#0001 Rhonda Sitnikau

Summary: Transcript Into Music Is it going to be louder than that? So you are fading in now? Sweet thanks Nick. So that was the band called Reburial. Reburial. Oh we don’t know the name of the track yet. We will try to figure that out before the end or maybe not. We will play another Reburial at the end or another one? Nick- We will play another one. Yes. That’s good stuff. Supposedly Reburial is a Green Bay band or some sort of quasi local thing. I haven’t heard anything and I don’t have any stuff to pimp. If you are in Reburial you need to contact us and give us something to tell your upcoming fans all about you. Nick- Yeah the email that I sent you is all the stuff I have.  It just said Reburial. Nick- That’s it. They said that there is three clips here enjoy.  So every episode I want to feature some local music from Green Bay area so if you got stuff Rhonda, this is like episode 1 the first episode was 0. It’s like August now and you should be hearing this pretty soon. So for episode 1, I have my new BFF Rhonda. I am going to grill her with some questions. I am ready bring it on. So first of all this isn’t an official question but I don’t know how to say your last name. Sitnikau. I did it, I would have done it right.  Everyone murders my last name and it is so easy. It is as it spelled. I don’t know if you told me that or not. It’s a real problem I should just go by Rhonda. Just Rhonda. It is funny, I have had many on broadway discussions over the last month and I mentioned that you were going to be on. I was like Rhonda and they were like Rhonda. I was like Rhonda Rhonda you don’t know Rhonda. Then they were like Rhonda.  That may be a good thing. I was like yes. Rhonda, Rhonda is going to be there so it will be cool. They were like really. So there was some surprise about that.  Interesting. Yeah so why do you think that is? I put you on the spot. Well, I think we all know. They probably figure I am somewhat..very outspoken.  Really. Yes. You have a very vocabulary.  I have a lot of vocabulary. I am ready to use it whenever I can. I think that it’s possible that they wonder what am I going to say. That’s what makes it awesome. Shake your head Nick.  Exactly. Nick- I’m with you. I love it. I loves when he does that.  We only have had one episode and I feel like we have done one hundred already. How does that happen?  It’s fun. So I am sorry. Gina and I are going to marriage counseling and we discussed how we both, probably our whole family, probably like our parents and everything all the way back. All the way back to the turtles right. We have a problem with talking over people. So I am sorry if I did that. I have the same problem so this will be interesting.  So can you like cut one of the mikes if you need to Nick. Nick- Sure. I just cut myself there. I can if you need me to just tell me what you need me to do. I just needed to explore that a little bit more. So I didn’t mean to cut you off because I wanted you to keep talking. No that’s okay. Its my guess. I am not really sure but I thought I was a very good and vocal voice for the broadway district during the last year and a half. During the you know what time.  No. Tell me what. I don’t really talk about it because I actually got that word out of my brain after about a year. You know the whole store situation downtown. But I think that there is always, if people really know me. I am actually pretty mindful and thoughtful about what I say. I just don’t usually hold back if I need to say something that needs to be said. Right. That’s probably why people aren’t really sure about what I am going to talk about with you. Plus I am not pointing any fingers but there are people in the media who might just clip out the controversial parts and play those. Yeah exactly cause that never happens. I remember once when there would be Rhonda, then there would be Elliot. That was weird. Like we were opposing (?)factions.  We were. I think that it is all about intentions. I think we both had good intentions. That’s exactly why we can sit here today.  Right even people who are on opposing views can get together and talk things out.  I only choose opposing view people to be in my life. I think that’s a problem.  Sort of a sickness. Yeah that’s weird. Yeah what I just said you just took that ten times too far. That’s weird. That actually kind of segways into the first question that I was going to ask.  I asked Gina a lot of the questions kind of similarly. So for right now, I want to have my friends come in and talk about why they are here and why they care. So in your case, how long have you been in Green Bay? Is that the first question? Yeah that’s sort of the first question. I moved here in 1990. From where? Actually from North Dakota of all places. My parents came and took teaching positions and I followed. My mom was terminally ill. I didn’t want to be a way for her so I moved to Green Bay and I did leave for two months but I came back. I love it here. What took you away? Say weather. Well it wasn’t weather actually. Even though I went to Arizona. I did go to Arizona. I am a fair skin maiden and that’s not the place for me to be. I am a little bit of a free spirit and I just like to test the water sometimes and it’s a really horrendous place to raise a child. That’s exactly what brought me back. Arizona is? It is. What part of Arizona? I was in Prescott Arizona. It actually a pretty nice retirement community. Just typical Arizona, people are just kind of hanging out. The cost of living is crazy. The schools are horrendous, the child care is horrendous. There was like one park. People didn’t realize that. It was nice to visit but not a good place to live.  That describes almost everywhere to me. That is why I am still here.  I am happy to be back. It was probably a good thing to do because it gave me a sense of appreciation to come back and be in this area and I don’t regret it.  Right Right. Cool so you kind of slipped into this but what’s your favorite thing about Green Bay? Oh boy. I would have to say it’s changed since I have been here. You know you grow older and different things matter. Your vices are different the people are definitely what I love the most. I don’t spend a lot of time at home, I spend a lot of time out of my house. Hanging out in my neighborhood and going downtown. I just love the community. The community is great.  So what changed? I don’t know you said a lot of stuff there.  Oh that’s ok.  It changes. So the people is now. The people is now. You love people now you didn’t before.  No. Well. People are definitely what I love. Getting to know… I have a very diverse group of friends. All different walks of life everything. I love it that way. Yet I can get together with all of these people in various parts of the city and have a great time. Even in little Tiwanna.  Oh boy are we going to go there? I will go there.  Noooo. I don’t care. It’s your show you can do whatever you want. My show. You only get one episode though.  Is this the only portion I get to talk about Green Bay? What part about your show did you not understand? You can talk about whatever you want. I just have ten questions to kind of guide things but I’d rather hear more about what you want to say. So if there are more things about Green Bay. So the next thing I have is the thing you are most proud of or a fun story your life before you came to Green Bay? Oh I have a great story about that. So you can do that now. When I was in third grade, my mother was beyond a free spirit and she decided we were going to take our family and move to France.  From North Dakota? Yeah. Well no that’s not true we were in Michigan at that time. No one stays in Michigan long.  Yeah I have a long story about where I lived but we will talk about this part and you are talking over me again. I just wanted to say that.  Sorry. Nick probably already cut my mike.  Nick- I dropped the ball. I dropped the ball there.  Michigan. France. No I am in France. My story, my fun story is that we were in France and my parents were going to study there and we were just going to go to school. In third grade we were just going to learn French. So we go. So you went there? Yeah we moved Anjers, France.  That’s amazing. I had no idea.  And we were out we spent the night in the Charles Degaul airport on the floor in sleeping bags because we had arrived and it was too early to get ..we hadn’t exchanged our money and blah blah blah. So in the  meantime there were gypsies running around. This is like a weird movie, an art house movie. It is and my parents were taking turns guarding us and the 18 pieces of luggage that we had. That was a really great memory. I feel like if I could get through that I could get through anything. So how long did you stay there? We were there not that long because it didn’t turn out to be what it should have been or what my mom thought it would be. We ended up coming back. It wasn’t realistic but my mom never really did anything…it was like hey this sounds cool. Lets do it.  That’s cool though. It is and I loved her for that. We came back and my mom and I went back the summer after, she finished her class and then I actually went back by myself for a week when I was older. I am plugging France because it is a great country to visit.  I am 40ish and I have never been to Europe. So I feel kind of cheated.  You should go.  But I never had any good excuses to go. Gina and I were going to go to Barcelona in September because I have to wrap everything around business trips. It was too expensive. I just couldn’t go. No you need to do it. You need to go to a bread and breakfast were you share a bathroom. You are never in your hotel so you don’t have to spend money on a hotel. Oh I agree with that.  There are cheap ways to do it. Well flights were super expensive when we had to decided. Then they dropped about four hundred bucks but we had already decided not to do it.  Travel in March and you will get the cheapest available ticket. Oh see I have my new travel agent. That’s sweet. Now back to Green Bay. Do you want to go back to Green Bay on this or do you want to talk more about Europe? No not really. It’s your show. That was a memory that was one of my favorite members that I had. Not many people can say that they slept on the floor of an airport. I have laid on the floor before at an airport. With gypsies running around? Not in France, not with gypsies. Not in third grade either. Amazing story. Same kind of question. Thing you are most proud of or a fun story in Green Bay? Is it either or and or? And or, it’s your show. It’s my show. The thing that I am most proud of, I try very hard to be a good mom. It’s the best thing in my life. That is what I am most proud of because I haven’t the greatest odds but I have made it a priority. I would say that is what I am most proud of.  According to your facebook viewership you are doing good. That’s where I see most of it. Its good so I wasn’t talking over you again was I. No you weren’t. You gave me the I was talking over you look again. That is my resting bitch face, it just happens. Now so that every remembers very clearly I did not say that. It’s the RBF. We will just say it with the initials. We have to remember that Nick and use it going forward. Nick- Sure. We all have it. Even if you are not a woman you have a RBF. Oh that is for sure. So that is what you are most proud of. Because I am a self absorbed type of person I would never put my son or sons or grandchild first. What else though what are proud of for you? I would have to say I am self employed. I basically facilitate everything I do and I get compensated for it. I market myself. I have been a self employed makeup artist for twenty years and I had an agent for a while but I have to say I have gotten accomplished and had way more work representing myself. I am very proud of that. I always work hard to never say no always show up not have to be babysat. To put myself in situations I am not really comfortable working on purpose. I take jobs that it’s not my thing but I want to see how well I do. I worked for the Coke brothers this past week. That was kind of an example.  Wow did they pay you? Of course. Okay that’s cool. Well they will pay me because I invoiced for the job. I thought why do I want to do this because they stand for everything I don’t support and I don’t have a lot of warm fuzzies for them but then I thought you know I am going to be in a situation and in an environment that is some place I have never been. I am going to learn from it. I am going to be able to be somewhat of a sponge to take in some information even though I signed about five confidentiality agreements. I think its customary.  Its usually one.  Yeah this is five.  Now we really really mean it. You can’t talk about this.  So that kind of sums up it. I am proud that put myself in situations that aren’t necessarily easy but I know that they will be worthwhile. Absolutely. That’s why you are here right. Yeah Iwas really looking forward to this. Nick- Same here. Nice for you to pretend. Nick- Not really comfortable but it’s worth it. But I will do it.  You look very comfortable. Nick- I am a little cold. The air conditioner is a little extreme right now. So I was getting dressed today so I was thinking what am I going to be comfortable in. I was really comfortable last time and I don’t remember what I was wearing.  Nick- Neither was I, I wasn’t really looking. Oh you were looking a lot.  Nick- Next question.  So fun story. You have any fun stories? Fun can mean a lot of things. Fun story.  Yeah exciting, interesting, hilarious, or awkward. Awkward. A lot of my stories probably have to do with my work because I spend a lot of time working as most of us do. Do you remember John Edwards he was the president of (?) Well he actually, he came to Green Bay in 2004 and he was the running mate of John Kerry and they came to speak at Bay Beach. So he was coming to do an interview with Good Morning America. So they needed a hair and makeup artist so they hired me.  Oh sweet. Well. Oh..well he is very perfect looking. Is that where this is going? Please say yes, that would be awesome.  Speaking of confidentiality agreements. So I had to go on his bus and get him ready. So he is out of politics now? He is beyond out of politics. The baby momma drama and all of that that went on. So I am on the bus and I have to sign papers. There is a woman who is doing video of the experience. It was this blond woman with little glasses saying you don’t mind if we get some footage of you while you’re working and I say that’s fine. I mean what am I going to say. I am on this bus with secret service. So I said sure where do I sign. So they were videotaping this. His wife was there and his kids were younger. So there were maybe six of us and then we go forward to a few years later to find out that here was this woman that was videotaping us and she was actually you know….. Crazy.  His lover… so I put it together. So I don’t know if that is fun. It’s weird, fun, awkward , and bizarre all at the same time that I was actually in this moment were these people were all together.  It was probably super fun at the time or stressful  It was a little bit of everything.  But afterwards you were probably like wow. Omg that was her. That’s crazy Yeah it is I have a lot of that. Ok. This is like last time when you broke in and gave your one on one with Camera Corner Studios. Nick- Well I don’t need to give the whole spill. But you are here a product of Camera Corner Studios. Kind of do it yourself video audio broadcast whatever you can imagine. It’s available if you need it.  Contact me at cameracornerentals.cccp.com  Just in case I accidently delete the first episode and we start with episode 1, I want to recap that Nick kind of spearheaded this whole thing were Camera Corner studios is my sponsor. Which is super awesome and cool. So thanks Nick and Camera Corner Studios and Camera Corner and all the awesome people that are involved in that. I don’t know who else to thank them by name but I am pretty sure it is other people. Nick- Pretty much just me.  Well I really wanted you to be the one to say that.  Nick- I don’t know. We may have some other people listening…me So anything else you want to throw in there. You have availability any days. Nick- Sure. I am busy this Friday. But this Friday means a lot of different things to a lot of different ipods.  Now that’s true I guess I shouldn’t have asked it like that. Oh remember when I said that you should have a little story about someone booked. Do you have anything like that? Nick- Oh sure. I have a very large insurance company from town that will be coming in this week. Oooh confidentiality.  There was three or four or five. I bet there was only one. Nick- I haven’t really signed anything. I just don’t know if I can do my own productions but it’s just more convenient to come here. They are going to use the screen the lights. They are going to be using the chromo wall the lights the teleprompter. So they are just going bring their camera shoot and be done. Well we do have at least two very large insurance companies it could be either one. Nick- Yes keeping a little ambiguity there. Yeah your show you are my most frequent guest right now.  That’s only two.  Nick- You can’t say that. Come on why not. I have been here at least 2 other times. Nick- You have been here a few times. Are you saying that I have over stayed my welcome? Nick- No no not at all. You are always welcome.  So far.  Nick- So far. I do wear out my welcome as it turns out.  Nick- Just don’t do like I did over in Northcoast and bring in like confetti in a can and stuff. That can cause a problem. I at least need to know about that before you start doing that kind of stuff. It’s not for video anyway so why would you.  So I got like fourish questions. Walmart let’s talk about it a little bit. Give me your thoughts on what’s happening what happened. How hard you wanted to punch me or anybody else? It’s been a year.  During the entire experience I feel that I had both good and bad feedback. Sometimes people would come up and be like yeah good job or I would have the opposite. Thanks a lot. Way to screw over Green Bay. But I feel the same today as I do back then. We could do better and we did. I happen to be proud of that. I think there was something on the table and the media took it and created a riff at times. Any time you refer to people as opponents that doesn’t help. At the end of the day it was a zoning amendment and that’s what it was.  Yeah right. It wasn’t really about them. That was really hard for me because I was a part of a group. B Local. There were a few of us who tried to keep the conversation, you know we can’t really talk about their crap wages, because they pay like crap. We had to talk about land use. Zoning amendment change land use. That is what we had to focus on. It was an emotional situation. There were city politics involved. That’s the way it goes. At the end of the day we know we could do better and we did. There was a lot of us who knew that was possible and to this day I still cannot find a supercenter in the downtown of any city. I can’t I’ve looked. I have researched. I will tell you it was more than being a smart ass on facebook. It was a full time job showing up at meetings. I took it seriously. A lot of times I was put in front of the camera and had to answer questions because I was the face of this fight. So you better have all of your ducks in a row so you better know what you are talking about. One thing I can say about this experience and I am glad that we didn’t have the zoning amendment change and Wal-Mart left. We have a local developer who has acquired that piece of land. It’s the most historic piece of land in Green Bay by the way. It actually the first piece of land put on the registry in Green Bay. I am not sure a lot of people know that. I believe that the turmoil the community involvement even if it was people pitting against it made a new energy for people who have a love for their city. It created a new energy there prior to that. So I think that was some sort of a gift. So thank you Wal-Mart for that gift. That is definitely change, if you ask people in this city two years ago to be invested…I don’t think it’s an accident. You saw people really refocus. You and I met. Even though we were not necessarily on the same side there have been relationships built. There are a lot of things that came of that , that were actually good. Of course it is easy for me to say because my side won. But I think we all won. Wal-Mart decided they didn’t want to be here. They could have been here.  Yeah I was there. They could have said okay fine two stories. All of that didn’t even have to happen.  I was always okay with that as well. But really the media tried to play it. What do you do with news you create a fight. You create a problem. It sells news and that was the fight. At the end of the day it was Wal-Mart who decided they did not want to be here. It wasn’t the city of Green Bay. So they came two or three weeks later to one of the stations and they wanted to (?) more stuff about that. I think after it was decided. They interviewed me and I didn’t want to get caught with some weird sound bite. So I recalled saying over and over there is not going to a Wal-Mart in the Broadway District. That was my answer to every question.  Let me say it a little bit slower. So I want to hear a little more about what you have to say about this but one thing you don’t know. Because I don’t go around telling everybody this is it was probably about three years or more before I stepped foot in the local Wal-Mart on the Westside. It has nothing to do with downtown or Wal-Mart employment practices. I felt pretty strongly at the time we needed to support our local discount retailers because they were paying for our downtown fireworks. So I would also go to ShopKo for that kind of stuff. I do think people lose sight of that aspect of things.       Even shops themselves abandon that market a little bit because they are getting beat by Walmart but I don't think that's too controversial today they are going after smaller markets then ShopKo Hometown Stores I worked there for a while so I know.  Online shopping is taking over people are not wanting to walk around a 3 million square foot store people don't want to do that they don't have time to do that. Its convenience they want to be able to say hey I want this right now. Oh my god. I can just go online and buy it and that's taking over and it's putting a huge dent even in Wal-Mart. I don't have like a philosophical problem as long as they are following the law with what companies pay or whatever like that. If they are doing something illegal or unethical I feel like people will get the word out and those things will get fixed one way or the other either. Through legal means or something else.  Wal-Mart has committed to increase in their wages. I don't think it’s enough but I think they pay like what ShopKo pays so that kind of discussion is always weird. I don't think people know that about me that I actually despise Wal-Mart. I really hated everything about what they were doing but then I read Sam Walton's book and much like you I like to expose myself to the other side. In his book the reason why I believe, and Sam’s dead so I can't actually ask him, I believe the reason they took so long to actually get to Green Bay is because they were afraid of the competition. I don't know if that was just Shopko or who it was they said they got their ideas from a distribution company in Green Bay. That's right in his book. Sam Walton kept me up one night because I was like what is he talking about I thought I'd  imagined it so he avoided Green Bay for a long time. Then he came with a vengeance so I kind of wish he was there I would have liked to talk to him about that. So what's your actual take on that do you think it should be a Downtown Supercenter? His actual take on that is that we will go nowhere that we are not wanted that's quote.  I think that you are right about that. The whole thing is weird yeah anything else on that?  Can I make one more plug or request during that process we learned a lot about city politics and we were able to learn process of how things happen..  Are you running for office?  I'm not saying anything right now I'm just saying that.  Wouldn't it be awesome if we had breaking announcements. There will be no news today.. people need to understand that really important decisions get made from city government they have a lot of power and a lot of influence . We have to understand that when you decide not to go out in the spring for city elections and vote, that's a really poor choice. Your local government role rather its  council or county board they make really important decisions that do affect your life. Even if you don't believe they do, they do. They affect your well being ,your whole life style of living in Green Bay, and I really hope cause of all the media attention. Because of the conversation about some of the alderman and some of the things that are happening ,and we know all about those things, that it engages people to get proactive and want to be participating in local government and city politics. Because it is an important job and it doesn’t get the props they deserve and people just assume that they just clean up your garbage cans and make sure that your driveway are plowed. They do all that but they also make important decisions like do we bring a major retailer into the downtown historic district of Green Bay. They get to make that choice and that is something that I will hope that there are people out there who want to be involved in making those decisions. So I really hope that in the spring of 2016 that we see a resurgence of people wanting to be involved in that process.  So do you think that people like you, me, and the clan of regulars the politically active people.. The consciences people. Right that is kind of where I am going with that. Do you think the controversy last year was enough to get people motivated during election two years later? I think that there is a lot of workings happening. I know that there are things happening under the surface. Conversation happening. A lot of people who came out of the community,that we didn’t know were there that were well spoken that were well versed that did research that actually had ties to the city in different ways we did not know about. And you are keeping them active. Yeah trying to. I think part of it you have to keep them active there is a whole system to it. People like that I feel like they become those one issue voters like the anti-abortion. That are like single issue voters like that so I get afraid of some of those people like that because if that is the one thing you are thinking about you are blind to all of these other issues. Like you said before these are the people we vote for who collect the garbage make sure we have adequate police resources or whatever. If you are focused on those things you are not worried about downtown Wal-Mart. Is there something that people can actually learn as an adult or do you to be something like us I feel like you came from a politically aware background?  My dad was a history and government major. They were on the school boards. That was a part of my life I used to hide behind, I am a complete political geek I love it. Let me say this. Local politics is a non partisanship issue. It says it right there on the ballet. The beauty of that is when you actually do run for local office you don’t have to deal with that type of thing very often. Green bay city council is never going to legislate abortions thank god.  You kind of like to see that debate. I see it somewhat on face book anyway. So if you are a person who is afraid to run for a district. Rather city or county.  Don’t point at me like that.  Know that you are probably not going to get that question often and if you do you probably just simply respond with you know this a non partisanship election and we don’t deal with that type of policy. I respect your views but that is not something that we deal with. What else can I do for you? So I think I know what you are going to answer for this. Do you think that was the place of city council to answer the Wal-Mart thing? Absolutely because that was a land use issue. That is what they are there for. They are supposed to decide on zoning. Tax base assess the value. That was really what it was about they didn’t bring a lot assessed value they didn’t bring a very good tax base. When you compare it to entire block of Broadway they really didn’t. That’s what we wanted them to look at so we spent a lot of time talking to them about it. Giving information. They do make a lot of decisions not everyone is happy with the results but they really are suppose to say does this development go here? Does it jive with the rest of the area? Is it worthwhile? Do we have to hand out a lot of tiff money? If we do are we going to get it back and these are things that they are suppose to do. Nice. I was nodding my head for that too. In a similar vein what do you think that people, that are not the mayor and city council, what can they do to develop that area make it kind of the kick ass vision that everybody wants? Not a giant parking lot that ends up looking like a big mistake. Are we talking Larson Green? Or whatever you don’t necessarily have to take it there but that is a very visual thing Well there are neighborhood associations for a reason. There are people who are actually active, politically active, who actually care about what happens in their neighborhood. Whether it be safety or development or what have you but that’s why they are there. They hold events to get feedback from residents. I would actually like to see neighborhood associations more active at a council meeting. We really would like to see more of this in our district you know work with their alderman vs.  not to say they are all doing this but just throwing wine tasting and talking about garage sales.  Let’s talk about what we can have here. Let’s do some research I like to see them be more politically active. I was in the neighborhood associating for a year and I got a little frustrated for that very reason because I was like the number one thing we are talking about is garage sale. Now if you get bored we can talk about something else. I love to talk about Green Bay. What do you think the on Broadway Association should be doing and it’s not? Let’s say you are talking to me and I am the President but there is going to be a new President and you want to give a message to that person. What would you tell them? He or she. I would say if I just look in the last year. I love what has happened. The wine tasting was great it brought a lot of people to the district. I had never been there before and I thought it was really successful. I volunteered for that and thought that it was a great idea. I am about action.  So thank you for volunteering by the way. I do it when I can.  Obviously. I like the benches. The waste baskets that was genius. That’s been my favorite it has been.  Did I tell you how it happened? I do know how it happened. It’s one of those things when things are not really going the way you expected and you have to problem solve. When you problem solve you come up with a solution that was better than the original thought. Right and you involved the community so it was like a win win. People probably get sick of me giving props but that was my favorite thing. That’s my most favorite thing that broadway has ever done because its long lasting and it’s an example of bringing people in that probably wouldn’t have been involved before. Turning lemons into lemonade. Its street art and I love street art. I think that is one of the best things you can do. To redefine and area. You know I did one. Yes I do. Mine is the worst one for the record Nick. Ya know. That was just a shoulder shrug. I didn’t even get a rude comment on it. Well it shows that these people really care about their area. They put a lot of energy into.  I did the green and yellow one. It’s fine. It’s totally not fine. Max did one. Which one? It was white and blue and then there was like blood for no reason. Pretty cool. Then Gina and our daughter did like the purple cat. Did you see that one? It’s right on the corner of Broadway and Walnut. That was Ret. Its super cool because it’s like the color of your hat. I know no one can see that. So anyway thanks for that.  So what else do I think they should be doing? Whoever you are or what you are. If you are a for profit or nonprofit. Whatever you organization stands for. I am a huge fan of action so you need to be doing things at all times. Not just talking about it. Not just meetings to hear each other speak. You need to be a force of action because that is how communities get better. So whatever that means to you, you have to get together and make a plan so I would like to see a little bit more action.  So I am going to be the devil’s advocate because I prefer action over inaction. Because even if you make a mistake you can fix mistakes. There would be some people that say forcing action would be confrontation. What would you say about that? Anything? Forcing action? Or whatever. Moving quickly. Some people may or may not have said that about me. To the point of confrontational. It’s interesting that you brought that up because I like action. Especially with easy decisions but even the difficult ones try to navigate with the best information I have at the time and say let’s just do this. The benches were a good example. Even with Wal-Mart being on the board I had a feudatory responsibility for the decisions that I put out there right.  So I can say that’s easy that’s my job I have to do that. Quietly behind closed doors I can say other things, but anyway we can move on from that. No I didn’t get a chance to respond to that. Whatever you are talking about forcing actions are we afraid that something bad will happen? What’s the temperature of your community? Are you getting a reaction that is not favorable are you getting a negative reaction? Whether it be conversation in the community, facebook, has the news media picked up on something? That is what matters. Interpersonal situations is just their own thing.  The purpose of your organization is what is the temperature of the community. Do you see a positive response? Are you seeing negative reaction because of forcing action? If you are not seeing anything one way or another then you are not doing enough. So I am not an idle person in any means is just bad as forcing action. So if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. Nick is already bored. You know he is like my barometer. He is like on the edge of his seat when Rhonda is talking then when I talk he is like oh boy. So shifting gears a little bit, I know you volunteered for On Broadway but what are some other things that you have volunteered for around the community? On a regular bases for the bay area human society it was something I used to do regularly years ago. But then I had a child and started my own business. But then once she turned eight she was actually able to volunteer. So that was a birthday gift from me, hey we are actually going to go and volunteer together. So that is what we do quiet often and it’s not an easy thing to do. Some nights I come home and feel like I am stapled to the floor but there is a need for it. That is probably something I like to say that I would like to see more people involved in. Volunteerism is what gets the moving into the direction that they need to go.  So what kind of thing do they have a need for? Really simple things like doing laundry. Poop checks is what they call it. Clean up the cages. People come to view the animal. They are not looking at a dog or cat that’s you know is not clean. That sort of thing. It’s really important and I spend a lot of time in the counsil room. I call that my volunteer work because I don’t get paid for it but I am there all the time.  So that was the sort of the b part of that question. So I said what organizations have you been involved in? Maybe there are some other things that I think you talked about your two favorites. Are there any other ones you want to elaborate on?  Well of course I try to help out at school as much as I can.  Which school? Give your school plug.  Aldo Leopode Green Bay.  That’s a good school my niece went there.  It’s wonderful it’s a great school I am very honored to be there. This is a hilarious question. I had asked Gina. I said this morning Max said why would anyone want to hear about her she’s just a person. It was the weirdest thing. I think he regrets saying that now.  Why not? Right shes actually very interesting. Nick was there was it pretty interesting. Nick- Yeah I think it’s worth putting out there. Maybe we can make it a bonus track.  Are you afraid of her? Nick- No. She doesn’t spark fear in you. Nick- Not really. Do I? Nick- Not really. A disturbance maybe. Okay I am sorry. So this is a good question, I will let you be the judge of that. What scares most people that you kind of take in stride.  Saying what you feel and putting yourself out there. So you are not afraid of putting yourself out there. I have put myself out there many times and it didn’t go well and I put myself out there many  times and it went great. I am really focused on the positive.  So you are not afraid of personal attacks.  I have had a million of things. It’s really not about me it’s about them.  That’s a good answer. I am going to steal parts of that. Ok I want to keep it under an hour. So what are you most looking forward to in the next twenty years? Twenty years. I just want to be alive. I am a cancer survivor just this last year. Really scary time in my life. I am looking forward to just trying to be healthy and be able to be in my daughter’s life and maybe serve my city somehow. Also use the fact that I don’t have fear of failure which some people don’t look at as a good thing I look forward to see what can happen with all of that.  So you are all clear you are cancer free? Yeah at this point that was not fun. So in twenty years we will have to do this again. Hopefully sooner. What is something that you think the couple people who might be listening like my mom, would be surprised to know about you? There is like the public Rhonda and everybody has their perception of you.  What would be something someone would be surprised to know? I am actually a pretty sensitive person. I am pretty simple. I had people think that I am high maintenance. I am not and I don’t require a lot to be happy. Everybody wants to focus on the things that are not going well. But for every one thing that is not going well there is like five things that are going well. I am not an overly religious person but I am pretty spiritual. I think the other perception is that I am kind of a hard ass. I have been told that I am mean and I am actually really not.  You’re passionate. I am passionate. Well I actually don’t really like that word because I feel that it is something attributed to women I feel like crying and spitting involved in that word.  I have been called passionate. Recently. I think I just don’t like to waste time. Because we never know how much time we have that sounds really dramatic but we don’t so why don’t we take care of it right now. Absolutely I am stealing like all of that. Are you? Really are you writing it down? No but I have it recorded.  Nick-Yeah I am recording this time. So I don’t think I had officially ten questions this time and that is sort of a guideline but we are kind of loose. I thought this was a good question and I asked Gina. I will tell you what she said. If you could co host an episode in the future which guest would you like to talk to? Is that guest or guests? Your choice so if you come up with three… And it has to be someone that would actually show up. We are not talking dream guest. You know what it could be a little bit of a reach but it should be somebody if you and I tag team we could get. So if Joe Biddens available. Naw. I wouldn’t want to talk to him either. All he would say is big f*** deal right. Can we stay local? Gina was local.  Can you tell me what she said? Yeah she said she would love to have Donna Schmit on. Oh yeah.She is a great woman. I have never not see her smiling. She doesn’t have RBF. You like stole that before I could even get it out.  She never does. She is always smiling. I love her.  I believe she and Gina share a birthday. This Saturday.  Then you should absolutely make that happen.  So you have to come up with one you don’t have too. No I want to. No I am not answer questions. I would say probably it has to be somebody that people know. Not really to me, not to talk over you that is part of this. I know a lot of super interesting people that a lot of people don’t know. But a lot of them are a little more private. So I think that’s okay to. Well that’s a hard question are you going to contact this person? I am a Dave Boyce fan he has always been so nice to me when he probably shouldn’t have been. I never forget the time I saw him like 11 pm shoveling snow. He wasn’t even an alderman anymore. Like I will never forget that. Shoveling snow at the city hall and he wasn’t even an alderman he had lost his district. We walked out side he was shoveling snow.  Not just a photo opp. No one was there it was 11 oclock and the media had already left. SO I would say Dave Boyce because he is a pretty interesting guy. He will doodle at council meetings. I would put myself next to him on purpose just to see what he is doodling.  Okay we are almost done. Why don’t you ask a question or tell me something I should have asked. What’s your greatest fear?  What’s my greatest fear? So over the last year I have gone thru a lot of ups and downs and weird stuff. I don’t know anymore. It’s kind of cliché to say that I am not afraid of anything because that’s probably not true, but I would jump out an airplane in a heartbeat take on the scariest roller coaster. I would get up and talk to whoever. So the typical things people are afraid of, I don’t care. I guess I am sort of afraid of betrayal. You know that people that you think know or trust, finding out that maybe they don’t really like you.   What are you afraid of about that though? Well it kind of calls into question who I am. I mean you are who your friends are and if I am all of sudden realizing that I have different friends then I thought I did. Or I have fewer friends. That’s something that it has been a long time since I have had to face something like that. I guess. I am not afraid of anything else. I think that all the typical things people are afraid of people like us take in stride. Part of that is being through really tough things, I haven’t been through cancer. All the things that were tough for me nothing really compares to that. I am not going to pretend like it does. I am pretty fearless. I think people are afraid of putting themselves out there. I feel like I have lived my entire adult life in the open. So you would be a pretty good host. Nick- We are looking for a new host by the way. I will do it.   So she comes in and she’s like I can hook you up with all sorts of new clients and his is like boom. So you got that other track ready? Nick-Sure. So the tracks that we don’t know the name. Nick- I think I know the names. The other one we listened to before was "Tormented Pleasure". This one I believe is "Demon's Cage". Demons cage also somewhat fitting.