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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
AAK_Ep56
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Ditch Flower Season
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[00:00:00]
Sydney Collins: Gus, I have a couple things to talk about. One thing is- Uh, is
Gus Applequist: this an intervention?
Sydney Collins: No, it's not an intervention. It's ditch flower season, as you can tell on our table.
Gus Applequist: Which if you're listening- If you're- ... Sydney is incredibly talented at putting together these flower arrangements of ditch flowers.
Sydney Collins: Ditch flowers. Now, I will say the, the purple, I don't know what they're called. They're from the tree outside in the courtyard in our backyard. These are flowers from our backyard. They're from a tree, and this tall grass is from our front yard here at the studio that didn't get cut. And so I liked it, so I chopped it off.
Gus Applequist: So if you're driving in rural Saline or McPherson County- And you just- ... and you just see Sydney in a ditch ...
Sydney Collins: it's
normal. Just leave me alone. Okay? So, and I don't know, and don't ask me what any of these are, but I like them 'cause they're yellow and they give me life. So anyway.
Numb Fingertips Story
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Gus Applequist: Have you ever had a problem where you've, like, gotten poison ivy or anything from this
Sydney Collins: area?
No.
Gus Applequist: Okay. [00:01:00]
Sydney Collins: But I did pick... Hold on. I did. I have a story.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: So a couple days ago, actually we're gonna talk about this rock here in a minute. On our way out to Maxwell, I was driving on Pawnee, and I found these beautiful purple flowers. Hm. And I started picking them, and I put them in my car, and my fingertips started getting a little numb.
And I'm like, "Oh, maybe I need to start taking pictures of these and then asking my phone what they are before I pick them," but they were so pretty.
Gus Applequist: Well, you discovered a new anesthetic. Yeah. Congratulations.
Stratica Salt Rock
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Gus Applequist: So- So yeah, let's, uh- Anyway ... let's shift gears- Shift gears ... and talk about this lovely rock that we have.
Sydney Collins: So we're gonna talk about this lovely rock. So it has its own table. As, as Merlin calls it, it is now table salt. So this is a salt rock. So we took a class trip, is, I guess, what we could call it. Just
Gus Applequist: for fun, yeah.
Sydney Collins: So we do these, like, team, team... They're kind of more like team retreats. Um, we- But
Gus Applequist: without, like, the [00:02:00] whole gimmick of trying to-
Sydney Collins: Bond?
Gus Applequist: Yeah. We just, we just spend time together doing something fun.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. And this year Tim, our editor suggested we go out to Maxwell, 'cause we talk about Maxwell a lot. Trish at Maxwell, w- we, she-
Gus Applequist: Rolled out the red carpet for us ...
Sydney Collins: pr- pretty much ...
Gus Applequist: which was awesome.
Sydney Collins: Which was awesome. So we went out there, and then we toured.
We got to see the first baby bison of the year. Very, very fun.
Gus Applequist: Check out our social media to see that.
Sydney Collins: Social media- Yeah ... and you can go to the Curious Kansan newsletter. It's on there. Tanner and the crew took some really fun pictures. Mm-hmm. So we took everyone out there, and then, we put Tanner in charge of planning this whole, our producer Tanner
Gus Applequist: And he did a great job
Sydney Collins: And he did a great job.
Mm-hmm. So then we kinda did a staff a poll of like, okay, do we wanna go to Stratica? Do we wanna go to-
Gus Applequist: Cosmosphere I think
Sydney Collins: was in there ... Cosmosphere or the Flint Hills Tour, and everyone picked Stratica. And so- We'll get to
Gus Applequist: the others, don't worry ...
Sydney Collins: well, yeah, we'll get to the others. But part of the tour, which I didn't know, 'cause I've been [00:03:00] there before in the last year with my kids they take you on the Train Ride in the Dark tour, and they let you pick a rock.
So you could either
Gus Applequist: I
hope you can sense Sydney's excitement for this
Sydney Collins: Well,
I didn't get to do it on my tour. If I did, I don't remember.
Gus Applequist: Hm.
Sydney Collins: But you could either do, like, a little pouch of this rock salt, or you could get one the size of your palm. And I was like, "You know, it's gonna be great in the studio," a giant rock of salt.
So, our tour guide Thomas was actually very fun. he told us that we're not supposed to lick it, but he didn't care what we did once we got home. So-
Gus Applequist: So have you?
Sydney Collins: No, I haven't. Okay, good. So- So like- ... if you're wondering what this little device is in our studio- Yeah ... from now on, it's gonna sit in the back.
It is our rock salt from Stratica.
Gus Applequist: And if you're like many of our team and, and me included, like, I only went to Stratica for the first time last year, and this was the first time in almost 20 years that I'd been to Maxwell. Like, these are places that you must go as a Kansan. You have to. [00:04:00] They are so cool.
There's, there, th- just hanging out with, with the bison for an hour and a half out on the, the-
Sydney Collins: It, it makes you feel really powerful.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Like, it makes-
Sydney Collins: It was
Gus Applequist: special.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: So, so make time. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: It's, it's a lot of fun. So anyway, we got
Gus Applequist: salt.
Welcome to Ask a Kansan
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Gus Applequist: Welcome to Ask a
Sydney Collins: Kansan.
Gus Applequist: Welcome to Ask a Kansan ...
Sydney Collins: a podcast where we're amplifying, connecting, and uncovering stories across Kansas
Gus Applequist: And every time we have a guest, I feel this way, but, but it's just hitting me again that we have the coolest people on our podcast.
Sydney Collins: And, and it's not like, yes, it's intentional that we want the [00:05:00] coolest people, but sometimes we have cool people and we don't realize how cool they are.
Gus Applequist: Exactly.
Sydney Collins: And I feel like this is kinda one of those times.
Gus Applequist: Kansas cool.
Sydney Collins: Sure, with a K.
Gus Applequist: With
Sydney Collins: a K. Going back to middle school where we spelled school with a K. But, so I don't know. I could go on- Tell us about
Gus Applequist: today's guest ...
Meet LeLan Dains
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Sydney Collins: so today's guest is LeLan Dains. So LeLan, I, uh, I'll say this again in our conversation, but I stalked him very much, uh, d- before our conversation today. And it, it was to get background information, but the more, like- You did. Mm-hmm ... I dug, and I was like, this guy is, like, so cool.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Just all the different things he's got experience in.
Some of it we didn't even touch on. Mm-hmm. But I'm never- He's
Gus Applequist: another full commitment Kansan.
Sydney Collins: Yes.
Gus Applequist: So we'll let him kinda talk about what he does and which o- organizations he's involved in. Mm-hmm. But, uh, I think it'll f- you'll find it relevant.
Sydney Collins: Yes. So without any further ado, here's our conversation with LeLan.
Welcome, welcome.
Gus Applequist: Welcome.
Sydney Collins: Hola. Hola. Buenas tardes. Hm. Bien, [00:06:00] y tú? It's, it's That's about all I got. We're both
Gus Applequist: second-guessing our, uh, our Spanish knowledge, but
LeLan Dains: yeah.
Sydney Collins: Well, welcome. Thanks for joining us.
LeLan Dains: Yeah. Thanks for having
Sydney Collins: me. Yeah. Well, for our audience, can you introduce yourself for us?
LeLan Dains: Absolutely. My name's LeLan Dains, and I'm the executive director of Kansas Spanish Speakers.
Sydney Collins: But you have done a number of different things.
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: A lot of hats. Um, so and I don't know where to start because you're such an interesting person, and I may have stalked you probably too much- ... in preparation for this interview.
What Kansas Spanish Speakers Does
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Sydney Collins: But let's start with Kansas Spanish Speakers. Yeah. Can you give us kind of the, uh, overall of, of what that is and why you created it?
LeLan Dains: Yeah. I'll try to give the, the simple explanation 'cause we do all kinds of things. Mm-hmm. First and foremost, Kansas Spanish Speakers, it's, it's a nonprofit. Uh, we're based out of Emporia, Kansas, and essentially we, we attempt to build bridges and trust, um, namely between Spanish-speaking community members and English-speaking.
And I think that's [00:07:00] important b- to make that distinction that we don't only work with Hispanic folks and Spanish speakers, even though our name is Kansas Spanish Speakers. Um, because otherwise you wouldn't have a bridge. You'd just have a dock that goes out into the middle of the water- Mm-hmm ... and doesn't connect two things together, right?
So if we're gonna be a bridge, we've got to firmly work on both sides, both banks of the, the river there that we're crossing. And so, well,
Welcoming Community Certification
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LeLan Dains: what does that mean? What does that look like? Well, we offer all kinds of, um, assistance with education, advocacy, resources for our Spanish speakers. That could be help getting immigration documentation, like asylum or work permissions.
It could be obtaining health insurance. It could be getting a driver's license. Our motto is si, como no, means yes, of course, and it's kinda that idea of, uh, yes is the answer. What's your question? We'll help you get there. If we don't have the information, we vow to track it down for you and help you get to the right person or place.
For our English speakers, um, we do all kinds of things. Um, we host language exchanges where they can practice their language with native speakers. Um, we do Spanish [00:08:00] classes. We'll teach you Spanish. We do custom Spanish for businesses and how to use technology to bridge the gap. We do community workshops in a vari- We've done those in a handful of communities already.
So most of that focus for our English speakers is giving them the tools to basically... The way I describe it is stop saying, "Oh, I'm sorry I can't speak Spanish. I don't, I can't help you." Mm-hmm. To, "Hey, I learned a little bit, and they taught me how to use my translator." Mm-hmm. "Let me try to help you." Mm-hmm.
So it's really just a overcoming that mentality of not knowing what to do to having the confidence and the tools to say, "Oh, I can communicate with you." It's the 21st century. Use that technology, and let's communicate with one another. Love
Sydney Collins: it. Yeah.
How It All Started
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Sydney Collins: So what- How did it come to be?
LeLan Dains: Yeah. Well, like most things I had a wild idea.
It started out as Emporia Spanish Speakers actually, and I was practice... I wanted to become fluent myself. That was a goal I had, and I understood the, the dedication, the commitment that that required. And I can't sugarcoat it. If you wanna obtain a high level of language ability, [00:09:00] it's a long journey.
Mm-hmm. Okay? It's a lotta hard work. And so I was practicing for about six months. I was doing homework in my old college textbooks and my wife's old textbooks, and I could read and write, and I knew the grammar, and I thought, "I'm gonna go down to the Mexican restaurant and I'm gonna order in Spanish."
And I froze like a deer in headlights. I knew all the words, I knew exactly what to say, and I couldn't do it 'cause I was scared. I hadn't practiced speaking. Mm-hmm. Hadn't said any of those words out loud. And right there in that moment, I think a lot of people are faced with a choice. This is hard. I'm embarrassed.
I'm gonna slink away and I'm gonna go do something different that's easier. I'm the kinda guy who says, "That was hard. I'm embarrassed. I've gotta work on this, and I've gotta speak." And so Emporia Spanish Speakers was just a community club where I invited others to come speak with me, so I could have people to practice with.
And as we got to know community members, both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking, it evolved and it evolved, and, "Oh, uh, my kids would love something like this because we no longer have dual language programs in our schools." So we started a youth program, and then the adults were like, "Wait, I want something like this."
So we started adult [00:10:00] programs, and on and on until eventually we're like, "What we have here is a nonprofit and it's time to..." And just a year ago, I was able to leave my careers behind and do this full time, which is nothing I set out to do, and more than beyond a dream come true to just be able to serve people in this capacity.
Going Statewide
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Sydney Collins: So how are you- Yeah ... helping statewide now? 'Cause we're, we- Yeah ... went from Emporia to, "Okay, we're gonna start expanding." So- Yeah ... how has that been over the last probably year, right, year and a half? Yep,
LeLan Dains: um, about since last summer, so coming up on a year of, um, being rebranded as- Mm-hmm ... Kansas Spanish Speakers with the intent of serving beyond Emporia.
So some of the, that access that I talked about can be done anywhere. Even though we're based in Emporia, we can help individuals with immigration documentation over the phone. We can help get you to the health insurance resources you need over the phone. So a lot of it is simply needing to make connections within communities to find the right people who need our services and getting them to call us and reach out because we can do a lot [00:11:00] of that assistance remotely.
And then I talked about those workshops and those, um, custom language classes. We can go into, and we've been in Colby and Hays and Dodge and KCK, and we've been in those communities doing workshops. Um, sometimes it's a dual language church congregations and they say, "Well, we've got an English congregation, we've got a Spanish congregation, and they're not con-" But they don't talk to each other.
They don't talk to each other. So we come in and do some bridge-building work to get those people understanding how to communicate with one another and, um, come, overcoming some of those fears. So those are all the types of things, um, that we can do in different communities. Uh, we can do things remotely.
We can travel. Si, como no. Yeah, of course, let's do it.
Gus Applequist: Where did your interest in learning Spanish come from, or where did it start?
LeLan Dains: Yeah. Well, I was first introduced... One of my aunts married a gentleman from Cuba, so I have a- Oh, wow ... Cuban uncle, and he was born in Cuba, spent the first seven years of his life there, um, immigrated to the US through Miami.
And there was actually an Emporia State University professor who was in [00:12:00] Florida recruiting Cuban families to come to Emporia, and that's how he ended up there, met my aunt, and became a part of our family. And, um, he didn't... Uh, I wouldn't say that he gave a lot of education, but he would often speak in English and Spanish just to put it out there.
Mm-hmm. Um, so that was my first introduction, but I'd say the, uh, when I was an, as an adult, eight years ago when I really doubled down and wanted to become fluent was on the heels of doing a lot of travel. I was working for Carmichael Training Systems, and I was traveling to Costa Rica and Chile and Argentina.
And so I was dabbling a little bit functionally because I was traveling for work. When I got back to Emporia, it was all quickly going away, and I said, "This is something I want," and I just doubled down on it. Yeah. So a little bit of personal influence and then some travel. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was just... I'm, I'm a l- I'm a learner.
I, I wanna be a student of the world, and I think everyone should strive to be learning. And I'm not talking about textbook learning. I'm talking about learn from the world. What can it teach you? [00:13:00] So.
Gus Applequist: We love curiosity. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, yeah, that's wonderful.
Partners and Health Impact
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Sydney Collins: what are some, like, st- uh, strategic partnerships that you've been able to accomplish in the last year- Yeah
since rebranding?
LeLan Dains: well, we, uh, just received a, a wonderful one-time donation from the president of Boys & Girls Club, um, which w- or excuse me, Big Brothers Big Sisters, um, which was fantastic. And then the Kansas Health Foundation continues to be a significant partner of ours. So our formation was actually linked to, uh, a partnership that they created called Building Power and Equity Partnerships.
And ultimately, Ed O'Malley, who I'm sure you're aware of- Mm-hmm ... uh, you've probably had on your show. I haven't. Oh, okay. We haven't yet. It's time to get Ed on here, founder of the Kansas Leadership Center, and now he's over- Mm ... at the Kansas Health Foundation. He is a bold thinker, and when he crossed over to the Kansas Health Foundation, uh, as he tells it, he asked his team, "Are we happy with where the health of Kansas is at?"
Oh. The answer was a resounding no. In 1992, we were eighth in the nation. By 2022, [00:14:00] '23, we're around 31st, 32nd. It was the largest decline of any state in the US over that time period. Yay, Kansas. Love our state, but we got some work to do in that area. And so he said, "Well, if what we have always been doing is clearly not working, at least not for the last 30 years, what do we need to do different?"
It's not lost on people. The statistics are clear. minority populations tend to have, more adverse health outcomes than their, English-speaking counterparts or their white counterparts, right? And so he wanted to invest $30 million across 30 organizations for 10 years. It was rather unprecedented.
We were one of those recipients. Wow. So the easy math is we received a $1 million, 10-year partnership from the Kansas Health Foundation built on trust. They said, "Here's this money, no strings attached. Serve your mission."
Sydney Collins: Hmm. "
LeLan Dains: Go help us make Kansas a healthier place." And I am beyond proud to say, and I cannot claim that it's just the Building Power and Equity Partnership, because [00:15:00] it takes all of us doing our part, but since 2022 when they started that partnership, Kansas for three straight years has moved up.
We are now 28th. Woo-hoo. And that's modest steps, but for the first time in that period, we have seen three consecutive years of going in the right direction So I think the build- the Building Power and Equity Partnership is undeniably a part of that, and I'm very proud to be doing that work. And, and you know, you, you try, you sit there and you think, "Well, wait, LeLan, how is the work that you're doing linked to health?
We're not talking about exercise and diet- Mm-hmm ... and those types of things." Well, we do get into a little bit of healthy living, but what the Health Foundation understood and what most of us probably know is you cannot be healthy if you're not gainfully employed. Mm-hmm. You cannot be healthy if you're stressed out because you don't have the documentation you need.
So it's about foundations of health, and that's kinda the area we work on, is getting the building blocks to put people in a position where health can become a little bit more of a- ... a thing they can think about going out for a hike at the park or playing and doing [00:16:00] those things. And so, um, we think the work that we do...
And, and while we talked about health insurance, health insurance was one of the major c- areas where Kansas was performing poorly. And in the last few years, that has gone up, and we know for a fact that our organization has helped more than 100 individuals get on health insurance. We know our Latino r- community members and friends are two times more likely to not have health insurance than their white counterparts, and we are absolutely working to bridge that gap and helping those numbers go in the right direction.
So the Kansas Health Foundation, and in, uh, now you asked in the past 12 months, we're working on another potential partnership with them to do some neighborhood revitalization, residential infill.
Sydney Collins: Oh, cool.
LeLan Dains: Yeah, and we're gonna start in Emporia. And if we are correct and believe this, it can work, then we wanna expand that into other communities.
Mm-hmm. So bridge-building.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
LeLan Dains: Healthy living, all of it.
Imposter Syndrome and Privilege
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Sydney Collins: I have a very blunt question, and I'm- Yeah ... not sure how to ask it, so this is gonna be-
LeLan Dains: It, nothing's off the table.
Sydney Collins: So- ... [00:17:00] when you talk to other organizations or other people about- The Kansas Spa- the Kansas Spanish speakers, do they look at you and be like, "Why is this blue-eyed white guy talking to me about Spanish-
LeLan Dains: Ah, yes.
Thank you ... about the Kansas
Sydney Collins: Spanish speakers?"
LeLan Dains: Let's talk about imposter syndrome, right? That question doesn't offend me because I've asked it myself to myself a million times, right? Who am I to be doing this work and leading this work- to be the face of this organization? Some of it has to do with I had the talent to, to become bilingual, which isn't something a lot of white people in particular have, can say- at a fluent level, at a very high level, right? And as I spoke with some of my Hispanic community members and friends there in Emporia, the first time I asked that question of a dear friend, who is Latina, and I said, "What, what am I doing? Why... Like I, I don't feel comfortable doing this." And she looked at me and she, and she said, "You are precisely who we need doing this work."
And it wasn't lost on me that people need advocates. But it really forced me to [00:18:00] reckon, uh, with the privilege that I have in my life. And ultimately, what we determined is my face opens doors, as you pointed out. Mm-hmm. Blue-haired, I had b- uh, blue-eyed, I had blonde hair once upon a time. My, I open doors with the privilege that I carry, and I ultimately, I think we all have to ask ourself, if, if you're of the type that accepts that, that we have some privileges, what am I gonna do with it?
And it was Latinos who encouraged me to go out and open that door. And I said, "Okay, I will go kick that door down that's blocking your path, but by gosh, you gotta be right behind me walking through that door. Because if I open doors through the privilege that I have and you're not there we've missed the moment."
Hmm. And so I was challenged to swallow some of that pride and live in that discomfort, uh, being the, the founder and executive presi- of executive director of a nonprofit organization serving Latino folk primarily. I just w- deal with all that and, but I [00:19:00] also put the challenge out to the community and said, "Great, okay, if we're gonna do this, it's hand in hand.
It's not me, it's not you, it's us together, and we're gonna walk... You know, I'll kick it down, but I'm pulling you right through." Mm-hmm. And so what does that mean? It means when a seat is open, I need you to occupy it. And one of the things I'm constantly thinking about is where is a se- a chair that I need to sit in and what is one for you?
I can come do interviews and that type of thing, but I need them to serve on the volunteer boards, get involved in the city. I need you to vote if you're capable. Uh, all those things, um, that I need you to do your part and uphold. Yeah, it's, um, it, it was uncomfortable at first. I'm far more comfortable with it now.
Um, I understand my role, and I feel good about that.
Sydney Collins: Brilliant.
Rebrand and Mission Shift
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Sydney Collins: I don't know if we've answered this question, but how long has, Uh, the organ- yeah, the organization been around
LeLan Dains: Yeah. Officially, October of 2017 is- Okay ... when I started Emporia Spanish Speakers. We became a 501[3] nonprofit in May of '24. Okay.
And we rebranded as Kansas Spanish Speakers [00:20:00] in around July of last year. Okay. That's the timeline.
Gus Applequist: Did you, did you change your mission beyond just expanding the scope from Emporia to the state? Was there any other changes that your organization- Hmm
needed to do to better serve the state?
LeLan Dains: A little bit. So first and foremost, when we incorporated as a 501[3], we actually incorporated as Kansas Spanish Speakers. Oh, okay. And we continued to DBA, doing business, as Emporia Spanish Speakers. Okay. So even at that time, we had the vision that we [00:21:00] wanted to serve beyond Emporia.
We didn't feel, feel we were ready in that moment. You gotta understand, in, in May of 2024, we had one full-time employee, and it wasn't me. And she had... It was my community outreach coordinator, and she had just started in April. Hmm. So while we had this vision to, to move beyond just Emporia and serve... A- and when we say Kansas, it's really not just Kansas, it's the region.
We've done some- Mm-hmm ... work in, uh, Nebraska and consulting in Texas which we can get into, but, um, we're really available. What we understood, we needed to go beyond Emporia, and that Emporia would be a limiting name. Um, so we did change our mission, but not so much because of the name change, but because we had already, um, been changing our scope.
Again, I started it as a language club, and we- Mm-hmm ... very quickly outgrew that language club. So the original mission was very much tied to language and learning language. And then we evolved into, um, providing that access to education advocacy resources, and so that became our mission. Um, so that grew, and all of that was kinda tied together, [00:22:00] and we knew the name would need to change in order to be accepted.
It's just, you know, to come into Salina and, and you're called Emporia Spanish Speakers, and the question is immediately, "How is that connected to me?" Mm-hmm. "What does that mean for me?" Um, but when you say Kansas, um, that name, I even believe, goes beyond. When you, when you have a statewide kind of appeal, even your neighbors, Nebraska and others, are like, "Oh, I, I get it.
You can help." Mm-hmm. It feels a little more comfortable and connected, so... I
Spanish Dialects and Slang
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Gus Applequist: think a lot of people who don't speak Spanish, within English as a language, we notice a lot of the little differences, right? Of-
LeLan Dains: Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: like somebody from Australia, somebody from the UK- Yeah ... so on and so forth. Obviously the Spanish diaspora is huge and- Yeah
multifaceted. How does that complexity show up in your work?
LeLan Dains: Oh, it's so hard. Mm-hmm. And I hope we get language nerdy because I- ... nerd out on, on language. And, and it was really through learning Spanish that I realized how bonkers English is. We can get [00:23:00] into that. Um, you take it for granted when it's just your mother tongue and you're not exposed to other languages, it just seems normal.
But when you learn another language, you're like, "There is nothing normal about this." But, uh, within that diaspora you were talking about, so Spanish is spoken in more than 20 countries. I think it's the most number of countries, Spanish is the, the highest, uh, in the number of countries that it's spoken in.
It's not the most spoken language. It's about third be- behind Chinese, English, and then I think it's Spanish, something like that. But there's a lot of different countries, and they're all over the globe, not just in Central and South America. So right there in Emporia, how does that come into my daily work?
Well, Emporia has community members and residents from Mexico predominantly, of course, El Salvador, um, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, um, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and all of those individuals speak, I assure you, speak different Spanish from one another And some are, are easier for me to communicate with, and some are harder.
Uh, they all have varying degrees of [00:24:00] formal education. It has nothing to do with someone's intelligence, but it means that some people might speak more slang or street kind of Spanish, and that's really difficult to wrap my head around sometimes. But at the end of the day, it goes back to that mentality that I was preaching, to move people from, "Sorry, I can't help you," to, "I'm gon- We're gonna get in this, and it's gonna be awkward, and we're just gonna figure it out," right?
Mm-hmm. And so that's really my approach to it, is I consider myself to be a high-level Spanish speaker. However, that does not mean I can communicate well with every Spanish speaker out there. Um, Spain, for example, most people recognize... it's actually called Castellano. They don't call it Spanish.
It's Castellano is w- the language they speak, and it is very different. So i- you just walk into it with this attitude of, "Hey, how's it going? Where are you from? My name's this. My name's that. Okay, how can I help you? I, I might need my device, or maybe I don't, but let's just get into it, and you found your way to my door.
What can I do for you?" Mm.
Sydney Collins: Mm.
LeLan Dains: So but yeah, I love it. Well, the thing that's really tricky, though, is really when it [00:25:00] comes to slang, and I'm not talking about inappropriate slang. I'm just talking about, um, the words that we use that aren't textbook, right? Mm-hmm. And the tricky thing is, is neighbors, like El Salvador might use a word for comb, and then next door in Nicaragua or Honduras, it's actually something inappropriate.
And you're like- Yeah ... "Wait, I just learned this word as being this, and now it's offending you." Why not?
Gus Applequist: I can see how that might be difficult to navigate at times- Yeah, tricky ... if you have a conversation- Yeah ... with multiple different-
Sydney Collins: Tricky stuff ... cultures
Gus Applequist: represented.
Sydney Collins: I mean- Uh ... you could almost say the same in English, where in America, there are certain words- Yeah
that are definitely swear words. But, like, in Europe, they're, like, a normal everyday thing. Well,
LeLan Dains: I've got a great example. Or vice versa. So the thing about fanny- Vice versa ... we, we have a fanny pack in the US. Oh,
Sydney Collins: yeah.
LeLan Dains: Fanny in, in the UK is a term used for a woman's- Rear end ... biological parts. Yeah. So, um, we might walk around and say...
If we're visiting London, we say, "Oh, I've got my fanny pack on," and they're gonna be like- Be like, "What?" ... "What are
Sydney Collins: you talking about?" "Why? What?" Yeah.
LeLan Dains: Your bum bag? Okay. Mm.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
LeLan Dains: Anyways, yeah. So- [00:26:00] So it, it's in every language.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Gus Applequist: You mentioned a second ago... Sorry. No, go.
Working With Businesses
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Gus Applequist: You said that you've worked with some companies.
Did, did- Oh, yeah ... did I catch that? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Could you elaborate on w- what, how that might be different- Mm-hmm ... than working with just, you know- Regular folks like us
LeLan Dains: Yeah, absolutely. And, and to be honest with you, that's some of the work that I really enjoy for a couple of obvious reasons. A lot of the advocacy is handled by my employees.
I've got... So we're a team of three, myself, a community outreach coordinator, and an administrative assistant who also does some of that community outreach work as well. They're the ones, and they're both, um, native Spanish speakers. One is from Venezuela, one is from Nicaragua. They've been in Emporia for three to five years in the US, and so, um, as immigrants themselves, they get- they can do a far better job of connecting with other immigrants on the services they need.
They can communicate more efficiently and quickly. So that makes sense. My job, being the native English speaker, is to work with the businesses and the communities and, and all that type of stuff. And so a [00:27:00] couple that come to mind the Emporia Rec Center has actually been a repeat customer of ours. Mm.
They brought us in to do a training for their lifeguards. They loved it so much that they then brought us in for their gym staff and other departments interdepartmentally. Yeah, it makes sense. Right? They're like, "Wait, this was awesome." And if you think about lifeguards, there are a lot of teenagers- Oh, yeah
college-aged kids maybe at, at oldest. And the director was like, "You know, a lot of these trainings are hit or miss. These kids have short attention spans. They're usually not interested." And she said, "They have been talking about this for months. I see them using the Spanish you taught them at the pool."
And again, we go back to what we taught them was functional Spanish in their area. So we... "Don't run." Don't, you know, some of the commands that they need to be able to communicate. We kept it easy and bite-size so they could remember. Um, so I always love it when someone gets it, sees it, really appreciates it, and brings us back for more.
Um, the hospitals have been a really big customer of ours, both Stormont Vail Health and the local Newman Regional Health Hospital there in Emporia. Um, we've collaborated them [00:28:00] with on a multitude of things. Um, Stormont has, um, they've contracted us for survey outreach, and I always brag about this 'cause I'm r- super proud.
They were doing, um, simultaneously they were doing a survey in English and Spanish. They're looking to do, build a new clinic in Emporia, and so they were wanting to get some awareness information and, and opinions on that. And w- so the marketing company they contracted w- knew me, was a friend of mine, and he said, ~"W- ~can we subcontract you to do the Spanish portion of this survey?"
I said, "Absolutely." Well, at the conclusion of the window, we had, um, so many more Spanish surveys than they had in English that they closed the Spanish survey portion, and they had to keep going with the English survey. And, uh, well, the reason I'm really proud about that is because it proves what we have said, which is we have built trust with the Hispanic community.
And most companies And I, I assure you, most companies want to connect with Latinos, whether it be because of good intentions or just pure pragmatic dollars and cents. I [00:29:00] don't care what your motivation is. Um, but they don't know how, and they don't have the trust, I assure you. And so that's the, the critical bridge that we can provide to a company, is to come in and say, "What are you trying to communicate to these folks?
You want a survey? You want marketing? We can help put your information in front of these people, and they listen to us. They trust us. If we ask them to fill out this survey, they don't ask questions. 'Yep. Okay.' Um, because we've built that trust with them. And how you build trust, you get in the trenches day after day and you show up for people.
And we've done that. And so it's a really powerful, um, thing that we can bring to these companies. And so o- other examples like that, we, well, we've worked with city governments. In fact, we helped the city of Emporia become the first certified welcoming community in the state of Kansas. Um, and I think Dodge City has since followed, and KCK.
Um, but we were the first, right there in Emporia. What
Sydney Collins: does that mean? Yeah,
LeLan Dains: can you define that for us? Yeah. So Welcoming America is a national, actually an international nonprofit. [00:30:00] Um, they have a welcoming standard that communities can follow, and you can actually get certified, basically a community audit, to verify that you are providing these welcoming services in your community.
And, um, it has to be run through a municipality, but a nonprofit or other community partners, such as us, can help that municipality, that city government navigate that and, and do a lot of... So we, we basically ran the program, but it, it, the designation always goes through a city or county. It was the city of Emporia that got the designation.
And rightfully so, 'cause it's a community effort, um, to make that happen. Um, a big believer in Welcoming America, and that's something we can help consult communities with. If you're interested in providing a more welcoming front, we can come in and help navigate that standard and, and what it takes to become a, a truly welcoming city.
Hmm. Yeah. One of the many f- things, suites, suite of services that we can offer.
Sydney Collins: so that organization, you mentioned it's international, so is that geared [00:31:00] specifically for Spanish speakers, or is that geared for all language or all- groups? Like, how does that, how does
LeLan Dains: that work? Yeah. Welcome America tries to create welcoming communities for all. And in fact, they have a very strong emphasis on refugees as much as immigrants.
And there are many of, refugees of course from the Middle East. We certainly had and probably continue to have many Ukrainian refugees and that kind of thing. So they are absolutely trying to create welcoming communities for all immigrants and refugees, regardless of language, um, country of origin or anything like that.
Now, in Emporia, and because we were involved, of course there's a heavy focus on, um, Spanish because that is the overwhelming majority of who immigrants coming into our community are. But when we talk about creating a welcoming community, it's not really about language at that point. There are some questions like, are ESL programs available, English as a second language, again, available to anyone regardless of their native tongue?
Are there, [00:32:00] you know, does the Chamber of Commerce support, um, multi, non, we'll, we'll just call them non-English speaking, everyone else that doesn't speak English. So it's, it really just looks at all these touch points- Mm-hmm ... and say, "Are you creating a welcoming space, and do you have the ability to service non-English speakers?"
Kids as Translators
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Sydney Collins: I grew up with a mom who owned an insurance agency. Mm-hmm. And I worked there for a summer, I think, in college, which was a very eye-opening experience for me, if I never wanna be an insurance agent ever in my life.
People only come to you with bad news. But-
LeLan Dains: And they want money.
Sydney Collins: And they, yeah, and they want money. The, but one of the things that really opened my eyes was how many children become translators for their parents.
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: How have you encountered that and how have you helped kind of break that barrier between I trust my kids to translate for me, but I don't need them helping me get a loan for the house when they're five?
Like
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Um-
LeLan Dains: Well, I really appreciate that you in- intuitively understand or rather you learn to understand that that's not appropriate.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
LeLan Dains: And that is one of the many thing... m- one of the examples I say a [00:33:00] lot when I'm trying to explain why our services are needed. Um, so you're talking about insurance, which, um, if we're honest with ourselves, insurance probably health insurance more than auto- Mm-hmm
or house or those types of things, but it's a language all of its own. Yeah. Right? And when we think about these specific arenas in our native language, some of the, the jargon is so technical that it's confusing to us as native English speakers. I'm lost when someone's telling me about you know... And, and it's just so much, um, legal terminology or technical terminology that it kinda tunes you out.
So my point is, is that that's complicated amongst two native English speakers trying to have that conversation- Mm-hmm ... about health, health insurance or car insurance, what have you. Then you bring in a non-English speaker who is using their child as a, um, translator. Come on. Do you think that information is getting conveyed the way that it needs to be and correctly and accurately?
I think more times than not, you get to the end result, but I think it's very messy and with a lot of misunderstandings. Mm-hmm. And it leads to complications down the [00:34:00] road because things weren't clear and understood from the onset. So we are we absolutely believe it is very inappropriate by all parties to, both the parents who often rely on those kids- Mm-hmm
and the the, the individuals who might be needing that translator and willing to accept the child as an intermediary. It becomes even more inappropriate in a hospital setting, of course. Obviously, there's HIPAA issues. Mm-hmm. And y- I mean, imagine your, your parent's getting a cancer diagnosis, and you're 12 years old, and you're being asked to translate that from a doctor to your parent.
Not just the, the understanding of how to translate it, but the emotions you're feeling, the- I mean, it's just a really difficult proposition for a child. So we absolutely try to push our services and other solutions to move away from that mentality. Now, sometimes the parents rely on that because of that trust.
I think you mentioned that. They trust their child. They might not trust someone else. And that's again, something that we just need time to overcome, and everyone working [00:35:00] together to say, "Okay, I understand, but, we can't rely on junior here. We need to try to use the tools we have to communicate this."
I'm glad you get it. I hope others start to understand that, oh, that's not a really appropriate avenue- Mm-hmm ... for having this conversation.
Gus Applequist: I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: It's, it's very... I mean, you see it a lot more if you, like, go to the grocery store or go to Walmart- Yeah ... to get something. Mm. But when you think of those day-to-day things Even enrolling your child in school.
You're trying to enroll that child who speaks both Spanish and English, and trying to convey what the school is telling your kid to the parent- Mm-hmm ... when really it needs to be parent to kid, or parent, or parent to school, I mean. Like, it's hard, it's hard to be a parent when your kid has all the answers.
LeLan Dains: Yeah. You
Sydney Collins: know what I mean?
LeLan Dains: Imagine you're, you're going to the principal's office 'cause your kid was in trouble. Oh, yeah. And now your kid is responsible for translating their own, uh -
Sydney Collins: Yeah ...
LeLan Dains: situation. Come
Sydney Collins: on. So there, there's all kinds [00:36:00] of situations. And it's not, it's not like it's any fault of anyone's.
It's just-
LeLan Dains: Yeah ...
Sydney Collins: it's, it's how, you know, before programs like the Kans- Kansas Spanish Speaker, um, like before programs like that, nothing existed.
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: And so it's just- Weren't a lot of solutions ... how people have gotten on for so, so long, and so that's one of the things that I've, I've always been curious about, Yeah
ever since kind of understanding
Gus Applequist: You know, there's a, there's a, a group of people in, in [00:37:00] the United States that would say, "Well, why, why don't they just learn English?" You know? And I- Yeah ... you know, I'm not saying this is my opinion. Yeah. But, you know, they're, they're sort of saying, like, "Well, it'd just be easier if we were homogeneous and we all, you know, were the same."
Yeah. And, and I think, you know, it's clear that, you know, the very essence of your organization is, is, is running counter to that.
LeLan Dains: Yeah ...
Gus Applequist: would, would you mind sharing, maybe not y- Yeah ... if you're comfortable talking about from your- Oh, 100% ... organizational standpoint or from your personal standpoint. We
LeLan Dains: can get all the nitty-gritty stuff.
Like I said, nothing's off limits.
Learning English Together
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LeLan Dains: Um, well, here's a, here's my hot take. I agree with them. When someone says they should learn to speak English, I agree. I don't agree that we should be homogenous and leave it at that. I believe they should learn English for a variety of reasons, the same reason why I wanted to learn Spanish.
I want them to be curious. I want them to grow and expand their horizons. And the fact is, is they have landed in the United States for whatever their reasons, and it would be very advantageous for them to learn English. So yes, I'm a strong advocate of all individual, all non-English speakers learning English to [00:38:00] varying degrees.
functional, right? To be functional in their interactions. I also say to that person, "You could also learn a little Spanish, and you can bridge the gap even quicker." "And you can get there even faster." And obviously I am not an, a believer that this country should be an English only, English-speaking only country.
But my perspective is, is that we should all strive to learn a multitude of languages. It just enriches your life.
How Service Changes You
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LeLan Dains: You know, I, I probably started this with the mindset of I'm going to help others. And I think like most people, that when you start a nonprofit, I, I'm gonna serve others. I'm gonna serve my community.
I'm gonna help out. And I think I have, um, these abilities and, and privileges and opportunities to do so. What I didn't realize is, oh, actually they're helping me grow. They are teaching me- as much, if not more, as I'm teaching them. I might teach them systems, h- education advocacy resources, those types of things.
How to navigate health insurance or this, that, or the other. We might teach them that. They're teaching me how to live. They're teaching me how to love. They're teaching me how to celebrate, um, the Latino culture I am e- [00:39:00] enamored with- Mm ... for a variety of reasons. And so, um, it has enriched my life in ways that I couldn't have imagined.
And, and I'm someone who's traveled to Latin America, and even still when I got into this work, I just was not expecting the way that my life would be transformed. Uh, I've had many Latino, uh, community members tell me I'm adopt- I'm an adopted Latino. So, um, and that makes me feel very proud, of course, but it makes me feel just like the, the effort has been worth it, that I have made this effort to learn something new.
And in all honesty, it just creates more curiosity. I've da- I've dabbled a little bit in German, but I need to kinda... For me- I
Sydney Collins: took two years of it and still
LeLan Dains: failed. Yeah. I need a practical use, and I struggle. We don't have German speakers in our community, certainly not very many, and so it's just been hard to get into it.
But all of that just makes you want to learn more and went, "Oh, well, this is how they do it, and how do they do it over here, and how do they... Well, what's this like?" And so.
Gus Applequist: So at the top, [00:40:00] Sydney referenced that, that you have a lot of areas of involvement. So- I do ...
Sydney Collins: let's tease one
Gus Applequist: of those in.
Sydney Collins: I do wanna, I do wanna get into that.
Well, main- mainly because you, you've had this amazing life and you're still very young. And so I just wanna- Yeah ... um, kinda, I don't know. I don't even know where to start. Again, I stalked you for far too long today. Um. Yes. A Kansan
LeLan Dains: stalker.
Sydney Collins: I guess one thing, like where did you grow up?
LeLan Dains: Yeah
Sydney Collins: Um, and what were kinda your interests high school, college?
We'll just tee that up.
Rural Kansas Roots
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LeLan Dains: Yeah, I appreciate that 'cause I, it really allows me to make a point that I think is really important for our Kansas listeners. I'm a Kansan, of course. Um, I'm a Lyon County native. I was born in Emporia, but I grew up in Yoshihar Rapids, Hartford. These are towns of 300, 500. I had 20 kids in my graduating class, right?
And like most rural Kansans, the message was very clear, and it wasn't a m- mean message, but the message was, "Get far, far away from here." Yeah. "There are no [00:41:00] opportunities for you here. There's no life for you to build here," right? And of course, when you're 18 and graduating high school, and I did attend Emporia State University, so let's say once I graduated college I was ready to go.
I, um, got a degree in recreation management. I was gonna be a skydive instructor and a white water raft guide, and I was doing jumps and that kinda stuff, adventure outdoor stuff, and that was a lot of fun, but I got my first real job with the Department of Defense down in Memphis, um, doing morale, welfare, and recreation for the, um, spouses and children of those people being deployed and those that were on bases.
And so I would take the kids hang gliding and doing activities and all sorts of fun stuff. I
Sydney Collins: can only imagine. Just wanna pause right there. Department of Defense-
LeLan Dains: Yep ...
Sydney Collins: hanging out- Fun ... with the kids.
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Like, it's not- How do you- ... something ... How do you find a job like that?
Recreation Career Path
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LeLan Dains: Well, recreation, baby. I think, you know, I don't, I
This is my recreation plug. People view it, I think it probably still has this connotation of not a viable career path. I assure you it is one- Mm-hmm ... of the [00:42:00] most robust career paths anyone could take. It's the second-largest industry worldwide when you talk about recreation and tourism. Mm-hmm.
It's massive globally. You could work anywhere doing almost anything, from hospitality to hang gliding with kids, with military brats. Yeah. And so I really enjoyed that. Um, I came back to Emporia. Um, then I went up to Upstate New York and worked for Frost Valley YMCA, the largest YMCA on the East Coast, um, an hour north of New York City in the Catskills.
Loved every bit of that. Moved to Colorado Springs, worked for Carmichael Training Systems. Chris Carmichael was Lance Armstrong's coach, and even non-cyclists usually know who Lance Armstrong is.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
LeLan Dains: So- The old race horse ... and I even lined up, post-retirement- Yep, yep, yep ... I, uh, lined up with Lance at a couple mountain bike races and that kinda stuff, and of course I was avid cyclist, so that's what landed me with that job, and I had a friend out there.
That was the job that allowed me to travel And those types of things, and it was a ton of fun. But not to get in the weeds of, Lance, of course, came out and admitted, uh, to his drug use, and more than that, [00:43:00] he just wasn't a real kind guy to a lot of people, and so I didn't wanna be in that circle of people.
I was already thinking about understanding that my reputation was linked to those who I surrounded myself with, and I wanted out of there.
Coming Home to Build
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LeLan Dains: So that's when a really significant change happened in my life. Um, I had been missing Kansas. I wanted to come home. I was getting old enough, approaching 30, probably upper 20s at that point, and thinking about family and, and those types of things.
And I knew Kansas is where I wanted those things, but that question was there of, "Well, what am I gonna do?" And, uh, a friend of mine, um, had started this bike race called Jim- uh, called Dirty Kanza. Jim is his name. And I was gonna start my own business doing bike trips, and I was just gonna base it out of Emporia, and I was gonna do training camps and all this stuff and take people to all these races and support them.
And my friend said, "Actually, we would love it if you joined us at this bike race. I think we could turn it into something. Um, we could use your talents over here." And so I became an [00:44:00] owner of Dirty Kanza, it was called then. And fast-forward to today, it has been rebranded to Unbound Gravel, but it is the world's largest...
It's the world's premier gravel cycling event. More than 5,000 riders come from over 40 foreign countries and every US state, and it's extraordinary. And what that has taught me, the whole point of that lesson that I wanna impart on our Kansans, especially our rural kids, 'cause I think they hear this more than others, is when people are telling you, you need to get out of this town because it's a blank canvas and it's really boring.
That's n- there's n- that's no art. It's just a blank canvas. I need you to reframe and say, "Look at this blank canvas. I have the opportunity to paint whatever I want on it." And that was a switch in me that I I understood, whoa, there is so much power and potential in rural Kansas communities. In fact, there is endless opportunities.
And so, yeah, it's kind of a glass half empty, glass ha- glass half full. How are you gonna look at it? but I choose to look... When others say there are no [00:45:00] opportunities, I immediately say, "There is nothing but opportunity." That's exactly what you have in abundance, is opportunity, precisely because what you want doesn't exist.
You can either sit back and wait for someone else to do it, or you can get your hands dirty and get going on it.
Gus Applequist: when we started this podcast- ... we sort of felt that way, that, that, like, there, there wasn't a, there wasn't somebody making th- kind of this argument- Yeah ... that Kansas is important.
And what we discovered was that we are far from the first people- We are far from it ... thinking that way. And so, like- Yeah ... but, but when you show up to paint, using your analogy, like, you start discovering all the colors that are already on the canvas- Yeah ... and that it's more nuanced than you thought it was.
Yeah. And, and I think I was certainly guilty of that coming out of high school here in Salina. I think
Sydney Collins: we all were.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, that- Yeah ... yeah, that it's just, it, it, it's, there's more here than- Mm-hmm ... than you realize as a kid, and sometimes it just takes time.
LeLan Dains: I don't discount... I, I'm glad that I left.
Mm-hmm. I, in fact, I will encourage my children to go see something else because I also value diverse experiences. And [00:46:00] back to our analogy about painting if you grow up in one community, you can paint a picture. You'll paint one picture probably, the same picture that everyone knows and understands already.
But when you travel around, whether permanently, semi-permanently, whatever, you're gonna learn other pictures, and other brushes to use, and colors to use, and you're gonna bring that back, and you're gonna make that portrait a lot more beautiful. Mm-hmm. So I'm a big fan of getting out there and seeing the world, whatever that means for you, whatever that looks like, and I'm a huge fan of coming back if that's what you want, and taking what you've learned and adding it to your community.
Gus Applequist: I take it there's a bike race. Yeah. Yeah. Can you... How long is the bike race? Yeah. Where
LeLan Dains: does it
Gus Applequist: go?
Unbound Gravel Explained
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LeLan Dains: So it started as a 200-mile loop- ... on gravel roads in the Flint Hills- It's unchanged ... if you're familiar. Yeah. Oh. So it was a 200-mile race.
Today, we have a 25-mile distance, a 50, 100, 200, and even a 350-mile, um, race. So the 350 has a 36-hour time limit, so 10 miles per hour, basically, is the- My
Gus Applequist: fanny hurts- ...
LeLan Dains: average ... just thinking about that. Yes. Yeah, your [00:47:00] fanny pack would not be happy- No, it would not ... with 350 miles. How, how many- I have not done 350.
I've done 200. I've not done 350 miles. Oh my goodness.
Gus Applequist: How many people are racing 350 miles?
LeLan Dains: Um, 2, 300.
Sydney Collins: Oh my gosh.
LeLan Dains: Wow. Yeah. And today, the whole thing, the system, is now a lottery. Wow. So we actually crashed the internet, uh, back in 2017, 2018. The platforms we were using for online registration could not handle the load of people trying to simultaneously register, 'cause they knew it was selling out fast the previous year.
They broke it. We had to move to a lottery system. Um, so that means you had to... You had all the time in the world, well, within the window, to register your name and number in the hopes that your name got selected and you could pay to come do this event.
Sydney Collins: That is wild.
LeLan Dains: So, and it, it's around 5,000 now, and I would venture to say that's probably the carrying capacity just based on logistics.
Mm-hmm. If you think about it, Emporia's 24,000. We're about half of what Salina is. But when you go to Madison, Kansas, or Council Grove- Mm ... and these are towns of 500, 1,000 [00:48:00] people- Yeah ... and we're talking about 5,000 riders That math don't commute- Bigger than the town ... compute. Right? And they're allowed to have their friends and family meet them at these checkpoint towns, so we're talking about thousands of cars in a town of 500 people.
Wow. Take some big fields, big pastures to accommodate such a thing. Oh my God. So it's not for lack of demand, um, but they're probably around what their capacity is, and that's why it's a lottery system to even try to get into them.
Why the World Comes
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Gus Applequist: Can you share, like, people are coming from other countries to come here.
Yeah. What do they tell you after the event or during the event? Mm-hmm. That's good.
LeLan Dains: Yeah. It's one of the most rewarding things ever, and not just from people from outside the country, but early on when we started getting out-of-staters they would tell us, "Your town is extraordinary. The Flint Hills are a marvel.
This place is a gem." And for when you've grown up in it and you've been told there's nothing special or spectacular about where you live, to have an outsider come in and validate what you were starting to believe [00:49:00] yourself it feels so humbling and validating is that word, where you're like, "Yes, I knew this place was special.
I'm glad someone else sees it," because it, it should be enough for us to think where we live is special, but I'm the kinda guy who wants to share it with the world, and I want my community to grow. We have had people-- We, we have West Coast and East Coast Bob, two Bobs, one from California, one from New Jersey.
They've both relocated to Emporia because of this event.
Gus Applequist: Whoa.
LeLan Dains: Now, that's what you want in your community, right? All the
Gus Applequist: Bobs.
LeLan Dains: All the Bobs. West Coast Bob and East Coast Bob. Love it. And they bring their coast money, and they land in our community, and they buy a house, and they reside there, and it's, it's wonderful.
And so yeah, I wanna share it. Yeah, I want validation from others to come in and say, "Gosh, what you have here is really special." And when I came to do this, and when I told my friend, "Yeah, okay, I wanna be a part of this, but I have expectations, and they're high. This event will be the world's premier of its kind.
The Flint Hills will be recognized as [00:50:00] a top 10 cycling destination in the world, and we're gonna bring youth cycling to the state of Kansas." Check, check, check, and beyond. So Un- Unbound is undisputedly the world's premier gravel cycling event.
Gravel Cycling Boom
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LeLan Dains: It changed for-- Okay, for you non-cyclists out there- Yeah ... you gotta try to wrap your head around, well, what does this mean?
They, manufacturers now make gravel bikes. This didn't exist- Mm-mm ... 15 years ago. There was no such thing as a gravel bike. You either had cyclocross bikes to ride on these roads or mountain bikes, and Frankenstein in between. People were trying to come up with stuff. So, um, it, it spurred the creation of bikes.
There's now an American manufacturer who named one of their wheels Emporia. Emporia is on the name of a product sold globally. The Tour de France, which most of you recognize and have heard of, has a gravel stage. In their, in their 20 days of racing across France, they now incorporate gravel roads into their course
awesome.
It literally changed cycling the world over.
Sydney Collins: Huh.
[00:51:00] what makes gravel so much more interesting than your regular, like, road verse bike and verse mountain bike?
LeLan Dains: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Again, I'm, I'm, don't get on bikes.
LeLan Dains: So I'm gonna figure out That's okay. That's okay. We'll fix that. We'll work on that.
There's a couple of key factors, right? And there's always a little bit of right place, right time, right? There were-- We weren't the first gravel event. There was a, an event called the Flint Hills Death Ride, and that started in the late '80s and '90s, and they called it a mountain bike ride. So sometimes you've always got pioneers who are even too early, too ahead of their time.
Mm-hmm. They're doing something that they don't even fully understand that it's something revolutionary and different. Well, so why w- why are people doing this, and why has it exploded into what it is? You've not ridden your bike out on a road, but it's probably not lost on you that it is insanely an increasingly dangerous environment to go ride on these shoulderless roads with distracted drivers.
Sorry, folks, but you can be all angry that you want- ... that these bikes are out there, but you are a hazard to yourself and to everyone else. And I'm well aware that [00:52:00] Salina itself has had, um, at least one high-profile car-bike collision that resulted in a death. And so there's, there's a lot of danger of being out on the road.
Okay, the alternative is mountain bike trails. There's some h- right here in Salina. There's some out, um, in this area. Mountain bike trails, single track is extremely technical and extremely difficult and not for your average everyday person to just say- What? Yeah. You're like, "Well, I'm not into that."
There's roots, there's rocks, there's drops, there's all kinds of things that wanna knock you off your bike. Mm-hmm. And it's hard, and it's demanding. Gravel literally marries the convenience of road cycling with the adventure of mountain biking and make-- does it in an accessible and safe way. Now, there's tractors out there.
There's semis on occasion. There's, um, things happening, but it is a fraction of the occurrences that you would experience on road and all of the ease and accessibility that you don't get from single track. And so all of these things combine where [00:53:00] people are like, "Wait, I can go have an adventure, and I can see really cool things, and I don't have a car driving 75 miles an hour buzzing me on my left shoulder?"
And that was really a lot of it. A random ingredient of it, too, is that Kansas, despite being, don't quote me here, like the 10th or 12th Largest geography, you know, state has the third longest road network Oh. Yeah, which is insane. Yes. And so many of those road- I never thought about that ... routes
are gravel We have 98,000 miles of gravel roads.
Yeah. We have got a lot of roads in this state.
Emporia Welcomes Riders
---
LeLan Dains: I forgot a really key component and what those people were saying that you talked about, those out-of-staters and, and out of country folks, foreigners that were coming. It's the community, it's the people. We heard time and time again, "I wanna come back to Emporia because I feel like a rock star."
The checkout gal at Walmart knew the person that won the previous year, and when he was-- he came the next year and he's checking out in Walmart, "You're Yuri Oswald. You won the race last year" Sweet little old cashier at the Walmart. the coffee shops, the [00:54:00] bookstores, everyone in between. A- and let's face it, we know when you're not from our town, right?
Sydney Collins: Oh,
yeah.
LeLan Dains: We know instantly, especially when you're from California. We know exactly you are not from Kansas, my friend. And in Emporia, we loved it. They loved it. They said, "Oh, I can't believe you're here. Thanks for coming to my community," and they're like, "Whoa, good luck on your race." And these riders who the vast majority of them, in the early years especially, were not professional athletes.
They're amateur weekend warriors, and they never got that. I mean, I've had cans of Coke thrown at my head When I was out riding my bike.
Okay? So to go from this environment where you're hated, and you know it, by car culture and, and people who don't want you on their roads, to then arrive into a town where you are celebrated because you're there to ride 200 miles of Flint Hills gravel roads, it's like, "What just happened here?"
"I want more of this. I'll come back next year."
Where to Learn More
---
Sydney Collins: Where can we learn more about everything?
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
LeLan Dains: Yeah. Pretty easy. Fortunately, um, what we create is pretty unique, so you can do a simple Google search if you don't wanna remember the website, [00:55:00] but you can Google Kansas Spanish Speakers, or the website is simply ksspanishspeakers.com.
The reason we couldn't spell out Kansas Spanish Speakers is because then it puts A-S-S right there in the That's fair. So it's K-S Spanish Speakers, or just Google Kansas Spanish Speakers, um, .org. I might have said .com. .org, for sure. For Unbound Gravel, again, just a simple Google search will give you more content than you can sift through in a weekend.
I mean, there are series on YouTube. It is live-streamed. It's professionally produced. It is wild. I encourage you to watch it. I highly encourage you, whether you're into bikes or not, to find yourself in Emporia and experience something that you will not get anywhere else. It's just, just to be there as a spectator- Mm-hmm
and to take it all in. I, I talked about the 5,000 riders. It brings 12,000-plus people in total to a town of 24,000. Wow. So just Google Unbound and, and find out when the dates are. It's always the first weekend after Memorial Day.
Gus Applequist: Oh, it's coming up.
LeLan Dains: Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah, but it starts with a, a Hall of Fame banquet, which I get to have the [00:56:00] distinction of being a Gravel Cycling Hall of Famer, and from, from Wednesday to Sunday, there's something going on related to bikes and hanging out, so.
That's
Sydney Collins: wild.
Gus Applequist: Like so many of our guests, you are full commitment in the things that you do. Yeah. So thank you for, for being that way and contributing to the tapestry of Kansas, and thanks for being on Ask a Kansan today. Thank you.
LeLan Dains: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Post Interview Reflections
---
Gus Applequist: Well, we hope you enjoyed that interview with LeLan. I, I have to admit that I, like, gravel bicycling was not on my radar. And, and yeah, I, I definitely, I just wasn't aware of all the good work that's being done for Kansas Spanish Speakers. That was awesome.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. I- again, it's just one of those things you dig and dig and dig.
There's... LeLan has been on a couple different podcasts. We'll link [00:57:00] those. He goes into more of the gravel cycling kind of community. It is, it's like it's a thing.
Gus Applequist: Wow.
Sydney Collins: Like, I'm not a huge bike rider myself, but, like, I'm amped for, for that.
Gus Applequist: Like, I've heard of Bike Across Kansas, which seems like is probably a smaller thing compared to this- Yeah
at least in terms of number of participants, but- It is really neat to know that Kansas is sort of, you know, like an important place in the world of bicycling. Mm-hmm. Which is, yeah.
Sydney Collins: And I don't even think we talked about how he ... I sh- I should really remember these things, but I don't. But he helped establish a path, a gravel path between Kansas and New Mexico.
Gus Applequist: Hmm. Really?
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Like, it has a specific name. Wow. Well- Again, there are so many different things that we didn't talk about, that we probably could have had a whole nother episode just on Gravel Kansas, but...
Gus Applequist: So one thing we did wanna point you to is when, when we were... We always take guests on a tour, so if you ever come on, you get to see more behind the scenes- Yeah
of what we're all about [00:58:00] here. But he was telling us about a video that they had produced.
Sydney Collins: Oh, yeah.
Gus Applequist: And so we'd like to, uh, just put that hopefully in the show notes so you can check it out. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's sort of an introduction to I would say the why behind, uh, Kansas Spanish Speakers- Mm-hmm ... and what they do, and I found it really moving, and I think you will too.
Sydney Collins: Yeah, we were just watching it in the studio on his phone, and I was tearing up. So- Me
Gus Applequist: too. It was
Sydney Collins: great ... um, it's really powerful.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: So.
Mystery Knick Knack Game
---
Gus Applequist: So I have planned something for you.
Sydney Collins: Oh, no.
Gus Applequist: Um, this, this is probably the least prepared thing I've ever done for a segment . Oh, I
Sydney Collins: love it even more
Gus Applequist: then. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna move-
Sydney Collins: Oh, move, we're moving ditch
Gus Applequist: flowers?
our ditch flowers.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Why does Julie have a box?
Gus Applequist: Could, could you, could you bring me box please?
Sydney Collins: Thank you. Everyone, Julie. Julie, everyone. Thank you
Gus Applequist: very much. Yeah, this is my
Sydney Collins: mystery box. Please tell me it's, like, a weird rabbit in there or something.
Gus Applequist: it? It's pretty weird that you would say that. Okay, so we're gonna play a game.
Sydney Collins: Oh,
Gus Applequist: no. Um, if, if, if any of our viewers have the pleasure- ... of knowing my mother, they will know that- Ha ... [00:59:00] that my mother is, is a, a, a very interesting-
Sydney Collins: She's a
lover of knick-knack ...
Gus Applequist: yes, she loves knick-knacks, and therefore we all accumulate knick-knacks. And-
Sydney Collins: I
mean, look at us, we love knick-knacks ...
Gus Applequist: yeah, we do.
I've picked it
up.
Sydney Collins: We're knick-knacky.
Gus Applequist: We have all picked it up. So the game is can you figure out which of the two items I put on the table, and I've got several-
Sydney Collins: Okay ...
Gus Applequist: was given to me by my mother- ... and which of them was not? Okay?
Sydney Collins: Oh, okay.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: So let me... I, there's like, you gotta- Given, okay ... you gotta think about it for a
second.
Sydney Collins: Some were given and some were not given. Okay.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Okay.
Sydney Collins: So I have to distinguish between gifted knick-knacks versus knick-knacks you just accumulated.
Gus Applequist: That is correct.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: First of all, we have an antique, uh, this is a light meter for- photography, okay? And second, we have a solar-powered Einstein.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Okay?
Gus Applequist: So which, which item
do you think-
Sydney Collins: Einstein is gifted by your mother, only because I know [01:00:00] that.
Gus Applequist: How do you... Okay, well, very impressive.
Sydney Collins: It's been in your office forever. That's true. And you said that your mom got it for you at the Cosmosphere.
Gus Applequist: Well, well done
Sydney Collins: Or no?
Gus Applequist: Well done.
Sydney Collins: Yeah?
Gus Applequist: So you've got one.
Good job.
Sydney Collins: Okay, I got one. Only 'cause I cheated, 'cause I know Gus.
Gus Applequist: Full disclosure, on my desk, this has a little thing taped at the bottom that says, "Think." That way I don't forget to think.
Sydney Collins: Think, think, think, think.
Gus Applequist: Okay, round two.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
I love this so much. We should do this more often.
I'm afraid- You're gonna move- I'm gonna move cups here ... a
Gus Applequist: little bit. Okay. All right.
Sydney Collins: Okay, for those listening, this is a canoe on a string that has beads coming from the bottom of it, and what look like shells of some kind. It's kinda like a little wind chime. A canoe chime, if you will. Oh, and a whittled
No.
Gus Applequist: It's, it's not whittled. It's
Sydney Collins: not whittled.
Gus Applequist: It's ... I, well, I won't, I can't say anymore.
Sydney Collins: Am I allowed to touch things? It's like a
Gus Applequist: horse. Yeah, you can touch
Sydney Collins: it. Okay. Mm-hmm. [01:01:00] Oh, it's like ceramic almost. Okay. A ceramic w- weird horse thing. Okay. What was gi- ... Okay, I'm gonna go horse was a mother gift.
Gus Applequist: Okay. Good, good guess.
Uh, so that's a terracotta horse from China that my friend Max gave me.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: The other thing is what my mom gave me from when they were in Tanzania- Ah, yeah ... last, or not that long ago It's very- So yeah ... very
Sydney Collins: Tanzanian.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, it's it's one of those things that I really don't know what to do with, 'cause my wife definitely isn't gonna just want this around the house, so- It
Sydney Collins: definitely- Um-
it does not fit the vibe she
Gus Applequist: has created ... not that we're not into it, but it is, it's cool. We just haven't figured out exactly
Sydney Collins: where it's
Gus Applequist: going. Yeah. Probably go
Sydney Collins: in my office. I think you just need, in your house, you need a culture room, where it's just, like, different squares of different walls are all the cool things that you have accumulated or been, and pictures of different places you've been.
And we'll just call- Hmm ... it the culture room.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: And it will double as your Lego room.
Gus Applequist: Okay. I'm on board. I'm on board. Okay.
Sydney Collins: Hannah, this is my plea. [01:02:00] Take all the weird stuff to your house.
Gus Applequist: Okay. So, this- Is
Sydney Collins: that a chess piece?
Gus Applequist: You're gonna, you're gonna love how nerdy this is. This is the approximate size, she just made a funny face, of if the Earth was reduced to the, in a black hole-
Sydney Collins: Oh
Gus Applequist: this is how big- Of course ... the singularity would have to be to contain that amount of mass. Okay? Mm-hmm. So there's that. Um, let's see. What, what shall we do? We'll do- We'll do this.
Sydney Collins: O- oh.
Is that a, is that a- Is that hair?
Gus Applequist: I, I believe so, yes.
Sydney Collins: Do we know where the hair came from?
Gus Applequist: It... Well, you could say that it is a hair hare. It is- It is
Sydney Collins: a hair
Gus Applequist: hare ... it is a hair made out of hair. I don't recall where it's from, to be honest with you.
Sydney Collins: Okay. Um- But
Gus Applequist: you can guess where that's [01:03:00] from. The other one.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: I'm gonna go Cosmosphere on that one, and I'm gonna go with your mom gave you the hare bunny.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Yeah, you guessed right. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Yeah,
Gus Applequist: this is this is another one of those things that I'm, I'm not exactly sure what I'm gonna do with it, but I'm kind of excited by it. Yeah, it's, It, it feels like it's sort of deteriorating even though it interestingly- I
Sydney Collins: just, I wanna touch it now
Gus Applequist: Yeah, please do. It, it's, it's an experience.
Sydney Collins: So I mean, it does feel like hair, but it also feels a little synthetic.
Gus Applequist: So I have to brag on my mom here for a second. People, people tend to know my dad more than my mom. My mom had a, uh, a store in downtown Salina for a few years called Window On The World, and she... It wasn't necessarily fair trade. That wasn't a big thing back then, but she, she did, like, bring in stuff from all over the world and sell it there, and so a lot of the things she gives me-
Sydney Collins: Yeah
Gus Applequist: came from Window On The World.
Sydney Collins: The stuff that wouldn't sell? Sorry, that was v- intrusive thoughts coming out. There's,
Gus Applequist: there's many intrusive thoughts.
Sydney Collins: There are, but these are, like, the weird nicknacky [01:04:00] things that I would love. I mean, we could do a whole tour of my office of the weird nicknacky things I have.
I have, like, Victorian-era children's gloves on my wall, so I guess I can't say anything.
Gus Applequist: Okay. We're to, we're to the last part of this little endeavor. Okay. Okay. First, we have Pinocchio bass player.
Sydney Collins: Oh.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Gus Applequist: I do play the double bass. And we have...
Sydney Collins: A ha- another hare with a w- some crazy eyes. I'm gonna go mom again with the bunny.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, you're right. No, you just have to take a closer look at it because it's so... I mean, this thing, if you're listening, it's like-
Sydney Collins: It's been through something ...
Gus Applequist: Yeah, it's, it looks like a dead animal that-
Sydney Collins: I'm assuming the black hair doesn't
Gus Applequist: belong there ... the cat dragged in. It's holding... The only thing that makes it slightly terrible is the carrot that it's holding.
So-
Sydney Collins: But honestly, it kind of looks like... Never mind. Made in Japan. It has a little sticker on the [01:05:00] bottom.
Gus Applequist: I'm sure when it was made in Japan it looked great, but no more.
Sydney Collins: It's-
Gus Applequist: Yeah, it has, it has its own... Yeah.
Sydney Collins: It has its own aura.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. I, I feel like we were talking
Sydney Collins: the other day- I feel like
Gus Applequist: if you stick a pin in it, a rabbit may die.
Sydney Collins: Yes. Voodoo bunny. It is voodoo- Voodoo
Gus Applequist: bunny rabbit ...
Sydney Collins: it is voodoo bunny rabbit.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. We, we were talking about scary dolls on eBay the other
Sydney Collins: day.
Gus Applequist: And this is, this is, like, one of those things, if I put this on eBay, I think it could fetch some serious money.
Sydney Collins: Oh, yeah. Just 'cause- It's- ... of the sheer weirdness of it
Gus Applequist: That's all I've got from my box of- I love it so
Sydney Collins: much
Gus Applequist: strangeness.
Sydney Collins: Now I gotta
Gus Applequist: think of like- And thank you, Mom. Mom has been a good friend of the podcast lately. Oh, yeah. She's been, uh, recommending and just straight up just sending episodes to friends and family, and they've been watching, so for any of those people- Yeah ... thanks for, for tuning in on Mom's suggestion.
Shout out
Sydney Collins: to
was that Okay. Okay. Okay.
Sorry. Well,
Final Wrap and Thanks
---
Sydney Collins: that brings us to another wrap of Ask a Kansan. So as always, visit us on AskaKansan.com. Follow us on social media. Leave us a review. [01:06:00] Uh, visit our merch store the Ask a Kansan store on our website. Sign up for our newsletter, and all the other things that we always say on every episode.
Gus Applequist: If