pelayo. In their four years of marriage, they come forward with their struggles in starting a family due to recurring pregnancy loss. Despite the heavy topic of discussion, they bring such a cheerful, light hearted energy.
We are also joined by my wife, JoAnn. Both of us wanted to do an episode like this from the beginning of starting this podcast, but couldn’t conceptualize what, or how it could be done until Ria came forward with her forth miscarriage on social media. Together, we hope to provide a safe space to empower others to start their own conversations or seek help in dealing with grief, loss, trauma – the things that are hard to bring up casually, or are considered “downers” to bring up in conversation.
This is not a substitute for professional help, and we strongly encourage those who struggle with anything to seek help.
Ria and Raul have graciously offered to be a resource to those experiencing similar struggles on social media via Instagram:
Daly City is one of the closest suburbs in the outer borders of San Francisco, located directly to the South. It’s home to one of the densest populations of Filipinos, anywhere outside of the Philippines, comprising 33% of the total population in a 2010 census.
From the late ’80s to the early 2000s, Daly City helped to raise some of the world’s most famous DJs, and dance groups. It was a big part of the history here on the west coast for the Filipino and Hip-Hop communities.
GUEST BIO Marlon S Payumo, Sr. is the general manager of Mitchell’s Ice Cream Shop in San Francisco, CA. He arrived in the United States when he was twenty years old, and has been working there since 1988. Among the many things we touch upon in this conversation, he shares his hardships as a child growing up in the Philippines, his experiences in dealing with the transition of adapting to a new country, speaking a new language, the values of hard work, and resilience.
In this episode of the QCP, Jon is joined by his best friend, Mico. They reminisce about a time before the dawn of the internet age. They also reflect on embarrassing moments in their short lived hip-hop careers. He shares his experience in sales, and how he overcame alcoholism/ addiction without support groups or rehab.
Vincent Yuen gets it done. He is the founder and head organizer of RefuseRefuseSF.org – a community organization dedicated to keeping San Francisco Clean. Meet the person behind a city-wide effort to help clean up the garbage littering our streets through community organizing, volunteering, and setting an example to take pride in our public spaces for generations to follow.
