We Love You, Gustavo Robles, aka “Kaboom,” and raise your name before all of our Neighborhood

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Gustavo Robles, second from the left, with life-long childhood friends mourning the sudden loss of another giant in our community, Sergio Rios, in 2024.

“Every Pueblito has a coranzito, an inimitable essence for its people. A deep glow from above and below.”

Wherever Gustavo went, raucous laughter tended to ensue, along with an unmistakable camaraderie for and from the people around him. The fact is that it was a special gift how he went so naturally from goofing off with the homeboys to sliding off in front of the homegirls, then still finding time to offer a helping hand to the Señoras of our Pueblito. Together with his entirely contagious smile, these qualities made him a central figure anywhere in our neighborhood one of us was fortunate enough to find him.

Love is a flame; one that kindles more love from everything it touches. Gustavo embodied it every day and in every direction, so now in every direction we mourn and hold and uplift each other as he would have us do. In a world still dividing our families between borders and tearing away at our roots at every turn, it’s a gift to connect with those who still abide by everyone they meet as a sacred code of conduct; that’s what this young man was and what he will live indefinitely in our memories for.

We will have even more to recount in the wake of this champion’s sudden passing via Making a Neighborhood. Please subscribe to the Newsletter to be sure you don’t miss it.

Above all, our deepest condolences go to his friends, family, and everyone else who treasured Gustavo with us.

J.T.

THE CHAT-GPT EPISODE

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A special, December 1st episode with my good friend, collaborator and noona, Helen H. Kim. Enjoy!

(1:16) Hello, if that’s OK
(1:53) Living for and loving awkwardness
(2:27) Shout out to the Robinson S.P.A.C.E.
(3:26) Loving noona’s smiley-face sweater
(3:58) Providing people with the opportunity to turn their necks
(4:37) Items on yours truly’s to-do list going forward
(6:48) Two opposite things for the body
(7:44) Items on Helen’s to-do list going forward
(9:20) Supplements and meal-prep
(10:53) The way we speak to ourselves
(15:04) Reclaiming our wellness from our productivity
(18:20) Being two older siblings who have internalized the older sibling complex
(20:58) Moving towards resolutions for ourselves today, not tomorrow
(21:44) Checking in on ourselves as well as our friends
(23:27) Older siblings unite!
(25:10) Family matters and ourselves
(27:59) Okay, checking in with Chat-GPT; proving Chat-GPT WRONG
(29:10) How many officials from California have run for the presidency and won?
(30:21) So Richard Nixon honeymooned in a funky Riverside hotel, actually
(31:29) I have a good Chat-GPT story too, you know
(34:24) Chat-GPT’s politically correct scripts on race and ethnicity
(36:27) Culture colliding today and the Cambrian explosion of yester-age
(38:55) Chat-GPT supporting the Korean/Laos Storytelling Project
(42:16) Okay, getting back to our to-do lists over these next few weeks
(44:01) The appendectomy is more common than you may suspect, actually
(45:47) Getting off auto-pilot because enough is enough (for me too)
(48:05) Seriously though, change starts today, tonight, right now
(49:56) Honestly though, let’s just warm up with some tamales

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, please check out my PATREON.

J.T.

BUY THE NEIGHBORHOOD BACK

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“Fweago,” “Don Cee” and “Forbs24K” of the V.V’s stop by to chat about the local Family Arcade, the gentrification of Virgil avenue, and even the state of hip hop for Latino rap stars today, among other things. Forbs and Fweago also share a microphone in this session due to J.T.’s mishap! To see the video recording of this discussion and more, visit patreon.com/jimbotimes and sign up for the new seven-day free trial.

J.T.