Faculty Off The Clock - Featuring Adam Jordan

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 Adam Jordan 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. 

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🎙️ Produced by Michael Overholt

📍 Recorded in Podcast Studio #1, Addlestone Library

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 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. I'm Mark Del Mastro.

SPEAKER_05 0:20

And I'm Chris Corey, Associate Provost, and your hosts of Faculty Off the Clock. For this episode, we welcome Professor Adam Jordan of the School of Education. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for having me. So we start off uh just before we talk about what you do off the clock to get a sense of how you got to be here on the clock. How did you get to be a faculty member here?

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Right. Um, so the College of Charleston uh was a place that really fit a niche. So I have to tell you a little backstory. So my wife is also a professor here. She is um in health services administration and management. Um and when we were looking to think of you know where we wanted to be, sometimes you take two academics and you try to find a spot to be where both people want to be, can be a challenge. So uh this was 2018. Uh she was finishing up her PhD and a job opening come up at MUSC and here at College of Charleston. So it was a a good fit for both of us. So we went for it. Um interviewed at a lot of places, but the College of Charleston was the place that stuck.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

Outstanding. Well, we're glad you got here.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Yeah, yeah, we're glad to be here.

SPEAKER_04 1:39

So getting a little bit into your youth and your origins, which is of interest to all of us, where are you originally from? Where were you born and raised?

SPEAKER_02 1:48

Uh well, this is where I'm glad y'all got an editor, because I've written about this before. So um you can probably tell from my accent I'm from the South. Um, and when you ask a man from the rural South where he's from, uh you get a variety of answers. So when someone asks me that question that I don't think uh is really interested in where I'm really from, I say I'm from Madison County, uh in Georgia. And when somebody tells you the whole county and not just a one city, you know that it's a pretty rural place. So Madison County is about 30, 45 minutes where I'm from, northeast of Athens. Okay. Um but within that place, um, I'm from, if you were local to there, I'm from a place that has a really weird name. Uh I'm from the Coonrod community, and this is where you may need an editor. So it's very rural. Uh there wasn't many people there, but still aren't many people there. So to differentiate parts of the county, different places had, you know, different things going on. My particular part had a store, and this was when it was really rural. So there were a couple guys that had a store, this is pre-Civil War, and they ran a little store there, you know, selling whatever, and they had a competition that they they held annually, and they they put uh the name of the person who brought in the the biggest prize of this particular category onto the wall. They wrote their name on the wall. And these were people that farmed and hunted small game and stuff. So raccoon hunting was a big thing, and I'll let you know you can think from there if you know any biology of the raccoon. Um, but there were a particular part of the raccoon that people would keep. I see. And uh and it's called and it's called Coonrod. Okay. Well and you could do some scientific research if you'd like on that. Yeah. So I'm from so if you're from Madison County, you say I'm from over Coonrod Way, and people know where that is.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

Interesting.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:46

So growing up rurally, did as a kid, I imagine you were out and about everywhere. Do you have a favorite thing to do uh around there?

SPEAKER_02 3:53

So I uh we were talking before we started recording about camping and things like that. Um I'm from a very rural place and I love the woods, and I stayed outside. I mean, I lived my whole childhood in the woods, and I don't regret that.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

What type of activities in the woods?

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Well, uh well, there are many things. I love to fish, I love to hunt. Um still love those activities? Still love those activities. Um riding motorcycles. I used to ride motorcycles out of the woods, um, hiking camping, cutting up. I I was one of those kids that's from the generation that I when I got up, I went outside and I came back in when it was dark. And that's just kind of what I understand.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

We always used to joke you you'd go home when the in the suburbs when the lights came on on the streets, and then that's when you're like, oh, I need to go home. Yeah, or you get in big trouble. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

Yeah. Did did you manage to vacation when you were young? Uh you know, having the access to the woods that might have been your your vacation, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

No, not to sound like Coy, but I I grew up kind of working poor class. So so vacations were not something that uh we could do. Sure. Um, but Madison County is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. So I'm not in the mountains, but if you're on my parents' front porch and you looked out on a clear day, you're looking at the North Georgia Mountains. So uh my dad we would regularly, my dad had a 1981, 1980 F-150 long bed, and we would take our bunk bed mattresses, my brother and I, throw them in the back, and we would trout fish up in Clayton. If you've ever been in that area of North Georgia, I don't know if you have not. Um beautiful stuff on the Tallula River. Um we would go there at least once a month. Um me and my brother would sleep in the back of the truck, and my mom and dad would sleep in the tent, and we do that all the time. And um even though I can I can now take vacations, uh I still do that with my kids. They they they have a camper now and they're fancy, but um you know, that's something that was a big part of my childhood that I I really enjoyed. That's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Um so gr growing up out there, did you have a a memorable summer job, something something you did to make a little extra money?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Yeah, so I mean I did many things. So um Madison County's chicken country, so it's ch chicken farming is uh really big in Madison County. So you know, when you look at real estate there, you you kind of pull Google Earth back and you you see how many chicken houses are nearby and which way the wind usually blows. Um so as a so as a kid, I mean I worked in chicken houses, you know, um, which if you've ever worked in a in a in a a a boiler house uh in the North Georgia summers, uh it's it's a fun job. Yeah, I can admit to stay hydrated. Yeah. Um and I worked for the state park a little bit, uh, did that. Um so you know, again, I say that's what I think. What would you do exactly for the state park? Whatever, whatever needed to be done. I was just I made $5.15 an hour. If I needed to clear a trail, I cleared a trail. If I needed to help someone back a camper, I did that. Just kind of whatever. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Yeah. So you sounds like obviously around chickens. Um did you did you actually have uh and you fished and you hunted, but did you actually have any animals as a pet?

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Uh yeah. So so we had chickens. Uh we did have chickens.

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Now do you now here's my question, because I I'm always surprised by this, particularly in some of the suburban parts of Charleston. Um there's quite a lot of folks that have chickens in Charleston, and I'm talking about Charleston proper. Yeah. Between guinea hens to, you know, uh regular chickens. I don't know all the different varieties of chickens, but even in our neighborhood, um, you know, a couple blocks away, there's a a family that has chickens. They'll come out in the road, et cetera. Do you have chickens now?

SPEAKER_02 7:33

I don't have chickens now. Um but I know what you're talking about. I mean in my I have you know, they're everywhere. I blame Duck Dynasty. I feel like they try to make they try to make hillbillies cool again. So everybody's like, I'm gonna get a chicken.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Um we had chickens aren't really I mean, did you consider the chickens pets? No, no way. The chickens were a task and legs, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

That's right. Um but you know, we we were, you know, we had dogs, we had cats. Okay, you know, we were in, you know.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

Can you do you have a recollection of your first uh pet? I you know, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

I saw that y'all were gonna ask that, you know, and I thought, you know what, I I really can't. The first um the first dog I guess I remember being old enough to to there were dogs before my memory is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

My my first memory, I had a redbone uh coon hound dog um named Duke. Um and I went Duke accompanied you when you hunted? Well, Duke wasn't the smartest coonhound, you know. He was more of, you know, he was just good. He was a pal. Just good company. He was a good pal. Yeah. His intent was to do that, but he, you know, he was better company.

SPEAKER_04 8:32

Do you have a dog now or a pet dog? I do.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

I have uh a rescue beagle named uh Whalen Jennings Jordan. That uh Professor Emily Skinner in the College of Ed. She is big into pet rescue. Oh, that's great. And I came into work one day and someone had uh he was up for adoption, someone had not taken him. So we took him. My son was three at the time. I told him we were gonna go rescue a dog, and I got this great picture. My son said, we're gonna go rescue something. So he put on his outfit of the flash because he was gonna be a superhero, you know. Oh, that's great. And we went to the went and got him. Um and I have another uh beagle mix named Huckleberry Hound that is uh he's he's 12 now, so he's been with me for a while. Yeah, two beagles. Yeah, they're great dogs. Beagle mutts, yeah. The best.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

So we're curious, you you're out uh you know, trout fishing around the campfire, you're playing games, card games, you know, at night, something that you like to do?

SPEAKER_02 9:24

You know, I mean, um I'm not much of a card game board game. I understand. I just I just not either my kids love it, and so you know, for your kids you do things. Yeah, so you know, I do that for them. But if you leave it to me after I'm done, I'd rather sit around, watch the lightning bugs, listen, be quiet.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

I know you love you.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

A long time ago.

SPEAKER_04 9:57

And even now in my Well, we're gonna refocus a little bit here on your childhood grammar school years and ask you about what fun fact you could tell us about yourself from that period of time and that you think might be surprising or amusing to our listeners.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Uh from grade school, you mean?

SPEAKER_04 10:17

Yeah, childhood grammar school, grade school.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

So I had the longest rat tail in Isla Elementary, which is saying something because I'm bald as an onion now, but I had a really impressive rat tail for how long was this rat tail? I mean, I have a T-ball picture of myself. You know, in baseball, you you do not supposed to smile. So I, you know, I didn't smile on my photo.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

And I've got it over, I've got the bat over my shoulder, and I've got my rat tail over the over other shoulder, and it's it's down pretty far, but it's pretty impressive. Short hair on top and then short hair with a spike on top and the rat tail down the bottom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Oh, I'd love to see that picture.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Yeah, I'll bring it in sometime.

SPEAKER_04 10:53

Yeah, please do.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Same same question for your high school years. Uh my high school years, so I don't know what's surprising. Um, I was a baseball player, so I pitched for the high school baseball. I didn't play baseball for my whole life, uh up through high school. I mean, I didn't play in college. Um, so I was a I was a pitcher. I'm left-handed, so you know, you get a little leeway. You can be a little worse when you're left-handed. Uh you just play the odds. So um, I did that in high school. Um, and my wife, who I mentioned earlier, um, we met in high school. And so we are we were high school sweethearts, and we've been married 20 years in June. So that's that's a rare thing these days. Yeah, it sure is. Well, congratulations on that.

SPEAKER_05 11:32

That's fantastic. What year in high school did you meet?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

So I guess I knew who she was when we were in middle school. We were we're from different parts of the county. She's from Addis County, too. Yeah. Um so I knew who she was, but uh when she was uh sophomore and I was a junior, we really got to know each other. What was the first date? Uh we went to a haunted house in uh the big city of Franklin Springs, Georgia, which y'all can Google.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

Were you driving at that time?

SPEAKER_02 11:55

I was driving. She was not. Okay. Yeah. So she had to get that same 1980 F-150 that my dad took us to, it also took me to my first date. Yeah. Transmission slipped really bad. And and Casey will kill me for saying this, but she used to kind of duck down low when I'd have to lift the hood and put a little extra transmission fluid in. That's great.

SPEAKER_05 12:15

Oh, so uh we as you went from high school to college, you can tell us a little bit about where you went to college and um, you know, something interesting about that time.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, I don't know what's interesting. Uh so I'm a first generation college student. Um, yeah, and and you know, with that came a lot of like figuring college out. You know, I didn't I relate a lot to people uh when they walk on this campus, and you can tell they're kind of trying to take it all in. I I really relate to that because uh I was from I'm from a very rural place, like I said, and I went to the University of Georgia, and when you step on that campus, but buddy, it's big. Yeah, it's overwhelming to sure. It's overwhelming. Yeah. Um, so I did my my undergrad there, my my master's and PhD are from this been a great growing experience though.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

Oh, yeah, not where you came from.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

But you learn a lot of things, you know. Like even though I'm I'm not from there, um even though I am from there, um, at UGA, I learned things uh about myself. Like apparently I have an accent. And I thought, wow, you know, I'm from here. What are you talking about? You got an accent. I don't have an accent. Um yeah. So you know, uh, but yeah, it was. Um I had a good time. I mean, I majored in secondary social science education, actually. So my goal was always to um teach social studies and coach baseball. That's what I that's what I wanted to do. And now I'm a special education professor. So um I I I don't want to get off track, but I don't know, I I've uh at uh UGA, I mean I did the college experience, but I I was I'm from Morgan Poor class. I also worked. I mean, I I drove a truck for a little Debbie, I did all these like random jobs. Um so you know, I was I stayed very busy. Um and Casey and I got married when I was still in college, in my last year of college. And when I finished at UGA, I went to a job fair, and I tell all my students this very quick story to let them know that hey, sometimes you don't have to have it all figured out. I went to a job fair at UGA and I talked to Chatham County Schools and in Georgia, that's Savannah. And they and I had a degree in social studies, but they were looking for someone who could teach in an alternative education environment. And they I I I can also teach math. I'm certified in mathematics. And so they were looking for somebody that could do two things. And I thought, oh, I can do this. And then they asked me a question that really changed my life. They said, Well, how do you feel about teaching kids with behavior disorders? That was the phrasing they used at the time. And at the time, you could ask me to change the light bulb on the top of, you know, you know, right the tallest building you can think of. And I would have said yes, because I had no money. And so I lied and said, Piece of cake. I can handle this. I'd had one class in special education, it was a survey class, it had 80-some people in it, and I did fine, but it wasn't, I wasn't gonna do that right. And after I accepted the job, I I realized that there's more than one Chatham County in the United States. So I actually wasn't talking to George at all. I was talking to the state of North Carolina. Wow. And I didn't know that, but I was too stubborn to be like, oops. So we just moved to North Carolina. And so that's how I ended up in special education. I took that first job um, and all my students were students with varying disabilities. And uh so that undergrad experience shaped me, but it was it was jumping out of that undergrad when I feel like who I am now sort of kind of took off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:23

Yeah, and it's nutty how random like some of these changes or some of these doors open, you walk through and you do it. You make a decision, yeah. Completely different. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

It turns out Chatham County is just south of Chapel Hill, so you can follow my educational background. My master's and PhD are both from Chapel Hill. I realized real quickly, like, I love what I'm doing, but I don't know what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should probably get some more education. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:47

I feel like that's the way it is with everybody, though. I like this, but I really know what I'm doing. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Um, so you were at you were at Chapel Hill?

SPEAKER_02 15:55

I was at Chapel Hill.

SPEAKER_05 15:56

Uh in grad school. Differences between that and UGA? Like they got a lot of similarities.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

You know, each orientation claims to be the oldest public institution, so you get to go hear hear that. Um, I think Georgia was chartered 1785 and Chapel Hill 1793, but Chapel Hill had students first, so they argue over the. So I got to sit through both of those. That was fun. Um, I mean, no, I mean they're they're very they're they're both big R1s, they got a lot of brilliant people on them. And um, it took me a while as a first generation college student to to feel okay there and to feel like I could learn from all these really smart people and not have to prove myself all the time. So I appreciate both of those institutions. There I could name individuals at both of those that kind of said, Hey, come here and put me under their wing. And um, I think that's the most important thing in education is to have somebody to put their arm around you and say, Hey, you're okay. I got you. Sure.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Yeah, yeah. You got a fun fact related to uh your graduate school years?

SPEAKER_02 16:49

So my graduate school years, I don't know how fun it is, but I got really so it's all related. So my first week teaching in this alternative school, I had to break up a fight between these two kids. I was 22. They were sophomores, but they were 20. So they were both bigger than me, and I had to break up this fight. Um, and I considered myself a decent athlete, but buddy, I got thrown around like a ragdoll. I thought, my goodness. Um, so in grad school, you know, and and and when you're in grad school, you know you're stressed out. You know, you really are. You're just really stressed out. And I went to grad school, you know, kind of when I taught all day, and then I drove to Chapel Hill, and then I sat in class three nights a week. So I was a lot going on, you know. Um, so I tried to tile that together. And in grad school, I really got into Brazilian jujitsu, which I know is really random.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

And what what what what drew you to Brazilian jiu-jitsu?

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Getting tossed around like a ragdaw.

SPEAKER_04 17:41

Uh that experience you say I need to I need to be able to pay better in conflict.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

And you know, I just needed a a physical outlet. Baseball had ended, you know, I wasn't doing that anymore. You know, um, so anyway, I trained jujitsu really religiously. I have a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. Um, I uh my kids were born and I kind of slowed back down. But you know, one of these days before my bones get too old, I might pick it back up. Return to it. And then the choice of that particular martial art versus something else, just I I've always enjoyed um grappling. Yeah, those types of sports. And you know, jujitsu, uh I did kickboxing for a little bit, but you know, for a man who makes what money he makes with his brain, you don't want to get kicked in the head too many times. You know what I mean? Jiu Jitsu, you can just say tap tap, you got me. We can try you. Yeah, you know what I mean. So I totally understand that.

SPEAKER_05 18:30

Do you did you continue it here in Charleston once you came down, you stopped up in the yeah?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Yeah, I haven't trained in in uh quite a while. Um, you know, my kids keep me busy. I coach little league baseball, my son runs cross country, my daughter plays volleyball. So you're on that hamster wheel of those things right now. And I'm proud to be on that hamster wheel. I like that. Sure, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 18:49

But there'll be a time you'll be able to get back if you want. They're way more fun than than jujitsu. Sure. Yeah. Uh we want to talk more about the present and and uh any current pastime or hobby that you now enjoy regularly and when you first started.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah, so um I told you I grew up hunting and fishing. So I love the outdoors. Um, but you know, I grew up in the Appalachian foothills, you know. You go to the river and you fish. Um I did not know how to handle fish with teeth when I moved to Charleston. Ah, so I I bought a little boat, uh 1994 Key West 1720. I'm pretty mechanically handy. I got it in really good shape. Um, and over the last few years I've been teaching myself to to get the boat out and go go saltwater fish. Um I'm terrible at it. I mean, I'm very, very terrible at it, but um I try to do that as regularly as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_05 19:45

And what does your family what's the difference between like freshwater stream and saltwater?

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Everything's different. I mean, you're targeting there's so many different things in the ocean that you might and you're dealing with tides and and different currents, and you know, so there's just a big difference in what you're doing. Um, and I'm not very good at it yet. You put me on a trout stream, I'm gonna come out with my limit. You put me on a catfish pond and buddy, we're gonna eat. But if I take you out on the boat today, we might not catch a fish, but we'll have a good time. So do you but do you fish to eat now? Oh yeah, yeah. We try. But you know, it we'd starve to death if we catch them.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

And and I I would imagine too, is being more familiar with uh ponds and streams, that there's the whole realm of identifying what you're catching, like, right? Like, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, you take a catfish off the hook, you put your thumb in his mouth. You don't want to do that uh with these sharp teeth. Right. She might not have a thumb, you know.

SPEAKER_05 20:39

I feel like you catch a trout, you're not gonna catch a manta ray of a shark randomly. Exactly. Yeah. I'd like to be. I just I didn't grow up doing it at all. So like I feel like the the hurdle to getting good at like fly fishing or trout fish any of that just feels really high.

SPEAKER_04 21:03

I also think being mentored too in a in a positive way can be helpful, right? Because it's a big, it's a big patience activity, right? And if you're not somewhat patient by nature and the person that is showing you how to do it is not very patient, that that could kind of blow it for you. No, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 21:21

And if you're and if your family didn't do it or your dad, you know, like now, you know, like 50, like what what male role model am I gonna go hang out with and learn who wants to teach a 50 year old how to hunt and Dr. Jordan? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Who doesn't have kids? You know, like I think as you get older as a guy, you're like like where am I gonna learn how to do this? Yeah, I don't know. You know, we I feel like I hit a barrier. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

But I'd like to Well we also live in a time when, you know, like for saltwater fishing, I don't I you know, I obviously have mentors at home, but I don't have any here. Um charter fishing here is expensive. So you have the internet, yeah. You know, you can get on and learn a lot of stuff and go trial and error. Sure. You know. Yeah. Um it's fine, the problem solving peace. All right.

SPEAKER_04 22:03

Oh, you you're you're a a bit busy man, so I you know, we don't know if you know this is even something that enters your mind, but maybe. Is there an off-the-clock activity that you'd still like to tackle that you haven't uh experimented with?

SPEAKER_02 22:16

I have one and I've I think about it a lot, and and you're gonna be like, you're gonna die, but it's fine. Um so I coach Little League Baseball and uh this year uh we had a sponsor. His name is Tim Jump. Tim's become a really good friend. Tim owns a surfboard making shop here in Charleston called Secular Surfboards, and he he does really cool work. He used to be a special ed teacher, so we in New Jersey. So we hit it off pretty tight. Um but he's been getting at me to get aboard and learn to surf. And I said, I don't know if you get a 250-pound man on a surfboard, but he swears we can. So uh I I want to take that up. Uh I I was I was very hesitant of the ocean when I moved to Charleston. I hadn't spent a lot of time. Um, but now that I'm I'm here and I'm I'm hoping this is home. And you like physical activity, so yeah, I like to be active. So um I'm gonna give that a go. We'll see. Yeah, we'll keep us posted.

SPEAKER_05 23:06

Have you seen the movie Surfs Up? I have not. Uh so you should watch it beforehand. And then is he gonna help you make your own board for us? Yes, yeah, that's how you get to like learn the spirit of the board before you head out. Yeah, that that's the idea. Yeah, super cool.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:21

So our our last question before we get to the lightning round, if you weren't a faculty member here at the college uh or teaching special ed, what would you be doing?

SPEAKER_02 23:29

I think education would find me one way or the other. I love education. I I see it as like the gateway to all these other things. When you when you make education something that's uh accessible to people, I I think peop people in their own curiosities can do many things. So I don't think I would ever probably stray away from that. I think it's just Emma Bones. Um But if I wasn't doing that, I think my backup plan, and this may be my retirement plan, I'm also a big advocate of public lands. I I think it's really hard. I was very fortunate to grow up. Uh we were we did not have a lot of land of our own, but you know, the neighbor who had uh a hundred acres with cows said, Go have a good time, you know. And I had access and uh that's dwindling away. Yeah. Um so I'm a big advocate of public lands, and I think that um educating people about that is a big part. So I think I would be in the state park system, in the national park system, doing some sort of education piece, helping people learn like what a valuable thing you have. And the United States has has got a lot of line, a lot of public land um, you know, to protect. So I think I'll probably end up doing that. And I might still one day.

SPEAKER_05 24:33

I'm fairly young and absolutely when I was out west, like Utah, yeah, uh just the amount of of like Bureau of Land Management, like public land that's out there is epic. That isn't even attached to uh a state park or something.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

Yeah, or even locally, man, when you go up in North Georgia and you get, you know, the Chattahoochee, I mean, it's beautiful. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 24:59

Well, our last segment here, of course, Dr. Cory referred to it, is the lightning round, and these are questions that we did not provide to you ahead of time. And in this section, we ask each guest some important standard questions, again, about your life off the clock. We also want to clarify here that we do know the difference between thunder and lightning, but since this is an audio podcast, we had to settle on the thunder sound effect to cue this portion of the interview. So to begin, Dr. Jordan, what's your favorite carb?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

My favorite carb? Carb. Carbohydrate. Carbohydrate. Oh, I like all the carbohydrates. All of them. That's not a carbohydrate I'm gonna say no to. No.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

Is there then then maybe that's true of your favorite protein? Like uh, yeah, whatever. Yeah. I'm good to go. Now, man, I'm here to eat. I'm here to eat. Yeah. Outstanding.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Eating big time.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

Uh pizza or tacos.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Uh I'm gonna go pizza. Uh I'm gonna go pizza, but uh again, I'm not gonna turn down a good taco.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Do you have a favorite pizza place here in Charleston?

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Uh we're on James Island and Pisano's is a great pizza place. Okay. I get there Hawaiian and go to town. Okay. Yeah. Outstanding.

SPEAKER_05 26:08

Uh I assume the answer is both, but frozen yogurt or ice cream, if you had to choose.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Yeah, mix them together, bro. I don't care. I mean, it sounds good.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

Well, I hope you're gonna be a little bit more selective. We asked a lot of food questions. Well, I told you I was 250 pounds a week. That's okay. You know, sometimes you gotta make choices, though. Um mustard or ketchup on a hot dog?

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Uh I'm gonna put both of those on. Really?

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah, 100%. Wow. With some onions and relish. Okay. Yeah. But if I had to, if you put me and said you can only have one, it's gonna be ketchup.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Oh interesting.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:39

Um you know, you're going out, you get your hot dog, you go hush puppies or french fries if you don't have the choice of both.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Do people eat hush puppies with hot dogs?

SPEAKER_05 26:46

Uh possibly. Anything goes. I mean, I will eat hush puppies and hot dogs.

SPEAKER_02 26:50

I just never occurred to me uh to eat hush puppies or hot dogs, so I'll probably go french fries, but uh, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

You like hush puppies? Yeah, you guys should have told me that the whole lightning round was about food. You should want a big dude too.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

So I have a question related to hush puppies. Do you in your house do you make your own hush puppies? For sure, yes. Absolutely. There's nothing like homemade hush puppies.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

For sure. Like that my favorite meal ever is to go catch catfish, make catfish fillets, and fry catfish in the hush puppy.

SPEAKER_05 27:13

So, how do you get those hush puppies like real crispy? Like, I feel like I couldn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

You gotta get your oil the right Tim. You can't get too hot. A little fry daddy, like a Yeah, well, you do it in a pan. You can do it in a cast iron. Yeah. But you can't get it too high because you can't you can't get the outside too hard and the inside too much. You see, it's an art. You gotta you gotta get some help on that one. Mentorship. Hush puppy mentorship is a few.

SPEAKER_05 27:34

Are you taking mentor mentees? Because I've got a whole list of things. I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Yeah. Favorite soft drink? I don't drink them. There you go. You found something I don't do. What do you do? Just water? Yeah. Sweet sweet tea? I mean, I drink some sweet tea.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

I mean I'm southern, but no, I don't do uh Coke. I don't I don't I don't do it. Mountain Dew? No? No, no, well.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

A couple of our guests that are real like they like really like Mountain Dew, which I thought was interesting.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

No. Well, and from the south, you know, everything's a Coke, so you know. So Mountain Dew is the city. Yeah, yeah, I understand. But no, I don't I don't drink it. Okay, interesting.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

Um, so now like if you were to have like a favorite off the clock activity that you just wouldn't if you were to just leave here, you're gonna go do I would go fishing in a heartbeat, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

I mean, I would I would get I would go fishing. Uh all the time I would go fishing.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

And would that be your off-the-clock activity that you prefer to do alone, or do you have another one?

SPEAKER_02 28:25

I I will do I like to fish alone, um, but I also like uh to hang out with people. I don't I don't have a preference. No, I don't care. No. I love to go hiking. Um we do that. Um I'm just gonna be in the woods, so that's just what I'm gonna do. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 28:40

Um do you have a favorite music band from your youth?

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Oh, a favorite music band from my youth. Yes. Oh, I gotta go from my youth.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

You're sitting in the back of the F-150. That's right. Maybe the radio's on. And the boom box on.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Right. Oh man. I mean, so I'm a big country music fan, so I grew up in a country music house, so there's a lot of Johnny Cashway on showing the you know, kind of your your people. Um Keith Whitley is probably my uh my childhood favorite. Okay. Yeah. If y'all know Keith Whitley.

SPEAKER_05 29:07

If you don't, I'll look him up on spot.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Yeah, Keith Keith's from Kentucky. He he he passed away young. He passed away in his 20s. My birth state. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

I know my accent's very deceiving, Dr. Corey. He's giving me that furrowed brow. But yeah, I was born in Kentucky. Yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Cold or hot weather? Uh well, uh, I prefer cold weather, believe it or not. Really? So I don't mind the heat. Charleston's taking an adjustment for me. So North Georgia's hot, obviously, but it it cools down too. Like at night it cools down. Charleston just keeps throwing the thunder at you.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Yeah, no, right now it's right now it's pretty rough.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Yeah, if you ask me in January, I'd probably say hot weather. But right now I'm tired of being hot. So I'm saying cold. Well, we got a good stretch ahead, so buckle up.

SPEAKER_05 29:48

So I I don't know, North Georgia and barbecue, but do you have a favorite type of sauce? Oh, for sure. Is there a Georgia specifically?

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Yeah, North Georgia is a vinegar-based barbecue. North Carolina. So you were at home in North Carolina? Yes. Vinegar-based on the East Coast. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not none of that West is based on the coast. None of that. No, no, vinegar-based barbecue. Okay. Plane, train, or automobile? Uh so I didn't fly in my uh the a plane until I was 26 years old in my master's degree program. And I how was that experience? I don't know. That was the first Jordan in flight. Uh it's a I should get I should get a t-shirt. I panicked so bad. Uh I was with my advisor. Where were you traveling to and just to a conference, the Midwest Symposium for Leadership and Behavior Disorder, from Chapel Hill to uh Kansas City, Missouri.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

So you were accompanied by someone, you weren't going alone. Because you know, if if if you've never flew before, there's a whole process which can be very disorienting.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Oh, yeah. But I panicked so bad. I I you know, I I thought, I mean, you got on the plane, you know, that the the area above your head was yours. That's not that's not true. You could put anybody put luggage everywhere. Well, mine was full, so I just put my luggage in the floor and put my seatbelt on. And uh they were like, What are you doing? And I was like, I don't know, what am I supposed to be doing? And apparently I freaked out so bad on the way out. The pilot uh said, I usually give these to three-year-olds, but here you go.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

And he gave me a set of the wings. And I still have them, and he let me take a picture in the cockpit. And I'm like, that's pretty good. Did you enjoy it though? Oh, I was scared as a long-tailed cat.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Yeah, I was I was yeah, I had a hard time. But uh now we fly all the time. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 31:16

Wow, that's great. So um last um question uh in this part of it, the toothpaste tube when you're dispensing it. You know, how do you how do you dispense it?

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Oh, I just give it a good squeeze. I mean, uh anywhere on the tube? Well, it depends on how much is in there. When you got that new fresh tube, you don't care. You like the luxury of it being full. That's what I want. Excellent. Yeah. Well, what at what point does your approach adjust? Well, when you get and look at the price of a tube of toothpaste, you go, let's give it a little, let's give it a little extra help to make sure we're toothpick.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

You try to maximize the use of the contents.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

We're not wasteful people. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Um popcorn, yes or no?

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Yeah, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

Well, how how do you what's your preferred preparation method? And do you like to put anything on it? Yeah, just use heat and uh let the corn pop and then whatever happens to use like a frying pan or what how do you think?

SPEAKER_02 32:07

You know, I'm trying to think when's the last time I made popcorn? I don't know. I mean, it's not a freaking page. So it's not a big thing. I'd probably like go to the movies and get and get some popcorn. But no, no. You don't make it too much at home. I cannot remember the last time I made popcorn. Do the kids like popcorn? Uh yeah. I mean, my kids would tell you, yes, they like popcorn, but I don't know that. It's not like, hey dad, make some popcorn. Never.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

No. Wow. No.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

They're much more spoiled. They're like, hey dad, I go make a steak. And I'm like, Okay.

SPEAKER_04 32:33

Well, when you do have popcorn, what what's your preferred time?

SPEAKER_02 32:35

I would put a little butter on it and then uh go to table. Salt? Some little salt, too. Yeah, maybe. You know, I don't salt a lot of my food either. Oh, you don't? Nah, I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:44

You just like it pure. Yeah, there's a lot of like a steak. You you just no salt, pepper, or anything on it?

SPEAKER_02 32:50

Yeah, no, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 32:51

No.

SPEAKER_02 32:51

No marinade? Uh no, just you got a good cut of meat, you eat it. I mean, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:58

Interesting.

SPEAKER_05 32:59

Yeah. So last question. Um, you know, you come from the world of baseball. So um your your walk-up song, your entry song, if you had one.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Oh, my walk-up song. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:11

Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

All about you. You're the pitcher, man. You're coming in.

SPEAKER_05 33:15

Yeah, you're coming in out of the out of the focal point for this game.

SPEAKER_02 33:18

I'm not even going country music. I'm gonna go white zombie. Ooh. Thunder Kiss 65. Ooh, I like it. I'm going, I'm coming in with you know hot. Yeah, with growing heat. I'm coming in with arrogance. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 33:32

Well, Dr. Jordan, 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 that we will ask you to display in your office to bring attention to this podcast, we'll soon be presenting you with a bobblehead to represent your lighter side as revealed to us today. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Thank you. I'm pretty excited about that bobblehead, so thank you all for having it. That's really why I did it. It looks really good. Well, look, if it brought you in, it was worth it.

SPEAKER_05 33:59

Stay tuned for next month's installment when we learn more about the life off the clock of another College of Charleston professor.