Faculty Off The Clock - Featuring Keonya Booker

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 Keonya Booker 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_02 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 as professors.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

I'm Mark Del Mastro, and I'm Chris Corey, Associate Provosts, and your host of Faculty Off the Clock. For this episode, we welcome Professor Keonia Booker, Interim Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Professor in the School of Education. Welcome, Professor Booker. So we uh we'll get to things that you do off the clock, um, but we want to just give you give our listeners a sense of how you got to be uh at the CFC.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Okay, so um we actually moved down here in 2012. My husband, Anthony Green, is um an associate professor of African American Studies, and so we moved down when he was first hired as an assistant professor. And so we got married in May of that year, and then we came down in August. Um so it was a lot going on within a span of a few months. And so I worked for about a year as an adjunct in the Department of Teacher Education, and then I was hired full-time as an assistant professor of teacher education. So that's how we came down here. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Um we wanted to get before we get into sort of you know your off-campus diversion, the interest hobbies, um, we wanted to get a little sense of maybe going back a little farther about um you know where you where you are originally from.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Um so I was born in Radford, Virginia, which um we all know Radford University and then uh Virginia Tech is a stone's throwaway. Uh so that's in Southwest Virginia. And um I was you know raised in Virginia. I'm a Virginia girl at heart. I stayed and went to the William uh to William and Mary uh for my undergrad degree and my master's degree. And then I moved to North Carolina for my PhD at Chapel Hill. And then um I went to UNC Charlotte uh as a faculty member, and then that's where I met my husband Anthony, first day of new faculty orientation. Uh I can remember it very vividly. I was leaning over trying to sign something, and I looked up. I heard someone talking, and I looked up and I saw him, and he looked at me, and you know, as they say, the rest is history. Yeah, yeah. So faculty orientation doesn't have to be a drag. It can be fun. A love story.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

There you go. So do uh so are you a tar heel or a hokey? Like now, you know, what are your alignment?

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Okay, a tar heel, yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Nice course. Um so growing up as a kid in Virginia, like interest activities that you used to do?

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Um I loved reading, still do. Uh really could just like find myself lost in a book for hours and hours. Um my mom and dad would say, Kianya, don't you want to go play outside? And I was a kid who was perfectly content in my room just to, you know, read and and just get lost in a book. I think part of that is because of my parents. I've mentioned this a min a million times, but my dad was my elementary school principal. So education was very, very, you know, prioritized in our house. And my mom was a kindergarten teacher to start, then she was a reading specialist, hence reading, right? You see a theme. Then she was an elementary school principal herself at another school, and then she was uh a director of elementary education for all of Lynchburg City Schools, which is where I grew up in Lynchburg. And so um, yeah, I mean, reading has just always been a love of mine.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

And education. So it's oh yeah, I couldn't do anything else. Did you have a favorite uh childhood book?

SPEAKER_04 3:55

Oh gosh, that's that's hard. Um I loved anything Judy Bloom, honestly. I mean, pick one anyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of my favorite authors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

So growing up in Virginia, um a favorite place to go vacation?

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Well, interestingly, it wasn't in Virginia. So my father's side of the family is from South Jersey. And so they literally were maybe 30 minutes from Philadelphia. And so we would go up there, you know, during the summers and uh go to some people listening might know this place, Wildwood.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Oh, I know Wildwood. You know Wildwood? Very well. But I have to but I have to clarify something here on you, probably to the disgust of your family. But you know, I grew up in northern New Jersey, and we considered anybody south of Trenton. Oh not really. I know what you're about to say. I think it's a good idea. People from Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

So Yeah, yeah, well, but Wildwood know very well. So what is Wildwood?

SPEAKER_04 4:52

Oh, it's a theme park, it's it's just glorious. I mean, as a kid, you know, it was just everything to me. And and growing up in Virginia, we had Busch Gardens, we had King's Dominion, but it was also the factor of just going away out of state and visiting family, and it was always just with a pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

And it's the Jersey Shore. Jersey Shore. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:17

There's that element to it. Yeah. I hear you. I hear you.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

So you know, in addition to vacation during the summer, did you have a memorable summer job? We both kind of talked about our most memorable.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Nothing memorable, no. I mean, my first job, I was 16. I worked for Cato. I don't know if people know that. It's uh it's like um a dress barn uh uh type of, you know.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 5:42

Still in existence? Women's apparel. It might be, who knows?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Was it in a mall or um a strip mall.

SPEAKER_04 5:48

Okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And so that was my first job.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

So you were a sales associate with the money. Yeah, retail. Retail.

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Yeah, retail worker, um, greeting customers, stock, you know, putting things away, cleaning up dressing rooms, things like that. And it was, you know, it served its purpose at the time. You know, I I learned some life skills and some people skills. And um, yeah. So that was that was it. Nothing too memorable, but helpful nonetheless.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Uh okay, we have two last ones. Um uh did you have a a pet, first pet growing up?

SPEAKER_04 6:20

I did. I did. Max, he was a border collie mix, and he was with us for about 13 years. Yeah. Um, and you know, no longer with us, but yeah, that was my first pet.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Still a dog person? Always a dog person. No offense to cat people, but yeah, yeah. Do you have uh right there we have a dog?

SPEAKER_04 6:39

We don't, we don't. So our last pet, Becky, uh, passed away right before the pandemic. And then the pandemic happened. Or was Becky. Becky was a shizu.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

Oh, great dog.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

Yeah, awesome dog. And um, so then the pandemic happened after she passed, and you know, nobody was really in a headspace to to do much then. And then so now my husband and I have been talking more about it and thinking, I think it's time. Yeah. Get one. Get one. Yeah. Maybe for uh Would you get another shih tzu? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. They're a great dog.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah, awesome dogs. Awesome dogs.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

So I know we may hear a little bit about um gaming growing up, but do you do you do you have a favorite board game, analog? Um we'll just see.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Like I went through phases. So originally I was all into Candyland. Candy. Certain folks out there probably remember that one.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Well, that's a good game we play a lot.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

Okay, all right. So Candyland was a favorite, and then I went through my operation phase where you know the steady hand wins. Oh yeah. Oh, that was dependent on the end of the day. And that buzz. Yeah, that's fantastic. Uh it was like Pavlov's dogs, right? You know? Um, and then I had my Uno phase. So card games, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

The draw four.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

Yes. Reverse.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

And I got the PTSD for now.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

So good, but then uh Ski Ball has been like a thing I've loved. Ski ball? Ski ball. You know, you can't play that at home, obviously, but it's something I look forward to, like if we go to Dave and Buster's or Chuck E. Cheese.

SPEAKER_02 8:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. The tickets.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

Right. Yeah, you can see tickets. Oh, they would come out. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yeah. That I feel like you could put in your house. Like ski ball seems like you know, you might be able to do it. I love ski ball, girl.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

I love ski ball. You can't play it at home, but it's something to look forward to when you go out to different places.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah, no. Yeah, and picking a prize. So risk. Risk isn't on your your list of books. I never got into that. All right.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

My brother loved it. My brother loved that. Monopoly. Um I was never into risk.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:50

Trivial Pursuit. We went through a phase there for a while that we we would play that.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

Trivia pursuit.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

Uh but no Candyland Operation, Zuno, Steel, those were my things. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

I have a lot of memories. I forgot some of these games. Um we're gonna stick with the childhood years, uh Kionya, and hoping you can tell us a fun fact about yourself from from those early childhood grammar school years that you think might be surprising or amusing to our listeners.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Uh this might not be surprising, but maybe amusing. So I I always, and I I kind of alluded to this earlier, because I saw my mom and dad in schools all the time. I would pretend to be a teacher all the time. So when I played make-believe, I was really imitating what I saw my parents doing. And so uh one Thanksgiving, uh, an extended family member just they were amazed and they just told her, right, you need to come in and watch Kianya. She's just, you know, she's getting mad at students, she's fussing, and she's, you know, telling you what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

So would you like role play this with family?

SPEAKER_04 9:56

And well, sometimes, but most of the time I was by myself and you know doing dual roles of things. And are you the oldest? No, I'm I'm the youngest. I have an older brother, yeah, five years older than me. Okay. And so I would just get in this teacher mode, and they just thought that was so funny and um interesting. And look at me now.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

And here you are. Here you are. A real teacher. Right. That's that's that is definitely a fun fact. How about your high school years? Maybe a a fun fact that might amuse our listeners from your high school.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

I was um I was the co-editor of our yearbook in high school. And that really started kind of similar to my love of reading, writing. I loved from that point on writing and talking with people and telling stories and um getting that on paper somehow.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

So was that was that a very old school process so far as technology is concerned?

unknown 10:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:58

Who have maybe had some yearbook experience and not really understanding what old school yearbook editorial work entailed.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Aaron Ross Powell Yes. Uh thinking about dot matrix printers and um, you know, and the photographer for our yearbook and and trying to You're laughing mark, but trying to get these pictures um on this page in just so way, you know. It I mean it was an real cut and page. Honest honestly, it was no control X or control C. It was literally sitting with with you know implements and materials and trying to do these things.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Real artistry.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Yeah. And I loved that. I really did. I was very proud of that work. And we won uh um an award in the state for our yearbook.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

What was the name of the yearbook?

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Uh Brookville Bees. Brookville High School Bees.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

So it was named after the the school name and the masculine newspaper, not yearbook. I did newspaper, not yearbook. That was a whole different moment. I hold in that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, no, am I different people? Like, yeah. Well no, there was some overlap.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

But there were definitely special skills and higher penalties. I don't know. I just don't think I would qualify for the yearbook or just different spheres, you know. And I just don't think I had the temperament or qualifications for the yearbook. So I stuck in my lane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:45

I dabbled a little bit in the in the newspaper, but I came back to the yearbook. Okay, interesting. I knew myself. Yeah, yeah. See?

SPEAKER_02 12:52

Distinctions.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah. Interesting. So when you were at William and Mary as an undergraduate, um stories that um that you'd like to tell about what it was like being an undergraduate there or something distinctive from your from your undergrad years?

SPEAKER_04 13:11

So you're gonna see a theme again. Because I loved reading and writing, I thought I'm gonna be an English major. Right? Education never. So I thought, oh, English. This seems natural, you know, an English major. And also my older brother, he was an English major, he went to William and Mary as well, he was an English major. And then he was a very good thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

What's a year's uh separation? Five years. Okay. Five years between us. So he graduated before you got there. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

And um so he he was an English major and then he went to law school at William and Mary as well. Um so I wanting to be like my older brother, I thought, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, this is a perfect marriage of what I like to do. I'm gonna be an English major. And that lasted, hmm, how long do you all think?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Half a semester? A full semester. A full semester. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

All right. And then um I I left there and I thought my father was a history major, so he was a history, uh high school history teacher before.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

So what was it that changed your was there something specific? Was it a class, a professor, a specific experience? That this is not fair.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

It's hard to pinpoint. I just, you know, it just didn't feel right. And and so then I've wandered over into the psychology department, down to my people. Okay, and uh so I got a BA in in psychology, and then I stayed, and I got uh uh an MED in school psychology, and so now you see the teaching piece start to come into play. So I took a bit of a winding path through undergrad. Uh started English, very small period of time history, and then I I found my people in psychology.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

And that feels like how everyone Dr. Corey, did you start and change majors? I didn't start, I was an engineer. Wow. And I made it a semester. Um it was computer programming that did it for me. You think, yeah, you didn't think. Yeah, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be great. And then I was like, no, no, no, this is not good. Uh so I lasted a little longer.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Yeah, it was just a semester as an accounting major.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Wow. Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

It lasted three semesters, but then my maturity kind of caught up with me. Yeah. And so that's what made me switch. So I wish I had something a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

I spent an entire semester in the basement of the engineering building trying to learn how to code, and it was I was done.

SPEAKER_04 15:27

I I hear you.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, it's a minding path. Yeah. Yeah. So you when when you get to Chapel Hill, um your your graduate program is in psychology. It's an education.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

So it was in the school of education, but we had a cognate, so it was educational psychology, measurement and evaluation. So that's what my concentration, my cognate was in.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

And so uh you know, as as a graduate student, um what what were things like outside of your your your studies and writing your thesis?

SPEAKER_04 15:57

Um it was tough because actually at the time my father was diagnosed with uh cancer. And so you know, he's in Virginia, I'm in North Carolina, kind of trying to manage that. And so the last six months of his life, I moved home and I was working on my dissertation. So it was a lot of stress, a lot of trying to juggle things and manage things and be there for my mom as well. Um but looking back on it, I'm so glad that I did that. I'm so glad that I went home those last several months of his life and just help her and be there with him. And so looking back on it, I mean, my brother and my father were heroes, you know, to me as a young girl growing up. And so um it's a bittersweet thing to think about it, but I know he would have wanted me to finish, and so I'm so glad that I did. Um, but I was still able to be there for him.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Did that experience perhaps underline your focus during that last phase of your graduate school? Because of course people respond to diversity in in different ways. And sometimes you know, a situation like that really motivates you to become laser focused. Did you find that in in your situation? Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_04 17:03

So this was not a time to falter or to fail, right? He would not want me to do that, he would want me to stay on the path and to finish what I started.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:11

And so um, you know, he's always been, even now in the back of my my head, you know, just kind of propelling me to don't give up. Right. It's tough right now. You know, just just put your nose down and get it done. You can do it. And also relying on people around you to help you through. You know my husband, my mother, other family members, friends, colleagues, too. Um it was a hard lesson. I was 25 uh and it was two weeks before my 26th birthday when it happened. And then I graduated from Chapel Hill uh that August when I turned 26. And you know, so 20 years later, thinking about it, it's still a very important life lesson, one I'll never forget, but was very impactful as you can imagine. Of course, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

So we're gonna switch to the present now. And um still wanting to continue the theme of faculty off the clock, and of course you off the clock, and hoping you could tell us about a current pastime or hobby or activity that again you enjoy regularly, off the clock clock, that uh might be of surprise to our listeners. And and also how it first started.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

So uh The Sims. I was just gonna throw it out there, The Sims. Do I have any other Sims lovers in the room?

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I know of it, played a little, but but no. Nobody else? Oh okay. Jesse, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Be proud of it. Be proud of it. So I have played, it's on its fourth iteration, it's fourth generation. I've played since The Sims won. So over 20 years. Oh, okay. Over 20 years now. And I don't consider myself a gamer. Like when I hear gamer, that's just, you know, it's a very heavy word. People think that you have dead sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Those of us like me who have are clueless when it comes, you mentioned the Sims, I'm like, what, a Sims card?

SPEAKER_04 19:02

Life simulation. Oh. The Sims is short for life simulation.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Like I liked I like playing SimCity, but that's different. Okay, yeah. They're offshooting.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Yeah. And so I've played that for two decades. And every iteration it gets a little bit better. Graphics, speed, you know, all the things. But it's a way to come under different names.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

It's starting to jog my memory now. It used to be an all-consuming program that would make your computer basically freeze, right? And it's like a virtual world where you're walking around and it has gotten better in terms of playability.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

All right, now I can relate.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Okay, sorry.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

So every iteration it gets a little bit better, the graphics get crisper, you know, you have more options. You know this to be true. Um and so it's nice to just kind of not plug in as much and and just be in another world, but you still have people you have to be responsible for, but just not to the degree in real life. So if someone loses a job, someone gets sick, if someone, you know, doesn't catch the bus in the morning, it's okay. Life will go on. Well, yeah, I've played that for decades now.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

And then as it updates, does it port over your like is it a continuous yes?

SPEAKER_04 20:17

You can save families, you can save whole neighborhood, cities. I mean, it's a whole thing. And different people play different ways. So some people play in what they call build mode, where they just literally sit and build mansions or they build a park or they build things, right? And then other people, more like me, play the actual simulation of life, right? So this person marries this person and they have a baby, or they adopt or they get a job, or they go to college, and there's so many things you can add on to it that before you know it, your pockets are like screaming.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Are there are there are there other like people in these worlds? Like, could you run across Chris like one night?

SPEAKER_04 20:56

I can make a playable character like Chris. My husband's always asking me, he's like, What? He'll like look at my shoulder, why don't you ever play me in this game? I'm like, well, I don't want to. Because they don't live forever and things can happen to them bad. So I am Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Is it is it open worlds or you'd run into other people that are playing, or is it you're just um um building?

SPEAKER_04 21:18

So there could be non-playable characters that are just out roaming in the park or at the school or grocery store, things like that. Um, and you don't necessarily play those people. I don't have any stop in what they do, but they can interact with my characters in my avatar or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

I love it. I love it. I mean, I don't get to play as much as I would like now. Life has gotten a lot more busy. Yeah. But when I do, you can look up and three hours are gone. You know it's one of those games.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

And did you play on a console or do you play on um I play on my computer?

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Yeah, just sit in front of a you know a desktop and try a Saturday afternoon if I have it available and three hours are gone, just like that.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

Fascinating.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Oh yes, we had those Atari. Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Space invasion. My kids play a lot of these sort of like role-playing games, but in different spaces. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

It's very cool. Well, we I could talk about this forever. I'm very fascinated by it. But we would like to know if there is a perspective off-the-clock activity that uh you would ideally like to tackle but haven't managed to do so yet due to your personal and professional schedules.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

I would love to So I have a student mentee and last year she worked at uh at the centroom? Is that what it's called on King Street? It's it's uh a perfumery uh place on King Street. And you can go there. I I think the scent room or the I I forget what it's called now, but it's a place on King Street where you can go and you can make you know scents, basically, and you can do a candle or you can do um you know room spray or you can eat it's just a chance to kind of mix together different scents and and I would love to get into something like that because I love perfume and and candles and things like that. So that would be a good thing. Do you have a lot of candles in the house? Too many. Okay. Whenever there's a sale, I'm there. Um yeah, too many candles and perfumes. But I would love to make something like that instead of constantly buying someone else's creation. Your candles make me nervous.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Um, like fire, right? When you have all these candles lit in the house. Oh no, I can see that. Just keep an eye on it. Yeah, you just gotta be on the colour. And put it in the middle of a table, not on the edge. So a dog or a child. Too stressful. No.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

So do you have do you have a favorite like scent space that you like? Is it more like fresh, clean air, more of like uh cinnamon? Fruity floral. Fruity floral.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

Fruity floral has always been my thing. Yeah. And so I would love to be able to make one of those. And she keeps inviting me to come over and uh busy, right? I just uh you know, she and I will talk, but I I don't have a chance to go over there and just actually sit and concentrate and think, what would smell good with this? And a little bit of this or more of that. I just but I think that would be one of those. Yeah, for the most part, fresh, clean. Um and it depends on the time of year, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Can you get like fresh baking bread? Oh yeah, yeah. Like we're roast beef or something. Like if we like smoking.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

No, but you could we have pork. We have one that's more like uh like a like a bourbon, there's like a bourbon underling smoky thing with something like that. I would like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Sort of like wood and and bourbon. For me, if I'm gonna go the candles root, I'd like to walk in the house and smell like beef brisket. Yeah. You could do a few.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

You can do pies and and donuts. Pies cake and and lemon and all that.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

It sounds like you need to go visit and she'll be able to touch it.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

You already know my view on the lighted candle.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Now I'd rather have a But you could do a root diffuser where you put like oil into a canister and then you have reads. Now we got oil.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

No, no, no. Just keep it away from kids out there. That's nice. I'm glad you enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

So i if you were um i i it could be the answer, it could be perfumer, but if you weren't a faculty member and you were just to do something completely different, what would be alternate profession. Simulation.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

Oh, without a doubt, writer. I would be a writer. Kind of writer. I would fiction. Fiction, mystery, romance, have you ever tried? Cozy mystery. I have. Okay. I have self-published, so no one's picked me up yet. But um, you can find me on Amazon. I mean, everyone else probably simply go go under the audio booker. Oh, it is under your room. Okay. Yes. Um, but I would love to do that. And um, you know, go back to my roots, being a little kid, loving to read, and then eventually as a teen, right liking to write and you know, just tell stories.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Well, now I need to go on Amazon. Yeah. Get her something for that holiday holiday break.

SPEAKER_04 26:03

Flip me with five stars. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Well, now we're gonna move to our lightning round. And this is gonna conclude our faculty off the clock installment where we ask each guest some important standard questions, again, about your life off the clock. And to begin, I'd like to ask you what your favorite food is.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

Uh chocolate chip cookies.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Ooh, do you make chocolate chip cookies?

SPEAKER_04 26:30

Yes. Your own? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Do you like them to be cakey or mushy? Oh, good question.

SPEAKER_04 26:34

Mushy.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Oh yeah, mushy. Yeah, like only part like not 100% cooked.

unknown 26:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

A little rawness never hurts at all.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah, so not real crumbly. No, no. Okay. That mushy in the middle. It's a good choice. Um what activity makes you most happy?

SPEAKER_04 26:50

Oh, um spending time with family and friends. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:54

What activity do you most avoid?

SPEAKER_04 26:59

I would say probably decluttering my closet. It's time. It's time. I need to do it. I'm avoiding it.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Um we have a bunch of like you'll see there's a lot of food-related things. We like food. We like food. Me too. We're in great company. Hot dog or hamburger at a at a picnic?

SPEAKER_04 27:18

Hamburger.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

What kind? What temperature? Like a smash burger? Are you like a quarter pounder? I mean, there's a lot of variations here.

SPEAKER_04 27:27

I like cheese, no cheese.

unknown 27:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Medium well. Okay. No cheese.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Medium well. Uh pickles, mustard, ketchup. I'm good. That's all I need.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Grilled?

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Grilled. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

French fries or potato chips?

SPEAKER_04 27:41

French fries. And eat them first. How do you like your fruit?

SPEAKER_02 27:45

Now, how how do you like the fries cut?

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Oh, well, this is different. Um, no shoestring.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

No. Okay. Um Do you like a steak fry?

SPEAKER_04 27:57

I could do a steak fry. Okay. Red Robin and I are are for buds. I like the fruit. Have you ever tried fair? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Have you ever prepared homemade French fries?

SPEAKER_04 28:06

No, I'm not that brave.

SPEAKER_02 28:07

Oh, try it.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

My potatoes, it's just kind of mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes. That's where I feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Deep fryer with olive oil. You won't regret it. Okay. I'll leave it at that.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Well, I mean, so I guess if if you're gonna do french fries, um do you like them just plain or ketchup? Ketchup. Okay, yeah. My wife likes them plain, and I'm just like, unless they're seasoned really well.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Like if they're seasoned to the hilt.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

How about mayonnaise?

SPEAKER_04 28:31

Uh who does that? Some people do.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

I do not. Mayonnaise! No, it's I I actually like them plain with salt, preferred. If it's a good French fry, I think that I think that I think the the the the the condiments really pollute a good French fry. I don't know. That's mine.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Uh did you have a celebrity crush during your your youth?

SPEAKER_04 28:54

Oh, I loved boy bands, and I'm gonna date myself now. So it used to be it used to be we'll still listen, new edition, and then it turned into New Kids on the Block. And then I moved into NSYNC. Oh yeah and Backstreet Boy. So I'm of that ilk. I'm of that 80s, 90s.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

I have a confession. I like them too. Yeah. They're good. They were all good. Jesse, do you like them?

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Not so much. Female singers, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Mariah. And Janet Jackson. I saw Janet Jackson last year in concert. I need to see Mariah and I need to see Madonna before it's all said and done. I couldn't see Whitney, unfortunately. But I need to see Madonna and Mariah before it's all said and done.

SPEAKER_02 29:34

This is a really important question because it is related a bit to your um regional uh geographic culture. So I'm very intrigued to hear what the answer is.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

Prefer a sunny or a cloudy day?

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Cloudy.

SPEAKER_02 29:53

I'm very pleased with that answer. Because you know, when you grow up in New Jersey, you come to appreciate and really like a cloudy day as long as it's not raining, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:03

I agree.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

So I remember growing up, oh yeah, all the time. We'd go outside and it'd be cloudy and gray, and my dad would be like, what a beautiful day. I'd be like, Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

No rain, right? Cloudy. Of course. All right, all right. Um sweet or unsweet tea?

SPEAKER_04 30:20

Sweet. That's blasphemous to have on sweet tea. Oh gosh. I can't do that. I can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

You like Southern barbecue pulled pork?

SPEAKER_04 30:31

I do.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Okay. Sauce. Mustard, vinegar, or tomato bas tomato based. Oh, vinegar. Vinegar! North Carolina based. North Carolina, okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:39

That makes sense. I gotta have to represent my school state. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

You like um cookies, but do you have a preference for cake or ice cream?

SPEAKER_04 30:48

Oh, why? Why did you all do that one? That's hard. No, it's not. That's really important question.

unknown 30:54

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

You could make it cake ice cream. Ice cream. Oh no, no, no. Cheat. It's cake or ice cream.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

Oh. I'm gonna go with cake. Wow. I'm gonna go with cake. Any cake? Any cake. No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

I what if it a a slice of a cake as opposed to a cupcake? Do you have a preference there?

SPEAKER_04 31:18

Slice.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Okay. Do you have a preferred type of cake?

SPEAKER_04 31:23

I'll eat anything other than carrot cake. Carrot cake and I just eat a cake.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Can you please leave now? Oh no. Cabrot cake was our wedding cake. It is my favorite cake. If Jesse had a carrot cake in here right now, I'd eat it.

SPEAKER_04 31:39

My mom loves it. What don't you like about carrot?

SPEAKER_02 31:44

I really liked you before this podcast.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 31:49

You like the cream cheese ice cream?

SPEAKER_04 31:51

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

But you don't like the you don't like the strands of carrot in it? Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_04 31:55

It's a bridge too far for me. It's trying to be healthy at the same time as being.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon recovering from this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, so then then your last question really is the defining.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Yeah, this is this is really this is a make or break it after that. I need to win my own. So this is perhaps and Chris and I will probably agree on this. This is perhaps the most important defining question of our lightning round.

SPEAKER_03 32:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Toothpaste. What is your method for dispensing the toothpaste from the tube? And we would like for you to please explain in detail how that method works.

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Uh you squeeze from the butt to the end. And as you get to the to the top, I use a clip at the at the bottom to make sure I get everything out of the way.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

So what is a is it a fastening clip that slides out? You can tell Mark is not alive.

SPEAKER_04 32:53

Oh yeah, I'm I'm stressed out. I don't know what to say.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Well, you didn't say what I said. We need answers, squeeze. Or not a paper clip, but a binder clip and just Do you ever use the edge of something to really, really get it out? No, I don't I don't go that far.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

So this is a related question, then. What what what prompts you to decide that the tube is done and has to go in the garbage?

SPEAKER_04 33:24

If I have gone around the side of it where the opening is, a as much as I can with fingernails, all sorts of apparat, and nothing's coming out. Will you ever cut open the tube to see if there's any not toothpaste, but I will with body lotion, body creams. Um I have done that. Well that redeems you're not going to be able to do that. I will cut the redeems open. Not toothpaste, though.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Yeah, okay. That that that is somewhat redeemed.

SPEAKER_04 33:48

Am I back in good curses with you, Maria?

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Oh, not totally. The characters can bother me for a while, but that's all right.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

So our podcast is secretly um sponsored by um Whirly Pop. They don't know that, but Whirly Pop produces our podcast. So uh in terms of popcorn, do you like popcorn? Do you have a favorite way of making it?

SPEAKER_04 34:09

Um butter in the microwave. Uh we used to when I was a kid, but yeah, butter.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

What do you mean butter in the microwave?

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Uh like Corville Red Mocker.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Oh, so the so uh the bag.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

Yes. Okay, the prepared.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

The pre-prepared.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Yeah, and then melt a little butter. Convenience.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

Convenience, Mark. Convenience.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

We'll send you the link to the whirly pop. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

The whirly pop really is a a life-changing apparatus for preparing popcorn. I have to give Dr. Corey.

SPEAKER_04 34:43

Is it one of those plastic containers?

SPEAKER_00 34:46

It's like your old school where you used to do it, like pan? Well. But it has this thing that you you spin that helps you make. USA made manufactured Indiana. It's amazing. Very efficient. That was well. It's very efficient. You sit there. That was an undertaking.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

So you can probably gather that, um, given my view on the toothpaste dispensing, that ensuring that as many kernels pop with popcorn is very important.

SPEAKER_04 35:14

Oh, yes. You don't want to open it and then there are several in the bottom. No, because that's a let down.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

But then you've got to do another.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Oh, you just eat them and then not.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

So, you know, we talked about celebrity crush. Now we want to talk about you as a celebrity at your celebrity event and you have an entrance song. What is your entrance song?

SPEAKER_04 35:35

Oh my gosh. Isn't she lovely? Stevie Wonder. Oh, right on.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Good choice. Good one. Yeah. That's a great entrance. I like Stevie Wonder. Excellent. Good choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, Keonia, thanks so much for sharing today about your time off the clock and for giving listeners an alternate glimpse into your life outside the classroom. We really appreciate it. And as a personalized marketing tool, we have asked that you display in your office to bring attention to this podcast your own bobblehead to represent your lighter side as you revealed us today. So thank you. And stay tuned for next month's installment when we learn more about life off the clock of another College of Charleston professor.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Chris.