Faculty Off The Clock - Featuring Daniel Delgado Díaz

What happens when faculty step away from the classroom and the lab? In this episode of Faculty Off the Clock, we sit down with Professor Daniel Delgado Díaz to explore the passions, pursuits, and pastimes that shape their life beyond academia. From unexpected hobbies to meaningful side projects, discover a different side of the faculty you thought you knew. Produced by Michael Overholt.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

We welcome you to this episode of Faculty Off the Clock, a podcast series hosted by the College of Charleston's Office of the Provost that highlights the personal and lighter sides of our campus's professors. I'm Mark Del Mastro.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

And I'm Chris Corey, Associate Provost, and your host of Faculty Off the Clock. For this episode, we welcome Professor Danny Delgado, Senior Instructor in the Department of Hispanic Studies. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. For sure. Professor Delgado, I uh this is about being off the clock, but we wanted to get a sense of how you came to be at the College of Charleston and in your position.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Well, I arrived at the College of Charleston in 2011 after applying for the position, and I'm actually very happy to be here. I love Charleston, I love the campus, the students, and of course my colleagues. I'm I'm very fortunate.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

So tell us where you're originally from, Danny.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Well, you can guess by my accent that I'm not from around here, right? I'm I'm originally from Spain. I was born in Northern Spain in Asturias, but then I was raised in Valencia. My parents moved to the Mediterranean coast. Their plan was to go back to Northern Spain, but they fell in love with the weather in Valencia, which actually is very similar to Charleston. It's hot, humid, and really sunny.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

So when when you lived there, did you have particular interests or activities as as a child that that you associate with living there?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Yeah, yeah. Since I was a child, I was uh always uh into sports. I really like football. I played a lot of football in my local uh school team and European football as opposed to the yeah. The ball is round. I I don't know how it's how it is called in English, but it's a football sala, it's the small one that play uh seven players against seven, not the full 11 players, but yeah, that that was really fun. I never was like really good, but I definitely enjoyed. And yeah, that's it. So then is it Barcelona or Real Madrid? That's your favorite team or something in between. That's that's the question, right? Uh when I was uh little I was more into the Real Madrid, but really my team was the Celta de Vigo because it was from my hometown, Northern Spain. But uh I'm I'm not into football anymore. Right now it's like more uh Formula One and tennis. Those are the two sports that I really follow. I don't know any players nowadays.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

So, Danny, of course, the Iberian Peninsula is a is a favorite spot for a lot of US citizens over the summer, and of course when they can get away. I imagine being from there you had some preferred vacation spots growing up. Uh so what were they?

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, no, as I told you, uh I lived in Valencia, but my extended family lived in northern Spain, so that's where I used to go when I was uh little. It was great because Valencia is a big city. I I'm a city boy, and going down going up to northern Spain, my family lives in the countryside. So it was like really wild for me, like going there and being outdoors the whole day, just running around in our bicycles. I was very lucky because I had a well, I have a cousin who is my age. So when I went to visit them, we spent the days together playing outside. It was really fun.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

So in in the US, we often have Mark and I talked about our summer jobs. I don't know if that's common in Spain in terms of things that you do during the summer that are either the best summer job or one of the worst things you've ever done. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

I actually I've been working my whole life since I was of age, and during my whole time in college, I never had holidays. I always worked during the weekends part-time and then summertime and during the Christmas break. Uh but yeah, I especially remember one work that I had for six months. I worked in a metal factory. Uh they built uh you know these metal sinks for the kitchen and also doors. So yeah, that was like when I first uh well I started college uh uh business administration. I did really well my first semester. I passed all my classes with very good grades, but then I I withdraw because I really didn't like business administrations, I I didn't see myself doing that for the rest of my life. And you know, some differences with uh Spain and the United States in education is that back then when you entered college, you had to take all your classes already. Like, you know, you already had your major declared, so all the classes were that and I didn't like it. So I dropped in after the first semester, the fall semester, and then the spring semester is when I work in the metal factory, like for six months. Like and what were your designated tasks? Oh, that was very interesting because it was uh chain work, so it depends on what part uh every day they uh set you up in a different part of the chain. And let's say that the less fun was when you had to take the the sinks, they they are big and very heavy, and sink them in diesel for uh some kind of like chemical treatment, then they go into an oven. And that was very tiring. And the best part was like the last part of the chain when you just had to put the the company brand stickers. So that was very easy. So did you have like normal nine to five hours?

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Right, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

No, not uh it was seven till till three or four. Like it was like so now. So it was daylight time, which is a positive time. I did was I studied uh history. That's my my bachelor in history. But then after that I I've been always into sales. I worked for many years in El Corte Inglés, which is kind of like Macy's. Oh, one of my favorite stores in Spain. Yeah. So I I worked part-time during the weekends and then the holidays, and it was very interesting uh because then I discovered I was really good at sales. Did you get an employee discount? I did. Oh, I like to hear. And after college, I that's what I did full-time before I changed jobs. Uh but I've been always in sales, on sales, working with people. Growing up, Danny, did you have a pet? I did not as a child because my parents did not like animals in the house. And that's something that I always wanted to have. And the first time that you know I went and lived by myself, I I my first two pets, I had two cats, Pancho and Duende. Yeah. And I love cats. I love dogs too, but obviously dogs uh require more and more like care intensive. So do you have pets? And right now I have two cats also. Okay. And their names? Their names are uh Titus Pulo. We call him Titi and Maeve. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Excellent. Nice. So we Mark and I was we're talking about favorite board games growing up, or whether you played board games or other kinds of games. Yeah. I do. You like board games, huh? Yeah, yeah. Marco, is it a prediction? Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah. Yeah, definitely. When I was little, I one of my favorite games was Risk. I love the stuff in the game. Yeah, you wanna go for things like South America or Australian from Austin Africa. Sorry, but no, I I've been like playing my whole life. I'm still playing. Different kinds of games, but yeah, yeah, yeah. I I really enjoy playing board games or war games.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Well, I admire the enjoyment that others. We're gonna have to get a risk board for the rehab in that regard. Yeah. Um Danny, is there a childhood or youth fun fact that you'd like to share that you think would be amusing to those people listening to this episode that would be like, wow. Um that's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Well, I mean, I it was amusing for my parents that actually I used to stutter when I was a child.

unknown 9:51

Really?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah, yeah, up till I was like probably eight or nine, and you know, then it just went away. But I I remember my parents even sometimes just trying to make me speak so they could have like a little laugh. Obviously, I think it's a little uh mmm how do you say a little mean, but I mean they they did it from love.

SPEAKER_03 10:15

But you you remember having that stuff. I do, I enjoy it. Was it just something that an anxiety that you had?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

I I'm not completely sure, and it wasn't all the time. Okay, but you know, it just came sometimes. And then that's I I guess that's why they thought it was funny. I mean because it wasn't all the time, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

How about same type of question with regard to a fun fact from your high school years that you think would be of interest to us?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

My high high school years uh I I always was uh selected to be the class representative, the the presidente de la classe. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

And you know what I was that a democratic uh process?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was a vote at the beginning of the semester to and in every class you select a president.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Uh do you have to campaign actively for the not really.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

It's not like in the American movies that I see here, right? Uh but you know uh I mainly did it because I I was you know interested in talking to the teachers and my classmates, but also because I don't know, in Europe like there is always a strike going on because social reasons, education, uh all kinds of problems. And I remember that you know every other month I was supporting whatever strike was going on and telling my classmates we should not go upstairs, we should do a strike, go in a strike, and not have class today. And I rallied them and then we could spend the rest of the days in the arcades in front of the high school. I was really good at football.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Yeah. So you talked about going from business to history. Could you talk a little bit more about you know something that you that drew you to history and in that part of your Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

As I mentioned before, uh I really didn't know what to do with my life after high school. I just knew that I wanted to go to college, but the problem is that you have to choose your your major right at the beginning. And then that's why I tried business administration. Uh my parents told me that you know maybe you will have more opportunities if you do that kind of studies. But I really didn't like it. And then I remember that I really enjoyed my history classes in high school. And that's why I decided to start history. Although it didn't have a lot of job opportunities, but but I really really enjoy it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

And then when you think about your path to graduate school before um moving on to a faculty position, what what did that path look like? You know, interesting path to that space?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

My personal story is not very traditional in the sense that I finished my bachelor in Spain and then I started working full-time uh for like almost eight years, nine years, and then it was when I moved to the United States in 2007, that then I I I wanted to study history to do a master in history, but my friends back then uh advised me to do it in Spanish, mainly because I just arrived to this country and I didn't even speak English. So they were like uh you know, if you do a master on teaching Spanish, uh you will probably have more opportunities finding a job than if you do it in history, and that's why I I did it in I did my I did a master in teaching uh Master of Arts in Teaching Languages at the University of Mississippi. It was great. I learned a lot and I really like teaching. It helped me, it helped me a lot. But that was like uh I was like 28 by back then. So uh how that's coming to a second language, like to speak English late.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

How easy was it? Or how did you do that actually? It seems like the older you get, like the harder for your brain.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

I I remember my first year in the United States, I was in Bloomington, Indiana. I did not speak the language, I was, you know, I wanted to go to grad school, I knew that I had to pass the Toffel test, and and you know, I just had to learn English. So I was studying grammar by myself, which was easy, you know. And then I tried to practice speaking as much as I could, you know. I remember going to uh conversation classes in a church in Bloomington, and it was me and 13 South Korean women. I I could not understand anything. And then I just you know uh looked for opportunities to practice the language, going grocery shopping or or you know, just did you watch particular television shows to learn some of the language? A little bit uh but mostly was just forcing myself and being able to overcome the um the same because you are putting yourself as an adult uh speaking like a toddler. And that's some a little bit hard, but you know I I I it never it never stopped me from from trying, right? And then when I thought that I was managing my English, it was getting better. I moved to Mississippi and I couldn't understand anything. And I had a friend from Ohio who was like, Danny, it's not your English. I'm from Ohio and I don't understand anything either.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

So Danny, when you were learning English, because uh this is a pretty common phenomenon, was there a particular English word that was your favorite?

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I don't know. I was really uh to me uh all words were kind of very surprising because uh Spanish, for example, is uh uh very vocalic language, like it's pronounced pretty much the same way you you you write it, but English, like w why jewelery is written that way and pronounced jewelry or I don't know, it's like so different for for me. And then the linguistic differences like nowadays my I I recognize that I'll never have a native like accent. But do you have to you have to understand that in Spanish, for example, we have five vowels and there are only one way to pronounce each vowel. So those same five vowels in English are pronounced in thirteen different ways.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

So, Danny, we're gonna switch to the the present now and focusing on the theme of faculty being off the clock, particularly you being off the clock. Uh-huh. What are your current pastimes or hobbies or activities that you like to do outside of the College of Charleston? You may have more than one, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Oh, right, right. Yeah, I have a few. Like uh recently uh tennis, sports is been very interesting. Tennis, I never played tennis in my life. I started when I was 40 years old. A friend of mine uh encouraged me to try it, and we were playing like pretty regularly. And I started to get good and I started to to beat him. And he was like, Oh, maybe you should join the local league. And I did just to play with different people, and I have to say that I didn't expect to to win my category. Wow and that was like okay, I just started like a year ago, and now I'm just won the local ladder league. And that was like uh very nice. And now because you know I'm having like some back problems, I I'm I stopped tennis. But other than tennis, I like riding my motorcycle. Um so we need to pause there. Tell us what kind of motorcycle you have.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Because of course I rode for many years until my twins were born, and then I had to back off.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Right. I I used to have a motorcycle in Spain that you know obviously I sold when I moved to the United States. But the second year I was in the United States, I decided to buy a motorcycle.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

What was the motorcycle you had in Spain?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

In Spain I had a Yamaha Facer, it's a street motorcycle. And yeah, when I was living in Mississippi, I bought uh a motorcycle in Baton Rouge. So I had to ask a friend who already had a motorcycle and a motorcycle trailer to drive me to Baton Rouge to bring it back to Mississippi. And on the way back, we stopped to have lunch. And the waiter, very nice girl, she was like, Oh, what you guys are doing around? And I'm like, I just bought a motorcycle, and she was like, Oh, is it a Harley Davidson? And I'm like, no, it's a Suzuki Vistrum, and she was like, uh. So I decided that my motorcycle next motorcycle was going to be a Harley Davidson. Do you have one now? That's my current motorcycle. Yes, I have a 2009 uh Roll King and I love it, that's just the the one I'm gonna keep. Uh, do you think an essential American motorcycle? Do you get to go out? Do you get to ride off? I do, I do. Uh not as often as when I first moved to Charleston because you know, my first two years in Charleston, I only had a motorcycle. So yeah, I I used to ride in the bicycle my daughter to to daycare and then go back home and then take the motorcycle and come back downtown to to teach. Yeah. So and now I just do it for fun.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, riding a motorcycle is a lot of fun. That's true. Yeah, I do miss it. Um is there anything that you haven't done in your free time that you would like to do if you had the opportunity or that you plan to do at one point?

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Yeah, uh I've been interested in exploring and know how to garden. I would love to grow some vegetables. I right now uh we bought a house a couple of years ago and we have a big backyard, and my wife and I have been talking about it, and and you know, that's something interesting that I would like to grow some, I don't know, tomatoes, uh veggies, uh but I I still didn't get into it. I need to do a little bit of research because I know nothing about plants or gardening.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

Trial and error.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah, right. Trial and error.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

So our our our last question before our our our lightning round is if if you had never become a faculty member, is there an alternative lifestyle that the thing that you would have done?

SPEAKER_00 21:34

I don't know. I probably I would be uh in in sales, like probably I would be like doing some retail motorcycle sales? Oh well that would be nice. I I can sell anything. So, you know, before I moved to the States I was into real estate. I was very good. And I think that you know, that's what I would probably be doing now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Yeah. So Danny, this is the lightning round. And this is where we're going to ask you a series of quick questions. Yeah. Because we like food, and I know you like food too. I do too. And uh to give you give us a little bit more insight about your life off the clock. And so Chris, we'll begin.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

So uh our part of our theme is popcorn. So do you like popcorn or no? I love popcorn.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Do you have a particular way of eating it? Oh yeah. I add like some uh parmesan cheese and I add some uh taco seasoning. Right on. We haven't had that before. I like that. I used spice my popcorn app.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

How do you make your popcorn?

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Uh in the microwave. Yeah. All right. We'll have to share the special container or is it in the uh Yeah, the the regular uh popcorn that you buy uh these popcorn bags for the microwave, but but then I like to spice it up.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

All right, we'll introduce you to the Whirly Pop and we'll send you a link to it. I think you might like it.

SPEAKER_03 23:05

It is the premier apparatus for making popcorn Dr. Corey enlightened me and it is an amazing unit. Amplifying, what's your favorite food?

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Seafood. I love seafood. Crab, shrimp, uh lobster. That's my favorite one.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Jamon, yes or no?

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Oh, love jamon too. Yeah. I'm a little bit sad because I haven't seen in Costco this past year the Spanish ham. I have some news for you.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

You're gonna have to buy it online. Yeah I I last season I didn't find it. And now for those who are listening, when we say jamon, we're referring to what is uh many refer to as Spain's equivalent of prosciutto, which is the dried uh Spanish ham, which lasts quite a long line and it uh quite a long time and it stand. Uh do you have a jamon consistently in your house or is it only seasonal?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

I it's it's seasonal. I usually have it when uh around this time. Yeah, you know in the winter time, yeah, but it doesn't last long. Unfortunately. Because the whole family enjoys it. Yes. What activity do you most avo avoid if you can? Ooh, that's a good question. What activity do I avoid? I don't know. I try not to overthink things about like for example politics or like the news. Like usually the news are bad bad news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

So is there something that makes you like if you're the happiest you are normally during a week or a month, what is the thing that makes you most happy?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Definitely spending time with my kids and with my friends. Yeah. Enjoying like a nice night out or having people over and just uh having you know uh a beer or dinner together and then enjoying a nice conversation on the patio. That's that's something that I always look for. Back to food French fries or potato chips? French fries.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

If you're gonna have a hot dog or a hamburger.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Hamburger, yes. Cake or ice cream? Ice cream. Ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

You've grown up in the south a little bit, so we also like barbecue. So do you have a particular kind of barbecue that you like?

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Not really. Like barbecue, it's it's fine, but uh y it's fine. You know what I really like from my time in Mississippi? Uh the gum the southern food, like the jambalaya, the gambo, the grophies, and you see, like that's that's that's my kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

Interesting. So this is a really important question. I want you to think about it really carefully. Okay. The toothpaste tube. What is your dispensing method of the paste? Be careful how you answer that. Do you have a method? And if so, we would like for you to describe it with much care, please.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

You uh you you're gonna have to follow up with explanation because I I I didn't know there were different ways.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Oh yes, there are, Professor Darwin. You you could do what I do, which is just squeeze in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah. Ah, no, right. No, no, you squeeze from the very bottom. All the way up. So is there a technique of squeezing or is it just kind of random? Kind of random, yeah, but definitely from the bottom. I don't like to do it from the from the top. Then I get you have to put it back up.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

I agree it's not good. Well we'll we could talk later about a more refined approach if you're interested.

unknown 26:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

So, Professor Delgado, thanks so much for sharing uh today about your time off the clock uh and giving listeners an alternative glimpse into your life outside the classroom. We really appreciate it. And as a personalized marketing tool for our podcast, we ask you to display in your office uh your own bobblehead to represent your lighter side as revealed to us today. So thank you for your time.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Thank you very much, Corey. Thank you very much, Mark. It's been a pleasure talking to you.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

And please stay tuned for next month's installment when we more learn more about the life off the clock of another College of Charleston professor. Thank you again, Professor Delgato. Thank you.