VOA – CONNECT 
EPISODE # 180   
AIR DATE: 06 25 2021    
TRANSCRIPT

OPEN ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Tiny Home Living 
((SOT)) 
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
So, I got turned down by five loan people. And I go, “That's 
it. I'm going to go and buy me my tiny home, pay for it and 
then it’s mine.” 
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Working to Play 
((SOT)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I feel like I, sort of, stumbled into this career. It wasn't 
something that I ever, you know, like as a young kid, I was 
like, ‘Oh, I'm dying to be a nurse’. It didn’t end up like that. I 
was set to be a musician for a long time. I needed 
something, you know, like the old day job.  
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Helping Children in Transition 
((SOT)) 
((Robert Garcia, Mayor, Long Beach)) 
There are about 700 kids right now. They’ve got three meals 
a day. They're going to school. They're playing. A lot of the 
kids are already leaving. They're being reunited with their 
family in the United States. Most of them have family in the 
US already or with sponsor families as well. 
((Open Animation))  
 

BLOCK A 
 
 
((PKG)) TINY HOUSE BLOCK 
((TRT:  8:24)) 
((Topic Banner: Tiny House Community)) 
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martínez)) 
((Map: Mount Laguna, California)) 
((Main character: 1 female)) 
((Sub characters: 2 females))
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Text on screen: 
Trailer homes and parks have long been a housing option for 
lower income Americans. 
More recently, the concept of small, portable homes is 
proving increasingly attractive to middle income customers.)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
A tiny home is a home that is under 400 square feet [37 m2]. 
So, yeah, this is definitely it.  
It's always been my dream to live in a tiny house. I saw the 
documentary “Minimalism” when I was 17 and I started to 
realize that you could live in a way that was different and that 
we don't necessarily need all of these things that the 
American dream tells us that we need: getting a bigger 
house or a better car, and just always trying to accumulate 
possessions that are a reflection of who we want people to 
think that we are, but really we just bought those things and 
it has nothing to do with who we are at all, and we should be 
focusing on relationships.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
In here is the living room.  
Yeah, I like shoes a lot. I've been into sneakers pretty much 
my entire life. This is the kitchen area. And then, over here is 
what I call the office. And then in here we have the 
bathroom. And my loft, I absolutely love it. It's my favorite 
part of the house.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I feel like I was always meant to live in a small place. 
Everything feels like it's the right size for me. I'm 5’3” [160 
cm] and the world is built for like a 5’10” [178 cm] person. 
And I think that the push is coming from the younger 
generation, especially just with the way the economy is and 
affordability of having your own space. Living in a tiny home 
makes it so attainable and affordable to do so. It really does.  
((NATS)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
There is 25 houses here at Tiny House Block. Some of them 
are individually owned, a few of them are, but then most of 
them belong to the community. Jon and Melissa Block 
[Affordable housing entrepreneurs] started Tiny House Block 
because they saw the need for and the demand for a place 
that is safe and legal to park a tiny home. We have ones as 
small as number one over there. I know hikers really love 
that one. We get a lot of hikers visiting us here. It's just such 
a beautiful place. Over here is actually number eight, the 
Flower Fun House that I'm going to be cleaning today.  
((NATS)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I'm lucky enough to actually be able to work on site at Tiny 
House Block and my main job here is cleaning our short-
term rentals that we have on Airbnb for the guests when they 
check in and check out. I do housekeeping and then I also 
do the social media and I'm responsible for the newsletter.  
((NATS)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
Erica moved in around the same time as me and it's been so 
great having her here.  
((NATS)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
Hi. 
((Erica Moslander, Tiny House resident)) 
Hi, how are you?  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I'm good.  
How's my little Iggy?  
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Lovely as always.  
This is my house. Yeah. Well, it's not my house. I'm renting 
it. I'm working internet-based. So, as long as I can tap into 
the internet, we're all good. So, with COVID, since the kids 
were able to be remote, we could go really wherever we 
wanted to go. And I found this tiny home community, which 
is something that's always been intriguing to me, definitely 
within my budget.  
((NATS)) 
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
There were some challenges. Like they've had to learn to 
adjust to a different lifestyle, for sure. And so, like you start 
to go within yourself, I think, for your basic needs, like to 
keep yourself company, to keep your imagination going and 
just to be able to appreciate the people that are around you. 
((NATS)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I just feel like everything's okay.  
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Definitely.  
It's actually possible to live a lifestyle like that where you're 
free from all those things that burden you, all those 
materialistic things that we are trying to keep up maintaining. 
There's a liberation that comes in not having to maintain all 
of that. 
((NATS)) 
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
I got rid of everything before I moved here.  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
How awesome is that. Yeah, I have a blender and a coffee 
pot and that’s it. And the microwave. I just think it's so 
insane, like how we can do so much with so little. Yeah. 
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Yeah. It's actually really fulfilling to do that as well.  
Yeah.  
We're mountain people now.  
((NATS)) 
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
Hey Natalie, what are you doing? Come, come see me and 
Bodhi. How was your weekend?  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
It was good. We went out for sushi and we played Mario 
Kart.  
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
Yeah, no, it's been a good thing coming up here.  
You know, it's interesting because we're all kind of quiet 
people, but we all, like at night, Lionel likes to have fires at 
night. So, then you look out and there'll be people sitting out 
there having a fire and doing shots [of alcohol].  
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
Well, it was difficult to get a loan to buy a condo because I 
retired. So, I got turned down by five loan people. And I go, 
“That's it.” I go, “I'm going to go and buy me my tiny home, 
pay for it, still make money” because I was going to put more 
down than that, and I go, “And then it's mine.” And so, this is 
kind of, I think could be like my final place to live. You know, 
just stay here till I'm too old to climb the loft, the stairs.  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
And you have this little TV here.  
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
I know. I watch movies, a lot of movies, so. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
Okay, I have the taco filling and now I just need to make the 
beans.  
((NATS)) 
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
Oh, I'm full.  
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Yeah, me too. I’ve eaten a lot today. 
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
That's so true.  
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
I will say that you have brought such a dynamic of 
community here.  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I agree. 
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Yeah, like the first time you knocked on my door with like 
Julian apple pie and then…  
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
So sweet. 
((Erica Moslander, Product owner, Tiny House resident)) 
Just definitely encourages that sense of community.  
((Gail Arnold, Retired, Tiny House owner)) 
Yeah.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Natalie Cornacchione, Student and Employee, Tiny 
House Block)) 
I feel like I'm my best self when I'm very connected to nature 
and the community. And being here at Tiny House Block 
gives me both of those things, every single day.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
 
 
TEASE ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up….. 
((Banner)) 
Music to Cope 
((SOT)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Beth Ann Greenberg, Mike Jones’ Wife))  
When the pandemic happened, him doing, sort of, a solo 
thing and releasing music and collaborating, you know, 
virtually, it was just a way for him to keep doing that when he 
couldn't go play gigs on Fridays and Saturday nights.  
((NATS/MUSIC))

BREAK ONE                                                                    
BUMP IN ((ANIM))                        

BLOCK B   
 
 
((PKG)) ER EXPERIENCES INSPIRE MUSIC   
((TRT: 07:22))   
((Topic Banner:  Nurse Musician))  
((Reporter:  Faiza Elmasry)) 
((Camera/Editor: Mike Burke)) 
((Map:??Leesburg and Alexandria, Virginia)) 
((Main character: 1 male)) 
((Sub characters: 2 female)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))  
I started playing the guitar when I was 13 years old.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I'm self-taught.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
It is a thing that has brought me peace. It is a thing that gave 
me something to do, my hands to do when my friends were 
doing other things that, maybe, they shouldn't have been 
doing. It took away a lot of boredom.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
((Courtesy: mikejonesband.com)) 
I've been playing, I would say, professionally since 17.  I 
grew up 40 minutes outside New York City. So, my first gig 
was at a club called, Kenny’s Castaways on Bleecker Street. 
It's now gone. It was a really kind of cool, cool, cool little 
club. And since then, I've been in bands until now, and I'm 
40. So, I've been playing music throughout all of those years.   
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I'm an RN. I'm a registered nurse and a BSN, a Bachelor of 
Science in Nursing. And I've been working in the emergency 
department right from the get-go for over five-and-a-half 
years. 
((NATS: Mike Jones  
Could we just get a temp, please? I’m going to go check this 
lady out. Be right back.))   
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I feel like I, sort of, stumbled into this career. It wasn't 
something that I ever, you know, like as a young kid, I was 
like, ‘Oh, I'm dying to be a nurse’. It didn’t end up like that. I 
was set to be a musician for a long time. I needed 
something, you know, like the old day job.  
((NATS: Mike Jones 
Go.))  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician)) 
My mom's a nurse. I gravitated towards the profession. I like 
being on my feet. I like people and I like, kind of like the 
adrenaline rush and sketchy situations. I like helping people 
at their worst. I think that’s really what my co-workers would 
say. I like helping the people that really need help.   
The pandemic has impacted every aspect of our lives.  
((NATS: Mike Jones and daughter 
One, two, three.)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician)) 
Because public school was canceled and they started doing 
the online thing. So, we kind of built a little bit of a school.  
((NATS: Mike Jones and daughter   
17,18,19,20,21,22. So, that's good. Let's scroll up.))  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician)) 
My wife would say that this is her favorite time ever.  
((NATS: Beth Ann Greenberg and daughter    
Go, go, go, go.))  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician)) 
We have children at good ages.  
((NATS: Mike Jones, Beth Ann Greenberg, Daughter 
You got it? 
Yeah. 
Let’s go. 
Yeah!))  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
We have children that like being around us still, you know, 
and are relatively easy to entertain and we have outside 
space. 
((NATS: Mike Jones, Daughter 
Dad, yeah!)) 
((Beth Ann Greenberg, Mike Jones’ Wife))  
I think when you're married to a musician, you learn very 
quickly that that's their number one love. And it has been 
since they were a small child. And I think for a long time, I 
tried to compete with that. But then I learned that he's so 
much more happier doing what he loves. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Beth Ann Greenberg, Mike Jones’ Wife))  
When the pandemic happened, him doing sort of a solo thing 
and releasing music and collaborating, you know, virtually, it 
was just a way for him to keep doing that when he couldn't 
go play gigs on Fridays and Saturday nights.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Beth Ann Greenberg, Mike Jones’ Wife))  
And so, I'm just grateful that he has found a way to continue 
to feed that, because I think it's almost his air, you know. If 
he can't be in and around music, he's just miserable. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I've been able to pass around files that I've recorded here 
with other people. And they record it in their home studios. 
And we can put them together and basically have songs. 
The fact that I'm even doing this, in this way now, is just a 
direct result of being a nurse during the pandemic.  
((NATS: Patient 
Aah.))  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I have a notion that like life is really fleeting. I see a lot of 
people die, a lot, almost daily. The nursing and that aspect of 
stuff definitely has seeped and seeped into these songs.  
The titles of these songs are not very edgy.  
((Courtesy: mikejonesband.com)) 
You know, I've got, Wild Heart “Calamity Jane”. I've got, 
Don't Give up on Me, The Strongest One I Know, and then, 
Snake Oil.  
((NATS: Mike Jones  
Come on in. Let me help you out. Here.)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician)) 
We've got the Mike Jones Band. We’ve got Austin Day on 
keyboards. We’ve got Rich Russman over here on guitar. 
Jason Mattis is on the bass guitar and Mr. Jonathan Matloff 
is playing percussion today. And we'll do the Wild Heart 
“Calamity Jane” song. One. Two. Three. Go!))  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
There's a lot of ER [Emergency Room] stuff in there. There's 
something about chests burning and stomach churning.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
You got a wild heart that just can’t be tamed. 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
And then, I have this, the backdrop of like this character, 
Calamity Jane, which, I mean, she got her name for saving 
this guy in the middle of a gunfight. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
Trying to help the sick ones, the ones that die alone.  
The orphans and the vagrants, never know at all.  
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
I was very blessed to be able to do this. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
It’s from your wild heart. Your wild heart. 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
Every day that I can still play music is a great day. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mike Jones, Emergency Room Nurse and Musician))   
More releases to come. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
Tell me that your chest is burning. 
Tell me that your stomach is churning.  
I know that you had it well.  
Calamity Jane, for you I fell. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
 
 
TEASE ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up….. 
((Banner)) 
Migrant Children 
((SOT)) 
((Mohammad Jaffrey, Resident, Long Beach)) 
When I initially heard, it was actually on the news that Long 
Beach was partnering with the federal government to bring 
migrant children to the Long Beach Convention Center. And 
I was like I want to donate and I'm sure there will be other 
people in my network that want to donate. So, I just put it on 
my Instagram and, you know, see what would happen and I 
raised over 500 dollars.

BREAK TWO                                                                   
BUMP IN ((ANIM))                          
 
 
BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG)) MIGRANT KIDS IN CALIFORNIA   
((TRT: 4:18)) 
((Topic Banner: Helping Migrant Children))  
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Genia Dulot)) 
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map: Long Beach, California))    
((Main characters: 1 male))  
((Sub characters: 2 male; 1 female)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Robert Garcia, Mayor, Long Beach)) 
I came when I was five years old and my family immigrated 
to the US because the situation back home in Peru was not 
good. It was not a lot of jobs, a lot of poverty. And so, I'm just 
grateful that so many Americans, when we arrived, were so 
helpful and kind to us.  
We got a call from the Biden administration to see if we were 
willing to host some of the kids and our immediate response 
was ‘yes’. There are about 700 kids right now. They’ve got 
three meals a day. They're going to school. They're playing. 
A lot of the kids are already leaving. They're being reunited 
with their family in the United States. Most of them have 
family in the US already or with sponsor families as well. The 
community’s raising money.  They've already raised about 
160,000 dollars just for additional support, gift cards for kids, 
additional books, materials and a lot of books and toys have 
been donated by the community.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((George Weaver, Resident, Long Beach)) 
They have the Long Beach Book Drive for the migrant kids. 
And when I saw it on TV, I’ve been retired for a couple of 
years, and I have books in the garage and a lot of them are 
kids’ books. My kids have been gone for years and years. 
And I say this would be the perfect situation by donating the 
books.  
((NATS: 
We have Sesame Street, Numbers games.)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mohammad Jaffrey, Resident, Long Beach)) 
When I initially heard, it was actually on the news that Long 
Beach was partnering with the federal government to bring 
migrant children to the Long Beach Convention Center. And 
I was like I want to donate and I'm sure there will be other 
people in my network that want to donate. So, I just put it on 
my Instagram and, you know, see what would happen and I 
raised over 500 dollars. So, the 500 initially, you know, 
covered a lot of books and in the email from the mayor, 
Robert Garcia, it said both English and Spanish. So, I 
wanted to be mindful of that. And luckily, there was a lot of 
great books that honored the heritage of the Mexican culture 
as well. So, you know, books about [artist] Frida [Kahlo]. I 
thought it'd be great to not only raise that money and support 
the cause but then also support a local business, which is 
why I came here to Lil Devil’s.  
((NATS)) 
((Sarah Benton, Owner, Lil Devil’s Boutique)) 
I reached out to Mohammad and we just chatted a little bit 
back and forth and I told him. I was like, you know, we really 
want to be able to match your 500 dollar purchase with a 
500 dollar donation on our end.  
((NATS)) 
((Mohammad Jaffrey, Resident, Long Beach)) 
When it comes to this specific situation of Long Beach 
bringing in migrant children, I'm in full support of it. I 
understand that it's not a perfect solution and it's a 
temporary thing, but I also feel like the situation at the border 
is so intense right now, and some of the facilities that I've 
seen on the news and from what I've seen depicted in the 
media, it just seems like unlivable conditions. So, I feel like 
bringing them here and partnering with local border cities 
and giving them a place that's a little bit more comfortable 
while they figure out a solution, I think, is the best way to go. 
((NATS)) 
((George Weaver, Resident, Long Beach)) 
It’s just a Band-Aid. It doesn't solve the problem, but it’s 
better than the kids coming over and being at the whims of 
the coyotes and the other traffickers.  
((NATS)) 
((Robert Garcia, Mayor, Long Beach)) 
Obviously, my immigration story is a lot different than theirs. 
You know, I can't relate directly to their personal trauma. But 
immigrating any kid that comes, you know, comes to a new 
country and immigrates and doesn't know the language and 
is poor and doesn't have resources, does have a shared 
experience. And so, I do relate on that level. But I think also 
what they've gone through is just unspeakable types of 
trauma. And I'm grateful there’s a medical team and there's 
counselors and there’s staff that can really protect and take 
care of them.  
((Sarah Benton, Owner, Lil Devil’s Boutique)) 
Kids are kids, you know. I see a kid, it doesn't matter where 
they're from or what their background is, you know. I think if 
a child is in need and a child needs help, then adults, any 
adult, should step up and help. Yeah, no matter what.  
((NATS/MUSIC))

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM)) 
voanews.com/connect 

NEXT WEEK / GOOD BYE ((VO/NAT))                             
((Banner)) 
In coming weeks…. 
((Topic Banner)) 
Ghost Restaurants 
((SOT)) 
((NATS: Theodore Sampel 
Thank you for calling Stingray Kitchen. This is Theodore. 
How may I assist you?)) 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Theodore Sampel, Manager, Stingray Kitchen)) 
During these tough times, we're trying to create ideas to 
keep our business surviving through the epidemic, of course, 
or the pandemic. We have the space, so we decided to 
utilize the space. And then, other than that, I guess a ghost 
kitchen is basically high-quality, food-to-go orders, is what 
really is the definition, I believe. So, we created a menu and 
we tasted it. And here we are today with a beautiful, little 
restaurant, you know. 
((Topic Banner)) 
Giving Birth During COVID 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
All of our dreams of doing babymoons or having any sort of 
like, you know, travel while we were pregnant, just obviously 
couldn’t happen. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill, Operating Partner-SQUAD, Mother 
of Newborn)) 
Post-birth is already a pretty intense period for any new 
parent. You’re constantly questioning whether you’re doing 
enough and layering COVID on top of that. You know, still so 
many unknowns about how it affects children. You know, 
sometimes you hear it doesn’t affect them at all. Other times 
you hear that, you know, they can have serious issues.   
 
 
((PKG))  FREE PRESS MATTERS  ((NATS/VIDEO/GFX)) 
((Popup captions over B Roll)) 
Near the Turkish Embassy 
Washington, D.C. 
May 16, 2017 
President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters  
“Those terrorists deserved to be beaten” 
“They should not be protesting our president” 
“They got what they asked for” 
While some people may turn away from the news 
We cover it  
reliably 
accurately 
objectively 
comprehensively 
wherever the news matters 
VOA 
A Free Press Matters 
 
 
BREAK THREE                                                                       
BUMP IN ((ANIM))                          

CLOSING BUMPER ((ANIM)) 
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SHOW ENDS