Think back to your first cruising experience. Where were you? How old were you? Who were you with? These moments and memories, for many of us here in San Jose, seemed crucial to our upbringing- teaching us about our culture, our community, and ourselves. 

Whether you’re cruising down Story and King, Santa Clara Street, or Monterey, we hope that you enjoy this fun and empowering episode about the Dueñas Women’s Car Club. 

Celebrating all of the badass ladies of San Jose this month and EVERY day!

Follow us on Insta @Sanjolodown
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/duenascarclub/?hl=en

https://linktr.ee/duenascarclub

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/video/meet-moms-daughters-female-lowrider-community-107054997

https://www.ktvu.com/video/1521959

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/video/trailblazers-drive-new-opportunity-for-women-in-bay-area-lowrider-culture/#x

Hello and Happy Love Month! <3 For this episode, we at the San Jo Lo Down are excited to share a bit of ourselves with you! In this "Get to Know Us" Episode, we open with a Tyra Banks-style speed interview, followed by some in-depth Q&A exploring each of our backgrounds, upbringings, ties to SJ, and reasons for being involved in this project. We end the episode by reminiscing about some of our working-class jobs- for better or worse *heh*. Highlighting the people, places, and experiences that have shaped our lives, perspectives, and shared goal- to uplift and shine a light on this beautiful and badass SJ community of ours. We hope you enjoy the episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Thanks for your support and see you for the next one!

SJLD keeps things rolling with Episode 4! 

In this episode, we explore wage theft. What is it, why is it, and what can be done about it? We speak with a panel of brilliant, passionate, and overall badass guests which include Ruth Silver Taube (Supervisor of Workers Rights Practice, Coordinator of The SCC Wage Theft Coalition, and many more), jean Cohen (Executive Officer of the South Bay Labor Council, Vice Chair of the SCC Democratic Party, and more), and  David Bini (Leader of Building Trades Council). We start the episode discussing the demographic makeup of unions in the local area and the many challenges of working and living in the Bay Area- whether in a union or not- due to the unruly cost of… Everything. We then jump into today’s topic of Wage Theft and discuss the problems of wage theft, which Ruth describes as an “epidemic” and a “public health problem”. We discuss the overall lack of enforcement surrounding wage theft in which workers are cheated of their owed compensation. Finally, we end the episode with some hope regarding the current and future role of unions during this historic movement and moment. Have you heard of Slavery Towers here in Downtown S.J.? Stay tuned for the episode insert and conclusion where we provide additional context about some of the egregious projects occurring in our very own backyard!   

Please Please Please like, share, and follow us on Instagram @Sanjo_lodown and consider donating to the show through the San Jo Lo Down Website https://www.sanjolodown.com. Thank you for being here with us today and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Resources:

South Bay Labor Council Online

https://calaborfed.org/?laborcouncils=south-bay-labor-council

What is South Bay Labor Council

https://www.southbaylabor.org/what_is_the_labor_council

Mercury News: “Silvery Towers labor woes draw accusations of human trafficking and slave labor”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/08/09/silvery-towers-labor-woes-draw-accusations-of-human-trafficking-and-slave-labor/ 

SCC Wage Theft Coalition 

https://wagetheftcoalition.org/

The State Building and Construction Trades Council

https://cabuildingtrades.org/

Unionize California Home Page (to find and Join a Union)

https://unionizecalifornia.org/

City of San Jose Labor Relations Information (City Page)

https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/office-of-the-city-manager/employee-relations/labor-relations-information

Welcome back and thank you for being a part of the Lo Down! In this episode, we meet with long-time registered nurses Susie York and Alyssa Dulong who work right here in San Jose at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. We speak with them about the people and experiences that inspired them into their profession, their appreciation for and challenges of working in Silicon Valley, and the importance of being in a union. Alyssa and Susie describe their spectrum of emotions and experiences related to unionizing, striking, and negotiating, as well as  the day-to-day roller-coaster of the type of work they do. They also highlight the reality of the career of nursing- specifically during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic which included a shortage of staff, resources, space, time, and basic safety equipment.

Here at the Lo Down, we were shocked to hear details about the pressures nurses face from their higher ups, the county, their colleagues, and more than often, themselves. We stand by our nurses and we appreciate all of the work that they do for the individual and the community. We are proud to share their successes with you during our updates section towards the end of the episode, so please stay tuned! We hope you enjoy this fun, engaging, informative, and heartfelt piece!

Please feel free to like, share, and follow us on the Gram @Sanjo_lodown and consider donating to our show through the San Jo Lo Down Website https://www.sanjolodown.com. We appreciate you and look forward to hearing from you soon!

SJLD is back with an episode featuring the perspectives and lives of several immigrants from Latin America. We hear from 2 recent immigrants from Mexico and Columbia and how their life in San Jose compares to their lives in their home countries. Our closing interview features the founder of non-profit org. L.U.N.A., Salvador "Chava" Bustamante. LUNA or "Latinos United for a New America" is an organization focused on empowering neighborhoods inhabited by immigrants and low-income Latino families. 

Some notable moments in the show are hearing about people’s first experiences as they crossed the border into the U.S. and how struggles with unfair labor practices in agricultural work caused a few of our interviewees to look for community and to organize. 

Please follow us on insta: @Sanjo_lodown for updates on new episodes and let us know what you think of the show!!

Check out LUNA!
LUNA Website: https://www.lunalatinosunidos.org/
LUNA Insta:@lunalatinossj

Episode 1 is here! In this episode you hear from the people working to give the future of San Jose a leg up. We sit down with several educators and professors who try to approach education in a different way. This episode features East side High School teacher Alberto Camacho, Graduate student and teacher Annette Jones-Gonzales, the new director for the Institute for Emancipatory Education at San Jose State, Luis Poza, and Tayo Enna, a kindergarten teacher who is working to have kids embrace their own and others' cultural backgrounds earlier in their schooling. Let us know what you think on our website or insta and follow the show for more! 

website: sanjolodown.com
instagram: sanjo_lodown

“The San Jo Lo Down is San Jose’s first podcast on working class culture, politics, and life–at work, at home, and at play. SJLD is a show about and for the incredible, diverse, talented, inspiring working people of our communities. ”

-SJLD Team