To make our Continuing Education Series Podcast more accessible and searchable for FLD members and the general public, we are now offering transcriptions of our episodes right here on À Propos. Many thanks to our volunteer transcriptionists, who are credited at the bottom of each transcription. If you’re interested in helping us transcribe podcast episodes, email divisionFLD [at] atanet [dot] org.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL EPISODE

SOUNDCLOUD: You can listen to or download Episode 28 and all previous episodes on Soundcloud here.

ITUNES: This episode and all previous episodes are available on iTunes here. You can subscribe or listen online. Like what you hear? Rate us and review us! It really helps get the word out.

Episode 28: Belinda Stohner on Miami Fun

Andie Ho: This is Andy Ho, host of the Continuing Education Series, a podcast produced for the members of the French language division of the American Translators Association. Offering educational content about the craft of French to English and English to French translation and the division.

Belinda Niling Stohner is a professional violinist based in Miami, FL. She has an unorthodox attitude towards the role of string players in the art world. Her groups Baby B Strings and Sugar & Scotch, and her innovative project Musical Fairytales blur the lines between classical music and pop culture. She has performed with Shakira at Super Bowl 54, Usher at the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, and alongside the likes of R&B artist Maxwell, and bluegrass fiddler Mark O’Connor. Also, she’s my sister. Welcome, Belinda.

Belinda Stohner: Hi!

Andie Ho: So, the reason I have asked Belinda here today is because she lives in Miami, has lived there for 20 or so years, and since the ATA64 this year will be in Miami, I wanted to pick her brain about what we should do for fun in Miami when we get there. Belinda, you originally went to Miami for college and then stuck around. We are originally from Kansas, so this was quite the change of scenery. What made you stay?

Belinda Stohner: Number one, the sun! That’s a no-brainer. I hate cold weather. And when I first came to do a college visit, I think it was like in the middle of February, and I was, like, sold! I don’t need—there’s no question I want to be here. That and also it’s a mid-sized city. You know, it’s not quite the very intimidating city like New York or LA or even Houston, but it’s very metropolitan and exciting, and a lot’s going on here. Things are changing all the time.

Andie Ho: There is a lot going on. It’s funny, though, The last time the ATA was in Miami, I heard someone say, Oh, I’m not interested in going because there’s nothing to do in Miami. It’s not much of a tourist town. Which struck me as crazy. When people think about Miami, obviously, they think about the beaches and all that stuff, but what other stuff is there to do there?

Belinda Stohner: There’s so much stuff. Something for everyone. If you’re really into the glam of things, there’s high-end shopping. You can go see celebrity houses on Star Island. But also, if you’re into art, there’s so many private collections and art galleries. The Pérez Art Museum is one of our big draws. But also, if you enjoy just being outdoors, there’s the Everglades National Park, which is amazing. There’s so many animals there. You can go kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkeling. The world is your oyster. It’s very diverse. You just have to go find it.

Andie Ho: You mentioned celebrities and Star Island. What are some of the celebrities who have homes in Miami?

Belinda Stohner: Who doesn’t have a home in Miami? Shakira is the latest one to move here. David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, moved here fairly recently and started a soccer team. If you’re into international soccer, Lionel Messi is basically the world superstar currently, and he just signed with Miami. Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump, one of the Jonas Brothers, Pharrell. A lot of people have houses and live here mostly full time.

Andie Ho: Have you ever seen a celebrity when you’re out and about in town?

Belinda Stohner: One time I was at the mall and Shaquille O’Neal walked by with a horde of people. It was just like a whole bunch of people and then this head sticking out, because he’s so big. He’s larger than life.

Andie Ho: Well, and you did play in the Super Bowl with Shakira, so.

Belinda Stohner: That, too. Jennifer López lives down here as well. So I saw her as well.

Andie Ho: So what is the weather going to be like in October? You said you like the sun. Will there be sun?

Belinda Stohner: We are the Sunshine State. You know, we don’t really have typical seasons like most other places. We say we have wet season and dry season. Late October is kind of the tail-end of the peak of hurricane season. So it could rain or it couldn’t rain. For example, today there was no rain forecasted and it poured for a few minutes. The thing that would be guaranteed, though, is bring sunscreen and that it will be warm and humid.

Andie Ho: Okay, and for those of you who are keeping score at home, the ATA is October 25th through the 28th, as a reminder. Speaking of the Sunshine State, what is this Brightline that I’ve been hearing so much about?

Belinda Stohner: Oh, man! So Florida is a peninsula, and for the most part, there’s maybe one highway, which is I-95, that goes north, and then one that goes west to Naples. It can get very congested. So in the last several years, they’ve been developing the Brightline. Currently, you can go from downtown Miami to Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. The Orlando stop is supposed to open later this year, and I believe they’re working on a Tampa stop. So you can kind of traverse and go to like Disney or Universal and come back down south and not really need a car, which is amazing.

Andie Ho: Okay, so it would be easy for, say, conference attendees to fly, say, into Orlando and then come down for the conference and go back up and fly out — or vice versa, fly into Miami, go up to Orlando and come back?

Belinda Stohner: Yeah, it’s fairly inexpensive. It looks very clean from the outside and it’s quite frequent. I don’t know if it’s every 15 minutes or every half hour that there’s a train. I believe there’s probably free wifi on there. And in terms of public transport downtown, kind of where the conference is going to be, there is a free trolley that runs till 11 p.m. so you can kind of get around the downtown area. There’s also tons of rideshares like Uber and Lyft. You can rent scooters or Citi Bike if you’re into that. And it’s quite walkable downtown, you can reach a lot of things. I believe there’s a Whole Foods across the street from where the hotel is. So there’s a lot of things downtown.

Andie Ho: The conference is being held at the Hyatt Regency near Brickell? Brick-ELL? How do you say that?

Belinda Stohner: BRICK-uhl.

Andie Ho: Brickell. Okay, so that’s considered downtown?

Belinda Stohner: Yeah. Yeah. Brickell specifically is usually a bunch of high-rises. There’s a lot of banks and condos and other businesses downtown. But yeah, I would say that the Hyatt Regency is on the edge of Brickell. So you could either go to Brickell and kind check out that area or like proper downtown, which is a little more industrial and less, less flashy, I should say.

Andie Ho: Brickell, Isn’t that the area with tons of restaurants? We’ve been there before.

Belinda Stohner: Yeah, but there’s tons of restaurants everywhere. If you’ve ever seen the documentary Cocaine Cowboys, you’ll see kind of like where all the money came from to build downtown and why it’s so beautiful.

Andie Ho: All right. So what is the food scene like in general across Miami? Not just Brickell.

Belinda Stohner: Okay. Well, we do pretty well food-wise. You know, we are a very diverse city. Obviously, there’s a lot of Latin food, like Cuban, Caribbean food, South American food. But if you want to eat $200 sushi, you can do that. Or you can go to a quick corner store and eat a sandwich for a couple bucks. For Cuban food, because that tends to be a draw for a lot of people, if you go to Calle Ocho in Little Havana—that means “eighth street”—Versailles is the popular destination for a sit-down restaurant. It’s a little bit more touristy. I like La Carreta, which means “the cart,” it’s like an ox cart. It’s a little more homestyle. They describe themselves as “abuela-style.” If you like ceviche or if you like seafood, because we’re obviously a coastal town, ceviche is really good. Near the hotel, there’s Ceviche 105. There’s also one on the beach. That’s really good. You can go get a Pisco sour and some Peruvian food and get some ceviche. And then the other thing that I really like, which is pretty local to Miami, is the Jamaican food. That’s not an obvious choice for people that come to Miami, but there’s really good Jamaican food here. Clive’s Cafe is really cool. It’s a small hole-in-the-wall place. There’s a little old lady named Miss Pearl. She runs the counter and you can go in and get like some Jamaican patties for a few bucks or they have oxtail and ackee and saltfish. That’s really interesting if you’re a little more adventurous food-wise.

Andie Ho: Now, just to be clear, folks. Versailles. Yes, it is spelled like the Palace of Versailles, But it is Cuban food, not French food. Correct?

Belinda Stohner: Yeah. I’m not really sure what the historical context on that is, but I know it’s featured in a lot of things, and that’s the one that people always talk about.

Andie Ho: So what about the French food scene? Because our listeners are largely French-speakers, people interested in francophone cultures. So what’s the French food scene like?

Belinda Stohner: You know what’s interesting? There is a pretty decent-sized French diaspora here, but the really good French restaurants are kind of scattered about. You know, there is a French cafe called Cafe Crème in North Miami. The owners have had several restaurants around Miami. That’s kind of our favorite. Kind of closer to the hotel is Buena Vista Deli. Again, it’s a kind of a cafe where you can get like a quiche or a soup and a salad. And they have like a really beautiful dessert showcase that is very French. If you’re in Coral Gables, there’s Frenchie’s Diner, which, again, the name doesn’t sound like it’s an amazing spot, but it’s quite fancy inside. You can get foie gras, but also you can just get roast chicken or duck confit or steak and potatoes. So those are kind of my favorite. Frenchie’s Diner, Cafe Crème and then Buena Vista Deli.

Andie Ho: All right, moving away from the food talk, reluctantly. You talked about some of the outdoorsy things like paddleboarding and whatnot. What about indoorsy things for us nerds?

Belinda Stohner: Well, it’s important to have indoor things because if you can imagine, the heat and the sun can get quite oppressive here, especially now in the summertime. We have things like the art museums, which is really cool. Like I mentioned before, Perez Art Museum, which is near the water. There’s also the Frost Science Museum, which has a really cool aquarium. You can see sharks, you can touch a starfish and manta rays, and it’s just really beautiful. And if you’re into science, there’s that part of it too. Um, yeah, those are kind of two of my favorite things to do.

Andie Ho: So on that topic, what do you and your husband do for fun? I mean, as local residents who live there every day and obviously are not going to the touristy areas, what are some of the things that you like to do? Places to go, places to eat?

Belinda Stohner: We’re also kind of pretty book nerdy. So there’s Books & Books. The flagship store is in Coral Gables downtown. It’s very quaint, has a cafe, wooden floors, beautiful. They have a whole section dedicated to just beautiful coffee table books, if you can imagine. And it’s cool just to go there and hang out. There’s a really cool alcoholic ice cream store. I shouldn’t really call it a store, but it kind of feels like a speakeasy almost, or a bar. And they only sell alcoholic ice cream, but it’s really good, well done. It’s not gimmicky. And that’s in the Design District, called Aubi & Ramsa.

Andie Ho: Cool. All right. I think that about covers it. It sounds like there’s something for everyone in Miami. Last question that I ask all of my interviewees: What would you like to say to our audience? What would you like them to know about life, the universe and everything?

Belinda Stohner: Everything everything? Uh, work hard and be a good person. Come to Miami. It’s a beautiful place!

Andie Ho: There you have it. Words of wisdom. All right. Well, thank you very much for telling us all about Miami today. And we hope to see you soon. And I’ll definitely see you at Christmas.

Belinda Stohner: All right. Thanks for having me.

Andie Ho: This concludes our episode for today. You can subscribe to the Continuing Education Series podcast on SoundCloud or iTunes by searching for Continuing Education Series. You can contact the FLD at division@atanet.org, visit our website at www.ata-divisions.org/fld, or get in touch with us on social media. This is Andie Ho signing off. Thanks for listening and à bientôt!