Alan Chazaro is a world-traveling poet from the East Bay. I met up with him to break bread and discuss his first book, This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album, in which he writes about his Mexican-American identity, Hip-Hop and deconstructing concepts of masculinity.
Raised alongside his older brother by a single father, Chazaro says he was inundated with stereotypical aspects of machismo from a young age, boxing and gangsta rap were the norm. But when he found poetry, he also found a way to critically look at his upbringing, as well as the world around him.
Now Chazaro, a former English teacher, has recently left the Bay Area to spend time in Latin America, giving him an opportunity to get to know his roots and write about his adventures.
But before he left, he dropped a few words of wisdom over a plate of G-Fire chicken wings.
A shorter version of this episode was first broadcast on Aug 16, 2019.
