Trasa Robertson Cobern’s Bio: Trasa Robertson Cobern grew up mostly in Germany as the daughter of an Army soldier stationed overseas three times. She graduated from an American overseas high school, and ended up in Texas, where she'd never lived, thanks to earning a full academic scholarship at Texas A&M University. There she met and married a Texas boy, and settled in Hurst to raise their family. She stayed home for twelve years with their four boys before feeling the call into her personal ministry of public school teaching. Meanwhile, her Army sergeant father became famous in his retirement as America's favorite "Uncle Si", along with the rest of her Robertson family, on the hit show about faith and family, Duck Dynasty. Trasa and her family appeared on the show several times, most notably in the family reunion episode which was the finale to Season Five. Trasa needs to give back to the community that has given her so much. She served two years on the Hurst City Council, and currently volunteers and serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, as well as strongly participating in local politics in Tarrant County. She is passionate about God, family, education, public policy and personal responsibility. Everyday DIVA: Julie Cole Trasa's Article on Fox News: https://fxn.ws/2ZRkFdn Follow Trasa on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33qaDSB Learn more about all the things we have at : http://bit.ly/2YoPWTi Join our community at: http://bit.ly/DIVASMakingAnImpact Listen to us here: http://bit.ly/WarriorDIVAS
Angie:
Hello and welcome to Warrior DIVAS Real Talk for Real Women. This is your host Angie Leigh Monroe reminding you each and every day to be a DIVA and make an impact. For those of you that are new to our show, DIVAS stands for women that are Destined, Inspired, Victorious, Accountable and building a Sisterhood, and make a positive impact in the world we live in. And we are so excited today because we are launching a new part of our podcast. We've been doing our podcast, little snippets, 30 minutes snippets with just me on doing teaching topics, and we have got our first guest in the studio today. But before I get started, I want to remind you, we have our DIVAS Impact magazine, we have the conference, it's on the back of the magazine, coming up soon. And you can find out all about that at DIVASImpact.com, but today I want to give you a little bit of introduction into Trasa Cobern.
She is a local gal here in the Dallas Fort Worth area. But I've known about her, known of her, more through her husband than anything else over the last few years. met, I met her I think in 2011 2012, somewhere around there, when she was student teaching my son at the local high school, which I'm an alumni of bout to have our class reunion. And I started just being intrigued by her, the kids love her. That's one thing if somebody if kids love you, that's one thing. But the other part of it too is she's got such a passion for our troops. She's got a passion for our country, she's got a passion for her community. And when I talked to people on DIVAS, they often asked me about what can they get involved in? How can they make a difference? How can they make an impact? and I often tell them politics. Getting to know what's going on in your local community all the way up to the presidency and knowing how to have those conversations and so I've watched her, I don't just put anybody on the show. I don't just introduce people I know anybody to all of you watch her and see what she does. And so when she's not in school, she's been traveling quite a bit. And she's been doing some learning herself and educating herself, improving herself. She's run for city council. She's run for a couple of other positions as well. She serves on the committee here in the Tarrant County for politics. And so when we are talking today, if you're wanting to know how to get involved, this is the woman that can tell you about how to get involved.
But my biggest reason for wanting her to go on is she has done everything with grace, she has done everything with talent, with dignity, and a smile on her face. So, this is all about to kick off in a big way. And I want you to welcome with me, Trasa Coburn,
Trasa:
Thank you, Angie, I am so honored and so touched by all of that, that was just really awesome. I'm gonna I'm gonna, like, take that clip of that podcast and like, you know, keep it on my own personal media so, I can have that if I'm having a bad day. So thank you so much. I am so pleased to be here. Your company, what you guys do with DIVAS impact is exactly what I think is wonderful. For women. I just I'm a huge I was just talking to my son yesterday about how I don't consider myself a feminist I would consider myself maybe a womanist that I think women are so important to our society. And what's good for society is good for women. And what's good for women is good for society. And so what you do is just fantastic.
Angie:
Thank you so much. Thank you, we tell people all the time, we steer away from the feminist word, because it's gotten such a negative impact. It's part of the reason why we steered towards divas impact is because when you think of a diva, you think of somebody that's, you know all about themselves and all of that. But we want to shift that paradigm, we want to do the same with the feminist movement, we want to help women embrace their femininity and realize how strong and powerful they are within their femininity and not have to be something that they're not.
Trasa:
Absolutely I was telling my husband, we were coming out of church yesterday, and there was a little girl who had on the little Bobby socks to have the lace trim. And I was telling my husband, I said, you know, when I was a kid, I used to, my mom used to put me in those, I was the firstborn child in the first granddaughter on both sides. And she used to put me in those socks, and I would cut the lace off the socks because I thought that it was so girly and I didn't want to be girly, I wanted to be strong, and I wanted to be you know, independent, and all of these things. And over time, I've learned that, you know, femininity is just another part of who I am. And it's just, you know, filtered into that strength and that, you know, independence. And so, you know, I love to wear dresses, and I love to be you know, girly now, whereas, you know, when I was six, five and six, I didn't like that image at all. So, you know, but we mature and we learn things about ourselves. And so that's I think that's just a wonderful thing to use that femininity and know that we can be strong and feminine. Both.
Exactly. So you grew up, you grew up in a couple of different countries. you've traveled around, you've made your way to Texas, of course, you know, we're Texan. So, we love Texas. This is. Absolutely. So, tell us a little bit about things that may be from your youth that kind of you see now led you to where you are today.
Oh gosh, I think faith is so important to me and God has led me along my life has prepared me in each step for the step that's coming up. And so sometimes you we don't always see that. And we don't always know where he's leading us. But you know, you'll get 10 years down the road, you're like, oh man, if I hadn't had that experience, like I wouldn't be prepared for this. And I, I was lucky enough to grow up with a dad who was in the military. My dad was a sergeant in the army and we were stationed overseas in Germany three different times. And I was actually born in Germany, spent early elementary there. And then the third time we were there was from the time I was in sixth grade until I graduated from high school and I graduated at a at an American High School overseas. And, and I tell my kids, I teach American history. And so, on the first day of school, I always do a little intro about me and I and I tell the kids I say you know, I'm super passionate about America, America is the best country on the earth. And I can say that with full confidence because I've been to so many other places. And you know, Germany is a wonderful place. I love to go visit there anytime I have the chance to it's a beautiful country. But I would never live in Germany, I would never choose to live there. And I had the choice. You know, when I was 18, I had dual citizenship. And so I had the choice. And I could have stayed and gone to college in Germany. But I came back to college in America and Texas, actually, you know, Texas A&M, took a risk on me and gave me a scholarship there. And that's how I ended up in this state that I'd never lived in before and didn't know anybody. And so took that leap of faith and said, okay, God, I trust you, you know, I'm going to go to this place. And I don't know how I'm gonna like it. And you know, wonderful, wonderful decision turned out great. A&M is a wonderful place and met my husband there. I fell in love with, I fell in love with Texas before I fell in love with my husband, like I was already determined, you know that I was going to stay here and then met my husband. And so that's how we ended up in the Dallas Fort Worth area. He's a Hurst boy. And so yeah, we ended up in Hurst and you know, I've planted my roots deep here.
Angie:
So, so whenever you left and came back to the state sudden came to Texas and all that stuff, do you feel that being in the military, as a military dependent, really kind of helped you be able to move in and not… Yes, it's scary. I'm not gonna say it's not scary, but gave you a little more freedom. Because sometimes we get a little too sheltered,
Trasa:
right. And I think it's human nature to like where we are to be comfortable in our little circles. But being a military brat has really just benefited me in so many ways. I used to be very introverted, I used to be very concerned about, you know, what people like me when, you know, how would I project myself, and being in the military, having that atmosphere where people were constantly moving in and out of my life, gave me much more freedom to understand that, you know, like, like, I'm going to be who I am. And then the people around me may shift, the environment may shift, but I'm who I am in me. And so absolutely, when I moved to Texas, you know, I was I was scared, I was a little worried. But I knew that God had me and that it was going to be a good situation. And that, if not, we would move to something else. Right.
Angie:
So. So I mentioned that you were a city council member for the city of Hurst. And you started, I don't know, when you started getting into politics?
Trasa:
Um, so I have four boys, and I have a degree in political science. That's what I majored in, in college. So, I've always been interested in politics and government and those things. But when we moved here, we had the boys and so I was Mom, you know, I was full time mom. And I didn't do a lot outside of the house, I did PTA and that kind of thing with their schools. But I was really focused on my son's, I started about 2013, I started being, you know, kind of looking a little bit outside, that's after I'd started teaching full time. And my kids at school challenged me one time and said, Well, what do you do other than vote? Like you talk about being involved in the political process? What do you do? You know, exactly, they have no filter, and they'll and they'll challenge you. And so, I was like, Oh, well, let me I need to be involved, I need to do more. And I really love where we live. And so, I had, and I strongly encourage everybody to do this, if you are interested in your local community, go down to City Hall, ask them if they have citizen boards and commissions, right, because most cities do. And so all you have to do is fill out a little application, it takes you maybe two, three minutes to fill out the application and turn it in, most of the cities have it online where you can just fill it out online, and you don't even have to go to City Hall. And so, but back in 2013, it was all you know, paper based. So, you know, filled it out, mailed it in, and then they called me for an interview, and I went down and interviewed for a board was appointed to a board called the neighborhood Community Advisory Committee. And it was a really great experience, just got to hear some inside stuff about Hurst got to know kind of what was happening. There was a city council member who was a liaison on our committee, so got to know her. And so that's how I got my first taste of, you know, what it meant to be really involved, right. And then I loved it. And then from there, I went to the library board, which is, you know, kind of a bigger board and more and more involved. And then the city council member who was on my first board actually came to me and said, I'm retiring, will you run for my spot? And so, it was the fact that I was already involved, that made that connection. And so it's all about, it's about who you know, but it's also about how you know them too. It's a it's majorly about showing up. So, if you're not in the system, then people don't know you. They're not aware of your strengths. They're not aware if you're capable. And there are lots of people who just show up and say, I'm going to run for city council, and they've never been involved in the city before. And the voters generally tend to not like those people, right? Because they're like you didn't do your homework, you know, you haven't been involved. You're your Johnny, come lately. Where have you been?
Angie:
I think I think we talked about that one time before is there's people that show up, even for the school boards, then they may be involved a little bit on their PTA level, they may be involved as a room mom or something like that. But they're not showing up to school board meetings. They're not showing up to these big things that are important. I heard somebody not too long ago, was standing in a board in a meeting room with the school superintendent, and went up and introduced herself to him like she didn't know who he was, but she was running for the school board. Yeah. And I'm like, wait a minute, you know, this, this is not something that's okay with most. Right, you know, we want to make sure that the board members, Yes, we want them to be able to not be Yes, men and women, but we want them to know what's going on and know how they would shift things in a positive direction before they ever get there.
Trasa:
Well, and we like people who I do anyway, I like people who've done their homework, who show me that they're willing to put the time in right to know the situation, know who the important people are, who the important issues, what the important issues are, so that they can actually have a grasp on it. Because if you just show up and say I want to run for city council, because I want to be a city council person, you know, like, Where's your investment there? Right? What are your issues? What are your problems? Why, why are you doing this? So? Yeah, I say, you know, show up? Absolutely.
Angie:
Well, we, my husband and I also own a plumbing company here in the state of Texas in this last legislative session in the state of Texas was a bit tumultuous for us. We went under a review, we had some challenges, there was a march on to the Texas steps. And I'm just going to tell you that it was an interesting experience. I've never done that before. I've never been a part of that before. But it was very interesting to be there, and kind of be part of the democratic process in a way. Yes, the governor had signed something, extending it two days before, but letting your collective voices be heard over something. So, I guess the other part is, is there's a lot that we did staying home with our kids during times where maybe we felt like some women out there today that our voice can't be heard our voice isn't this. But when we join our voices with other people,
Trasa:
Right.
Angie:
That how we make our big powerful state. Absolutely.
Trasa:
That's such a, I'm a huge proponent of the First Amendment and its freedom of speech and freedom to assemble is such an important thing. And you know, people think a lot about, you know, the big protests and the things, you know, the Women's March and the, you know, a million man march and those things, but those, those are just kind of the culmination of so much else that's happened for people to speak up and speak out. And I just think I was in Philadelphia this summer. And I saw a protest from a group that I don't agree with politically, right. But I took a picture of it and put it on my social media, I said, I don't agree with their message, but I will fight to the death for their right to stand here in front of Independence Hall and have their protest, because I think that that is one of the reasons that we are so free in this country is that you know, and I try to tell my kids at school, I'm like, you know, when they'll say, Well, you know, America is not that great. And I'll say, you really don't know, like there are other places in the world, even places that are democratic, you know, nominally democratic, that people don't have the right to get in a group. People don't have the right to send letters. People don't have the right to speak out. And you know, that is such a marvelous gift to us. And the First Amendment, you know, the, the Constitution just protects us so much, and the kids don't know it. But a lot of adults don't know it either. And that's a shame.
Angie:
Well, was Philadelphia, where you were learning about the Medal of Honor. Yes, yes. That was a great article that you wrote it on.
Trasa:
The Fox. Yeah, I actually had to I had one on the Dallas Morning News. And then I had one, right, Fox News right online.
Angie:
And so I thought that was great. And I'd love for you to share a little bit about your experience there.
Trasa:
Okay, so the Medal of Honor Grove is a place that is in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and the group that maintains it is called the freedoms foundation. And it was basically created by President Eisenhower and a bunch of notables back in the 50s. to, you know, have a place where these men and women honored and so the grove is this marvelous, like three acre site, and it's just got trails, walking trails, and then every state has an obelisk that has the names of every one of their Medal of Honor recipients on the obelisk, like engraved, or else a plaque on it. And I was walking around the first morning, I got there. There are I we'd gotten there the night before. And so, the first morning, we didn't really have time built into the schedule for our class to go walk the grove. And so, I got up at six o'clock that morning and went and walked the grove. And it was such a powerful experience to me being the daughter of a serviceman and seeing these names of men and there's one woman who basically gave everything, you know? and some of them were awarded quite a few of them are awarded posthumously. So the majority of these people died doing what they got honored for. And so it's just marvelous. And then we have the chance to meet Jim McLennan who is one of the newest Medal of Honor recipients. He earned his medal of honor in Vietnam. He did not receive it until 2017. He was the first one, also honored by President Trump. And he in the interim, he was a teacher and a coach for 39 years. And so he was a marvelous person and marvelous representative to meet. And he talked about how, you know, talk about involvement, talked about, you know, loving your fellow man talked about being a teacher and a coach, and how, you know, that's equally as hard, as you know, as earning the Medal of Honor. Right. So really just a powerful experience. And so that's what I wrote about in those two articles. The first one is me walking the grove, and just talking about what that meant to me. And then the second one was talking about, you know, how I kind of expected to really meet superheroes when I went to this conference. And you think of Medal of Honor recipients as being people who've done this, you know, amazing, you know, save people's lives, and they've done things that are superhuman, and they are there, they're marvelous, and I'm not denigrating what they do at all. But what was so remarkable to me was the fact that they are ordinary people who do extraordinary things. And one of the Medal of Honor recipients actually has said, and I think it's, I think it's Patrick Baka actually said, “Every person has within them the capacity to do extraordinary things.” And I think that's so much more powerful than saying, these guys are superhuman, and I can't be like that, right? It's more powerful to say, guess what, I can do this too. You know?
Angie:
I think it's interesting, because a lot of the Medal of Honor people, they went through boot camp, they went through special training, they went through all these things. But they also brought the things from them that were ingrained from their families, from their livelihood, before all of that. And there's that part in the movie, the blind, The Blind Side, where he puts his arm up in front of the little boy, because he's got this innate ability to protect, right, he you know, and so many of our Medal of Honor people are, like many others, that are our police officers, our firefighters are our other first responders that they have that innate ability built into them. But there's a bunch of us out there that have never been any of that, right. And we have it as well, you know, call it the mama bear syndrome, whatever it is, but we will, we will fight to the death for what we stand for, and what we are our true to. And I get I get interested in looking at some of these Medal of Honor winners that go, I just showed up for my job that day, and instinct kicked in, they knew that they were willing to risk their life in that moment to save the 10 guys behind that right or the other guy beside them, or whatever it was, they made a split second decision, because of everything from birth till then that had been ingrained in them
Trasa:
Absolutely, that is so true.
And I love that picture of just it being so selfless. It's just the ultimate selflessness to me. Yeah. And some of us, you know, are never going to be in that situation, I'm never going to be in a firefight where I have to save people's lives. It's just, you know, our chances are pretty good that I won't be right. But every day, we make choices in our lives that do protect other people in that help other people and you know, are kind to other people. And so other people make those exceptional choices to they may just not be in such a dramatic fashion.
Angie:
Exactly. So I was talking to somebody the other day, and they were talking ugly about somebody and and, you know, I used to be one of those the girls that could pile on with everybody else. And I've gotten to where I push back now, I'm like, Well, how do you know they weren't having a bad day today? How do you know in this one snapshot that you had with them that you just didn't miss set them up for being in a worse place than a better place about piling on them? And so those are those actionable moments that instincts, we can choose to be life givers instead of life suckers.
Trasa:
Yes. So true. It's a you know, and that's one of the things that the one of the reasons I teach is because the kids I teach, I choose to teach in a majority minority area, and, you know, could teach anywhere I wanted to, and I teach in this school and in this district, because that's where I want to teach. And one of the things I always keep in mind is, I don't know what happened to that kid from the time they left school yesterday, till this morning, but they're going to see a smile on my face, they're going to see that I care about them, because I don't know what battle they're fighting. And I don't want them to have anything added to it from me, like I want to take somebody that some of that pressure and some of that burden off of them. You know, if I can now they may be you know, perfectly fine and have a great day. But then you're not going to hurt anything by smiling at them and being nice to them. But you're going to make a difference to some of those kids who may not see another smile on another face, you know. And so that that is just it's I view teaching as a mission field.
Angie:
Exactly. Well, and you talked about the Medal of Honor winner that was a teacher and a coach for 30 years before he was given the Medal of Honor. He showed up to work every day. He was a he was there. He was present, he was doing every day stuff just like he did right before that magical moment in his life, no matter how that turned. He showed up every day he interacted with those kids every day. Now. Did he share anything about how things shifted for him once he got the Medal of Honor? Did people talk to him differently, treat them differently?
Trasa:
Um, I don't know that he really shared that he focused more on the fact that he felt that his impact as a teacher and a coach over those 39 years had been so much greater than that one moment in his life in Vietnam, the one day, you know, and he's still very close with his buddies from Vietnam. But he says, you know, he had 10,000 students go through his class, and he's like, you know, those 10,000 students, like I meant something to them and that's way more impactful than what I did for these, you know, eight guys. And so that was really just powerful. I thought, you know, that he had focused on that. And it was just interesting, because, you know, if he had gotten that Medal of Honor, back in 1969, you know, how would that have changed his life? Would that have made a difference in the way he approached people in the way he, you know, in the way he approached other people, or the way they approached him, would it have changed things this man, as opposed to him just live in his life, and then getting this, you know, great honor later on in life. And so that was neat.
Angie:
So, I want to I want to flip the script on you just a little bit. Okay. And you can say, with how deep you want to go in this conversation or not, but there were some people in your family that became quite well known.
Trasa:
Right?
Angie:
And did that have a positive or a negative or a little bit of both impact on on y'all?
Trasa:
Oh, wow. Um, it's had both it's definitely had both. It's overwhelmingly been positive. I mean, so my family my dad is, is Silas Robertson, and most of the world knows him. His uncle Si, Uncle Si. And, and I always have to explain that because like, my dad is Uncle sy. He's somebody else's uncle, but he's my dad. And so you know, and the funny thing is, I show my kids at school, I always tell them the first day who I am because my the first year that my dad and the family became famous, he came to visit my school. And I had him just visit with the faculty. I didn't think anything about the kids, you know, because I didn't think that they even know who he was. And they got mad at me later, they were like, how dare you not tell us who the you know who you are and who your family is? Like, why didn't you bring him to see us? And so, I always tell the kids now I'm always like, Okay, this is my family. And I just want you to know, and the kids always are so funny, you know, they'll come back the next day and go, I googled you and you're famous. Like, no, I'm not famous, but I do know some famous people. But it's been, it's been overwhelmingly positive. We've gotten to do some really cool things with them. We got to go on a cruise, we've never been on a cruise and they took the whole family on a duck dynasty cruise. And so that was cool. We've gotten to go, you know, to some fun things. We've been on the show, you know, we might my whole family, we were on a show for season five finale when Mia was about to have her surgery. And so, we've gotten to do some really cool things that a lot of people don't have the opportunity to do. It has been a little negative in some senses. Like, when I was running for city council, I approached a door, and I knocked on the door and the people came to the door. And when they saw who I was, they turned their back to me and closed the door. And I just thought and it was because and they said something about my family. And so I knew it was because of my family. And it was kind of after Phil had had his altercation with GQ. And there had been some negative press about our family. And so, and so yeah, so they didn't want to talk to me because my family was. So, we've had a couple of run ins like that. And there was the funniest one that I just still think it's hysterical is my husband was working the polls for me last year when I was running for tax assessor. And he struck up a conversation with a lady and she said, Well, I don't think that Miss Coburn can be very smart. And he said, Why do you think that? like this is a woman who's you know, had a full academic scholarship to college, she's smart. And and he said, she she looked at him and she said, Well, she's relative to that Duck Dynasty family. And they're all just rednecks. And I just don't think they're very smart. And he just laughed, he just said, he had to take a step back and go, you know, most of Trasa’s, cousins have master's degrees. Most of them are very well educated, just because they have long beards and long hair doesn't make them not smart. But this lady was just fully determined that my family was not very intelligent. And so, I just laugh about that. I just think it's really funny that you know, that even in the world we live in where we don't always jump to conclusions, there are still some conclusions that people jump to just on just based on appearance.
Angie:
Well, and I think that's one of the other things when we're talking about politics, people automatically jump to a conclusion because of something was presented on social media, or a commercial that came out or, you know, I think it was earlier this year, there was a commercial that came out and everybody was upset about it. Talking about men, and it was I can't even remember the commercial that was out. But I watched the commercial. I'm like, Well, I'm not offended by it. My husband, I'm like, are you offended by it? Because but everybody's making these commentaries and several of them were saying, I've haven't watched the commercial but and I'm like,…
Trasa:
That is a huge thing right now is social media is people you know, you put a you put a link to a story. And it has a headline, and the majority of the people who post on my social media Don't, don't read the story. They just read the headline, and they respond to the headline, it's like guys, come on, you gotta look a little deeper. Everything is not a sound bite. And that's what we're kind of in the soundbite world where everything has to be a little you know, 32nd sound bite, and you can't get the full story about someone in a 32nd sound bite? You can't
Angie:
You can't. What was it? I think it was 2013 when they had the march for life on the Texas steps. And I was on vacation at that time, up in Arkansas. I had my old blog up at the time. And I had written an article about the balance of life and death while I was on vacation. And I wrote it from a very personal sense. There are people out there that are going to be angry on both sides. I knew that when I wrote it. I also knew that the very first comment I got that was going to be a hate comment. I was gonna stand up and dance because I was stirring something. Right? Didn't matter if I was if they were completely wrong, completely, right, whatever. I was stirring something. But the very first comment I got back with somebody that's going well, if you were a female, you would know this. And you obviously you've never been raped and you know listed off these different things that were in the article about my sexual assault about being a female about, right, but they don't like it. They didn't read it. They just saw pro life and decided to attack. And it's the same thing for our pro life followers too. If you're hearing the pro choices out there Planned Parenthood's out there. You need to educate yourself apps you need to know what you're against my friend Connie is the CEO of life choices pregnancy crisis, Pregnancy Resources Center up in Decatur, she had an event this weekend, they had the rally for life event. And she's got a half a million dollar budget to battle against a county that has what a $31 million budget for Planned Parenthood. You. It's kind of David and Goliath on that. So, there are issues that you're going to take up and you're going to want to defend and you're going to want to do and you're going to be the David in it. It may be the plumbing bar, it may be prolife, it may be gun control, it may be whatever that is you may be on the positive side on one and on the negative side for another but, How do you find those places to find your voice and find ways to connect? I know you went to an event recently with I've been Facebook stalking her. He went recently to any event with a group of senators or Texas senators or something like that. What was it last week?
Trasa:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, I was at a republican Women's Club, the where a where a representative was speaking. Right. And yeah, so there were a lot of candidates and people who are, you know, currently in political jobs who want to keep their political jobs. So, they're running for next year, right, you know, years primary already. And you know, the thing is, I would strongly recommend that if you want to get involved, you know, at your city, I've already explained that. But if you want to get involved in the community, that's, you know, a little bit larger if you want to get involved in pro life issues, or if you want to get involved in something you're passionate about; first of all figure out what you're passionate about, figure out what your issue or issues are. Prolife is a huge one for me. I am I actually just attended an event yesterday that was at the courtroom where Roe v. Wade was decided in Dallas, right before it went to the Supreme Court, you know, it was decided, and they decided to overturn the law that banned abortion. And so, we had a prolife event in that courtroom, which was really just amazing. It was just really powerful to be in that place. And kind of be fighting about it, fighting against it, and kind of, you know, flipping the script on what had happened there. But so find out what your issue is. And then you know, you can if your issue aligns with a political party, then you can absolutely contact the party. So I'm involved here in Tarrant County with the Tarrant County GOP, the republican party in Tarrant County, and we have a website, it's you know, TarrantGOP.com And so you can go to it and or it might be.org. Now I have it bookmarked. So, I don't know exactly what it is. Isn't that terrible? That's what happens when we bookmark things, or we have our phones remembering everything for us or smarter than we are. So you can go to that it has a calendar of events. And so and I assume that the Democratic Party in Tarrant County would have a similar thing, I haven't looked at their at their website, but you can go to you can look at the different republican women's clubs, the different republican clubs that are for men and women both. And you can, you know, just go to one that's local to you and just see if you like it, you know, the people are usually really great. You know, you meet some people who are really interesting, in some ways, you know, but you but in any group that's passionate about what they do, you're going to have some people who are all the way across the spectrum. So, you're gonna have people who you jive with people who you don't necessarily would hang out with, you know, outside of this issue, but maybe you align with on this issue. And then some people who you just wouldn't you know, that your personality and their personality don't match. So, you know, you just have to find where you fit, both with the issue and with the people. And so I strongly advise people to be involved in politics, though, because it just does matter.
Angie:
Right.
Trasa:
What we do, what our choices are, at the political levels, whichever level who we send to make those decisions, right matters hugely.
Angie:
Well and I think, I think one of the important things you've shared today is, you were home, you were taking care of your boys, you were finding a new way, as they were growing up, you're finding a new way to get involved with school, your students challenged you, and you found ways to get involved, you didn't jump right in and go, I want to be the mayor, I want to be the governor of texas or I want to be the president of United States, you stepped in you just like you waited into the process.
Trasa:
Absolutely. And that's I think that's a safer way to do it as well, because the political landscape is so fraught with danger in so many ways, you know, that you don't necessarily know what the people you're talking with believe. And so it's better to go in kind of slow, in my opinion, instead of just jumping straight in and saying, Oh, well, I'm here and this is what I want, you know, you can do that. But then you just have to figure out because you can't make a difference by yourself, right? Like one person is not going to make a difference. But what it what makes a difference is when you find those people who align with you, and then you become a powerful group. And so, and you know, that's what you have to figure out is like, who are my allies, and who are the people who are opposed to us. And I don't use the word enemies, because I think there's too much of that in politics right now, where we like, demonize the other side. And so, I think that's one thing that we really need to pull back from, because I have some dear, dear friends who are very far left of me. But I love them with all my heart, and we can have conversations, and we can agree to disagree. But I would never say that they are evil for what they believe they strongly believe what they believe, because their life experiences have led them to that point. Exactly. You know, and so we can have conversations about it. And I can hope that you know, maybe I'll say something that will shift their perspective on something, and I'm sure that's probably what they think about me as well. But I can love somebody who is different for me politically. And so that's something that I'm seeing right now, that's very concerning is when people say, I don't have any friends who have different political beliefs than I have. I'm like, whoa, hold on a second. First of all, you're not very strong in your own beliefs, right? If you can't face somebody who believes differently than you, like, if you can't have a conversation with somebody who's different, then your beliefs aren't very strongly founded. You know, if I'm a Christian, and I can't have a conversation with an atheist, then I'm not very firmly founded in my faith, you know, and politics are the same way if I can't have a conversation with somebody across the aisle and seek where we do have consensus, you know, where we do agree, then you know, I don't I don't think I'm very firmly founded where I need to be you know, I need to back up and look at my beliefs if I can't talk about it with somebody else.
Angie:
And I think I think it's also important to know you don't have to get involved in dance with every fight you get involved invited to you know, we have a couple of friends I'm one of those also that has friends on all spectrums, independence, liberals, Republicans, you name it, Whig Party, whatever it is. The we want to be something we don't know what yet party, I have people from all spectrums on my Facebook pages and on my personal page, and they'll post something up there. And occasionally, I'll go in and debunk facts. I'll put facts in there. And depending on how they want to respond to those facts, will normally dictate how long I want to stay in the conversation, because they'll either turn it personal, which if they turn the conversation personal when we're talking about political or social issue, then I'm done because it there, they don't have an argument. They're just looking for something to strike.
Trasa:
It's ad hominem. Yeah, no.
Angie:
But if they don't want to see the facts, they want to keep throwing different things out there that are not factual. Again, I don't engage in the conversation. I tell them, let's share where we're getting our data from, and, and go from there. And there have been times that I've dug a little deeper on the other sites issue. And what I've found a lot of times is most of the people I'm arguing with, just want to be heard,
Trasa:
right? That is so true.
It is just goes down to a people issue, we all want to be seen, we want to be heard, we want to be accepted. And if we can find a way to see, hear, and accept people on the on the basic level, we can open up minds and hearts to hear on a deeper level. Absolutely. I think social media is problematic in that sense, because people do just gut react to things and they don't always think it through I have a I have a 24 hour rule on my social media, like, you know, if I need to hide something, I'll hide it, and then I'll come back and respond to it. But I have a 24 hour rule that I'm not going to just post something right away when I see something that is maybe offensive, or that bothers me, you know, I'm not just going to go and type stuff and just, you know, hit send, because that just you're just inflaming. You know, it's just instigating things. And so my husband had the 24 hour rule when he was coaching, that's what he always told his parents, so I took that rule and internalize that. And so he always told parents, you know, he's like, if you have a problem with me, as a coach, take 24 hours, then call me and we'll meet somewhere and talk. And he's like, but we're not talking right after the game. We're not talking right after the practice, you know, wherever you were upset about, like, give yourself a little cooling off time. And like, we'll talk about it rationally as adults later. And that's how I feel about social media is that everybody just wants to, you know, they do want to be heard. And so, they just type real quick, and they hit send. And then later, you're like, Oh, I shouldn't have said that. I don't know. Or you go back and delete it. But people have already seen it, you know. And so, it's just so much better when people when you just take a step back, and I've learned sometimes, sometimes it's I'm a quick responder I liked when somebody emails me, I want to give them a response right away. But I've learned sometimes it's better to just let that email sit, or let that social media post sit. And then somebody will come back and say, you know, I'm sorry, I posted that, let me let me change that or whatever. Or they'll send you an email and say, guess what, I figured it out like, bro, you don't have to respond to it. It's not urgent, you know? So you kind of have to figure out priority wise, is something urgent that I need to respond to it? Or is it just that I have this impulse to respond to it right this second, you know, and so that's, that's, you know, kind of, I've tried to, I've learned over time and in politics that sometimes it's just better not to respond.
Angie:
Right. Well, in the I got tickled the other day, whenever I saw this bantering going back and forth, back and forth between a person, two people that I know. And it was about women's issues. Now, being in the military growing up as a military brat, there were women in the military, but they weren't as many as there are now. But part of the issue was they were discussing the whole world cup, soccer team and all that stuff. And, and I'm not even gonna step off into that, right, because I do have my opinions about it. But it's not necessarily the women's side opinion is not necessarily the men's side of opinion. It's a, we need to look at it differently than it's being looked at type thing. But I have a bunch of veteran followers as a vet myself, I have several female veterans who follow us and they're going to the VA’S today, and they're being called will win you're dependent card, right? Or they go, it happened to me, I was at the local VFW, Legion, something like that asking for an application for my son, because he's in the army. My husband's already a VFW member up at the Newell, West Virginia where he's from. And so I asked for an application for myself, because I've never been one, I figured I could start getting involved with veterans issues. Did they give you an auxiliary, they gave me an honorary three times? Oh, my goodness, what? Three times they kept giving me anything. So there are some things that as women, we are betting our heads up again. But it's how we handle betting our heads up against things, right, that can make a huge difference. So I just said, nevermind, I'll fill it out online,
Trasa:
right? Like all
Angie:
like most women, do. We just handle it ourselves.
And the guy kept on what I don't see what the problem is. The problem is, is I served I've got a DD 214. I've got these different things. So how do how have you seen in your political experience? How to shift views, and mindsets in some of the most toughest areas that we have? So maybe you have somebody that has a perspective of how some, this is the way we've always done it? Right? How do you get them to shift that, oh, there's new technology, there's new things, there's all these ways, we don't have to do it that way anymore, we can do it.
Trasa:
I have a theory that the only thing that changes people's minds, is personal relationships, is the impact that somebody has on you. And the only you can't get online and change anybody's mind on Facebook or on Instagram or on Twitter, you know, you can post all you want on somebody else's page, and they are not going to change their mind, the only thing that's going to change their mind is when they have a personal experience with somebody that actually changes their mind. So, I always figure that it's best to be the person who could be the change. And to do that you have to have a relationship with those people. So, you can't just say, oh, you're an idiot, like I can't talk to you. And you know, unfortunately, you know, when we're dealing with, like the VFW and things, sometimes you're dealing with much older veterans, right, who lived in a time where women were not part of the service and women were not, you know, in their world view as veterans. And so, you know, they're still running into that, you know, they need to, they need to shift their impressions a little bit, what's going to change their mind is when they meet women, veterans, who are wonderful people, and who are strong and who are still feminine, and who are all the things that you know, we want our women veterans to be, that's going to change their impression when they have the time to actually meet those people, and they're not going to meet them, if you had stormed out and said, I'm never going to belong to this VFW, you know, then they're never going to meet you in that social atmosphere where they're like, Whoa, and Angie’s a woman veteran, Wow, she changed my total vision of what women veterans are, is changed, you know, and so I really feel that you've got to keep those avenues, those personal avenues open. Because otherwise, you just you just lose that opportunity. Right. And that's, you know, I see that as far back as a history teacher, you know, I see that with integration of schools, you know, because we were not going to everybody lived in their little bubbles, my kids, you know, I teach at the most diverse High School in Texas, right, it's been named by niche.com, several years running. And so, my kids teaching civil rights to this diverse group of kids, they don't get it, like, it's hard to explain a time when they couldn't be in class together, they don't understand the rationale. And so you kind of have to say, Well, you know, people weren't being necessarily ill intentioned, it's just, you know, I would have lived in a white bubble, you would have lived a little Hispanic bubble, you would live in a little African American bubble, and our bubbles wouldn't have connected. And so I wouldn't have known you, and know what a great person you are right? Without us, you know, forcing the issue. And then without having, you know, a made situation where suddenly black kids and white kids and Hispanic kids could go to school together. And now, I teach at this great High School, where it's so interesting, the kids don't see color, right? And it's fascinating. And you know, my son, my son, his first girlfriend was African American. And he didn't tell us about that. When we were going to meet her. He was telling us all about her. And he never once mentioned her skin color. And so when we met her, we were like, Oh, wow. And we're like, hey, how come you didn't mention that? He goes, Well, because that didn't really matter. Right? It was so awesome, that this generation has gotten so far past that, you know, whereas, you know, when we were growing up, and before, that was such a big issue, you know, and it's kind of how I grew up, because being in the military, it was so integrated. And like my high school was so multicolored, multicultural. And I had people who spoke Spanish as their first language, and French is their first language and, you know, just such a melting pot of people. So, I feel very comfortable with the school I teach at, and so it's marvelous. But that's what that's what changed. people's minds was not the forced Brown, the Board of Education, what changed people's minds was, I'm sitting next to a kid who looks different than me, and guess what, we're both interested in the same things. And we both like the same sports and hey, we're really good people. And I get that person.
Angie:
Well, I think it's interesting that we have, like you said, the high school is very culturally diverse A few years ago, I think it was 74 different languages spoken there. I don't remember if
Trasa:
I think it's 75. Now, but yeah, it's pretty close.
Angie:
It's amazing. But one of the things when I went in the military, we didn't have a well with the high school there. We didn't have as diverse a school at that time. But it was still very diverse. And I had friends of every socio economical group, every social group, Belden campus, every nonsocial group. And when I went in the military, I felt like I was well, well prepared. Absolutely. My son has said that to you know, he says, he feels he can talk to anybody about anything, because he has this this background from what he learned at school. What he also found was some of those other people. And I'm not saying whether it's a skin color, a faith or anything like that. Some of the other people look at him, and they see a straight white guy from Texas, and they can't get past it. Yeah, he's fine. But he they can't get past right. And they can't be friends with him. Because they see that and, and it kind of throws him for a loop. He's like, wait a minute, you know, my mom's had a, like six different countries represented around our dinner table at one night in you can't accept me. Right? Right. So, it's a little bit of a different feel when it comes to that, but I encourage him to embrace those moments, because it tells a little bit more about what some of the things that happened back in the day. And by embracing those moments, he could prevent them from happening in the future,
Trasa:
and he can be a representative to that person, right? And teach them hey, we can be friends, regardless of that, you know, and, and your judgment might not be correct for, you know, and that's what people, that's what the personal interaction does is it helps people see past that first impression that you Oh, my gosh, you know, like, people look at me, and they just go, Oh, you know, she's like her family. And so some people are, you know, are afraid to, you know, to have a connection with me, because they're, they're afraid that my opinions are the same, or, you know, or not, you know, and so it's really interesting to have that, you know, you have to be an ambassador almost, you know, for you for yourself and just say, you know, look, I'm not I'm not like that it's not what you're imagining, right, that my experience has been, is not true. You know, people always think it's really funny. People always think that, like, I grew up very wealthy, because of my family being so successful now, and we actually had a lady come from WFAA to interview me a couple of years ago. And they drove up to my house and they came in and they go, we thought we were in the wrong neighborhood. And I said, Oh, you did. And she was like, we thought that this is a really like middle class neighborhood. And you would live in like a really fancy house. And you know, your house is lovely, but it's not like it's just on a regular block. And it's just, you know, it's a 2000 square foot house.
Angie:
Right, you’re approachable
Trasa:
Yeah, and so she was so but it was so funny, you know, that she thought I was going to live in a mansion, right? Because of who my family was. And I was like, oh, man, you know, it's not who I am, like, you know, even if we had all that money in the bank, which we don't, but I wouldn't live, you know, are in other places. I like where I live, right?
Angie:
So we're coming to the close to the end of the show. So what are some other things that you would like to share with the audience today about who you are, what you're passionate about, what you would like to challenge the audience to do, any of that stuff?
Trasa:
Gosh, um so we’ve talked so much, mean, I feel like I've talked a lot about those things. But I am passionate about kids. That is, you know, probably the number one thing I never thought that I would be family oriented. I always thought I'd be a career woman. And family was a far distant second. And God had a total different plan. For me, I was married by the time I was 21. And then had a child by 22. And you know, have four boys and stayed home for 12 years, which was not on my plan whatsoever. So I'm passionate about kids, but I also am passionate about God. He has done marvelous things for me, and I have a great life and a great balance right now. And so, I just I, you know, there were periods in my life where I wrestled with God. And I disagreed. And I thought I had a better plan than he did. And I and it never worked out. And so, he was always right. I mean, teachings, one of those things, I never wanted to be a teacher. And I fought it, and then ended up saying, fine, God, I'm going to do it, but it's going to not work out. And then of course, I love it and I love the kids, and I love what I do. So, I would say, Well, number one, follow what God's plan is for your life. You know, even if you wrestle with a little bit, that's okay. Jacob wrestled with God. And he was still, you know, one of God's favorite people. So you know, God doesn't do, he doesn't demand unquestioning obedience from us, he demands obedience, but you can question all you want along the way, you know, so you may not agree, but he's going to take you where you want to go and whether you know it or not, you know, and then I just, and I'm passionate about public policy, I just think, you know, what we do matters and what our decisions are at the public level matter to our lives. And so I would strongly just encourage people, a couple of things, one, if you're not involved with the educational community, in your area, you know, schools or public places, you can go observe a class, you can go get involved, we have a great program at our school called, called Trojan talk, where we have community mentors come in once a month, and spend time with the same group of kids over the year. And so, you know, we'd love to have people come and join us for that. So if you live in, you know, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, if you want to be part of the Trojan talk community, you know, come see me, email me, we are always looking for people who want to be involved with kids, and you know, and they need good mentors, they need people from outside the school, they look at me, and they say, Oh, she cares about us, but she's a teacher, she has to care about us, you know, they don't realize that I choose to care about them. Yeah, I choose to be a teacher, because I do care about them. But they need outside people for that. The second thing is get involved in your community in some way. You know, it doesn't have to be politics, even. It can be volunteering. I'm a huge advocate for volunteering, there's an organization called six stones in Bedford that I'm on the board of and we haven't we have an actual a back to school event coming up on August 10 that you can volunteer for if you look at six stones.org. And so you know, volunteer, get involved, do something that's outside your little bubble of your house, because you know, and if you're in a position where like, you've got four kids, and they're small, don't feel bad, that you're still in your house in your little bubble, because that's God's plan for you right now I have I have a dear friend who she's always saying, Oh, I wish I could travel like you, I wish I could do the things you're doing. And she's got two little boys who are six and four, and a husband who's National Guard. So, he's gone every other weekend. And I said, Honey, your time will come, now God has you in this place for a reason, you know, you'll have this time to travel and do other things a little bit later. So just kind of be aware of you know where your spot is, and where God's calling you to be. And then get involved as much as you can.
Angie:
I like that verse from Micah 7:7 that says, I'll wait and hope for my Lord, because I know he sees me. And so in those moments, you know, like your friend right there, and several other women I've been talking to lately is, you may be in that waiting season, and for what you're really hoping to do. But there are so many things that you can do and touch where you're at right now, shaping the young lives of our future generations is one of them. And so, in honor of having you here today and honor of you being a teacher getting ready to go back to school, and all of that stuff, I think you touched on it earlier about being present and being involved. We do a little segment at the end called EVERYDAY DIVAS and, and this week, I'm going to put out Julie Cole as our EVERYDAY DIVA for the week. And the reason I'm doing that is because Julie Cole was some I met when our kids were in high school and she was everywhere. I mean, woman is everywhere. She now serves on the school board for our district. And she just started out being a mom, just serving where there was a need in the school where her kids went to school and being present. And being able to say, Yes, I can do that or She even said no, a lot. But not as often as she said yes, I think I mean, she said no a lot to a lot of great things. Because she knew she was set up for even more things than what she was stepping towards, works a full time job has her kids has her husband, all of that stuff. But she is one of those people that is going to live all along living life day to day every day, not looking for any shout outs, not looking for any praise. But we want to just honor that she not only stepped forward and just saw a need and met it. But she kept moving forward, and she leads our school board very well, and is another mate a great community builder. So today, DIVAS, if you're out there, I want to challenge you to be a community builder, whether it's your community in your home, or it's your community, in your church, your school, whatever that is, we want you to be a community builder. But every day, just remember to make an impact, whether it's big, whether it's small, a positive impact on those that you do, you have a choice as to what battles you engage in. And we're going to keep moving forward. So, thank you so much. Trasa Robertson Coburn, I didn't want to throw that out at the beginning, because I wanted to build up to that. And I wanted people to get to know you for who you are for all of that. Because we shared some amazing things today that really just helped me a lot. I know a friend of mine, this weekend shared something about all the voters in you know, we all vote for the big elections. But we don't always show up for the midterms or the the community elections. And those are where we can really start shifting the paradigm. And eventually, those are the people who got beat up the chain to the big elections. So, I really appreciate your time today. And I look forward to visiting with you. And we're going to have her social media and website and all of that in the comments of the podcast. So be sure to go and like, follow her. Send her comments, tell her how she inspired you today. And I just thank you so much for being here today.
Trasa:
Thank you so much for having me.
Angie:
All right.