Sandy Bowman and David Pecoraro

[00:02] DAVID PECORARO: You go first.

[00:04] SANDY BOWMAN: Okay. Well, my name is Sandy and I wanted to participate in this one small step because I want to talk to people who voted for Trump and I wanted to know why. But that hasn't happened yet. It's like I haven't seen it.

[00:31] DAVID PECORARO: It ain't happening today.

[00:34] SANDY BOWMAN: Well, I think like the one small step, it's funded by PBS and.

[00:41] SPEAKER C: They.

[00:41] SANDY BOWMAN: Advertise on NPR and they're all affiliated. And my thought is the people who are conservative NPR, and that's not one of their news sources. That's not where they're going to get information. So they don't know about this.

[01:02] SPEAKER C: So.

[01:05] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, I haven't had anybody yet, but I, I hope to.

[01:09] DAVID PECORARO: Well, this is my second interview, and the first one was with a conservative gentleman, so that was conducted prior to the election. I don't know how he ultimately voted, but I have a fair idea. So in that case, I did speak with Storm from the other end of the political spectrum. And I'm a member of speaking with anybody. Yeah, I have as many discussions with people to my right and to people to my left. I am a Democrat. Always have been a Democrat from a family of Democrats. My late brother was named John Kennedy. Pecoraro. So it's like, yeah, we're pretty well covered on that.

[02:09] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, I saw. I saw in your profile, I was so, like, that's good. It said Union. I'm like, well, he's definitely a Democrat because it seems like, yeah, that's.

[02:25] SPEAKER C: And.

[02:27] DAVID PECORARO: I I will be writing my wife's name in for mayor. I will not vote for the Democratic nominee in New York, so there's a limit to even how far I'll go.

[02:41] SANDY BOWMAN: I'm. I'm really disappointed. Are you disappointed in the party right now?

[02:48] DAVID PECORARO: Well, in some members of the party. It's some members. I'm not disappointed in the party as a whole. Although we could have done so much better last year if we would have presented a United Front. but I know that to accomplish what the, what I believe needs to be accomplished for this country, there's really only one possible road or, or tool to get from here to there and. That's the Democratic Party. It's not gonna be, even though we have a candidate in the mayor of New York City, who's from the Democratic Socialist, it's not electing Democratic Socialist, because you can't elect a Democratic Socialist president.

[03:48] SPEAKER C: No.

[03:49] SANDY BOWMAN: I mean, just the word, the word Socialist, carries a negative connotation. Across the country, I mean, it might not be bad like Bernie Sanders. I love Bernie, love, love, love Bernie Sanders. I love his message. But he's been labeled the Democratic Socialist. And that right there is the end of it. I mean, as the possibility. So I agree with you that we aren't going to have a Democratic Socialist for president. I don't think a woman has a chance right now because of.

[04:29] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, just.

[04:30] SANDY BOWMAN: Just because of our current atmosphere, the racism, the misogyny and everything that's coming out of the GOP has. It's just so negative.

[04:44] SPEAKER C: It's.

[04:46] DAVID PECORARO: Going to happen as an act. Presidential presidency. That's the only it's just the people will have a couple of years to see that the world doesn't fall apart because a woman is behind the resolution desk. They can't accept it before without an accident. Hopefully they'll accept it with, you know, with an accent or something of that sort.

[05:13] SANDY BOWMAN: So I have a question for you. It's in your profile, it says you were a delegate. And I was wondering how you felt.

[05:25] SPEAKER C: About.

[05:28] SANDY BOWMAN: Biden dropping out and Kamala Harris just was given the opportunity pretty much to run. And that was our nominee. And that was it. and I think that rubbed people the wrong way. But I was curious how you felt.

[05:48] DAVID PECORARO: I was a 2020 delegate, so my convention was in my living room with the decorations put up by my wife.

[05:57] SPEAKER C: No.

[05:59] DAVID PECORARO: I'm not. So as as far as what happened in 2024, I'm ashamed of Nancy Pelosi. I'm ashamed that President Obama didn't step in. I will never forgive George Clooney and Stephen Colbert and a few other people who were busy stabbing President Biden in the back. But once we got down to the voice of, okay, you've pushed him off the ledge. Then my feeling was that given the timing, there was only one possibility. And I was in the Cabala Harris cab once I. Yeah, once I. Yeah. Was able to. think properly. I was in the cabler Harris camp. Yeah.

[07:04] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, I definitely. I definitely supported her.

[07:07] DAVID PECORARO: But I feel as far as the process, you. You were. You were asking about the process, and the process was the only process that made any sense, and it made sense on. On. It made sense fiscally because she was already a signatory on the account. So that the transfer between, you know.

[07:34] SANDY BOWMAN: The funds.

[07:36] DAVID PECORARO: Was seamless. It made sense from a leadership perspective that she was the governing party. Yeah, governing partner, right, for three years, and she had played, I believe, an extraordinary role in that they made a great.

[08:01] SANDY BOWMAN: I agree. I just feel like a lot of people felt disenfranchised, like people that aren't in tune with politics every day, I don't think, realize how things work, so. they felt like Kamala was pushed down their throat when, in fact, it, I agree with you. She was like the complete, obvious choice because of all the money. And, and I gave money to Biden, like, just about on a monthly basis.

[08:32] SPEAKER C: And.

[08:34] SANDY BOWMAN: I was like, so what's gonna happen to all that money? And then I had read that.

[08:41] SPEAKER C: About.

[08:42] SANDY BOWMAN: The money just from Biden to Kamala. And I was like, okay, which makes sense because she needed money to do what she was doing. So, but I was, yeah, I just couldn't believe election night. I was completely, completely blown away.

[09:10] DAVID PECORARO: I had a hard time believing it, too, because my polling place. My polling place was full. Okay. It was. I mean, we had a line that go. Went to the door, which is unusual. It wasn't quite Obama level. A bubble level just wrapped around the block.

[09:32] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, Obama level was. It was so hopeful. I cried. I cried election night. I was like, oh, and there's one thing in my profile that one small step did not fix for me. I requested it. I am gay. Okay, so I should have started off with that just to let you know. But anyway, not that it really makes any difference at all. But I felt like America turned a corner when they elected Obama because I worked really hard on his campaign. I sent out canvas teams every canvassing teams every weekend and he came through and I thought we really turned a corner as a nation. I was like, wow, America elected A black man. I mean, how cool is that?

[10:33] DAVID PECORARO: I mean, I was, my boys were still young enough, you know, I'm on the couch, they're lying, they're lying down on the carpet and they had dozed off before 11 o'clock. But yeah, it was about a minute or two before 11, I said, Boys, wake up. you're going to see history in a minute. Oh, because I knew that once the polls closed on the West Coast, it was over right there.

[11:04] SPEAKER C: Right.

[11:04] DAVID PECORARO: Because he had already won Ohio. He already had more with the more than 270. It was a take walk at that point. You just had to bide your time waiting for the West Coast calls to close.

[11:22] SPEAKER C: Right.

[11:22] DAVID PECORARO: What's the close? Game was over. And, you know, it was. It was a tear in the eyes. I said, hey, boys, wake up. And we tried to get a room for the 20. 2009 inauguration. That was not gonna help happen. We did get a, uh, room right by the. ball parks in Baltimore,, in in the harbor for the second inauguration. so we did attend.

[11:54] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, nice.

[11:56] DAVID PECORARO: Oh, I mean, when I say we attended, okay? like, we were out in we had tickets from our congress then and they were but they were you, as I expected, way, way, way, way, way, way.

[12:09] SANDY BOWMAN: Way way, way way, way in the.

[12:11] DAVID PECORARO: About yeah, but that's what you expected, you know? Yeah, I mean, just the fact I was there. The drive hub was a. Was terrifying because we.

[12:25] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, the Beltway had.

[12:28] DAVID PECORARO: No, on 95, because by the time we got out, it was getting. It was dark and. there was snow falling, but it wasn't sticking. It was just blowing. It was blowing all over. And you couldn't. You could not see much in front of you, especially with the headlights. I had to actually turn my headlights off. I couldn't see because the snow was just reflecting right. The light right back. Oh, my gosh. I couldn't. Yeah, I think I rode with the parking lights on. and that was about it. It was like, you know.

[13:07] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, that had to be terrifying.

[13:10] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, I had my two kids in the car. Yeah, yeah, it was a memory. Yeah, then we got across the Delaware Bridge and it was all gone.

[13:27] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, nice. Yeah, it's 95 is absolutely horrible. It's horrible. I was coming back from Chesapeake City. We drove, it's like an hour away for us. So it was a nice day trip. But coming back, and it was on a Sunday, coming back was just a nightmare. I was like white knuckling it all the way until I got off the side.

[13:54] DAVID PECORARO: The road was clear. This road was clear. What's the matter that there was traffic? it's just that you couldn't see more than five feet in front of you.

[14:02] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah.

[14:02] DAVID PECORARO: It really. It was just a blind. It was like being in a snow globe. And it. It just, you know, lovely. If you were watching it from outside of a car, I'm sure.

[14:15] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[14:15] DAVID PECORARO: As a driver, it was. It was not quite. It was interesting.

[14:24] SANDY BOWMAN: Well, it's a good memory, though. I mean, you were at inauguration, so that's pretty cool. Not everybody can say that.

[14:32] DAVID PECORARO: Well, both of my boys attended Clinton inaugurations when they were six months old.

[14:40] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, wow.

[14:48] DAVID PECORARO: Again, you know. although that weather was especially the second one. Oh, yeah, yeah. That looks so cold. Actually, the first walking around the second. I'm sorry. The first one. No, who's the second one? The second one was really, really, really cold to where, uh, you know, we're worried about my youngest, uh, from it. during the first one, my wife retreated to the. Wherever they were holding the New York celebration. She couldn't stand it Outdoors. And mayor Jenkins took one look at my. At my eldest. Yeah, he was in the carriage or whatever and just fell in love with them. Yeah. How beautiful the boy was. I got to. I got. I got to tell mayor Jenkins the last time I saw him before he passed that, you know, that boy that he thought was so beautiful, you know, all grown up and doing what he was fine. So that was. That was a memory.

[16:00] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[16:01] SANDY BOWMAN: Then you've got good memories. That's awesome.

[16:05] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[16:07] DAVID PECORARO: Can'T complain about that. The brain cells are still working to some extent, so I can't complain. Let's see. Okay, next question.

[16:21] SPEAKER C: Oh.

[16:23] SANDY BOWMAN: Well, why did you want to participate in this?

[16:27] DAVID PECORARO: Again, just to talk with people from, I guess, across the to make Trump. I mean, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna be people within this that I agree with. They're going to be people that I disagree with, and I believe I can keep it civil. You know, I was a teacher for 30 years, so it's like, okay, I could, I think I can handle this.

[16:57] SPEAKER C: And.

[16:58] DAVID PECORARO: Plus, they do give you some biographical screenings. So, you know, there are certain hot words or phrases that if I see that in the, in the description, and I saw a couple. Yeah, I don't reject many. There was like two people that said, no, this is conversations like one from the left and one from the right. the one from the left was questioning the whether Israel should continue to exist or not. I said, no, I don't think we're going to agree very much on this. Even though we may have voted for the same people, we get to that end of the discussion and we're just not going to an agreement on this one.

[17:51] SANDY BOWMAN: And that's okay. I mean, it's.

[17:54] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, I happen to be, by the way, they don't list the last name. Okay. But my last name is. Is. Is from Sicily, but I'm Jewish because my mother was Jewish, so. And I carry on that faith and I carry on. more than a few of her beliefs.

[18:18] SANDY BOWMAN: That's good. Now, how do you feel about Israel? How do you feel about what's going on in Israel right now with Netanyahu?

[18:28] DAVID PECORARO: Well, I. I wish this war could end so that Netanyahu could finally, finally be removed. Okay. But that's not gonna happen. You guys, that's like a half a while they're at War. and they're going to be at war.

[18:43] SPEAKER C: Until.

[18:45] DAVID PECORARO: Hamas comes to the realization that they cannot exist there anymore. Whether they exist as corporeal beings is another question, but they certainly can't exist there. There has to be a surrender, laying down of arms, and the hostages just have to be removed, have to be released, and then you can get peace and we can move on.

[19:13] SPEAKER C: But.

[19:15] DAVID PECORARO: You know, I mean, the latest negotiations were. No, we will not surrender. Okay, so that's nothing to talk about. Fine.

[19:25] SANDY BOWMAN: I mean, it would just stay at War.

[19:29] DAVID PECORARO: If that's what the problem is that they are using. innocent cousins as humans.

[19:36] SANDY BOWMAN: I know. And that's human.

[19:40] DAVID PECORARO: You would feel implies that they're deflecting bullets away. No, they're taking the bullets.

[19:46] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[19:48] DAVID PECORARO: And they shouldn't have to, but that has been the choice of their leadership.

[19:57] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[19:59] DAVID PECORARO: I wish it all could end, but it ain't happening anytime soon.

[20:05] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, it doesn't look like it. I was. I was just wondering what your stance was on Netanyahu. Netanyahu. And I do. I feel like he needs to go. He's just. He's not any more than Trump is a peacemaker. I mean, Pete Trump is. bullcrap, in my opinion. But they don't want peace. They don't want peace.

[20:29] DAVID PECORARO: They're both. They're both.

[20:32] SANDY BOWMAN: They're cut from the same cloth. Both of them are very much so.

[20:37] DAVID PECORARO: Very much so. Oh, although I think we are stuck with the work with the worst end of the bargain, if you will. went for as bad as Netanyahu is. There's. I don't know if people watch the Twilight Zone.

[21:02] SANDY BOWMAN: You mean now?

[21:03] DAVID PECORARO: I mean, I'm talking about. No, I mean, like, back to today or now, what have you?

[21:10] SANDY BOWMAN: I haven't watched this. Okay, watch it.

[21:16] DAVID PECORARO: Okay, there was an episode, the Howling Man, and I think it's an apt description of Trump, is that you had.

[21:29] SPEAKER C: This.

[21:31] DAVID PECORARO: Man that was kept behind.

[21:34] SPEAKER C: A.

[21:34] DAVID PECORARO: Bar door in a monastery by these thugs, I guess. and this person comes out of the rain, you know, and is here's this poor, poor, poor man suffering in the jail cell in the cell of this, this Monastery, and is convinced to release this prisoner. And it turns out this prisoner is, in fact, the devil.

[22:08] SPEAKER C: And.

[22:09] SANDY BOWMAN: Wow.

[22:11] DAVID PECORARO: And that is what the American population did last November.

[22:21] SPEAKER C: You.

[22:21] DAVID PECORARO: They released the devil from the jail, and I don't think you get him back. Yeah, I. I mean, yeah, I think it's pretty much. that's simple.

[22:35] SPEAKER C: But.

[22:38] SANDY BOWMAN: How do you, what do you think about our next elections if we have an election?

[22:42] DAVID PECORARO: What next election? Yeah, I, I, I'm not, I have not been. Yeah, I believe that it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to have a free and fair election in 2026. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's nice that people are by trying to fight the Texas gerrymander. But in the end, I think that they're going to scare people away from the polls.

[23:12] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, yeah, I agree. Excuse me a minute. I have to. There we go. Sorry. I wish I could get my computer to work.

[23:27] DAVID PECORARO: Sorry. I mean, I have a tablet, but I decided, yeah, I'm still working my way to using that completely. But as long as I've got my cell phone work on the, yeah, it.

[23:44] SANDY BOWMAN: Seems to be a lot easier to maneuver around on the phone than it does online.

[23:50] SPEAKER C: So.

[23:51] SANDY BOWMAN: And I still have an AOL account. My mail is just through AOL only because I'm so incredibly lazy and I don't want to change everything. It's been like 30 years, so I have everything has got my email.

[24:07] DAVID PECORARO: I just heard something about AOL that I did not know still happened, but they're ending dial up in September. October. And it's like, my question was, my.

[24:21] SANDY BOWMAN: Statement was, who has dialogue? Who has dialogue?

[24:26] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, I had no concept that. That people were still using dial up, but, you know, I didn't even know.

[24:34] SANDY BOWMAN: It was still available. Like, I didn't even know it was still available. Like.

[24:41] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, it's like. you know, you hear like some actor or actress uh, died in their nineties and you ask the question, they were still alive? And yeah, and that's the same thing that but but the when I heard this I said of I was looking at the da trying to find the data on the article and that this article had to be tenfteen years old. It was just so now It's like you know, when I heard about the news, like, wow, this is real. This is current. This is not. This is not an article from the archives. It's like, oh.

[25:20] SANDY BOWMAN: There must be some people who still have it. And I would imagine that would be, like, people that don't have money for, like, a monthly service. you know, so they.

[25:35] DAVID PECORARO: People who are isolated.

[25:37] SPEAKER C: Right.

[25:38] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah. There's still, there are still people as far as internet is concerned who are isolated.

[25:44] SPEAKER C: Right.

[25:45] DAVID PECORARO: They live in small pockets, so. And that have not fully served.

[25:51] SANDY BOWMAN: Do you, do you use streaming services?

[25:56] DAVID PECORARO: A few. A few.

[26:00] SANDY BOWMAN: I'm pretty sure this was Hulu. But there. Do you have Hulu?

[26:06] SPEAKER C: No.

[26:07] SANDY BOWMAN: No, pretty sure.

[26:09] DAVID PECORARO: That's one that's not there.

[26:11] SANDY BOWMAN: Hulu or Netflix. There is a. I don't have either one.

[26:16] SPEAKER C: No.

[26:16] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, that's a shame. What do you have?

[26:22] DAVID PECORARO: Prime. a little bit of Apple. What I mean by a little bit of Apple, it covers our soccer MLS.

[26:36] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, okay. I have. We have.

[26:40] DAVID PECORARO: I have a super question. It just popped in my head.

[26:42] SANDY BOWMAN: Okay.

[26:43] DAVID PECORARO: I thought that you were from West Chester, PA.

[26:46] SANDY BOWMAN: I am.

[26:47] DAVID PECORARO: I know that the Philly Union plays in Chester. PTA. How far is this?

[26:55] SANDY BOWMAN: Chester. Probably. Okay. West Chester is right. Maybe a half an hour out of the city, out of Philadelphia, to the. To the west of Philadelphia. Chester is probably a wee bit closer, but. Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't go to Chester. It's, it's not real safe. It's, it's, really?

[27:25] SPEAKER C: No.

[27:26] DAVID PECORARO: Mm-mm. Okay. I was there for a soccer match a few years ago and other than, you know, getting myself fantastically lost for a while, it wasn't terrible.

[27:44] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[27:46] DAVID PECORARO: I didn't have any.

[27:48] SANDY BOWMAN: Maybe. Maybe I. There's parts of Chester that make the. The news, the local news that are just unsafe. If you want. So it.

[28:04] SPEAKER C: It.

[28:04] SANDY BOWMAN: There's parts of Philly that are unsafe. There's parts of West Chester that are not real safe, too, but.

[28:11] DAVID PECORARO: I'm sure that you have to use your judgment. I know that my grandmother was born in Philly, although I'm not exactly sure where. And I know I one time did plan a day trip by myself to Philadelphia. I said, oh, I'd like to go by where old Connie Mack was. People tell me, no, you don't. no, you don't.

[28:39] SANDY BOWMAN: No, you don't. Yeah, it's a big. And Philly's a beautiful city. It's a sanctuary City. So, you know, who knows? Oh, but our. Our Septa, our Regional rails and our transportation buses, but the. Rae. We just, our Pennsylvania house and the Senate are just, they're so long overdue on a budget and just got caught off, cut off. I mean, they're not, people are, it's, it's already starting, like, just, I, I've.

[29:23] DAVID PECORARO: Been reading about what, what Governor Shapiro is and say.

[29:27] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, I like Shapiro.

[29:29] DAVID PECORARO: I, I really, I was actually campaigning for him that last weekend before the, I guess that'd be the 22 election. I was down as Kelly rubbed a good Bliss drop up foot walking around.

[29:47] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, wow. Really?

[29:48] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, he, yeah, I mean, luckily, I had a couple of local, local teachers who were who knew the area. I didn't know. Yeah, I'm just like, I'm following you guys.

[30:03] SANDY BOWMAN: Where were you? Where were you?

[30:07] DAVID PECORARO: Somewhere in Philly. I can't tell you. Okay. Had. Had I looked. The one thing I remember besides the park where Governor Shapiro's bus was. parked and I signed up on, yeah, they had us signing the bus, so photographing the bus, so I was able to reach real high and find a, an empty spot because I got long arms. But yes, I remember there was a park around there and I remember there was a Kansas City Chiefs bar that we stopped at.

[30:42] SANDY BOWMAN: A Kansas City Chiefs bar, you know.

[30:45] DAVID PECORARO: Uniform like and if you ask me much more than that, you don't know. I, I, you know, I'd have to do my Sergeant Schultz impersonation, but just. I would have just absolutely no clue. If they. If they lost me, I might still be wandering with streets of. Oh.

[31:07] SPEAKER C: Go.

[31:07] DAVID PECORARO: Three years later, you know, my wife. would never have heard of for me again. Yeah. Yeah. I would have called for help. I don't know where the flip I am. And I would not have known how to get back to my car. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. My car was. It was in Philly.

[31:29] SANDY BOWMAN: The same.

[31:30] DAVID PECORARO: I was in Philly. I just didn't know. Huh?

[31:32] SANDY BOWMAN: The same thing would happen to me in Philly. I'm kind of a country boy.

[31:37] SPEAKER C: Oh.

[31:37] SANDY BOWMAN: I'm not. I'm not very, like, comfortable walking around the city because I don't know it. I can get to the convention center and go to, like, the flower show.

[31:49] DAVID PECORARO: And I don't think we're far from the convention center as. As.

[31:52] SPEAKER C: As.

[31:53] DAVID PECORARO: Because I can remember signs leading there.

[31:58] SANDY BOWMAN: Well, around the convention center, there's the Reading Terminal Market. that has all of these stores in it. It's like a city block.

[32:08] DAVID PECORARO: That's my level of expertise.

[32:10] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, it's.

[32:12] DAVID PECORARO: I just remember the slide from the convention center. I remember we were at a, I think the stagehands union office. That's where we lost our car. Now that I'm thinking back, four, three years ago, it. Yeah, that part just came back to me. I was parked somewhere around there, but, yeah, it's. I got back. I said, thank you.

[32:40] SANDY BOWMAN: So you're. You're located in. In New York.

[32:44] DAVID PECORARO: Where.

[32:46] SANDY BOWMAN: Where at?

[32:47] DAVID PECORARO: Okay. Have you ever floated to JFK?

[32:50] SANDY BOWMAN: No, I. You know what? The only time I was in New York was. When I was a chaperone to take like the sixth grade class up to to see Phantom of the Opera. It was it was orchestra. It was the kids orchestra. And we went up to see Phantom of the Opera and thank God somebody was knew where they were going because I didn't. I mean, I just watched the kids. That was all I did.

[33:23] DAVID PECORARO: Well, I did one time of a score, you know, where I was solo sporting kids on a trip, and it was a very small group, but it still scared the living heck out of me. I I took a group of kids to. From my math class to the coned shareholders meeting in the city.

[33:47] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, really?

[33:47] DAVID PECORARO: And then after I escorted a couple of the girls who had one scholarship to. To their. Where they were receiving their scholarship from our union. So that was like. But the idea that I was escorting these youngsters and pray that none of them would go anywhere near the track was bone chilling.

[34:15] SPEAKER C: Really?

[34:16] DAVID PECORARO: Absolutely bone chilling. I mean, I knew my way around. It was just simply a matter of I was so scared. I was so scared. And these are good kids. Yeah, these are the best kids we had in the building. So they were. They were sweethearts. There was no. They weren't problem kids at all.

[34:37] SPEAKER C: Right.

[34:38] SANDY BOWMAN: It was just.

[34:38] DAVID PECORARO: I was just so incredibly. scared that I was going to screw up. Unfortunately, everything went well, and we move on. And I did a couple of school trips with, yeah, where the school went out to the ballpark, but it was a whole bunch of us, so there was little chance I could screw up all by my lonesome.

[35:05] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[35:06] DAVID PECORARO: Or that the kids, yeah, that we were able to maintain enough control and everything was fine. And I know my way around Manhattan, so a fair extent, and I know my way around Queens to a fair extent, and that's where I live. Brooklyn, on the other hand.

[35:28] SPEAKER C: No.

[35:30] DAVID PECORARO: Huh?

[35:30] SANDY BOWMAN: You don't know Brooklyn?

[35:33] DAVID PECORARO: Huh?

[35:34] SANDY BOWMAN: You don't know Brooklyn?

[35:35] DAVID PECORARO: No, I don't live in Brooklyn. What about Brooklyn?

[35:38] SANDY BOWMAN: Or you know your way around Brooklyn?

[35:42] DAVID PECORARO: No, no, no. There's only. There's a few places I could get to. My eldest son lives in Brooklyn. I could get there fine. I I. The ballpark in Brooklyn, Coney Island. I could get there.

[35:55] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[35:56] DAVID PECORARO: With virtual. My iPhone. Kings Plaza. I can get to it. If it isn't off the belt Parkway, forget about it. The belt is my lifeline, you know, from Queens, where it starts at Queens. And it's my. It's the lifeline. I I can. Anything below the belt, I have a shot at anything outside of that. and. Yeah, then it's a matter of depending upon the kindness of strangers. Yeah, because I just don't. Yeah, I mean, I can get those Arizona bridges too. That's again right off the belt.

[36:42] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[36:42] DAVID PECORARO: So that's.

[36:44] SANDY BOWMAN: That's neat.

[36:45] DAVID PECORARO: Anything. Anything that's near the belt Parkway, which is right by. Which. passes near JFK Airport just fine. As far as where I'm located, I'm located basically on the edge of Queens County and the city of New York.

[37:06] SANDY BOWMAN: Okay.

[37:07] DAVID PECORARO: Five minute, five, ten minute walk away. And you're in Nassau County. You're in what is called Long Island, political Long Island. When you hear about Long Island, you're talking about Nassau and Suffolk counties. Although technically, geographically, Queens and Brooklyn are part of Long Island. We're part of geographic Long Island, not political Long Island.

[37:36] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, really?

[37:38] DAVID PECORARO: There are two, yeah, but nobody but people outside of New York would, and even within New York, would not recognize Queens and Brooklyn in most cases as being part of Long Island, yet geographically in fact we are. We are. The Bronx is part of, the Bronx is the only part of, of the, of the five boroughs of New York that is actually connected to the mainland as such. Manhattan is its own island. Long Island contains two of the boroughs and then you have Staten Island, which is why we have all these bridges.

[38:23] SANDY BOWMAN: Because all these islands, Staten Island, we.

[38:27] DAVID PECORARO: Have a bunch of bridges.

[38:28] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, bridges.

[38:29] DAVID PECORARO: It's own island. Bridges. There's always how do you get to Staten Island? You take the ferry or you take one of the bridges, the Verrazano from Brooklyn, or you take the bridges from New Jersey.

[38:43] SANDY BOWMAN: I got lost.

[38:44] DAVID PECORARO: The only way you access Staten Island or you learn how to swim very well.

[38:48] SANDY BOWMAN: I accidentally, we were on our way up to Providence Town, Rhode Island or Providence.

[38:58] DAVID PECORARO: Okay.

[38:58] SANDY BOWMAN: Massachusetts. And somehow or another, I ended up on Staten Island. I made a wrong turn somewhere. What across the bridge?

[39:07] DAVID PECORARO: I have no idea. Bless your heart.

[39:11] SANDY BOWMAN: I have no idea either. I was just like, oh, Jesus Christ, what am I gonna do? But I got off and back on the right path.

[39:21] DAVID PECORARO: Well, I'm glad you found your way home. that again. This was on the trip up to Massachusetts.

[39:30] SANDY BOWMAN: It was on. It was on our way up. I guess we had already gone through Connecticut. Do you go through Connecticut first to get to.

[39:41] DAVID PECORARO: No, no, no, no.

[39:43] SANDY BOWMAN: That we had already gone through.

[39:44] DAVID PECORARO: If you went through Connecticut, you would have had to do a U-turn to get back to Staten Island. There's no. no, no, no, no, no.

[39:52] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, so I. I made the wrong turn somewhere and ended up.

[39:56] DAVID PECORARO: Oh, yeah, you. There's no way you were. Again, if you were traveling north to Massachusetts, there was, you know, there's no way in my imagination. I admit I may not have the most Vivid imagination, but there's no way you could have went to connect from Connecticut to Staten Island. without going south. And you were heading north.

[40:20] SANDY BOWMAN: So I don't know. It's probably been heading back home.

[40:26] DAVID PECORARO: If you were heading back home.

[40:28] SANDY BOWMAN: I was on my way up there where Tracy and I were both on our way up there. And I'm, I'm the person, I'm type A personality. When I go somewhere, I have to have my, I have to have my directions either. at the time, which is like 23 years ago, I would have printed them out and I would have had my step-by-step instructions because we didn't have GPS then.

[40:55] SPEAKER C: Right.

[40:55] SANDY BOWMAN: But Tracy, she's like, we just go north.

[40:59] SPEAKER C: This.

[41:00] SANDY BOWMAN: This is Tracy.

[41:01] SPEAKER C: This.

[41:01] SANDY BOWMAN: This is her personality. You know, she flies by the seat of her pants, and I'm not a fly by the seat of my pants type gal, so. Yeah, our ride up there was quite rough. I was like.

[41:16] DAVID PECORARO: The way we divide up our duty between my wife and I is that she's the navigator, I'm the pilot. She tells me where to go and I will steer the car in the right direction. That's the division of labor right there. She used to be the person holding the paper. and that she's the person holding the phone.

[41:40] SANDY BOWMAN: I'm, I'm, I'm the driver and she's the, she's the navigator. She's supposed to navigate.

[41:47] DAVID PECORARO: Exactly. That's exactly the way it's got. Yeah. Again, my sense of direction is incredibly poor. Yeah, I recognize my, my limitations.

[42:01] SPEAKER C: And.

[42:03] DAVID PECORARO: That is my limitation. I don't, I don't, I don't have a certain direction. Yeah, actually, the cars now tell you that you're going north or east or west or whatever sort of stuff. So that helps, you know, especially if you have to leave a road.

[42:29] SPEAKER C: You.

[42:30] DAVID PECORARO: You could figure out a general way home. So, yeah, that helps. It still isn't perfect, but it helps.

[42:43] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[42:45] SANDY BOWMAN: So I. I have. I have a question for you about. It's political, like in your family or friends, do you. Have you had any political differences where it's made it difficult to maintain a friendship or a relationship?

[43:07] DAVID PECORARO: Oh boy. Well, first of all, my father's side of the family, which is the only existing side of the family, we really don't talk because they're all Trump. I mean, just all, they were brought up differently. They were brought up in Suffolk County primarily, and they're all right wingers. I mean, that's just the political landscape of Suffolk County, which is the easternmost portion of Long Island. It's Suffolk. You have Nassau sort of kind of in the middle. and then you have Queen, so that's. But Suffolk County is just. That's death taking pattern. And so, yeah, we don't. We haven't talked in years other than at funerals.

[44:02] SANDY BOWMAN: So is it. Is it Trump or is it just conservatism?

[44:08] DAVID PECORARO: It's the latter, I think. I. I think that. I think much of that. but more so with Trump. You see, the thing is, I remember my immigrant roots. Okay.

[44:26] SPEAKER C: And.

[44:29] DAVID PECORARO: I don't think they quite grasp it. Okay. I knew my grandmother from Sicily. okay. She was crazy, but I knew her.

[44:44] SPEAKER C: And.

[44:46] DAVID PECORARO: So I had that connection, and I can't deny another human being the chance that was given to my paternal grandparents or my maternal great-grandparents so.

[45:07] SPEAKER C: I.

[45:08] DAVID PECORARO: I can't pull up the ladder on.

[45:10] SPEAKER C: People.

[45:12] DAVID PECORARO: And they can't say they with people that we grew up across the street from. They.

[45:23] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[45:25] DAVID PECORARO: Yeah, we were. We were a family of four boys. They were a family of three. three girls.

[45:31] SPEAKER C: And.

[45:34] DAVID PECORARO: They grew up, you know, Republican. We grew up Democratic. And so they're, you know, and.

[45:45] SPEAKER C: The.

[45:46] DAVID PECORARO: Thing that gets me is one of the girls, she's my age. She's six months younger than me. One of the girls. She's a Republican. She voted for Trump, and she's gay. And I don't understand. I don't, I'm sorry. Yeah, I, I, then again, my youngest son is half Latino. He voted for Trump. But his girlfriend, who's, who's from the Caribbean, his family's from the Caribbean, she voted for Trump. I don't understand you people. No, I mean, it did create a little friction between my son and myself right before the election.

[46:33] SANDY BOWMAN: Yeah, I understand that.

[46:36] DAVID PECORARO: Well, what happened was we came home from visiting a dying friend in New Jersey. Oh, and so my mind, my head was not. in a great place to begin with. And as I'm parking in our driveway, I see a car parked right across the street with a sign that said, F Joe Biden. And it's like, okay, so I walked into the yard and said, who owns that truck with that sign? And one of the and raises his hand. And then I very calmly, in this voice, said with all due respect, ask Donald John Trump with a rusty meat hook. And I walked out of the yard. My son didn't want to speak with me for about a week. I had embarrassed him from his friends. He was like, how dare you pop my truck right across the street from our house? you have to understand our neighborhood is like 85-90% Democratic. It's, you know, it's like it's virtually all African-American Afro-Caribbean that sign is, as a, is just simply, it's inappropriate anywhere. It's inappropriate, especially in this neighborhood. And it's inappropriate if you're living under my roof. okay. Because I. Yeah, my wife and I, we still own this house, but he doesn't. I hate to have to pull rags, but you know what? I pull a little rack on this one. So for a couple weeks, it was. It was dicey, but, yeah, we've gotten beyond that. He still doesn't quite understand that he's. That we're all getting screwed so vitally and. yeah. I don't know how we make it through the next four years. I don't know how we make it till next January.

[48:43] SANDY BOWMAN: It is.

[48:46] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[48:46] SANDY BOWMAN: Because even if Trump is gone, like something happens to Trump and JD Vance is the vice president, then we still have the same problem. I mean, it's project 2025. It's. it's not the person, it's the project.

[49:05] DAVID PECORARO: So it's both. It's both. Yeah. And just as a spotlight, but the last time I saw ankles, like, like he's guy, was on my grandmother. My. My maternal grandmother. Three months before she died.

[49:22] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[49:23] SANDY BOWMAN: And those.

[49:23] DAVID PECORARO: Those ankles are no joke.

[49:26] SANDY BOWMAN: No, those. no, no, no. Telling what's going on him and his mind is, is like mush. I mean, he, he doesn't Make any sense. Apparently yesterday at the Kennedy Center, he was talking about grass. It's like growing grass at the Kennedy Center because the grass at the current grass at the Kennedy Center is. It's outlived its lifetime. I'm like, what? It's the money that's being spent right now for his gold, the ballroom, the gold crap around the Oval Office and the Rose Garden, Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden, all this money.

[50:20] DAVID PECORARO: For what? For what?

[50:23] SANDY BOWMAN: And you're taking away from people at the same time?

[50:27] DAVID PECORARO: Because he's not planning on leaving in four years.

[50:30] SANDY BOWMAN: No.

[50:31] DAVID PECORARO: But I suspect that Satan may be calling him home.

[50:36] SANDY BOWMAN: Say that again.

[50:38] DAVID PECORARO: I suspect Satan will be calling him home.

[50:42] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, I am hoping. I am hoping.

[50:46] DAVID PECORARO: I did not say God.

[50:48] SPEAKER C: Right.

[50:48] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, I know you didn't. I know you didn't.

[50:50] DAVID PECORARO: I just wanna make sure that, that.

[50:53] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, I want so many people that I know.

[50:58] DAVID PECORARO: Not that I'm wishing harm upon him. I'm just looking at the, you know, looking at those ankles and they are a sign of something deadly.

[51:09] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[51:10] SANDY BOWMAN: Oh, yeah. Agreed.

[51:12] SPEAKER C: And.

[51:14] SANDY BOWMAN: I just hope karma gets her due.

[51:19] DAVID PECORARO: That's okay. On that note, I guess we'll.

[51:27] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[51:27] DAVID PECORARO: We could, I guess we'll call it a day. I have to at least move on, take care of a couple of things.

[51:33] SANDY BOWMAN: I do too. It's been good talking.

[51:35] DAVID PECORARO: It's been a pleasure.

[51:36] SANDY BOWMAN: And it's very interesting. I really enjoy this. So, It's been a while. And you have a great day.

[51:49] DAVID PECORARO: You too.

[51:50] SANDY BOWMAN: Take care. Bye-bye.