California State Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus

She Can Hear You If You Speak Softly. And She Carries a Wooden Baseball Bat.

Felicia Marcus is the chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board. Before participating in a panel on bringing clean water to communities around the world, she talked Star Trek, her talent for identifying background noise over the phone, and why she keeps a wooden baseball bat in her car in the Zócalo green room.

Q:

What’s your hidden talent?


A:

When I’m talking to people on the phone and there’s noise behind them, I can tell what it is, what’s happening, and where they are.


Q:

What comforts you?


A:

My husband.


Q:

What’s your guilty pleasure?


A:

Star Trek. “The Next Generation,” to be precise. But almost all of it will do.


Q:

If you were going to be on a reality TV show, which would you choose?


A:

The Voice. I wouldn’t do very well, but that’s my favorite one.


Q:

Where do you come up with your best ideas?


A:

Driving.


Q:

What’s your biggest pet peeve?


A:

Rude people.


Q:

What’s your favorite night of the week?


A:

Thursday.


Q:

What’s your favorite off-the-beaten-path spot in L.A.?


A:

The batting cages up at Colorado, and I think it’s Glendale. I’m just selling my car, it’s from 1987, and I hadn’t been in it in a long time, and it still had my wooden bat because I like wooden bats better than metal bats. If you have a wooden bat in your car you can go to a batting cage any time, and you have a good time.


Q:

When did you last get a traffic ticket?


A:

Speeding in Iowa or Nebraska, going cross-country. Probably 35 years ago.


Q:

What word or phrase do you use most often?


A:

Help me understand that.


*Photo by Aaron Salcido.
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