EPISODE 112 – COUNCIL MEMBER SOTO-MARTINEZ NOTES UPCOMING TOWN HALLS IN ECHO PARK

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Hugo Soto-Martinez joins the podcast for the third time and for the first as the official Council Member for CD-13. We discuss the new council member’s plan for the district, his office’s strategy on combating homelessness, his office’s coordination with Mayor Bass’ Safer Inside initiative and L.A. County to bring unhoused people indoors, and the possible implementation of conserving mentally unstable residents without housing through California’s new CARE Act.

We also discuss the council member’s outreach to small businesses in CD-13 as they recover from losses suffered over the pandemic, including businesses in the Frogtown neighborhood; and we touch on plans for partnerships between the council member’s office and current service-providers in the district, as well as the mechanics of L.A. City Hall, including where much of L.A.’s policy is actually developed: L.A.’s committee meetings. Last but not least, we ask the council member regarding when new field representatives for CD-13 will be announced, as well as on updates for none other than the fence still surrounding Echo Park lake.

Don’t forget to leave a voicemail at our new hotline for L.A. weather! Tell us how you’re liking this ☔️ weather (or not liking it) and which side of the city (or county) you’re calling from:

J.T.’s VOICEMAIL: (213) 458-5042

For more of these cuentos and then some, please follow J.T. the L.A. Storyteller on Apple or Spotify, then rate and review us!

And if you’d like to tune into the show from elsewhere, please see our RSS feed here: https://jimbotimes.com/category/podcast/feed/

J.T.

EPISODE 111 – RHYS LANGSTON IS A SILVER LAKE ORIGINAL RAPPER AND MORE

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Rhys Langston (@rhyslangston) makes ‘alternative’ rap “that is at the front of experimental trends while remaining accessible and engaging. Think hearing raps breaking language while breaking your neck head nodding to the beats. Like medicine with spoonfuls of sugar, radical Black theory gone colloquial over raw compositions, songs for the cool nerds who neither need to prove their coolness or their nerd credentials.”

Langston and yours truly discuss his latest album, Grapefruit Radio, his background coming up in Silver Lake and Leimert Park, nerd culture, the legacy of Kerry James Marshall, the writing process as a craft, calling out rappers, click-bait culture in its current form, Saul Williams, and more. We also shout out Langston’s new video from the album, In the Suburbs of Babylon.

For more of these cuentos and then some, please follow J.T. the L.A. Storyteller on Apple or Spotify, then rate and review us!

And if you’d like to tune into the show from elsewhere, please see our RSS feed here: https://jimbotimes.com/category/podcast/feed/

J.T.

EPISODE 110 – EVA RECINOS IS A WRITER WHO YOU MUST FOLLOW IN L.A.

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We catch up with Eva Recinos, originally out of South-Central Los Angeles, and now a seasoned Arts and Culture writer and Creative Non-Fiction writer who focuses on visual art and design, Latinx identity, and education and mental health. Eva was a 2019 finalist in the LA Press Club awards for Arts & Entertainment Feature (Online); 2019 Idyllwild Writer’s Week Nonfiction Fellow; 2020 finalist in the Center for Women Writers International Literary Awards; finalist in the Blood Orange Review 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest; and a 2021 Pen America Emerging Voices Fellowship finalist.

Our conversation touches on a number of Eva’s articles, including “The Streets Are Made of Anger” for Sin Cesar, “I Want to Speak for Myself, Not the whole Latinx Community,” for Electric Lit, and “You, too, can be touched by Çedouze” for the L.A. Times; we also talk about the challenges of writing, including in terms of frequency, Eva’s experience pitching a new manuscript, and some of her must-read books this season.

You can sign up for Eva’s newsletter, Notes with Eva–which is truly a care-package for writers–HERE, and follow her more closely on IG via @evaiswriting.

For more of these cuentos and then some, please follow the show on Apple or Spotify, then rate and review us!

And if you’d like to tune into the show from elsewhere, please see our RSS feed here: https://jimbotimes.com/category/podcast/feed/

J.T.

EPISODE 109 – LESLIE AMBRIZ REDEFINES MEDIA FOR LATINX COMMUNITIES IN L.A.

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Leslie Ambriz joins us for our final episode of 2022 to talk extensively about life and upbringing in Los Angeles, the prolific diversity between neighborhoods and communities in and around the city–including the Orange County area–thoughts on the current media landscape for millennials and families, finding one’s voice as a storyteller, and more.

Leslie Ambriz is a journalist and producer from Southeast Los Angeles, California. She is passionate about documenting stories and issues that affect communities of color, and how art and culture influence our political and social climates. She’s worked on projects for and in collaboration with numerous companies such as, the Associated Press, Spotify, Remezcla, SoulPancake, NBC News, Nike, AfterBuzz TV and more. She has both a Masters and Bachelors degree in Journalism and New Media from the University of Southern California and Biola University.

Read Ambriz’s personal essay on leaving the Christian church HERE. Check out her most recent Spotify original podcast, Identity at Play HERE, and keep up with her reporting work via @LeslieAmbriz_ on IG and Twitter.

J.T.

Here is to Seven More in Los Angeles with J.T. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

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On this special anniversary day, yours truly marvels at how far JIMBO TIMES: The L.A. Storyteller has come, as well as at how far there still is to go.

When I first brought the site into existence seven years ago, I set out to achieve great things with the unique perspective that I’ve constantly sought to bring to the communities I’ve been a part of. But over the last year especially, as the world shifted to meet the challenges of an unpredictable pandemic, ‘JMB TMS’ showed up to serve Los Angeles by writing, photographing, and organizing for our neighborhoods.

The site served as a basis for people all around the world to learn about inequity in Los Angeles, while “behind the scenes,” along with fellow L.A. Storytellers, our organizing provided communities with an immersive experience learning about the urban environments so many of us have called home for generations.

In turn, when readers consider Redlining, Gentrification and Housing in East Hollywood—the magazine of which is soon to be digitized on the site–the fact of the matter is that it took more than some months or even a few years to be ready for. In actuality, the contributions yours truly made to this extraordinary effort took at least seven years of ‘background’ through the throes of this city and then some.

So let this be a consideration for any aspiring young storyteller in Los Angeles: When you take an idea based strictly in your mind, and give it a body, and then a mechanism, you give it a life of its own, hence JIMBO TIMES: The L.A. Storyteller.

Now, it’s time to remake even more of ‘J.T.’ to give Los Angeles only larger scales of perspective from the city’s most passionate hearts and minds. I am grateful for the opportunity to be of such support.

This is JIMBO TIMES: The L.A. Storyteller.

J.T.