'Can I Get A Witness?' Open Mic Creates Community Through Commentary
Love, Death and Birth — and a 7-Year Wait — Went Into New Album ‘Traveling Shoes’
Caregiving: Balancing Joy and Sacrifice
Gazan Poet Mosab Abu Toha Reads at SF’s City Lights
After Small Press Distribution’s Closure, Indie Publishers Band Together
A Performance Artist and Poet Presents ‘My San Francisco’
When the Youth Speak, Mush Lee Listens
In Southern Mexico, Bay Area Artists Seek Refuge and Cultural Exchange
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco has chosen its new Youth Poet Laureate: 17-year-old Karan Gupta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aisha Rae McCulloch, also 17, has been named Vice Laureate. Selected from a group of 16 students attending advanced workshops twice a month since September 2025, the winners were announced during a special ceremony Friday evening in the Koret Auditorium of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco-public-library\">San Francisco’s Main Library\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Youth Poet Laureate program was relaunched last year by \u003ca href=\"https://www.826valencia.org/\">826 Valencia\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco-public-library\">San Francisco Public Library\u003c/a> and the Mayor’s Office, taught by a rotation of established writers. These included San Francisco Poet Laureate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911658/sf-poet-laureate-genny-lim-and-the-del-sol-quartets-new-performance-celebrates-asian-american-diaspora\">Genny Lim\u003c/a>, who worked with the teens to help hone their craft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13985768']New Youth Poet Laureate Gupta is an Indian American born and raised in San Francisco, who says he inherited a love of writing from his dad. His poem “They Say Grief Arrives in an Instant but I Watched You Leave for Months” is about losing his father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vice Youth Poet Laureate McCulloch is a student at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, who discovered a love of poetry four years ago while attending a Youth Speaks teen poetry slam. In addition to her passion for poetry, she enjoys film, journalism and spending her spare time with her twin sister and their dog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985754\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985754\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets.jpg\" alt=\"15 diverse teenagers stand in a classroom, smiling for the camera.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The students of the San Francisco Youth Poet Laureate Program during a workshop. \u003ccite>(James Anne Farrell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Concurrent with the announcement is a newly released anthology of all of the students’ work. \u003cem>I Can Feel You Across the Seas\u003c/em> is a reflection of the prodigious talents involved in the program. The book’s 32 poems are uplifting, shattering, consistently engaging and, most of all, vivid reflections of what it means to be a young person living in the Bay in the present day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book’s array of perspectives includes imaginative explorations of ancestry and belonging from Mei Chung and Katelyn Wong. Gupta and Paloma Francesca Carrubba explore the impacts of a racist and misogynistic external world on individual internal lives. McCulloch and Zofia Mosur do battle with existential dread using their own words. Ava Perez and Claribel Caamal Amodei write of the terror and trepidation of living under the threat of ICE. Fittingly, the collection also contains lyrical odes to San Francisco itself from Tika Zahiki and Aleksanda “Sasha” Miller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Attendees of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985440/claude-albino-alligator-memorial-golden-gate-park-san-francisco\">Claude Forever\u003c/a>, the memorial for Cal Academy’s beloved albino alligator, may recognize Miller from her reading of “Claude” in Golden Gate Park earlier this month.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13985672']Throughout the upcoming year, Gupta and McCulloch will act as cultural ambassadors for the city, through civic engagement and sharing of their work. All of the students who participated in the program will appear at \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/teen-poetry-slam-2/\">Youth Speaks’ Annual Teen Poetry Slam\u003c/a> this Spring in San Francisco, which will be livestreamed on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/youthspeaks\">Youth Speaks’ YouTube channel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the launch of the Youth Poet Laureate Program, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070484/tune-in-tonight-san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-live-on-kqed\">Mayor Daniel Lurie\u003c/a> noted: “San Francisco’s future is being written right now by the next generation of San Franciscans and these extraordinary young poets. Their voices are bold and reflect the creativity of our city. I’m proud that we are celebrating this talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘I Can Feel You Across the Seas’ is available to purchase from 826 Valencia’s locations in the Mission (826 Valencia St., San Francisco) and Mission Bay (1310 4th St., San Francisco). It will be available to \u003ca href=\"https://www.826valencia.org/publications/\">read online\u003c/a> starting Jan. 26, 2026.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/5931\">second round of prelims\u003c/a> in the 2026 Youth Speaks Poetry Slam will be held at KQED headquarters (2601 Mariposa St., San Francisco) on Feb. 27, 2026 at 6 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco has chosen its new Youth Poet Laureate: 17-year-old Karan Gupta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aisha Rae McCulloch, also 17, has been named Vice Laureate. Selected from a group of 16 students attending advanced workshops twice a month since September 2025, the winners were announced during a special ceremony Friday evening in the Koret Auditorium of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco-public-library\">San Francisco’s Main Library\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Youth Poet Laureate program was relaunched last year by \u003ca href=\"https://www.826valencia.org/\">826 Valencia\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco-public-library\">San Francisco Public Library\u003c/a> and the Mayor’s Office, taught by a rotation of established writers. These included San Francisco Poet Laureate \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911658/sf-poet-laureate-genny-lim-and-the-del-sol-quartets-new-performance-celebrates-asian-american-diaspora\">Genny Lim\u003c/a>, who worked with the teens to help hone their craft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>New Youth Poet Laureate Gupta is an Indian American born and raised in San Francisco, who says he inherited a love of writing from his dad. His poem “They Say Grief Arrives in an Instant but I Watched You Leave for Months” is about losing his father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vice Youth Poet Laureate McCulloch is a student at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, who discovered a love of poetry four years ago while attending a Youth Speaks teen poetry slam. In addition to her passion for poetry, she enjoys film, journalism and spending her spare time with her twin sister and their dog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13985754\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13985754\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets.jpg\" alt=\"15 diverse teenagers stand in a classroom, smiling for the camera.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Youth-Poets-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The students of the San Francisco Youth Poet Laureate Program during a workshop. \u003ccite>(James Anne Farrell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Concurrent with the announcement is a newly released anthology of all of the students’ work. \u003cem>I Can Feel You Across the Seas\u003c/em> is a reflection of the prodigious talents involved in the program. The book’s 32 poems are uplifting, shattering, consistently engaging and, most of all, vivid reflections of what it means to be a young person living in the Bay in the present day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The book’s array of perspectives includes imaginative explorations of ancestry and belonging from Mei Chung and Katelyn Wong. Gupta and Paloma Francesca Carrubba explore the impacts of a racist and misogynistic external world on individual internal lives. McCulloch and Zofia Mosur do battle with existential dread using their own words. Ava Perez and Claribel Caamal Amodei write of the terror and trepidation of living under the threat of ICE. Fittingly, the collection also contains lyrical odes to San Francisco itself from Tika Zahiki and Aleksanda “Sasha” Miller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(Attendees of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13985440/claude-albino-alligator-memorial-golden-gate-park-san-francisco\">Claude Forever\u003c/a>, the memorial for Cal Academy’s beloved albino alligator, may recognize Miller from her reading of “Claude” in Golden Gate Park earlier this month.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Throughout the upcoming year, Gupta and McCulloch will act as cultural ambassadors for the city, through civic engagement and sharing of their work. All of the students who participated in the program will appear at \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/teen-poetry-slam-2/\">Youth Speaks’ Annual Teen Poetry Slam\u003c/a> this Spring in San Francisco, which will be livestreamed on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/youthspeaks\">Youth Speaks’ YouTube channel\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the launch of the Youth Poet Laureate Program, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070484/tune-in-tonight-san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-live-on-kqed\">Mayor Daniel Lurie\u003c/a> noted: “San Francisco’s future is being written right now by the next generation of San Franciscans and these extraordinary young poets. Their voices are bold and reflect the creativity of our city. I’m proud that we are celebrating this talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘I Can Feel You Across the Seas’ is available to purchase from 826 Valencia’s locations in the Mission (826 Valencia St., San Francisco) and Mission Bay (1310 4th St., San Francisco). It will be available to \u003ca href=\"https://www.826valencia.org/publications/\">read online\u003c/a> starting Jan. 26, 2026.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/event/5931\">second round of prelims\u003c/a> in the 2026 Youth Speaks Poetry Slam will be held at KQED headquarters (2601 Mariposa St., San Francisco) on Feb. 27, 2026 at 6 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Can I Get A Witness?' Open Mic Creates Community Through Commentary",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/debbiedollas_/\">Deborah Marie\u003c/a> is a poet who works at the intersection of art and public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By day, she’s an advocate, focused on quelling substance abuse by assisting people with recovery and prevention. By night, she’s a multi-talented creative and the founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/canigetawitness.oak/\">Can I Get A Witness?\u003c/a> event series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like any other open mic event, Can I Get A Witness? creates a space for people to creatively share their poetry and testimonies. But it adds a bit of a twist, as audience members are also asked to discuss how the art makes them \u003cem>feel\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After each poet,” explains Deborah Marie during a recent phone call, “we don’t just clap and move on to the next person. We open up the floor and ask questions to the audience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the host, she prompts attendees to discuss what touched them, struck a chord or relates to a shared experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1.jpg\" alt=\"An African-American woman with shoulder-length locs and all black attire stands on a stage in an intimate room as she hosts and open mic event.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hayward’s Deborah Marie is the founder and host of the Can I Get A Witness? event series in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Diana Rose)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by crystals and incense, Deborah Marie starts the open mic with a warm welcome and then urges event-goers to listen closely to the performers. After each piece, guests can respond by using “I” statements and speaking from their own perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not here to critique people’s work,” says Deborah Marie. Before the event even starts, she explains, community agreements are plainly stated on half-sheets of paper. The audience isn’t there to “problem solve.” Instead, she says, it’s about reflecting on people’s work and building community by way of sharing related experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s my idea of mixing live performance arts with peer support,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The donation-based series is new, with only three events to date and a fourth one happening \u003ca href=\"https://partiful.com/e/vs2ek3lYc5sy2pWMRunu?source=share&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnflleLPxktiwgWTBXCqSi4IGDAePVU00ifqogHjnhZvFtkYqxXYaBFVMHjr4_aem_ikRakmk8J2arQORPZRDD9Q\">this Sunday, Dec. 14\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/airtempleartspace/\">the Air Temple art gallery\u003c/a> in Oakland. But so far, Deborah Marie says, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">t’s been so magical,” adding that “it’s also been different each time.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a past event, the discussion naturally flowed in and out of references to mental health and the media-fueled impossible standards that women — specifically Black women — face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The conversation got to the point,” Deborah Marie recalls, “where someone just broke down crying.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other audience members immediately supported that person and didn’t try to problem solve. Instead, they held space and allowed the person to open up about recently losing a friend to a mental health struggle. And that’s when Deborah Marie \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">realized, “this is really something special if we can incubate this level of vulnerability in a performance space.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984794\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984794\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman kneels in the crowd as a performer recites a poem on stage during a live performance event. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Can I Get A Witness? host Deborah Marie squats low as a poet performs during a recent event at Mushin 2.0 in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Diana Rose)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s an unexpected overlap between open mic events and sobriety-centered spaces, asserts Deborah Marie. There’s art, community and even support from those who’ve experienced similar things in life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Conversely,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Deborah Marie\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/harm-reduction\">harm reduction\u003c/a> spaces, where people navigating addictions are guided toward safer methods of using, are “extremely clinical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What harm reduction spaces and open mic circles are missing — but that sobriety centers or abstinence-based spaces often have — is social support. Through her work, Deborah Marie has seen the benefits of peer support groups and group outings. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Those social elements make a big difference in people’s quality of life,” says Deborah Marie, “whether you are or you aren’t using substances.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With that in mind, she asked herself, “How can we get a room full of people and give them that social support that you get when you choose abstinence? W\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ithout them having to choose abstinence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s created a barrier-free event where people can share their work freely and be heard without being critiqued like they would be at, say, a writer’s salon. And, she adds, it’s not about the audience giving praise either. “That’s two sides of the same coin,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>What we’re really aiming for,” Deborah Marie clarifies, explaining the flow of the event, “is like, you heard this [piece]. Now, how did it feel in your body? What did it bring up for you?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a room for the writers and a lounge for the listeners. A home for healers and a house for those seeking healing. There’s poetry for the people and commentary that creates community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And ultimately, Deborah Marie says, it’s an opportunity for us to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ingest art, quiet the internal dialogue of critique and really delve into our own experiences while being around others.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The next installment of the Can I Get A Witness? open mic series happens from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, at the Air Temple art gallery in Oakland (236 2nd St.). \u003ca href=\"https://partiful.com/e/vs2ek3lYc5sy2pWMRunu?source=share&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnflleLPxktiwgWTBXCqSi4IGDAePVU00ifqogHjnhZvFtkYqxXYaBFVMHjr4_aem_ikRakmk8J2arQORPZRDD9Q\">RSVP here.\u003c/a> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "By creatively sharing testimonies, artists are finding their people at this new open mic. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/debbiedollas_/\">Deborah Marie\u003c/a> is a poet who works at the intersection of art and public health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By day, she’s an advocate, focused on quelling substance abuse by assisting people with recovery and prevention. By night, she’s a multi-talented creative and the founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/canigetawitness.oak/\">Can I Get A Witness?\u003c/a> event series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just like any other open mic event, Can I Get A Witness? creates a space for people to creatively share their poetry and testimonies. But it adds a bit of a twist, as audience members are also asked to discuss how the art makes them \u003cem>feel\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After each poet,” explains Deborah Marie during a recent phone call, “we don’t just clap and move on to the next person. We open up the floor and ask questions to the audience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the host, she prompts attendees to discuss what touched them, struck a chord or relates to a shared experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984792\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1.jpg\" alt=\"An African-American woman with shoulder-length locs and all black attire stands on a stage in an intimate room as she hosts and open mic event.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hayward’s Deborah Marie is the founder and host of the Can I Get A Witness? event series in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Diana Rose)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Surrounded by crystals and incense, Deborah Marie starts the open mic with a warm welcome and then urges event-goers to listen closely to the performers. After each piece, guests can respond by using “I” statements and speaking from their own perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not here to critique people’s work,” says Deborah Marie. Before the event even starts, she explains, community agreements are plainly stated on half-sheets of paper. The audience isn’t there to “problem solve.” Instead, she says, it’s about reflecting on people’s work and building community by way of sharing related experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s my idea of mixing live performance arts with peer support,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The donation-based series is new, with only three events to date and a fourth one happening \u003ca href=\"https://partiful.com/e/vs2ek3lYc5sy2pWMRunu?source=share&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnflleLPxktiwgWTBXCqSi4IGDAePVU00ifqogHjnhZvFtkYqxXYaBFVMHjr4_aem_ikRakmk8J2arQORPZRDD9Q\">this Sunday, Dec. 14\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/airtempleartspace/\">the Air Temple art gallery\u003c/a> in Oakland. But so far, Deborah Marie says, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">t’s been so magical,” adding that “it’s also been different each time.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a past event, the discussion naturally flowed in and out of references to mental health and the media-fueled impossible standards that women — specifically Black women — face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The conversation got to the point,” Deborah Marie recalls, “where someone just broke down crying.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Other audience members immediately supported that person and didn’t try to problem solve. Instead, they held space and allowed the person to open up about recently losing a friend to a mental health struggle. And that’s when Deborah Marie \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">realized, “this is really something special if we can incubate this level of vulnerability in a performance space.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13984794\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13984794\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman kneels in the crowd as a performer recites a poem on stage during a live performance event. \" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/12/Deborah-Marie-3-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Can I Get A Witness? host Deborah Marie squats low as a poet performs during a recent event at Mushin 2.0 in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Diana Rose)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s an unexpected overlap between open mic events and sobriety-centered spaces, asserts Deborah Marie. There’s art, community and even support from those who’ve experienced similar things in life.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Conversely,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Deborah Marie\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/harm-reduction\">harm reduction\u003c/a> spaces, where people navigating addictions are guided toward safer methods of using, are “extremely clinical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What harm reduction spaces and open mic circles are missing — but that sobriety centers or abstinence-based spaces often have — is social support. Through her work, Deborah Marie has seen the benefits of peer support groups and group outings. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Those social elements make a big difference in people’s quality of life,” says Deborah Marie, “whether you are or you aren’t using substances.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With that in mind, she asked herself, “How can we get a room full of people and give them that social support that you get when you choose abstinence? W\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ithout them having to choose abstinence.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s created a barrier-free event where people can share their work freely and be heard without being critiqued like they would be at, say, a writer’s salon. And, she adds, it’s not about the audience giving praise either. “That’s two sides of the same coin,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ci>“\u003c/i>What we’re really aiming for,” Deborah Marie clarifies, explaining the flow of the event, “is like, you heard this [piece]. Now, how did it feel in your body? What did it bring up for you?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a room for the writers and a lounge for the listeners. A home for healers and a house for those seeking healing. There’s poetry for the people and commentary that creates community. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And ultimately, Deborah Marie says, it’s an opportunity for us to \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ingest art, quiet the internal dialogue of critique and really delve into our own experiences while being around others.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The next installment of the Can I Get A Witness? open mic series happens from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14, at the Air Temple art gallery in Oakland (236 2nd St.). \u003ca href=\"https://partiful.com/e/vs2ek3lYc5sy2pWMRunu?source=share&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMjU2MjgxMDQwNTU4AAGnflleLPxktiwgWTBXCqSi4IGDAePVU00ifqogHjnhZvFtkYqxXYaBFVMHjr4_aem_ikRakmk8J2arQORPZRDD9Q\">RSVP here.\u003c/a> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "tongo-eisen-martin-vadia-damani-rhodes-new-album-traveling-shoes",
"title": "Love, Death and Birth — and a 7-Year Wait — Went Into New Album ‘Traveling Shoes’",
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"headTitle": "Love, Death and Birth — and a 7-Year Wait — Went Into New Album ‘Traveling Shoes’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Time is a tricky variable when creating art. Some ideas take years to fully mature. Others happen with a random stroke of genius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For composer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/damani31/?hl=en\">Damani Rhodes\u003c/a>, vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/vadiahub/?hl=en\">Vadia\u003c/a> and poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/_tongogara_/?hl=en\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>, it took a combination of brief stints and long breaks — seven years total — to complete their just-released album, \u003ca href=\"https://music.empi.re/travelingshoes\">\u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 33-minute soundscape of poetic phrases, harmonic piano keys and soulful vocals, \u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em> features guest appearances from \u003ca href=\"https://ajamonet.com/\">Aja Monet\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://saulwilliams.com/\">Saul Williams\u003c/a> and the East Bay’s own renowned flutist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931138/liner-notes-flutist-and-vocalist-elena-pinderhughes-is-limitless\">Elena Pinderhughes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a body of work that I’m proud of,” says Damani Rhodes during a recent phone call. “I know Tongo’s proud of it,” he adds, and his wife and partner in production, Vadia, says she’s very proud of it too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So proud, in fact, that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/dvtlive/traveling-shoes-live-recording?fbclid=PAZnRzaANSTYxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp2MbcY2OCNBmAJKcdV2pWBZCtfv3o3QJUCrxq4D1VcWD4i8d6Cct1xtbV1Kw_aem_Jq_z9FRMssJoiviJq5fpMA\">on Oct. 18 the trio plans to record a live version of the album\u003c/a> during a ticketed performance at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tinytelephone.com/\">Tiny Telephone Studios\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A silhouette image of three people standing in an old train station.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-2000x1055.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-768x405.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-1536x810.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-2048x1080.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still from the video for the song ‘Traveling Shoes,’ filmed at West Oakland’s Historic 16th Street Train Station. \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The story of the album starts back in 2018, when Tongo and Damani were introduced through a former director at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/201110181000/first-person-marc-bamuthi-joseph\">Marc Bamuthi Joseph\u003c/a>. He insisted that Tongo and Damani, both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13836799/janet-mock-steve-kerr-rafael-casal-and-more-on-this-years-ybca-100-list\">YBCA 100\u003c/a> honorees, perform live together at a celebratory gala — without a lot of time to practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They met for the first time at soundcheck the night before. Yet as soon as Damani and his band \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/minoyanci/\">Mino Yanci\u003c/a> started playing, Tongo began reciting poetry. Something clicked. “I wasn’t even a guy that was really into poems, if I’m honest,” admits Damani. “But when I heard him, all of a sudden, I was into poems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Realizing they’d stumbled onto something, Damani extended an invite for Tongo to meet up again at Zoo Labs studio in West Oakland. From that five-hour session came a smattering of ideas; recorded concepts that grew into songs, like the album’s first track, “Not A Poem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damani took the tracks home and continued to work on them, including one that would eventually become the lead single, “Nature of The World.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA.jpg\" alt=\"A blurry portrait of a man in a white shirt walking down the street on a sunny day.\" width=\"1600\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-1536x643.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poet and author Tongo Eisen-Martin on the set of the video for ‘The Nature of the World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tongo opens the song by saying, “A, you know, a whole of God can happen in three seconds, not much heaven tho.” As he lays bars, Damani’s keys and Vadia’s vocal harmonizing set a soulful tone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tongo, an acclaimed author and former San Francisco Poet Laureate, proceeds to paint a picture of the current state of society. Highlighting “the wire hanger empire” and the perseverance it takes to survive in this world, he says “I’m going to make it, even if I have to drive backwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He poetically flips reality, convincing the listener that “running water is a myth”; instead, he says, we’re the ones moving all around it. At the end of the piece, he goes further into reshaping people’s perspectives, asking the audience to let go of the four walls that surround them in an effort to accept the ever-present heaven that exists in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1917px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283.jpg\" alt=\"A drummer plays overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.\" width=\"1917\" height=\"806\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283.jpg 1917w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-768x323.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-1536x646.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1917px) 100vw, 1917px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drummer named Samadhi plays overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in the short film ‘The Nature of The World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Directed and produced by Benjamin “BJ” McBride and Elie M. Khadra (both worked with KQED in 2020 to produce the award-winning film \u003cem>Dear Beloved\u003c/em>), the accompanying short video for “Nature of The World” shows Twin Peaks, Treasure Island and close-ups of Tongo near Golden Gate Park, as well as intimate shots of Damani and Vadia embracing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climax of the video shows Vadia going through the process of childbirth, a visual that, like the album itself, was all a matter of timing. Pregnant when she was presented with the film’s treatment in early 2024, Vadia says a doctor’s visit revealed that the baby might come early, turning production plans into a mad dash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is set: the cameras are ready, and all the lighting and the locations,” Vadia recalls. “I was trying on the outfits for the video,” she says, “and then I get a call that my father passed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pastor Essex Hubbard of Sacramento’s Saint James Holy Missionary Baptist Church was 68 years old. Roughly two weeks later, Vadia gave birth to her and Damani’s daughter, Eloura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the midst of everything, they filmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a yellow shirt and hair wrap stands behind a hand, arms around his shoulders in an embrace, as they pose for a photo.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1073\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-2000x838.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-1536x644.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-2048x858.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Singer Vadia and composer Damani Rhodes on the set of the short film ‘The Nature of The World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Coming from an artistic family,” Vadia says, “we all felt like it was OK to move forward with completing the project that we had started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, inspired by a hymn, Vadia sings, “I’ve got my traveling shows on / I’m headed to my new home / And if you want to go with me, it’s too late, too late, too late / I’m already gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With vocal tones she learned as child while singing in church with her siblings and father, the recording at Tiny Telephone Studios was “one of those magic points” that happen during a studio session, Vadia says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on the seven-year process of making \u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em>, Damani says, “We had the time to grow into the people that we needed to be to make it. Because if we would have finished this in 2018, it would not be this project. It would be something else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We already had good seed in the ground… now is the time where it’s sprouting,” Vadia adds. “Rain happens, and then things grow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tongo Eisen-Martin, Vadia and Damani Rhodes record a live version of their album ‘Traveling Shoes’ on Saturday, Oct. 18, in front of a live audience at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tinytelephone.com/\">Tiny Telephone Studios\u003c/a> (5765 Lowell St., Oakland). \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/dvtlive/traveling-shoes-live-recording\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Love, Death and Birth — and a 7-Year Wait — Went Into New Album ‘Traveling Shoes’ | KQED",
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"subhead": "Some art is made overnight, some art takes years. This album is product of both approaches. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Time is a tricky variable when creating art. Some ideas take years to fully mature. Others happen with a random stroke of genius.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For composer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/damani31/?hl=en\">Damani Rhodes\u003c/a>, vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/vadiahub/?hl=en\">Vadia\u003c/a> and poet \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/_tongogara_/?hl=en\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/a>, it took a combination of brief stints and long breaks — seven years total — to complete their just-released album, \u003ca href=\"https://music.empi.re/travelingshoes\">\u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 33-minute soundscape of poetic phrases, harmonic piano keys and soulful vocals, \u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em> features guest appearances from \u003ca href=\"https://ajamonet.com/\">Aja Monet\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://saulwilliams.com/\">Saul Williams\u003c/a> and the East Bay’s own renowned flutist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13931138/liner-notes-flutist-and-vocalist-elena-pinderhughes-is-limitless\">Elena Pinderhughes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a body of work that I’m proud of,” says Damani Rhodes during a recent phone call. “I know Tongo’s proud of it,” he adds, and his wife and partner in production, Vadia, says she’s very proud of it too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So proud, in fact, that \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/dvtlive/traveling-shoes-live-recording?fbclid=PAZnRzaANSTYxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp2MbcY2OCNBmAJKcdV2pWBZCtfv3o3QJUCrxq4D1VcWD4i8d6Cct1xtbV1Kw_aem_Jq_z9FRMssJoiviJq5fpMA\">on Oct. 18 the trio plans to record a live version of the album\u003c/a> during a ticketed performance at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tinytelephone.com/\">Tiny Telephone Studios\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982261\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A silhouette image of three people standing in an old train station.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-2000x1055.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-768x405.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-1536x810.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/20-2048x1080.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A still from the video for the song ‘Traveling Shoes,’ filmed at West Oakland’s Historic 16th Street Train Station. \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The story of the album starts back in 2018, when Tongo and Damani were introduced through a former director at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/201110181000/first-person-marc-bamuthi-joseph\">Marc Bamuthi Joseph\u003c/a>. He insisted that Tongo and Damani, both \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13836799/janet-mock-steve-kerr-rafael-casal-and-more-on-this-years-ybca-100-list\">YBCA 100\u003c/a> honorees, perform live together at a celebratory gala — without a lot of time to practice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They met for the first time at soundcheck the night before. Yet as soon as Damani and his band \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/minoyanci/\">Mino Yanci\u003c/a> started playing, Tongo began reciting poetry. Something clicked. “I wasn’t even a guy that was really into poems, if I’m honest,” admits Damani. “But when I heard him, all of a sudden, I was into poems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Realizing they’d stumbled onto something, Damani extended an invite for Tongo to meet up again at Zoo Labs studio in West Oakland. From that five-hour session came a smattering of ideas; recorded concepts that grew into songs, like the album’s first track, “Not A Poem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Damani took the tracks home and continued to work on them, including one that would eventually become the lead single, “Nature of The World.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982262\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA.jpg\" alt=\"A blurry portrait of a man in a white shirt walking down the street on a sunny day.\" width=\"1600\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/IVkYP2XA-1536x643.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Poet and author Tongo Eisen-Martin on the set of the video for ‘The Nature of the World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tongo opens the song by saying, “A, you know, a whole of God can happen in three seconds, not much heaven tho.” As he lays bars, Damani’s keys and Vadia’s vocal harmonizing set a soulful tone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tongo, an acclaimed author and former San Francisco Poet Laureate, proceeds to paint a picture of the current state of society. Highlighting “the wire hanger empire” and the perseverance it takes to survive in this world, he says “I’m going to make it, even if I have to drive backwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He poetically flips reality, convincing the listener that “running water is a myth”; instead, he says, we’re the ones moving all around it. At the end of the piece, he goes further into reshaping people’s perspectives, asking the audience to let go of the four walls that surround them in an effort to accept the ever-present heaven that exists in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982263\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1917px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982263\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283.jpg\" alt=\"A drummer plays overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.\" width=\"1917\" height=\"806\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283.jpg 1917w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-768x323.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/5-e1760398648283-1536x646.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1917px) 100vw, 1917px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drummer named Samadhi plays overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in the short film ‘The Nature of The World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Directed and produced by Benjamin “BJ” McBride and Elie M. Khadra (both worked with KQED in 2020 to produce the award-winning film \u003cem>Dear Beloved\u003c/em>), the accompanying short video for “Nature of The World” shows Twin Peaks, Treasure Island and close-ups of Tongo near Golden Gate Park, as well as intimate shots of Damani and Vadia embracing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climax of the video shows Vadia going through the process of childbirth, a visual that, like the album itself, was all a matter of timing. Pregnant when she was presented with the film’s treatment in early 2024, Vadia says a doctor’s visit revealed that the baby might come early, turning production plans into a mad dash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is set: the cameras are ready, and all the lighting and the locations,” Vadia recalls. “I was trying on the outfits for the video,” she says, “and then I get a call that my father passed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pastor Essex Hubbard of Sacramento’s Saint James Holy Missionary Baptist Church was 68 years old. Roughly two weeks later, Vadia gave birth to her and Damani’s daughter, Eloura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in the midst of everything, they filmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982264\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a yellow shirt and hair wrap stands behind a hand, arms around his shoulders in an embrace, as they pose for a photo.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1073\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-2000x838.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-160x67.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-768x322.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-1536x644.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/60-1-2048x858.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Singer Vadia and composer Damani Rhodes on the set of the short film ‘The Nature of The World.’ \u003ccite>(Elie M. Khadra)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Coming from an artistic family,” Vadia says, “we all felt like it was OK to move forward with completing the project that we had started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, inspired by a hymn, Vadia sings, “I’ve got my traveling shows on / I’m headed to my new home / And if you want to go with me, it’s too late, too late, too late / I’m already gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With vocal tones she learned as child while singing in church with her siblings and father, the recording at Tiny Telephone Studios was “one of those magic points” that happen during a studio session, Vadia says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reflecting on the seven-year process of making \u003cem>Traveling Shoes\u003c/em>, Damani says, “We had the time to grow into the people that we needed to be to make it. Because if we would have finished this in 2018, it would not be this project. It would be something else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We already had good seed in the ground… now is the time where it’s sprouting,” Vadia adds. “Rain happens, and then things grow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tongo Eisen-Martin, Vadia and Damani Rhodes record a live version of their album ‘Traveling Shoes’ on Saturday, Oct. 18, in front of a live audience at \u003ca href=\"https://www.tinytelephone.com/\">Tiny Telephone Studios\u003c/a> (5765 Lowell St., Oakland). \u003ca href=\"https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/dvtlive/traveling-shoes-live-recording\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hyphenacion-caregiving-joy-and-sacrifice",
"title": "Caregiving: Balancing Joy and Sacrifice",
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"headTitle": "Caregiving: Balancing Joy and Sacrifice | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Latino cultures, it’s often expected that we someday become caregivers for our parents or other family members. Anyone who has taken on this role can tell you that it’s hard and demands some big sacrifices. This week on Hyphenación, host Xorje Olivares gets together with poet Yosimar Reyes and professor Anita Tijerina Revilla to talk about the struggle of sacrificing to be a caregiver while trying not to lose yourself in the needs of others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1200585640&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Watch this episode on YouTube\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/A4EBUctBRb8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yosimar Reyes (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yosirey/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">/ \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosimarreyes.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">poetry\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Anita Tijerina Revilla (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mujer_fiera/\">Instagram\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the series or have an idea to share? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:hyp@kqed.org\">hyp@kqed.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares, Host:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s say in the next couple of minutes you were to get a phone call from, I don’t know, your sister, and she says something’s wrong with mom. They don’t quite know what it is, but just to be safe, they’re gonna take her to the emergency room.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, maybe you’re like me and you live thousands of miles away from your immediate family. You’ve got a new job, you’ve got a few friends, maybe somebody special that’s keeping you rooted in this new city. But most of all, you probably have a routine. The thing you’ve worked really hard to craft and maintain so you can live life the way that you want, and on the terms that you’ve chosen, because that is one of the advantages of being grown and an adult.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But your sister calls you back, and the doctor is saying a few things that you don’t understand, some things that you do, but you don’t want to hear it, because it starts to become very real. This is happening and I’m not ready, but it’s mom, so routine, ni que nada– I would drop everything to help her, right? Even move back home?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Xorge Olivares, and I’m the son of aging parents so at some point, I’m gonna be confronted with this very real situation, and I think I know what I would do. But will I actually go through with it when push comes to shove?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So today I want to ask, what are we willing to sacrifice right now in order to care for a loved one? This is Hyphenación, where conversation and cultura meet.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So I’m really happy to have this conversation today with two folks who have been a bit vocal about this very personal topic. The first is poet and writer, Yosimar Reyes, who has spoken openly not only about migration, queerness, but also about being a caretaker for his grandmother. So Josimar, thank you so much for joining us today. And I wanna share a photo that Yosimar gave us as a team to be able to share with our audience. Yosimar, who is this wonderful woman in this photo, and did you have a nickname for her? Did she have a name for you? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi everybody, this is my Abuelita, Madonia Galeana Dionisio. Her nickname for me was Gordo, I’ve always been known as Gordo. And for her, we just call her Abuelita or Mama Doña would be the name that we everybody referenced her as.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love and slightly hate that I feel like growing up, everybody’s nickname for children is having to do with weight. Like either you’re Flaquito, you’re Morenito, you’re Pretito. I mean, obviously that’s more skin tone, but \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, usually your parents are your first bully, so you get conditioned into facing the world through them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just have a little bit of a thicker skin because of it. But thank you so much for joining us, Yosimar, for this conversation. And also joining us is Profe Anita Tijerina Revilla, who is department chair for the Chicanx and Latinx Studies Department at Cal State LA, who’s also talked about queer Latinidad and about her own journey as a caretaker for her niece and nephew and also for her sister. So Profe, thank you so much for joining us. And we also have a photo that we’d like to share. And who are these? Cute little critters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saludos, thank you for having me. These are my niece and nephew, also my son and daughter. I adopted them a few years ago. This is Ray on the right and Michael right next to me and myself, Ray and Michael, my niece and nephew, also my daughter and son.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they call me honey.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Honey! Ooh, has that has, has it always been honey or has there been a journey to arrive to honey? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Honey works really well for the kids Because. I am their tía but I’m more than their tia and their mother is very much a part of their lives so we didn’t, I didn’t want them to call me mom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Honey is so sweet. And there’s such a term of it’s such a term endearment regardless, like anybody who can call you honey, there’s already an element of love that you can’t hide from. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But I’m excited for us to have this conversation because it is rooted in family. And a lot of what’s happening for me and my family is we’re approaching that point where we’re caretaking and caregiving, which I’m gonna use interchangeably, but this notion of being at home to care for a loved one, it’s kind of coming close. So I’m approaching that process of when I’m going to need to go home to be a caretaker for one of my parents. And I want to start with you, Yosimar, if you don’t mind, because maybe a few days ago, you did post something on your Instagram that was about this caretaking journey for you. So I’m wondering if you can talk a little bit about the decision to first even become a caretaker for your grandmother. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, so I’m originally from the state of Guerrero, Mexico. I migrated to the United States when I was three years old, and it was my grandma who actually carried me across the journey to bring me to this country. And when we landed here, like so many young people, I was 3, so my mom wanted me to go live with her, but my grandma was part of those formative years, and so I thought my grandma my mom, so I had this affinity towards her, and I always wanted to be with her. Um, and so my relationship with her has always been me and my grandparents. I’m the one that grew up with my grandparents, um, but, uh, once I graduated college, I went to live in Los Angeles and I was there for about five years. And then COVID happened. And I think one of the interesting things I am based out of San Jose, California, um during that time, five zip codes were disproportionately impacted by positive COVID cases. My grandma was part of one of those zip codes. And so I think out of that, I saw her getting older. I saw just, you know, her just aging. And so, I decided to make the choice of like, I need to leave to go back home and help her. And yeah, I think that’s when I– it wasn’t an active choice, but more like something natural that was just happening and then I decided to move back home and that’s how I ended up taking on the role. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So you wouldn’t say it was necessarily because there was this expectation that Yosimar at some point is going to move back home, take care of Abuelita, that it felt more of an in the moment decision because of the global pandemic that was happening that was forcing us to rethink how we were approaching things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think it was just a natural course. I think for me, one of the things that happened between the relationship with me and my grandparents is that you just know what’s instinctively, you just know, like this is what I need to do or like that. And it didn’t necessarily feel like a burden or it didn’ feel like I was making a sacrifice or making a choice. I was like, this is my calling and this is the next step that I need do. But back then, I didn’t have language to call it what it is.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love that you’re saying a calling because I want to ask you, Profe Anita, if you think that for you being a caretaker for your niece and nephew was a calling, or if it was something else that you had to in the moment figure out how to respond to. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s funny, I do not think it was a calling, I think it was codependence. You know, I’ll tell you a little bit about me and my life. I grew up with a single parent. She was widowed at the age of 30. She had three kids and she always put herself last, right? And so codependence literally means that you take care of everybody at your own expense. And so for me, what happened is my sister had grown up, this is my little sister and I have an older brother too, but she had grown with depression her whole life. We knew it since she was little. And later on in life, she was clinically diagnosed as bipolar, having bipolar experience and schizoaffective disorder. And it wasn’t until maybe she turned 30 that she started to show or exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia and what other people call madness right? Yeah, she started to have delusions and she started having like a deep paranoia. And so it was also connected to drug addiction and the drug addiction was connected to her depression. And so all of this is like, again, as I’ve learned little by little, I’ve come to understand my sister’s experience more. But back then, all I knew is that my sister was sick and something was happening that we didn’t understand. She had two small children. They were three and four years old. And the first time she got hospitalized, she was arrested and brutalized by police merely for exhibiting this anger and this madness. And so she was in the hospital right after she was in jail, I had to fight to get her out. And when she got out, she came directly to live with me. It was my, maybe, second year as an assistant professor in Las Vegas. I had just started my career and I had worked my whole life not to be a parent, especially not a teen mom or a single parent. Those were things that were stigmatized with me growing up. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, of course, I honor single mothers and single parents just like my mother, but that’s not what I wanted to be. I wanted it to have a career. And the only reason I even went to college and wanted a career was to take care of my impoverished family because I had come to believe through my mother that having that education would allow me to help pull them out of their poverty. And so little by little, those are the messages that I got. You have to take care of your family, and you have to sacrifice your life to take care of the people in your family. And I accepted it with lots of love, but I don’t think there was really choice involved, right? It was a limited choice and it wasn’t until much later that I actually said yeah, I did make a choice and I’m grateful that I had that opportunity and it’s one of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had to be able to parent children who are now 20 and 21 years old. They’re adults and so I feel honored to have been their safety and the person who took care of them. But back then, I was mourning and grieving my life, the life that I had as a single queer person starting a job in Las Vegas as a women’s studies professor. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do is to parent when I didn’t plan on doing it, especially for children that young. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I definitely understand the point that you’re, you’re making. You did say about, uh, you felt like you sacrificed your life and I’m curious, Yosimar, you did say that, you’ve reflected and you said that it was a calling to be able to help your grandmother, but did you think that there was a moment where you were sacrificing your life? And unable to do things that you had already put in your head that you wanted to accomplish as an individual.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think similar to Anita, I think one of the things that happened within my life is we grew up poor. I think, I used to say the term working class, but no. I think we need to name it– poverty. The thing with growing up poor is that it’s silent violence because you’re not aware of what you need. You’re not aware and I think poverty adds a different level to these circumstances in which I felt guilty. Here I am living in Los Angeles in a two bedroom apartment in Boyle Heights, having my fun after college years. I have a roommate, throwing parties. I have my own room, I have my own washer and dryer. I have all this stability. And then I would travel back home where my grandma stayed there sleeping on the living room couch. She’s still recycling bottles and cans. My brother’s sleeping on the floor. I have another cousin in the living room. And I just remember going to visit her and how much I hated the poverty in which she was living. But she loved it. This is all she known. This is a life she known, and I just feel a certain guilt. How is it that I’m traveling the country, that I am speaking at these prestigious universities, and my grandma is still living in the same apartment than since we arrived in this country? Yeah, of course there were moments where I didn’t want this responsibility. I wanna be myself. And then I think all the other layers that were undocumented. So it’s like this added layer of poverty, undocumented, all this stuff. And then that was the big tug of war of realizing like, damn, like, I’d see other people excelling in their careers. I can’t do that. I can move to New York and focus on my writing and live this writer dream because I have these people depending on me. But I think I would fight it a lot. I would have these moments of tension in which I was like, ah, why does it have to be me? Like, I don’t wanna do this. But then there was these beautiful, beautiful moments that I was, maybe because I’m a poet, I was ah this is sacred and something really beautiful and something that I don’t think not a lot of people get to experience and then when I had those moments it just made sense \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m curious, Profe Anita, like, about this tug of war, was there a moment because you did mention this, it was a huge sacrifice, this is not what you wanted but your life was taken in a direction that you had not anticipated, so was there time where there was a beautiful moment, or what was one of the earliest signs of that this could be an opportunity for you to feel grateful for being in this position as caretaker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think it’s a fluid experience. It’s not a moment. It’s like you wake up in the morning, you think these babies are beautiful. They’re making you laugh. You’re hugging them and loving them. and then all of a sudden one of them has a meltdown and you have to go to work and your friends are going out and you’re not going out or you used to stay up till two or three in the morning and you have to go sleep. You’re falling asleep at 10 o’clock and can’t do your work but then you see them sleeping and they look beautiful. So there are many moments where you wonder like, wow, how did this become my experience? And I feel bad for the kids because they’ve heard me multiple times say, like, I didn’t plan to have children. My intention was to be child-free, not childless, child-free. And so I made the decision because I had already been parenting people. I was the one that was going to go to college and the one was going to take care of all these things because I was responsible. And so the fact was I had already been parenting. And so when I rece ived the children, I did it because I love them so much that I didn’t want them to be in danger. And I have to honor my sister in her choice because someone who is struggling with mental illness or drug addiction, they don’t always. They’re not always willing to release their children and let them be taken care of by someone else. But my sister trusted me. She had a deep trust and a deep love for me. And so she said, I’m going to need you to take care of the kids because I can’t do it. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of them, and they will be safer with you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for sharing that. We’re actually going to take a quick break and be back with more Hyphenación.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SPONSOR MESSAGE]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yosimar, I want to ask you something that Profe Anita mentioned, which I feel like I’m going to struggle with is the ability to just be honest with whoever you’re caring for and mention the moments of frustration, mention the moments of joy. And just being transparent about how you’re feeling every step of the way. Was it easy for you to be open and transparent with your grandma about just anything that you were experiencing? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think one of the funny things about my grandma is that she was witty. My grandma was 89, 90, but that homegirl was…sharp!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, good for her! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was hilarious because we would go out to doctor’s appointments and also my I wasn’t babying her like she’s an adult she’s a grown woman so I wouldn’t necessarily baby her so if we’re arguing at a doctor’s office I’m like I’m sure people think this is elder abuse but this is how we get along like I could talk to her you know people review their grandma’s in a certain way but I grew up with her so she’s like my my friend so um but there was this moment where we would get into it because we’re so caught up and we were like, just fight, right? And she would get me frustrated because es bien terca. She wouldn’t do things. I would argue about her medications. One of the things about my grandma is that she didn’t trust doctors. So she was very much about, I’m gonna do it my way. And so we would tug a lot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">¡Me están mintiendo! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Como, ese doctor no más te quiere enfermo para sacarte dinero. I’m like, girl, you’re on medi-cal. You’re not paying them. So, chill out. But then it was funny because obviously, my grandma, she was an emotional manipulator. So she would get mad at me and then shut down. I’ll come home and all the lights are off. And I’m, like, okay, this girl is going through it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, no. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Or she would lock herself or she would go pretend that she’s sleeping in the garage. I’m like, girl, why do you have to sleep in the car? Do you have a bed? Like all these emotional manipulations, you know, all of that. But then I have to be like the conscientious one and I’m like, okay, she’s older. Let me give it. And then I’ll be like, I will eat them. I just want to apologize to you. I just wanna tell you that you’re not a burden to me. You’re the biggest gift I ever had. And I’m so sorry if I get frustrated with you, but sometimes this is very difficult because I’m doing so much and I just want to let you know that it’s not you. I love you and I care for you. And then she would be like, “I know.” And then we would hug it out. And we would have these episodes. We would have this telenovela episodes. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then I started to teach my grandma how to use her words instead of these things. Like, hey, if you need space, you can just tell me, hey, right now I’m feeling a little sad. And it’s interesting because she started learning words like siento depresión, o me siento triste. Something that it’s not very common. I don’t think it’s very common in Latino, monolingual, Spanish. Deciré, tengo una tristeza. And then I would like, okay, let’s process it. What do we need to do? Or like, oh, let me, let us go walk or let’s, and sometimes it was hard because she, I understood she was, my grandma was so isolated.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think one of the things that people don’t realize is that my grandma is very independent. So she’s used to making movidas on her own. And now because she’s older, she can’t necessarily go out to the store by herself. there’s certain things that she can’t do. So her life became reduced into somebody watching her. And I think one of the biggest things that I learned was the fact that this country doesn’t facilitate for you to think outside of your immediate needs. So for someone to come and take time to take her to a restaurant or take time to take her to the park, it was a lot. And so I think for her also realizing that she needed someone was a very hard, and that’s where the depression came.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Prof. Anita, I want to ask because… Part of the, the caretaking journey sometimes is that there’s a difference of generations and we speak different languages. So I’m wondering if, if you had to, to deal with this interesting perspective of you were having to communicate with youngins who might not. Understand where you’re coming from because the lived experience is so different.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a great question. I think as a first-gen college-educated person, I was already dealing with that. All of this, when I talk about the kids, I can’t talk about it without talking about my mom, too. So from the very beginning, when I first read Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands, La Frontera, I called my mom up. I’m like, mom, why didn’t you teach me more Spanish? I used to speak Spanish before I started school. Why didn’t you continue? And she’s like mija they used to punish us, you know hit us with rulers. The white nuns would punish us for speaking in Spanish so I taught you English so that they wouldn’t do that to you. And so I did the work of teaching my mom what Chicana meant, what feminist meant. I taught her about colorism because my family is the darker one. My father was very dark skinned, Indigenous. So little by little, I was trying to teach my mom and also reclaim our cultural identity and our pride and remove all of the internalized racism that we had grown up with, similar to the sexism, et cetera. So when the kids came into my life, I did the same thing with them. Like I said, they were three and four years old. And I remember distinctly, Michael, either was three or four. And he asked me like, “Honey, why do you have a girlfriend?” I had a girlfriend at the time. It was my first partner after I became a parent. And I said oh, that’s because um I love her and she’s I’m in a relationship with her she’s my girlfriend and I said and he said “But why don’t you have a boyfriend” I said well I actually and at the time identified as bisexual, now I identify as queer and fluid but I said I’m bisexual so that means I can love boys or girls and it doesn’t matter to me you know if they’re a boy or girl I can still love them. And he said, “You know what honey, I think I’m bisexual too.” four years old. And I was like, Oh, okay, well, just so you know, whoever you love, whoever, you want to be a boyfriend or girlfriend that’s always going to be accepted in our home.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I will say, uh, one of the things that’s possible when you’re physically with someone is getting to talk at all hours of the day, you know, during dinner, whenever the moment feels right and just learning about the person you’re with. And so I want to ask you, starting with you, What is something that you learned from your grandmother that you don’t think you would have ever had the chance to do unless you had all of that access to her?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, I, my grandma, you know, passed away in November, and I think not just because she passed away, I think I always knew my grandma as like this magical person. I’m like, Oh, I’d say it takes a really powerful person to raise a little queer child and to not murder their spirit. And my grandma never, my Grandma was an alcahueta. If I wanted something, she would make it work. And I think my grandma maybe was that because she was trying to make up for the mother that she couldn’t be to her daughters. And that’s when I got a complex idea of my grandma. My grandma was in survival mode. And so her way of parenting her daughters was probably not the kindness or not the most. And so now that she’s older, she’s confronting that because everything comes back. And so maybe the relationship with her daughters is not that close or it’s turbulent because they haven’t spoken about this and there hasn’t been a sorry. And so I think there was this constant thing.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But for me, I can’t speak to that because my grandmother was never that to me. And so I had the patience that obviously my mom or my aunts necessarily didn’t have with her, but I did. And so, I think what I learned was that, to view my grandmother’s life with compassion and now that she’s older, to confront her or to talk to her and see, listen, maybe it’s time you forgive yourself for what you didn’t do and think about the things that you did do. And so I think my-the most biggest thing of spending time with someone that’s elderly and someone that confronting their mortality is making sure that they make amends with the guilt or the shame that they carry. And so I’m happy to say that I was helping my grandma gravitate toward that and that I able to honor, ‘You were on survival mode, it’s not your fault. And look, look how far you made it. Look how you shifted. And yes you fucked up. There’s moments that you fuck up as a human life is not that. But I want you to tell you that at the end of the day, the impact in your legacy, the way people speak about your character, the way people thank you for the things that you’ve done for them, it’s very dynamic. So you also need to be kind to yourself.’ And so I think that was the biggest thing to be able to look at my grandma in the complexities of the things where she did mess up but also the compassion of saying you did the best that you could with what you had. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for sharing that. Profe Anita, I want to ask you sort of the inverse of that, especially because we started this conversation with you talking about the very real sensation of this is not how you thought your life was going to go. So what is something you learned about yourself now that you are Honey and, uh, you’ve been doing this for almost 20 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think the thing that I learned about myself was that I had to figure out a way to take care of myself and my body, mind and spirit even while I was taking care of everyone else. Like, I even before I got the kids, I already was putting other people’s needs before my own. I was a people pleaser, always wanted everybody to love me and to accept me, especially because I grew up thinking I was unlovable. I, you know, grew up different. I have a different hand and a lot of people bullied me for my hand and I thought I would grow up to not have love. And so I think with the kids, I realized like I have to figure out what I need to heal myself because I want to be a parent that parents from a space of healing, that parents from a place of liberation versus fear. I was living my life through my mom’s trauma, and so I had to figure out how to heal, release her trauma and heal my own trauma. And I don’t think I would have gotten as far as I have without the kids. They hold me accountable. They use my words against me. They throw my feminism in my face, and they say they’re not as easily… convinced when I tell them something is good or bad. They challenged me and I like my mom taught me I taught them you have a voice\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ah, you have a voice. Thats so powerful. I want to thank each of your for opening up and being as vulnerable as you have been on this very difficult topic. But I think it’s helping me, its helping other folks that are on the precipice of this journey for themselves. So I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to go in depth for what this experience has been like for you. So I want to thank you each for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I want it to our listeners that if you want to follow our guests, I will put all of their socials, where you can find them online, all of the written works, that will all be in the show notes. And if you wanna communicate with us as a Hyphenation show… You can send us an email at HYP at KQED.org so we can know what you want to talk about on our program. But again, just want to say thanks to our guests and thanks to you for being here for this chat. Until next time. Hasta Lleugo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Credits:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hyphenación is a KQED Studios Production. It is produced by Ana De Almeida Amaral, Alex Tran, and me, Xorje Olivares. Chris Hambrick is our editor. Mixing and mastering by Jim Bennett and Christopher Beale. Jen Chien is executive producer and KQED’s director of podcasts. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. Special thanks to Megan Tan, Martina Castro, and Paulina Velasco for their development support. Thank you to Maha Sanad and Alana Walker for their audience engagement support, to podcast operations manager Katie Sprenger, Video Operations manager Vivian Morales, and our chief content officer Holly Kernan. Okay mi gente, cuídense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem> \u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Latino cultures, it’s often expected that we someday become caregivers for our parents or other family members. Anyone who has taken on this role can tell you that it’s hard and demands some big sacrifices. This week on Hyphenación, host Xorje Olivares gets together with poet Yosimar Reyes and professor Anita Tijerina Revilla to talk about the struggle of sacrificing to be a caregiver while trying not to lose yourself in the needs of others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC1200585640&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Watch this episode on YouTube\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/A4EBUctBRb8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/A4EBUctBRb8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yosimar Reyes (\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/yosirey/?hl=en\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">/ \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosimarreyes.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">poetry\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Anita Tijerina Revilla (\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mujer_fiera/\">Instagram\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the series or have an idea to share? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:hyp@kqed.org\">hyp@kqed.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares, Host:\u003c/b> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let’s say in the next couple of minutes you were to get a phone call from, I don’t know, your sister, and she says something’s wrong with mom. They don’t quite know what it is, but just to be safe, they’re gonna take her to the emergency room.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, maybe you’re like me and you live thousands of miles away from your immediate family. You’ve got a new job, you’ve got a few friends, maybe somebody special that’s keeping you rooted in this new city. But most of all, you probably have a routine. The thing you’ve worked really hard to craft and maintain so you can live life the way that you want, and on the terms that you’ve chosen, because that is one of the advantages of being grown and an adult.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But your sister calls you back, and the doctor is saying a few things that you don’t understand, some things that you do, but you don’t want to hear it, because it starts to become very real. This is happening and I’m not ready, but it’s mom, so routine, ni que nada– I would drop everything to help her, right? Even move back home?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Xorge Olivares, and I’m the son of aging parents so at some point, I’m gonna be confronted with this very real situation, and I think I know what I would do. But will I actually go through with it when push comes to shove?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So today I want to ask, what are we willing to sacrifice right now in order to care for a loved one? This is Hyphenación, where conversation and cultura meet.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So I’m really happy to have this conversation today with two folks who have been a bit vocal about this very personal topic. The first is poet and writer, Yosimar Reyes, who has spoken openly not only about migration, queerness, but also about being a caretaker for his grandmother. So Josimar, thank you so much for joining us today. And I wanna share a photo that Yosimar gave us as a team to be able to share with our audience. Yosimar, who is this wonderful woman in this photo, and did you have a nickname for her? Did she have a name for you? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hi everybody, this is my Abuelita, Madonia Galeana Dionisio. Her nickname for me was Gordo, I’ve always been known as Gordo. And for her, we just call her Abuelita or Mama Doña would be the name that we everybody referenced her as.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love and slightly hate that I feel like growing up, everybody’s nickname for children is having to do with weight. Like either you’re Flaquito, you’re Morenito, you’re Pretito. I mean, obviously that’s more skin tone, but \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, usually your parents are your first bully, so you get conditioned into facing the world through them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I just have a little bit of a thicker skin because of it. But thank you so much for joining us, Yosimar, for this conversation. And also joining us is Profe Anita Tijerina Revilla, who is department chair for the Chicanx and Latinx Studies Department at Cal State LA, who’s also talked about queer Latinidad and about her own journey as a caretaker for her niece and nephew and also for her sister. So Profe, thank you so much for joining us. And we also have a photo that we’d like to share. And who are these? Cute little critters. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Saludos, thank you for having me. These are my niece and nephew, also my son and daughter. I adopted them a few years ago. This is Ray on the right and Michael right next to me and myself, Ray and Michael, my niece and nephew, also my daughter and son.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they call me honey.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Honey! Ooh, has that has, has it always been honey or has there been a journey to arrive to honey? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Honey works really well for the kids Because. I am their tía but I’m more than their tia and their mother is very much a part of their lives so we didn’t, I didn’t want them to call me mom.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Honey is so sweet. And there’s such a term of it’s such a term endearment regardless, like anybody who can call you honey, there’s already an element of love that you can’t hide from. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But I’m excited for us to have this conversation because it is rooted in family. And a lot of what’s happening for me and my family is we’re approaching that point where we’re caretaking and caregiving, which I’m gonna use interchangeably, but this notion of being at home to care for a loved one, it’s kind of coming close. So I’m approaching that process of when I’m going to need to go home to be a caretaker for one of my parents. And I want to start with you, Yosimar, if you don’t mind, because maybe a few days ago, you did post something on your Instagram that was about this caretaking journey for you. So I’m wondering if you can talk a little bit about the decision to first even become a caretaker for your grandmother. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, so I’m originally from the state of Guerrero, Mexico. I migrated to the United States when I was three years old, and it was my grandma who actually carried me across the journey to bring me to this country. And when we landed here, like so many young people, I was 3, so my mom wanted me to go live with her, but my grandma was part of those formative years, and so I thought my grandma my mom, so I had this affinity towards her, and I always wanted to be with her. Um, and so my relationship with her has always been me and my grandparents. I’m the one that grew up with my grandparents, um, but, uh, once I graduated college, I went to live in Los Angeles and I was there for about five years. And then COVID happened. And I think one of the interesting things I am based out of San Jose, California, um during that time, five zip codes were disproportionately impacted by positive COVID cases. My grandma was part of one of those zip codes. And so I think out of that, I saw her getting older. I saw just, you know, her just aging. And so, I decided to make the choice of like, I need to leave to go back home and help her. And yeah, I think that’s when I– it wasn’t an active choice, but more like something natural that was just happening and then I decided to move back home and that’s how I ended up taking on the role. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So you wouldn’t say it was necessarily because there was this expectation that Yosimar at some point is going to move back home, take care of Abuelita, that it felt more of an in the moment decision because of the global pandemic that was happening that was forcing us to rethink how we were approaching things. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think it was just a natural course. I think for me, one of the things that happened between the relationship with me and my grandparents is that you just know what’s instinctively, you just know, like this is what I need to do or like that. And it didn’t necessarily feel like a burden or it didn’ feel like I was making a sacrifice or making a choice. I was like, this is my calling and this is the next step that I need do. But back then, I didn’t have language to call it what it is.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I love that you’re saying a calling because I want to ask you, Profe Anita, if you think that for you being a caretaker for your niece and nephew was a calling, or if it was something else that you had to in the moment figure out how to respond to. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, it’s funny, I do not think it was a calling, I think it was codependence. You know, I’ll tell you a little bit about me and my life. I grew up with a single parent. She was widowed at the age of 30. She had three kids and she always put herself last, right? And so codependence literally means that you take care of everybody at your own expense. And so for me, what happened is my sister had grown up, this is my little sister and I have an older brother too, but she had grown with depression her whole life. We knew it since she was little. And later on in life, she was clinically diagnosed as bipolar, having bipolar experience and schizoaffective disorder. And it wasn’t until maybe she turned 30 that she started to show or exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia and what other people call madness right? Yeah, she started to have delusions and she started having like a deep paranoia. And so it was also connected to drug addiction and the drug addiction was connected to her depression. And so all of this is like, again, as I’ve learned little by little, I’ve come to understand my sister’s experience more. But back then, all I knew is that my sister was sick and something was happening that we didn’t understand. She had two small children. They were three and four years old. And the first time she got hospitalized, she was arrested and brutalized by police merely for exhibiting this anger and this madness. And so she was in the hospital right after she was in jail, I had to fight to get her out. And when she got out, she came directly to live with me. It was my, maybe, second year as an assistant professor in Las Vegas. I had just started my career and I had worked my whole life not to be a parent, especially not a teen mom or a single parent. Those were things that were stigmatized with me growing up. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, of course, I honor single mothers and single parents just like my mother, but that’s not what I wanted to be. I wanted it to have a career. And the only reason I even went to college and wanted a career was to take care of my impoverished family because I had come to believe through my mother that having that education would allow me to help pull them out of their poverty. And so little by little, those are the messages that I got. You have to take care of your family, and you have to sacrifice your life to take care of the people in your family. And I accepted it with lots of love, but I don’t think there was really choice involved, right? It was a limited choice and it wasn’t until much later that I actually said yeah, I did make a choice and I’m grateful that I had that opportunity and it’s one of the most powerful experiences I’ve ever had to be able to parent children who are now 20 and 21 years old. They’re adults and so I feel honored to have been their safety and the person who took care of them. But back then, I was mourning and grieving my life, the life that I had as a single queer person starting a job in Las Vegas as a women’s studies professor. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do is to parent when I didn’t plan on doing it, especially for children that young. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I definitely understand the point that you’re, you’re making. You did say about, uh, you felt like you sacrificed your life and I’m curious, Yosimar, you did say that, you’ve reflected and you said that it was a calling to be able to help your grandmother, but did you think that there was a moment where you were sacrificing your life? And unable to do things that you had already put in your head that you wanted to accomplish as an individual.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think similar to Anita, I think one of the things that happened within my life is we grew up poor. I think, I used to say the term working class, but no. I think we need to name it– poverty. The thing with growing up poor is that it’s silent violence because you’re not aware of what you need. You’re not aware and I think poverty adds a different level to these circumstances in which I felt guilty. Here I am living in Los Angeles in a two bedroom apartment in Boyle Heights, having my fun after college years. I have a roommate, throwing parties. I have my own room, I have my own washer and dryer. I have all this stability. And then I would travel back home where my grandma stayed there sleeping on the living room couch. She’s still recycling bottles and cans. My brother’s sleeping on the floor. I have another cousin in the living room. And I just remember going to visit her and how much I hated the poverty in which she was living. But she loved it. This is all she known. This is a life she known, and I just feel a certain guilt. How is it that I’m traveling the country, that I am speaking at these prestigious universities, and my grandma is still living in the same apartment than since we arrived in this country? Yeah, of course there were moments where I didn’t want this responsibility. I wanna be myself. And then I think all the other layers that were undocumented. So it’s like this added layer of poverty, undocumented, all this stuff. And then that was the big tug of war of realizing like, damn, like, I’d see other people excelling in their careers. I can’t do that. I can move to New York and focus on my writing and live this writer dream because I have these people depending on me. But I think I would fight it a lot. I would have these moments of tension in which I was like, ah, why does it have to be me? Like, I don’t wanna do this. But then there was these beautiful, beautiful moments that I was, maybe because I’m a poet, I was ah this is sacred and something really beautiful and something that I don’t think not a lot of people get to experience and then when I had those moments it just made sense \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m curious, Profe Anita, like, about this tug of war, was there a moment because you did mention this, it was a huge sacrifice, this is not what you wanted but your life was taken in a direction that you had not anticipated, so was there time where there was a beautiful moment, or what was one of the earliest signs of that this could be an opportunity for you to feel grateful for being in this position as caretaker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think it’s a fluid experience. It’s not a moment. It’s like you wake up in the morning, you think these babies are beautiful. They’re making you laugh. You’re hugging them and loving them. and then all of a sudden one of them has a meltdown and you have to go to work and your friends are going out and you’re not going out or you used to stay up till two or three in the morning and you have to go sleep. You’re falling asleep at 10 o’clock and can’t do your work but then you see them sleeping and they look beautiful. So there are many moments where you wonder like, wow, how did this become my experience? And I feel bad for the kids because they’ve heard me multiple times say, like, I didn’t plan to have children. My intention was to be child-free, not childless, child-free. And so I made the decision because I had already been parenting people. I was the one that was going to go to college and the one was going to take care of all these things because I was responsible. And so the fact was I had already been parenting. And so when I rece ived the children, I did it because I love them so much that I didn’t want them to be in danger. And I have to honor my sister in her choice because someone who is struggling with mental illness or drug addiction, they don’t always. They’re not always willing to release their children and let them be taken care of by someone else. But my sister trusted me. She had a deep trust and a deep love for me. And so she said, I’m going to need you to take care of the kids because I can’t do it. I can take care of myself, and I can take care of them, and they will be safer with you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for sharing that. We’re actually going to take a quick break and be back with more Hyphenación.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SPONSOR MESSAGE]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yosimar, I want to ask you something that Profe Anita mentioned, which I feel like I’m going to struggle with is the ability to just be honest with whoever you’re caring for and mention the moments of frustration, mention the moments of joy. And just being transparent about how you’re feeling every step of the way. Was it easy for you to be open and transparent with your grandma about just anything that you were experiencing? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, I think one of the funny things about my grandma is that she was witty. My grandma was 89, 90, but that homegirl was…sharp!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah, good for her! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was hilarious because we would go out to doctor’s appointments and also my I wasn’t babying her like she’s an adult she’s a grown woman so I wouldn’t necessarily baby her so if we’re arguing at a doctor’s office I’m like I’m sure people think this is elder abuse but this is how we get along like I could talk to her you know people review their grandma’s in a certain way but I grew up with her so she’s like my my friend so um but there was this moment where we would get into it because we’re so caught up and we were like, just fight, right? And she would get me frustrated because es bien terca. She wouldn’t do things. I would argue about her medications. One of the things about my grandma is that she didn’t trust doctors. So she was very much about, I’m gonna do it my way. And so we would tug a lot. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">¡Me están mintiendo! \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Como, ese doctor no más te quiere enfermo para sacarte dinero. I’m like, girl, you’re on medi-cal. You’re not paying them. So, chill out. But then it was funny because obviously, my grandma, she was an emotional manipulator. So she would get mad at me and then shut down. I’ll come home and all the lights are off. And I’m, like, okay, this girl is going through it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, no. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Or she would lock herself or she would go pretend that she’s sleeping in the garage. I’m like, girl, why do you have to sleep in the car? Do you have a bed? Like all these emotional manipulations, you know, all of that. But then I have to be like the conscientious one and I’m like, okay, she’s older. Let me give it. And then I’ll be like, I will eat them. I just want to apologize to you. I just wanna tell you that you’re not a burden to me. You’re the biggest gift I ever had. And I’m so sorry if I get frustrated with you, but sometimes this is very difficult because I’m doing so much and I just want to let you know that it’s not you. I love you and I care for you. And then she would be like, “I know.” And then we would hug it out. And we would have these episodes. We would have this telenovela episodes. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But then I started to teach my grandma how to use her words instead of these things. Like, hey, if you need space, you can just tell me, hey, right now I’m feeling a little sad. And it’s interesting because she started learning words like siento depresión, o me siento triste. Something that it’s not very common. I don’t think it’s very common in Latino, monolingual, Spanish. Deciré, tengo una tristeza. And then I would like, okay, let’s process it. What do we need to do? Or like, oh, let me, let us go walk or let’s, and sometimes it was hard because she, I understood she was, my grandma was so isolated.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think one of the things that people don’t realize is that my grandma is very independent. So she’s used to making movidas on her own. And now because she’s older, she can’t necessarily go out to the store by herself. there’s certain things that she can’t do. So her life became reduced into somebody watching her. And I think one of the biggest things that I learned was the fact that this country doesn’t facilitate for you to think outside of your immediate needs. So for someone to come and take time to take her to a restaurant or take time to take her to the park, it was a lot. And so I think for her also realizing that she needed someone was a very hard, and that’s where the depression came.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Prof. Anita, I want to ask because… Part of the, the caretaking journey sometimes is that there’s a difference of generations and we speak different languages. So I’m wondering if, if you had to, to deal with this interesting perspective of you were having to communicate with youngins who might not. Understand where you’re coming from because the lived experience is so different.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a great question. I think as a first-gen college-educated person, I was already dealing with that. All of this, when I talk about the kids, I can’t talk about it without talking about my mom, too. So from the very beginning, when I first read Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands, La Frontera, I called my mom up. I’m like, mom, why didn’t you teach me more Spanish? I used to speak Spanish before I started school. Why didn’t you continue? And she’s like mija they used to punish us, you know hit us with rulers. The white nuns would punish us for speaking in Spanish so I taught you English so that they wouldn’t do that to you. And so I did the work of teaching my mom what Chicana meant, what feminist meant. I taught her about colorism because my family is the darker one. My father was very dark skinned, Indigenous. So little by little, I was trying to teach my mom and also reclaim our cultural identity and our pride and remove all of the internalized racism that we had grown up with, similar to the sexism, et cetera. So when the kids came into my life, I did the same thing with them. Like I said, they were three and four years old. And I remember distinctly, Michael, either was three or four. And he asked me like, “Honey, why do you have a girlfriend?” I had a girlfriend at the time. It was my first partner after I became a parent. And I said oh, that’s because um I love her and she’s I’m in a relationship with her she’s my girlfriend and I said and he said “But why don’t you have a boyfriend” I said well I actually and at the time identified as bisexual, now I identify as queer and fluid but I said I’m bisexual so that means I can love boys or girls and it doesn’t matter to me you know if they’re a boy or girl I can still love them. And he said, “You know what honey, I think I’m bisexual too.” four years old. And I was like, Oh, okay, well, just so you know, whoever you love, whoever, you want to be a boyfriend or girlfriend that’s always going to be accepted in our home.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I will say, uh, one of the things that’s possible when you’re physically with someone is getting to talk at all hours of the day, you know, during dinner, whenever the moment feels right and just learning about the person you’re with. And so I want to ask you, starting with you, What is something that you learned from your grandmother that you don’t think you would have ever had the chance to do unless you had all of that access to her?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Yosimar Reyes: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, I, my grandma, you know, passed away in November, and I think not just because she passed away, I think I always knew my grandma as like this magical person. I’m like, Oh, I’d say it takes a really powerful person to raise a little queer child and to not murder their spirit. And my grandma never, my Grandma was an alcahueta. If I wanted something, she would make it work. And I think my grandma maybe was that because she was trying to make up for the mother that she couldn’t be to her daughters. And that’s when I got a complex idea of my grandma. My grandma was in survival mode. And so her way of parenting her daughters was probably not the kindness or not the most. And so now that she’s older, she’s confronting that because everything comes back. And so maybe the relationship with her daughters is not that close or it’s turbulent because they haven’t spoken about this and there hasn’t been a sorry. And so I think there was this constant thing.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But for me, I can’t speak to that because my grandmother was never that to me. And so I had the patience that obviously my mom or my aunts necessarily didn’t have with her, but I did. And so, I think what I learned was that, to view my grandmother’s life with compassion and now that she’s older, to confront her or to talk to her and see, listen, maybe it’s time you forgive yourself for what you didn’t do and think about the things that you did do. And so I think my-the most biggest thing of spending time with someone that’s elderly and someone that confronting their mortality is making sure that they make amends with the guilt or the shame that they carry. And so I’m happy to say that I was helping my grandma gravitate toward that and that I able to honor, ‘You were on survival mode, it’s not your fault. And look, look how far you made it. Look how you shifted. And yes you fucked up. There’s moments that you fuck up as a human life is not that. But I want you to tell you that at the end of the day, the impact in your legacy, the way people speak about your character, the way people thank you for the things that you’ve done for them, it’s very dynamic. So you also need to be kind to yourself.’ And so I think that was the biggest thing to be able to look at my grandma in the complexities of the things where she did mess up but also the compassion of saying you did the best that you could with what you had. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for sharing that. Profe Anita, I want to ask you sort of the inverse of that, especially because we started this conversation with you talking about the very real sensation of this is not how you thought your life was going to go. So what is something you learned about yourself now that you are Honey and, uh, you’ve been doing this for almost 20 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Anita Tijerina Revilla: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I think the thing that I learned about myself was that I had to figure out a way to take care of myself and my body, mind and spirit even while I was taking care of everyone else. Like, I even before I got the kids, I already was putting other people’s needs before my own. I was a people pleaser, always wanted everybody to love me and to accept me, especially because I grew up thinking I was unlovable. I, you know, grew up different. I have a different hand and a lot of people bullied me for my hand and I thought I would grow up to not have love. And so I think with the kids, I realized like I have to figure out what I need to heal myself because I want to be a parent that parents from a space of healing, that parents from a place of liberation versus fear. I was living my life through my mom’s trauma, and so I had to figure out how to heal, release her trauma and heal my own trauma. And I don’t think I would have gotten as far as I have without the kids. They hold me accountable. They use my words against me. They throw my feminism in my face, and they say they’re not as easily… convinced when I tell them something is good or bad. They challenged me and I like my mom taught me I taught them you have a voice\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Xorje Olivares: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ah, you have a voice. Thats so powerful. I want to thank each of your for opening up and being as vulnerable as you have been on this very difficult topic. But I think it’s helping me, its helping other folks that are on the precipice of this journey for themselves. So I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to go in depth for what this experience has been like for you. So I want to thank you each for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And I want it to our listeners that if you want to follow our guests, I will put all of their socials, where you can find them online, all of the written works, that will all be in the show notes. And if you wanna communicate with us as a Hyphenation show… You can send us an email at HYP at KQED.org so we can know what you want to talk about on our program. But again, just want to say thanks to our guests and thanks to you for being here for this chat. Until next time. Hasta Lleugo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Credits:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hyphenación is a KQED Studios Production. It is produced by Ana De Almeida Amaral, Alex Tran, and me, Xorje Olivares. Chris Hambrick is our editor. Mixing and mastering by Jim Bennett and Christopher Beale. Jen Chien is executive producer and KQED’s director of podcasts. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. Special thanks to Megan Tan, Martina Castro, and Paulina Velasco for their development support. Thank you to Maha Sanad and Alana Walker for their audience engagement support, to podcast operations manager Katie Sprenger, Video Operations manager Vivian Morales, and our chief content officer Holly Kernan. Okay mi gente, cuídense.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Gazan Poet Mosab Abu Toha Reads at SF’s City Lights",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mosab Abu Toha’s searing new book of poems, \u003ci>Forest of Noise\u003c/i>, doesn’t give any false comfort or platitudes about hope. Instead, Toha looks readers in the eye and asks them to bear witness to the destruction of his homeland, Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It opens:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Every child in Gaza is me.\u003cbr>\nEvery mother and father is me.\u003cbr>\nEvery house is my heart.\u003cbr>\nEvery tree is my leg.\u003cbr>\nEvery plant is my arm.\u003cbr>\nEvery flower is my eye.\u003cbr>\nEvery hole in the earth\u003cbr>\nIs my wound.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Abu Toha will read from \u003ci>Forest of Noise\u003c/i> on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">City Lights Books\u003c/a> in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood (the event will also be livestreamed). On Tuesday, Nov. 5, he’ll be at \u003ca href=\"https://greenapplebooks.com/\">Green Apple Books\u003c/a> in the Richmond District for a signing at 2 p.m., followed by another one at \u003ca href=\"https://www.booksmith.com/\">The Booksmith\u003c/a> in the Haight at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abu Toha composed the verses in the book over the past year as Israeli bombs rained down, destroying his home and the two branches of the \u003ca href=\"https://lithub.com/founding-the-first-english-language-library-in-gaza/\">Edward Said Public Library\u003c/a>, which he founded in 2014. Airstrikes killed dozens of his extended family members and friends. After an arduous journey — during which he was captured by Israeli forces, stripped and beaten — Abu Toha, his wife and three young children relocated to Egypt and then Syracuse, New York, where he is now a fellow at Syracuse University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s painful to imagine what might’ve happened to Abu Toha if he wasn’t an American Book Award-winning author, and if there hadn’t been an international outcry over his detainment. Now, in his essays for \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/opinion/schools-shelters-gaza-israel.html\">The New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/01/a-palestinian-poets-perilous-journey-out-of-gaza\">\u003cem>The New Yorker\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, and in interviews with \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/palestinian-poet-mosab-abu-toha-processes-the-war-in-gaza-through-his-art\">PBS\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/web-exclusive-acclaimed-palestinian-poet-who-escaped-gaza-speaks-with-chris-hayes-222742085820\">MSNBC\u003c/a>, he has made it his mission to speak for those who weren’t able to get out of Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only hope that I see in poetry is that I share the stories of people who are no longer with us,” he told PBS recently. “And the other hope would be moving people to act and to stop the poems from happening again and again, because poems for me are not only a piece of writing. They are something that is happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mosab Abu Toha presents ‘Forest of Noise’ at \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">City Lights Books\u003c/a> (261 Columbus Ave.) on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. The event will also be livestreamed. \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">Tickets and details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>On Nov. 5, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mosab_abutoha/p/DB9YbwUShyB/?hl=en&img_index=1\">he will sign books\u003c/a> at Green Apple Books (506 Clement St.) at 2 p.m. and The Booksmith (1727 Haight St.) at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mosab Abu Toha’s searing new book of poems, \u003ci>Forest of Noise\u003c/i>, doesn’t give any false comfort or platitudes about hope. Instead, Toha looks readers in the eye and asks them to bear witness to the destruction of his homeland, Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It opens:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Every child in Gaza is me.\u003cbr>\nEvery mother and father is me.\u003cbr>\nEvery house is my heart.\u003cbr>\nEvery tree is my leg.\u003cbr>\nEvery plant is my arm.\u003cbr>\nEvery flower is my eye.\u003cbr>\nEvery hole in the earth\u003cbr>\nIs my wound.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Abu Toha will read from \u003ci>Forest of Noise\u003c/i> on Monday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">City Lights Books\u003c/a> in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood (the event will also be livestreamed). On Tuesday, Nov. 5, he’ll be at \u003ca href=\"https://greenapplebooks.com/\">Green Apple Books\u003c/a> in the Richmond District for a signing at 2 p.m., followed by another one at \u003ca href=\"https://www.booksmith.com/\">The Booksmith\u003c/a> in the Haight at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abu Toha composed the verses in the book over the past year as Israeli bombs rained down, destroying his home and the two branches of the \u003ca href=\"https://lithub.com/founding-the-first-english-language-library-in-gaza/\">Edward Said Public Library\u003c/a>, which he founded in 2014. Airstrikes killed dozens of his extended family members and friends. After an arduous journey — during which he was captured by Israeli forces, stripped and beaten — Abu Toha, his wife and three young children relocated to Egypt and then Syracuse, New York, where he is now a fellow at Syracuse University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s painful to imagine what might’ve happened to Abu Toha if he wasn’t an American Book Award-winning author, and if there hadn’t been an international outcry over his detainment. Now, in his essays for \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/opinion/schools-shelters-gaza-israel.html\">The New York Times\u003c/a>\u003c/i> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/01/a-palestinian-poets-perilous-journey-out-of-gaza\">\u003cem>The New Yorker\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, and in interviews with \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/palestinian-poet-mosab-abu-toha-processes-the-war-in-gaza-through-his-art\">PBS\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/web-exclusive-acclaimed-palestinian-poet-who-escaped-gaza-speaks-with-chris-hayes-222742085820\">MSNBC\u003c/a>, he has made it his mission to speak for those who weren’t able to get out of Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only hope that I see in poetry is that I share the stories of people who are no longer with us,” he told PBS recently. “And the other hope would be moving people to act and to stop the poems from happening again and again, because poems for me are not only a piece of writing. They are something that is happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Mosab Abu Toha presents ‘Forest of Noise’ at \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">City Lights Books\u003c/a> (261 Columbus Ave.) on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. The event will also be livestreamed. \u003ca href=\"https://citylights.com/events/mosab-abu-toha-2/\">Tickets and details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>On Nov. 5, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mosab_abutoha/p/DB9YbwUShyB/?hl=en&img_index=1\">he will sign books\u003c/a> at Green Apple Books (506 Clement St.) at 2 p.m. and The Booksmith (1727 Haight St.) at 3:15 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "After Small Press Distribution’s Closure, Indie Publishers Band Together",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Isis Asare took on the job as the executive director of Aunt Lute Books this year, they were excited to continue the press’s legacy of celebrating often-overlooked authors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/\">Aunt Lute Books\u003c/a>, an intersectional feminist press based in San Francisco, published groundbreaking work like Audre Lorde’s 1980 book \u003cem>The Cancer Journals\u003c/em>, a feminist analysis of the experience of breast cancer, and Gloria Anzaldúa’s \u003cem>Borderlands/La Frontera\u003c/em>, a landmark text on the Chicana experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13954963']But in March, small presses around the country were left grappling with a sudden and extraordinary blow. Small Press Distribution (SPD), the only nonprofit independent literary distributor in the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954963/berkeleys-small-press-distribution-champion-of-indie-books-shuts-down\">announced that it was closing immediately\u003c/a>. Hundreds of presses nationwide needed to rethink how to get books to universities, libraries, bookstores and readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was definitely a very trial-by-fire transition. I think everybody throughout the indie publishing industry was caught very off guard,” Asare says. “I had a lot of sleepless nights about like, ‘How do we get the word out?’ And, ‘When people place an order, where do they go?’ It was really, really hard. I cannot overstate how difficult it was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, roughly six months since the closure of SPD, small presses are finding ways to keep going and stay connected. That camaraderie was visible at Litquake’s Book Fair at Yerba Buena Gardens on Saturday, where a contingent of presses formerly distributed by SPD gathered and displayed their wares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The dissolution of SPD was rough on a lot of folks, so it’s nice to be able to support people finding their way back after that,” says Sophia Cross, director of operations at Litquake. “The big five publishing houses have millions of dollars available for marketing. The scale of publicity is much, much smaller for a small press. Opportunities like these are really crucial to get in front of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"stacks of books on table at outdoor event\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Books for sale at Aunt Lute Books’ booth at the Litquake book fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘A phenomenal blow’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the Oct. 19 book fair, Aunt Lute Books, Kelsey Street Press, Pelekinesis and Sixteen Rivers Press joined the spread of small presses and literary magazines. Nearby, poets and musicians performed for Litquake Out Loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Aunt Lute Books stand, the press’ operations director, María Mínguez Arias, stood proudly beside a catalog of treasured books, including new titles like Michele Tracy Berger’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/doll-seed-and-other-stories\">Doll Seed: Stories\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and Kathya Alexander’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/keep-a-livin\">Keep A’Livin’\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure of SPD was a “phenomenal blow” that put many presses at the brink of closure, Mínguez Arias says. Aunt Lute Books has since found a new distributor in Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really like to think that the worst is over,” Mínguez Arias says. “The general challenge is that we have a mission that is not aligned with profit. It’s as simple as that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person does a financial transaction on phone over table of books\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966961\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">María Mínguez Arias, right, sells a book to Rebecca Gold, left, at the Litquake Book Fair. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before SPD shut down, the nonprofit closed its warehouse in Berkeley and \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/03/30/small-press-distribution-berkeley\">raised more than $100,000\u003c/a> through GoFundMe to move tens of thousands of books to warehouses in Tennessee and Michigan. SPD’s closure left small presses scrambling to figure out how to get their inventories of physical books back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Givens of the Pomona Valley press \u003ca href=\"https://www.pelekinesis.com/\">Pelekinesis\u003c/a> could have driven to Berkeley to pick the books up — had he known about SPD’s fate. “But instead they shipped them off to Michigan,” Givens says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the span of more than a decade, Pelekinesis amassed some 4,000 books in the SPD warehouse; it would cost thousands of dollars to ship the books back to California, Givens says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After some calculation, a little bit of back and forth, I said, ‘Alright.’ I authorized them to destroy the books,” Givens says. “That was heartbreaking, and it was $40,000 worth of inventory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelekinesis, now distributed by Ingram, will press on. Givens is looking on the bright side. The small press world is very nimble, he said, and adept at making changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"small crowd visit white tents on lawn with tables set up underneath\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966965\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Individuals attend the Litquake Book Fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Saving the small press community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One organization has been key to stopping small presses from spiraling in the wake of SPD’s collapse: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/\">Community of Literary Magazines and Presses\u003c/a> (CLMP). The New York organization is dedicated to maintaining a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping small literary publishers. CLMP just announced a new grant opportunity, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/small-press-future-fund/\">Small Press Future Fund\u003c/a>, which offers grants of up to $15,000 to presses once distributed by SPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Gannon, CLMP’s executive director, said the organization has fielded hundreds of questions and calls from presses, launched surveys to understand their needs, hosted one-on-one consultations, and more. The group is also collecting data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gannon said about half of the active presses distributed by SPD have found new distributors. She estimated 10 presses at most have closed since SPD shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small press community so far appears to have avoided catastrophe, but the fight to sustain and adapt continues. The CLMP website describes how presses owed money by SPD, or who faced unexpected costs when SPD sent their inventory to a third party without authorization, \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/how-to-submit-claims-and-file-complaints-against-spd/\">can take steps to protect their rights\u003c/a>, like filing a complaint with the California Attorney General’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person looks at book picked up from table of books under tent at outdoor event\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966963\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raymon Sutedjo-The looks at a book at the Litquake book fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the situation looks bleak, Gannon notes. According to a July 16, 2024 court filing, SPD has extensive liabilities, including owing over 160 publishers more than $316,500 total. SPD’s cash balance was roughly $73,000 as of April 30, the same filing states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gannon says the last few months have been a wake-up call.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Troubleshooting distribution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Distribution is an aspect of the book business that is frequently talked about as being problematic. Like as a system it is difficult-slash-potentially broken,” Gannon says. “I’m an eternal optimist. The situation, although devastating and horrible, has brought to light some pain points in the system that perhaps we can innovate and address moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the Litquake Book Fair, \u003ca href=\"https://sixteenrivers.org/\">Sixteen Rivers Press\u003c/a> is still navigating the new literary landscape. Sixteen Rivers Press, a shared-work, nonprofit poetry collective dedicated to Northern California poets, is taking on the task of distributing their books themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got boxes and boxes of books in all of our garages to send books to people who want them. But now it’s a different ballgame,” says Camille Norton, a press member. “Now it’s outreach to bookstores, and of course bookstores are having a hard time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person sits behind table of books, smiling\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966967\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carla Hall, a poet with Kelsey Street Press, poses for a photo at the Litquake Book Fair. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Pressing on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many small presses operate on shoestring budgets, and are run by committed volunteers dedicated to championing writers and poets otherwise ignored by major publishers. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kelseystreetpress.org/\">Kelsey Street Press\u003c/a> has been publishing experimental feminist poetics for 50 years. Carla Hall is honored to represent the press, and show off its storied history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I came to the city thinking I could be a poet in San Francisco. That fairy tale dream,” Hall says. “And here I am, supporting an amazing press.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelsey Street Press is now distributed by Asterism Books, a Seattle trade distributor and online bookstore designed, built, and run by independent publishers. Asterism, founded in 2021, has been a lifeline for many publishers after the collapse of SPD. They hovered below 50 presses in February, but Asterism now distributes roughly 160 presses, estimates founder Joshua Rothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite finding a new distributor, Kelsey Street Press is still taking orders on their website — while also planning book releases, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kelseystreetpress.org/post/50th-anniversary-celebration-reading-10-25-24-3pm\">50th anniversary event\u003c/a>, and an eventual move out of Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re burned out. I sometimes think, ‘How do we do it?’” Hall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Kelsey Street Press and the others persevere, because they believe in that small press ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to continue to create space for artists that are marginalized, period,” Hall said. “There’s so much hatred out there. There’s just a lot of darkness going on. Fundamentally, if people spent more time with books, and in particular poetry, we would be better off for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Litquake Festival continues this week, culminating in San Francisco’s Lit Crawl on Saturday, Oct. 26. \u003ca href=\"https://www.litquake.org/2024-schedule\">Click here for a complete schedule events\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "After Small Press Distribution’s Closure, Indie Publishers Band Together",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Isis Asare took on the job as the executive director of Aunt Lute Books this year, they were excited to continue the press’s legacy of celebrating often-overlooked authors. \u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/\">Aunt Lute Books\u003c/a>, an intersectional feminist press based in San Francisco, published groundbreaking work like Audre Lorde’s 1980 book \u003cem>The Cancer Journals\u003c/em>, a feminist analysis of the experience of breast cancer, and Gloria Anzaldúa’s \u003cem>Borderlands/La Frontera\u003c/em>, a landmark text on the Chicana experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But in March, small presses around the country were left grappling with a sudden and extraordinary blow. Small Press Distribution (SPD), the only nonprofit independent literary distributor in the country, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954963/berkeleys-small-press-distribution-champion-of-indie-books-shuts-down\">announced that it was closing immediately\u003c/a>. Hundreds of presses nationwide needed to rethink how to get books to universities, libraries, bookstores and readers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was definitely a very trial-by-fire transition. I think everybody throughout the indie publishing industry was caught very off guard,” Asare says. “I had a lot of sleepless nights about like, ‘How do we get the word out?’ And, ‘When people place an order, where do they go?’ It was really, really hard. I cannot overstate how difficult it was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, roughly six months since the closure of SPD, small presses are finding ways to keep going and stay connected. That camaraderie was visible at Litquake’s Book Fair at Yerba Buena Gardens on Saturday, where a contingent of presses formerly distributed by SPD gathered and displayed their wares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The dissolution of SPD was rough on a lot of folks, so it’s nice to be able to support people finding their way back after that,” says Sophia Cross, director of operations at Litquake. “The big five publishing houses have millions of dollars available for marketing. The scale of publicity is much, much smaller for a small press. Opportunities like these are really crucial to get in front of people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966960\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"stacks of books on table at outdoor event\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966960\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-1-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Books for sale at Aunt Lute Books’ booth at the Litquake book fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘A phenomenal blow’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the Oct. 19 book fair, Aunt Lute Books, Kelsey Street Press, Pelekinesis and Sixteen Rivers Press joined the spread of small presses and literary magazines. Nearby, poets and musicians performed for Litquake Out Loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the Aunt Lute Books stand, the press’ operations director, María Mínguez Arias, stood proudly beside a catalog of treasured books, including new titles like Michele Tracy Berger’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/doll-seed-and-other-stories\">Doll Seed: Stories\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and Kathya Alexander’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.auntlute.com/keep-a-livin\">Keep A’Livin’\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure of SPD was a “phenomenal blow” that put many presses at the brink of closure, Mínguez Arias says. Aunt Lute Books has since found a new distributor in Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really like to think that the worst is over,” Mínguez Arias says. “The general challenge is that we have a mission that is not aligned with profit. It’s as simple as that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966961\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person does a financial transaction on phone over table of books\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966961\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">María Mínguez Arias, right, sells a book to Rebecca Gold, left, at the Litquake Book Fair. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Before SPD shut down, the nonprofit closed its warehouse in Berkeley and \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/03/30/small-press-distribution-berkeley\">raised more than $100,000\u003c/a> through GoFundMe to move tens of thousands of books to warehouses in Tennessee and Michigan. SPD’s closure left small presses scrambling to figure out how to get their inventories of physical books back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Givens of the Pomona Valley press \u003ca href=\"https://www.pelekinesis.com/\">Pelekinesis\u003c/a> could have driven to Berkeley to pick the books up — had he known about SPD’s fate. “But instead they shipped them off to Michigan,” Givens says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the span of more than a decade, Pelekinesis amassed some 4,000 books in the SPD warehouse; it would cost thousands of dollars to ship the books back to California, Givens says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After some calculation, a little bit of back and forth, I said, ‘Alright.’ I authorized them to destroy the books,” Givens says. “That was heartbreaking, and it was $40,000 worth of inventory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelekinesis, now distributed by Ingram, will press on. Givens is looking on the bright side. The small press world is very nimble, he said, and adept at making changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966965\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"small crowd visit white tents on lawn with tables set up underneath\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966965\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-19-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Individuals attend the Litquake Book Fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Saving the small press community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One organization has been key to stopping small presses from spiraling in the wake of SPD’s collapse: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/\">Community of Literary Magazines and Presses\u003c/a> (CLMP). The New York organization is dedicated to maintaining a vibrant, diverse literary landscape by helping small literary publishers. CLMP just announced a new grant opportunity, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/small-press-future-fund/\">Small Press Future Fund\u003c/a>, which offers grants of up to $15,000 to presses once distributed by SPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mary Gannon, CLMP’s executive director, said the organization has fielded hundreds of questions and calls from presses, launched surveys to understand their needs, hosted one-on-one consultations, and more. The group is also collecting data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gannon said about half of the active presses distributed by SPD have found new distributors. She estimated 10 presses at most have closed since SPD shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The small press community so far appears to have avoided catastrophe, but the fight to sustain and adapt continues. The CLMP website describes how presses owed money by SPD, or who faced unexpected costs when SPD sent their inventory to a third party without authorization, \u003ca href=\"https://www.clmp.org/how-to-submit-claims-and-file-complaints-against-spd/\">can take steps to protect their rights\u003c/a>, like filing a complaint with the California Attorney General’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966963\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person looks at book picked up from table of books under tent at outdoor event\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966963\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-11-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Raymon Sutedjo-The looks at a book at the Litquake book fair in Yerba Buena Gardens on Oct. 19, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the situation looks bleak, Gannon notes. According to a July 16, 2024 court filing, SPD has extensive liabilities, including owing over 160 publishers more than $316,500 total. SPD’s cash balance was roughly $73,000 as of April 30, the same filing states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gannon says the last few months have been a wake-up call.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Troubleshooting distribution\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Distribution is an aspect of the book business that is frequently talked about as being problematic. Like as a system it is difficult-slash-potentially broken,” Gannon says. “I’m an eternal optimist. The situation, although devastating and horrible, has brought to light some pain points in the system that perhaps we can innovate and address moving forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the Litquake Book Fair, \u003ca href=\"https://sixteenrivers.org/\">Sixteen Rivers Press\u003c/a> is still navigating the new literary landscape. Sixteen Rivers Press, a shared-work, nonprofit poetry collective dedicated to Northern California poets, is taking on the task of distributing their books themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got boxes and boxes of books in all of our garages to send books to people who want them. But now it’s a different ballgame,” says Camille Norton, a press member. “Now it’s outreach to bookstores, and of course bookstores are having a hard time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966967\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"person sits behind table of books, smiling\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966967\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/20241019_LITQUAKEBOOKFAIR_GC-26-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carla Hall, a poet with Kelsey Street Press, poses for a photo at the Litquake Book Fair. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Pressing on\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many small presses operate on shoestring budgets, and are run by committed volunteers dedicated to championing writers and poets otherwise ignored by major publishers. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kelseystreetpress.org/\">Kelsey Street Press\u003c/a> has been publishing experimental feminist poetics for 50 years. Carla Hall is honored to represent the press, and show off its storied history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I came to the city thinking I could be a poet in San Francisco. That fairy tale dream,” Hall says. “And here I am, supporting an amazing press.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kelsey Street Press is now distributed by Asterism Books, a Seattle trade distributor and online bookstore designed, built, and run by independent publishers. Asterism, founded in 2021, has been a lifeline for many publishers after the collapse of SPD. They hovered below 50 presses in February, but Asterism now distributes roughly 160 presses, estimates founder Joshua Rothes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite finding a new distributor, Kelsey Street Press is still taking orders on their website — while also planning book releases, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kelseystreetpress.org/post/50th-anniversary-celebration-reading-10-25-24-3pm\">50th anniversary event\u003c/a>, and an eventual move out of Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re burned out. I sometimes think, ‘How do we do it?’” Hall says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet Kelsey Street Press and the others persevere, because they believe in that small press ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to continue to create space for artists that are marginalized, period,” Hall said. “There’s so much hatred out there. There’s just a lot of darkness going on. Fundamentally, if people spent more time with books, and in particular poetry, we would be better off for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Litquake Festival continues this week, culminating in San Francisco’s Lit Crawl on Saturday, Oct. 26. \u003ca href=\"https://www.litquake.org/2024-schedule\">Click here for a complete schedule events\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "gabrielle-civil-my-san-francisco-small-press-traffic-the-lab",
"title": "A Performance Artist and Poet Presents ‘My San Francisco’",
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"headTitle": "A Performance Artist and Poet Presents ‘My San Francisco’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the past six months, Los Angeles performance artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.gabriellecivilartist.com/\">Gabrielle Civil\u003c/a> has been digging through 50 years worth of archives in Small Press Traffic’s Mission District offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been so juicy and fun,” she says. “You can see a lot of different relationships just through ephemeral material.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13951003']As a nonprofit dedicated to boundary-pushing poets, Small Press Traffic (SPT) has found a fitting partner in Civil, who has premiered over 50 performance artworks and written several performance memoirs, blurring the lines between static writing, live events and archives of Black women’s creative expression. On Saturday, June 22, Civil will perform \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/my-san-francisco\">My San Francisco\u003c/a>\u003c/i> at The Lab, the final event in her five-part series \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/currently-post/where-would-i-be-without-you\">Where Would I Be Without You?\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioned by SPT in celebration of their 50th anniversary, the series has explored the power of friendship and literary connections. The four previous events, which included an \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/listening-party\">album listening party\u003c/a>, collective poetry writing while \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/watch-party-workshop-tongues-untied\">watching movies over Zoom\u003c/a> and readings by \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/a-friendly-reading-social\">pairs of poet friends\u003c/a>, often used artworks from Bay Area history as starting points. One of those was the 1993 John Singleton film \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/watch-party-workshop-poetic-justice\">Poetic Justice\u003c/a>\u003c/i> (starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur). Another was the 1976 Pat Parker & Judy Grahn album that gave the series its name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed.png\" alt=\"Black woman stands with right hand on chest in front of mic in gallery space\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1408\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959997\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed.png 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-800x440.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1020x561.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-768x422.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1536x845.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-2048x1126.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1920x1056.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabrielle Civil reading during the May 31 event ‘A Friendly Reading & Social’ at Et al. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Small Press Traffic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What kind of relationship does a Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based artist have to San Francisco that would occasion the use of such a possessive title? For Civil, it began with an appreciation of the region’s poetic output and the poets who spread out from this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was especially informed and inspired by the woman of color poetry-performance scene,” she says. “That would be Ntozake Shange and \u003ci>for colored girls\u003c/i>. Even though I think people think of it — and they \u003cem>should\u003c/em> think of it — as the first Black woman’s show on Broadway, it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954709/alta-shameless-hussy-press-dies-at-81\">started in the Bay\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spending time in the SPT archives, Civil says, has allowed her to recognize how much the Bay Area has informed her imagination as a poet, and how much location has shaped her own coming of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Civil, \u003ci>Where Would I Be Without You?\u003c/i> has been an opportunity to marvel at the criss-crossing networks represented in SPT’s holdings, then turn around and create even more connections within the present-day literary circles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I try to do is set an experience for people to open up in their imaginations,” she says, “and have opportunities to consider themselves, and the people around them, and this whole weird thing of poetry that we’re trying to make together in some new ways.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959996\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two people look at each other as they speak into mics\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959996\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabrielle Civil in conversation with Judy Grahn at the ‘Where Would I Be Without You’ listening party at The Lab. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Small Press Traffic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One need not have attended any of the previous events to enjoy \u003ci>My San Francisco\u003c/i>. Civil says, “You don’t even have to be knowledgeable about poetry, or like poetry.” (But if you are an aficionado, you might geek out on some of the things she brings in.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturday’s performance will be a combination of storytelling, sound, humor and conversation, with photo documentation from Civil’s forays into the archive. “The one thing that they should know about me is that I’m interactive,” she says to prospective attendees, “but I am also very respectful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasting traces of her time in the archives will exist in the form of documentation of all five events, but Civil emphasizes that this will be a one-night-only performance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people are curious or are interested, I’d encourage them to come, because it’s not going to be happening every week,” she says. “We’re just going to come together and give it a shot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Gabrielle Civil performs ‘My San Francisco’ at The Lab (2948 16th St., San Francisco) on June 22, 2024 at 7 p.m. The event is free to attend; \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelab.org/projects/2024/6/22/gabrielle-civil-my-san-francisco\">reserve tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the past six months, Los Angeles performance artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.gabriellecivilartist.com/\">Gabrielle Civil\u003c/a> has been digging through 50 years worth of archives in Small Press Traffic’s Mission District offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been so juicy and fun,” she says. “You can see a lot of different relationships just through ephemeral material.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As a nonprofit dedicated to boundary-pushing poets, Small Press Traffic (SPT) has found a fitting partner in Civil, who has premiered over 50 performance artworks and written several performance memoirs, blurring the lines between static writing, live events and archives of Black women’s creative expression. On Saturday, June 22, Civil will perform \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/my-san-francisco\">My San Francisco\u003c/a>\u003c/i> at The Lab, the final event in her five-part series \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/currently-post/where-would-i-be-without-you\">Where Would I Be Without You?\u003c/a>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioned by SPT in celebration of their 50th anniversary, the series has explored the power of friendship and literary connections. The four previous events, which included an \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/listening-party\">album listening party\u003c/a>, collective poetry writing while \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/watch-party-workshop-tongues-untied\">watching movies over Zoom\u003c/a> and readings by \u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/a-friendly-reading-social\">pairs of poet friends\u003c/a>, often used artworks from Bay Area history as starting points. One of those was the 1993 John Singleton film \u003ci>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smallpresstraffic.org/event/watch-party-workshop-poetic-justice\">Poetic Justice\u003c/a>\u003c/i> (starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur). Another was the 1976 Pat Parker & Judy Grahn album that gave the series its name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed.png\" alt=\"Black woman stands with right hand on chest in front of mic in gallery space\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1408\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959997\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed.png 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-800x440.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1020x561.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-160x88.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-768x422.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1536x845.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-2048x1126.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1920x1056.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabrielle Civil reading during the May 31 event ‘A Friendly Reading & Social’ at Et al. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Small Press Traffic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What kind of relationship does a Detroit-born, Los Angeles-based artist have to San Francisco that would occasion the use of such a possessive title? For Civil, it began with an appreciation of the region’s poetic output and the poets who spread out from this place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was especially informed and inspired by the woman of color poetry-performance scene,” she says. “That would be Ntozake Shange and \u003ci>for colored girls\u003c/i>. Even though I think people think of it — and they \u003cem>should\u003c/em> think of it — as the first Black woman’s show on Broadway, it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954709/alta-shameless-hussy-press-dies-at-81\">started in the Bay\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spending time in the SPT archives, Civil says, has allowed her to recognize how much the Bay Area has informed her imagination as a poet, and how much location has shaped her own coming of age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Civil, \u003ci>Where Would I Be Without You?\u003c/i> has been an opportunity to marvel at the criss-crossing networks represented in SPT’s holdings, then turn around and create even more connections within the present-day literary circles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I try to do is set an experience for people to open up in their imaginations,” she says, “and have opportunities to consider themselves, and the people around them, and this whole weird thing of poetry that we’re trying to make together in some new ways.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13959996\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two people look at each other as they speak into mics\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13959996\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/unnamed-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gabrielle Civil in conversation with Judy Grahn at the ‘Where Would I Be Without You’ listening party at The Lab. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Small Press Traffic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One need not have attended any of the previous events to enjoy \u003ci>My San Francisco\u003c/i>. Civil says, “You don’t even have to be knowledgeable about poetry, or like poetry.” (But if you are an aficionado, you might geek out on some of the things she brings in.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturday’s performance will be a combination of storytelling, sound, humor and conversation, with photo documentation from Civil’s forays into the archive. “The one thing that they should know about me is that I’m interactive,” she says to prospective attendees, “but I am also very respectful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lasting traces of her time in the archives will exist in the form of documentation of all five events, but Civil emphasizes that this will be a one-night-only performance. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people are curious or are interested, I’d encourage them to come, because it’s not going to be happening every week,” she says. “We’re just going to come together and give it a shot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Gabrielle Civil performs ‘My San Francisco’ at The Lab (2948 16th St., San Francisco) on June 22, 2024 at 7 p.m. The event is free to attend; \u003ca href=\"https://www.thelab.org/projects/2024/6/22/gabrielle-civil-my-san-francisco\">reserve tickets here\u003c/a>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "when-the-youth-speak-mush-lee-listens",
"title": "When the Youth Speak, Mush Lee Listens",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As young people across the nation lead protests addressing war, climate change, reproductive rights and other major issues of our time, it’s important that adults in positions of power give them a platform and step back so the next generation of leaders can shine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young people have something to say, and they need allies. They need people like poet and educator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mush510_/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michelle “Mush” Lee\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958226\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13958226\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"Woman faces camera with a smile, while wearing a gold necklace over a white top in front of a white background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Once you put your pen to paper, don’t stop’ — Michelle ‘Mush’ Lee\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lee is the executive director of the renowned poetry organization \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a>. The organization boasts a long list of alums who’ve become playwrights and poets, actors and activists. Just two years after its founding in 1996, Youth Speaks launched the annual youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices. This year, the three-day conference that pulls young poets from all corners of the country will be held in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., just months before the presidential election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an organizer, Lee is looking ahead to this year’s conference with a clear understanding of why young people’s voices are so important right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raised between San Francisco and Hercules, Lee didn’t get into spoken word and poetry until her college years, but the seeds had been planted through her family lineage. Her grandfather was a pastor who she saw rigorously working on his craft when she was a kid. Years later, when Lee stumbled across a book her mother wrote and had published in Korea, she truly saw the connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week on Rightnowish we take a little dive into family history and explore the big concerns of the next generation with published poet, educator and youth advocate, Michelle “Mush” Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5141054590\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we’re in conversation with poet and educator Michelle Lee, better known as Mush. Growing up between San Francisco and Hercules, Mush didn’t identify as a poet or spoken word artist until her college days, which is funny because her family has a pretty deep and profound connection to words.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee, Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was helping my dad clear out the garage. There was a bunch of boxes with, you know, we open ‘em, it’s the same book. And it’s in Korean, and, you know, so we’re like, man, they’re like 200 copies of this book, what is it? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go to the back, you know, where the artist bio and and picture is, and there’s my mom. It’s a whole book of poems that she secretly, somehow published in Korea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, Mush is at the helm of Youth Speaks, a nationally recognized organization that\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">created a platform for young emerging poets. And it all started right here in Frisco!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we continue to read news headlines about young people being on the forefront of combating climate change, pushing for reproductive rights, and organizing anti-war protests across our country, we’re going to hear how adults like Mush Lee are helping young poets raise their voices. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Rightnowish host, Pendarvis Harshaw, stick around for our conversation right after this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Before poetry, spoken word, you were attracted to the oral tradition through the church. How did that play a role in who you are?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for asking it because it’s a straight, it’s a direct line to my grandparents. You know, I’m a first generation born in San Francisco, California. L\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ike a lot of children of immigrant parents or parents that are just working hella hard, you know, you get bounced around from family to family. You know what I mean? The cousin, the uncle.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor. \u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, Presbyterians get a rap of being like the boring square and nerdy theological super textbook.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But still, even in my grandfather’s church, you know, I would always hear him behind the pew practicing. He would always be rehearsing. I’d always see him at his dinner table just writing and writing, reading scripture. So the act of going from the pen to the page to the book to the oral, mouth to the ear\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I think, that I was just exposed to at a really, really young age. And despite being super like Presbyterian Christians, like, there was still some version of call and response, like the Korean grandmother’s in the, you know, in the pews. They were they were, you know, doing their call and responsing. And so there’s certain elements of, I think, hip hop cultural spaces and hip hop ethos and spoken word that resonated very quickly for me, even though where I was first exposed to those kind of expressions was not necessarily through poetry at all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the seed was planted and then\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">you stepped into poetry full on, all ten toes as a young adult. Bring me into that experience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was in the West Indies in undergrad. I was 19, maybe, studying abroad. The war breaks out. It was Bush’s first term, I think, Bush son, junior. And I just was alone. You know, there’s something about being lonely and alone and kind of physically apart and disconnected.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got really reflective. I got really angry and I got scared, but mostly angry. So I started reading about what’s happening in the war. I started,I don’t know where, I just started watching YouTube.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I found some poets, some def poets, Def Poetry Jam poets and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">you know. There was an invitation from a professor in my women’s studies class there at University of West Indies who, that come and do open mic, all the women in the class. So I wrote my first poem about like, f*ck Bush, you know, f*ck the war. A lot of f*cks in there\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And also like, I’m the sh*t because I’m an Asian woman, you know, hear me that, you know, it’s like the first sound. We call it first sound, at Youth Speaks when it’s like the first time a poet really has to say something serious and meaningful and like it’s urgent, and then it just comes out like that. So it was my little first sound moment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then as soon as I got back home that December, I hit every single open mic that I could. So my best friend, Merv drove me around. And that’s where I found Youth Speaks. And I was 19. Just turning 20.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> You are the executive director of Youth Speaks. It’s a nationally renowned organization that promotes young folks using their voice to speak about what’s really going on. I need the origin story. Where did it all start?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Legend is, is that it started in the back of somebody’s trunk, with a bunch of loose paper, pencils and books, like books of poetry. And it was like a roving mobile poetry workshop space before that became a thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So shout out to our, our founders, James Kass, our founding artistic director, Mark Bamuthi Joseph. Of course, the legendary Paul Flores.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story is James Paul, they were MFA writers over at a university.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’re like, man, what’s up with all these white writers? And like 78% of them are dead, \u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and they said, you know, this can’t be right. You know, there’s got to be other ways of learning and engaging poetry and creative writing. And so they said ‘Look, why don’t we just hit up, schools and see if any teacher wants to, you know, give us 30 minutes of writing time?’ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that was it. And we had the first youth poetry slam in the world that following year. Had no idea what was going to happen. Opened the doors in San Francisco, California and there was a line out the door, packed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What year we talking about?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The organization started formally, formed in 1996. So it was around the early 90s, you know, hip hop was taking kind of a global commercial stance, and it was becoming more relevant. You know, and hip hop theater was something that was starting to bubble up. You remember \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh yeah, with Beyonce and Mos Def, how can I forget?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[2001 movie trailer for “Carmen: A Hip Hopera”]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mekhi Phifer, Beyonce Knowles, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Da Brat, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen, the original Hip Hopera\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As I was going back during that time and figuring out what were the kind of the cultural moments that catalyzed some of, you know, the spoken word movement, the hip hop theater, hip hop education spaces? My memory brought me back to \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I remember watching it, and I love Beyonce then and now, but I remember watching it thinking, I don’t understand what’s happening! You know what I mean?! and i love beyonce and i love Mos and Mos def went on host 6 seasons of Def Poetry on HBO so that’s around the cultural moment and zeitgeist when Youth Speaks was being formed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Got it okay, okay. And then put it in context, how does the event, the annual event, Brave New Voices play a part in spreading the idea behind Youth Speaks?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1997, we started the first, you know, hosted the first Youth Poetry Slam in Frisco in San Francisco. And, we realized quickly that there were other cities, you know, poets were teaching other young folks. And so four cities got together a couple of years later, in New Mexico and said, you know, let’s convene every year. Let’s just get us together\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to create a space, 3 or 4 days, for young folks to just share their stories but also engage in this, like, oral poetic that was, again, from the hip hop culture, born of a very specific social context, from Black oral tradition. And, you know, it’s like when you meet your people, you find your people. And it’s like, by all means, any means and all means, like, let’s stay together.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That became kind of the pathway to connecting with eventually what became a network of 60 different youth voice organizations in the country: every corner, including, some First Nations reservations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a way for young people to see and experience other poets who don’t look like them, who who might not even sound like them, definitely did not come from the same type of walk of life. But what, what bound everybody together was their love for the word and we thought that was the best type of exchange.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So Brave New Voices, toeing the line of three decades of being in existence and bringing young folks together to platform their voices and talk about issues that matter right now. Why is this July’s event so special and what’s the focus of it?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s this kind of collective, disposition that and spirit energy, whatever you want to call it, that says that things feel particularly difficult. You know, so language like collective grief, collective punishment, collective fatigue, collective exhaustion,it’s weighing on us. And let’s the, you know, the obvious this November is the presidential election.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot at stake, I think, and there’s a lot of legitimate resistance and frustration and rage amongst young people at the ways that our generation and our parents and grandparents generations um\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">voluntary or involuntary have created like, the conditions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. What are some of the key issues that you folks are looking to talk about?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The stuff that comes up is social media and mental health,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poet reciting poem on healing]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You believe that you are the definition of opaque. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You don’t even realize that you are the centerpiece in a room of double-sided mirrors and if only you cupped your hands around the glass, you would realize this is what healing looks like,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">allowing yourself to become some sort of transparency. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yes, they say healing is not linear, but healing is a revolving door..\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: …\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">climate justice… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poets talking about climate justice]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Abuelos and Abuelas\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids scattered on playgrounds\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farmers toiling the fields\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boiling under blistering heat\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: …\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kind of an interrogation of colonialism, rematriation movements. What does that mean? What does it mean to be indigenous and sovereign? Also, you know, American Samoa, and other kind of nations that are, have been struggling in movement and movement work to be able to take back their ancestral land.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Censorship,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poet reciting poem about banned books]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are not perfect but our nation is based on hope. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are always striving for a more perfect union \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That hope is crushed when books are banned, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ripping away stories that need to be told. [audience hmm]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If voices can be so easily muzzled in America, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what hope do people yearning for freedom have in \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Russia, China, Ukraine, Gaza?\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Silencing books by banning them only leads to \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">silencing people by bombing them. [audience cheering]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last thing I’ll say is, underneath it all, one of the greatest powers that every poet I know has is the power to time travel. And by that, I mean\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">somebody says or shares something that you know is authentic, you know, is real and you know, took some type of risk to, to to share\u003c/span>\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And suddenly, you know them in a new way,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t know how to describe that. I always just describe it as time travel. We don’t give it enough due credit. You know, funders are always trying to measure that stuff. I’m like, ‘you can’t measure it man You can’t. You just got to trust. Just come into this space and feel it. I promise you, you’re just gonna want to write checks to the shorties.’ But, yeah, I think that is one of the most magical things that a poet and most artists I know are able to do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ability to connect people across, you know, imagined or real dividing lines is something that we’re trying to preserve through Brave New voices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">i love that. I love that you said that it’s there are so many different issues to address. Underneath that is the human connection and the ability to create empathy, situations where people can be open to other people’s lived experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With that said, do you have any advice to a young poet, someone in their teens, 20s, or even an older person who’s looking to make their first sound, as you said?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look, I’m 41 years old. I was born in 1982. This is a different moment. You know, I have a child that’s 11 years old, so it’s a different moment. I recognize that. It’s really hard. I feel like it’s even harder for our young people today to feel like they can truly make mistakes and fail publicly.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shame based culture, there’s all kinds of stuff that existed even when we were children but it’s, it’s a different scale and scope. And so I would say, look, you’re going to suck. And it’s going to be fine. But if it feels right when you’re up there, no matter how much your paper is shaking, you got to keep doing it and that’s it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once you put your pen to paper, don’t stop and seek out mentors. And then finally, come find Youth Speaks. Even if you’ve never written a poem,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and we will walk with you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mush, thank you for your time, for your personal story and for assisting the next generation in telling their story. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, Mush is the Executive Director of Youth Speaks, you can learn more about that organization by checking out their website, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">youthspeaks.org\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This summer Youth Speaks will be one of the many poetry orgs participating in Brave New Voices in Washington D.C., for more info on that check youthspeaks.org/bravenewvoices\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And for more on Mush, she’s on Instagram. You can find her @ Mush510_ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena produced this episode. Chris Hambrick held it down for edits on this one. Christopher Beale engineered this joint. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team is also supported by Jen Chien, Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña, and Katie Sprenger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production. Until next time, peace!\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]=\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "When the Youth Speak, Mush Lee Listens | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As young people across the nation lead protests addressing war, climate change, reproductive rights and other major issues of our time, it’s important that adults in positions of power give them a platform and step back so the next generation of leaders can shine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young people have something to say, and they need allies. They need people like poet and educator \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mush510_/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michelle “Mush” Lee\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13958226\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13958226\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"Woman faces camera with a smile, while wearing a gold necklace over a white top in front of a white background. \" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/05/download.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Once you put your pen to paper, don’t stop’ — Michelle ‘Mush’ Lee\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lee is the executive director of the renowned poetry organization \u003ca href=\"https://youthspeaks.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Youth Speaks\u003c/a>. The organization boasts a long list of alums who’ve become playwrights and poets, actors and activists. Just two years after its founding in 1996, Youth Speaks launched the annual youth poetry slam, Brave New Voices. This year, the three-day conference that pulls young poets from all corners of the country will be held in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C., just months before the presidential election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an organizer, Lee is looking ahead to this year’s conference with a clear understanding of why young people’s voices are so important right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raised between San Francisco and Hercules, Lee didn’t get into spoken word and poetry until her college years, but the seeds had been planted through her family lineage. Her grandfather was a pastor who she saw rigorously working on his craft when she was a kid. Years later, when Lee stumbled across a book her mother wrote and had published in Korea, she truly saw the connection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week on Rightnowish we take a little dive into family history and explore the big concerns of the next generation with published poet, educator and youth advocate, Michelle “Mush” Lee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC5141054590\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today we’re in conversation with poet and educator Michelle Lee, better known as Mush. Growing up between San Francisco and Hercules, Mush didn’t identify as a poet or spoken word artist until her college days, which is funny because her family has a pretty deep and profound connection to words.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee, Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> was helping my dad clear out the garage. There was a bunch of boxes with, you know, we open ‘em, it’s the same book. And it’s in Korean, and, you know, so we’re like, man, they’re like 200 copies of this book, what is it? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I go to the back, you know, where the artist bio and and picture is, and there’s my mom. It’s a whole book of poems that she secretly, somehow published in Korea. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, Mush is at the helm of Youth Speaks, a nationally recognized organization that\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">created a platform for young emerging poets. And it all started right here in Frisco!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As we continue to read news headlines about young people being on the forefront of combating climate change, pushing for reproductive rights, and organizing anti-war protests across our country, we’re going to hear how adults like Mush Lee are helping young poets raise their voices. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I’m Rightnowish host, Pendarvis Harshaw, stick around for our conversation right after this.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Before poetry, spoken word, you were attracted to the oral tradition through the church. How did that play a role in who you are?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you for asking it because it’s a straight, it’s a direct line to my grandparents. You know, I’m a first generation born in San Francisco, California. L\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ike a lot of children of immigrant parents or parents that are just working hella hard, you know, you get bounced around from family to family. You know what I mean? The cousin, the uncle.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">My grandfather was a Presbyterian pastor. \u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, Presbyterians get a rap of being like the boring square and nerdy theological super textbook.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But still, even in my grandfather’s church, you know, I would always hear him behind the pew practicing. He would always be rehearsing. I’d always see him at his dinner table just writing and writing, reading scripture. So the act of going from the pen to the page to the book to the oral, mouth to the ear\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That was something I think, that I was just exposed to at a really, really young age. And despite being super like Presbyterian Christians, like, there was still some version of call and response, like the Korean grandmother’s in the, you know, in the pews. They were they were, you know, doing their call and responsing. And so there’s certain elements of, I think, hip hop cultural spaces and hip hop ethos and spoken word that resonated very quickly for me, even though where I was first exposed to those kind of expressions was not necessarily through poetry at all.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the seed was planted and then\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">you stepped into poetry full on, all ten toes as a young adult. Bring me into that experience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I was in the West Indies in undergrad. I was 19, maybe, studying abroad. The war breaks out. It was Bush’s first term, I think, Bush son, junior. And I just was alone. You know, there’s something about being lonely and alone and kind of physically apart and disconnected.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I got really reflective. I got really angry and I got scared, but mostly angry. So I started reading about what’s happening in the war. I started,I don’t know where, I just started watching YouTube.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I found some poets, some def poets, Def Poetry Jam poets and\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">you know. There was an invitation from a professor in my women’s studies class there at University of West Indies who, that come and do open mic, all the women in the class. So I wrote my first poem about like, f*ck Bush, you know, f*ck the war. A lot of f*cks in there\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And also like, I’m the sh*t because I’m an Asian woman, you know, hear me that, you know, it’s like the first sound. We call it first sound, at Youth Speaks when it’s like the first time a poet really has to say something serious and meaningful and like it’s urgent, and then it just comes out like that. So it was my little first sound moment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And then as soon as I got back home that December, I hit every single open mic that I could. So my best friend, Merv drove me around. And that’s where I found Youth Speaks. And I was 19. Just turning 20.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> You are the executive director of Youth Speaks. It’s a nationally renowned organization that promotes young folks using their voice to speak about what’s really going on. I need the origin story. Where did it all start?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Legend is, is that it started in the back of somebody’s trunk, with a bunch of loose paper, pencils and books, like books of poetry. And it was like a roving mobile poetry workshop space before that became a thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So shout out to our, our founders, James Kass, our founding artistic director, Mark Bamuthi Joseph. Of course, the legendary Paul Flores.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story is James Paul, they were MFA writers over at a university.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They’re like, man, what’s up with all these white writers? And like 78% of them are dead, \u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and they said, you know, this can’t be right. You know, there’s got to be other ways of learning and engaging poetry and creative writing. And so they said ‘Look, why don’t we just hit up, schools and see if any teacher wants to, you know, give us 30 minutes of writing time?’ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And that was it. And we had the first youth poetry slam in the world that following year. Had no idea what was going to happen. Opened the doors in San Francisco, California and there was a line out the door, packed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What year we talking about?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The organization started formally, formed in 1996. So it was around the early 90s, you know, hip hop was taking kind of a global commercial stance, and it was becoming more relevant. You know, and hip hop theater was something that was starting to bubble up. You remember \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh yeah, with Beyonce and Mos Def, how can I forget?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[2001 movie trailer for “Carmen: A Hip Hopera”]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mekhi Phifer, Beyonce Knowles, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Da Brat, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen, the original Hip Hopera\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As I was going back during that time and figuring out what were the kind of the cultural moments that catalyzed some of, you know, the spoken word movement, the hip hop theater, hip hop education spaces? My memory brought me back to \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carmen.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I remember watching it, and I love Beyonce then and now, but I remember watching it thinking, I don’t understand what’s happening! You know what I mean?! and i love beyonce and i love Mos and Mos def went on host 6 seasons of Def Poetry on HBO so that’s around the cultural moment and zeitgeist when Youth Speaks was being formed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Got it okay, okay. And then put it in context, how does the event, the annual event, Brave New Voices play a part in spreading the idea behind Youth Speaks?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1997, we started the first, you know, hosted the first Youth Poetry Slam in Frisco in San Francisco. And, we realized quickly that there were other cities, you know, poets were teaching other young folks. And so four cities got together a couple of years later, in New Mexico and said, you know, let’s convene every year. Let’s just get us together\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to create a space, 3 or 4 days, for young folks to just share their stories but also engage in this, like, oral poetic that was, again, from the hip hop culture, born of a very specific social context, from Black oral tradition. And, you know, it’s like when you meet your people, you find your people. And it’s like, by all means, any means and all means, like, let’s stay together.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That became kind of the pathway to connecting with eventually what became a network of 60 different youth voice organizations in the country: every corner, including, some First Nations reservations. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was a way for young people to see and experience other poets who don’t look like them, who who might not even sound like them, definitely did not come from the same type of walk of life. But what, what bound everybody together was their love for the word and we thought that was the best type of exchange.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So Brave New Voices, toeing the line of three decades of being in existence and bringing young folks together to platform their voices and talk about issues that matter right now. Why is this July’s event so special and what’s the focus of it?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s this kind of collective, disposition that and spirit energy, whatever you want to call it, that says that things feel particularly difficult. You know, so language like collective grief, collective punishment, collective fatigue, collective exhaustion,it’s weighing on us. And let’s the, you know, the obvious this November is the presidential election.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a lot at stake, I think, and there’s a lot of legitimate resistance and frustration and rage amongst young people at the ways that our generation and our parents and grandparents generations um\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">voluntary or involuntary have created like, the conditions.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yeah. What are some of the key issues that you folks are looking to talk about?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The stuff that comes up is social media and mental health,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poet reciting poem on healing]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You believe that you are the definition of opaque. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You don’t even realize that you are the centerpiece in a room of double-sided mirrors and if only you cupped your hands around the glass, you would realize this is what healing looks like,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">allowing yourself to become some sort of transparency. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And yes, they say healing is not linear, but healing is a revolving door..\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: …\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">climate justice… \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poets talking about climate justice]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Abuelos and Abuelas\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kids scattered on playgrounds\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farmers toiling the fields\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boiling under blistering heat\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: …\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">kind of an interrogation of colonialism, rematriation movements. What does that mean? What does it mean to be indigenous and sovereign? Also, you know, American Samoa, and other kind of nations that are, have been struggling in movement and movement work to be able to take back their ancestral land.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Censorship,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Clip of Youth Speaks poet reciting poem about banned books]\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are not perfect but our nation is based on hope. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We are always striving for a more perfect union \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That hope is crushed when books are banned, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ripping away stories that need to be told. [audience hmm]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If voices can be so easily muzzled in America, \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">what hope do people yearning for freedom have in \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Russia, China, Ukraine, Gaza?\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Silencing books by banning them only leads to \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i> \u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">silencing people by bombing them. [audience cheering]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last thing I’ll say is, underneath it all, one of the greatest powers that every poet I know has is the power to time travel. And by that, I mean\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">somebody says or shares something that you know is authentic, you know, is real and you know, took some type of risk to, to to share\u003c/span>\u003cb>. \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And suddenly, you know them in a new way,\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I don’t know how to describe that. I always just describe it as time travel. We don’t give it enough due credit. You know, funders are always trying to measure that stuff. I’m like, ‘you can’t measure it man You can’t. You just got to trust. Just come into this space and feel it. I promise you, you’re just gonna want to write checks to the shorties.’ But, yeah, I think that is one of the most magical things that a poet and most artists I know are able to do.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ability to connect people across, you know, imagined or real dividing lines is something that we’re trying to preserve through Brave New voices.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">i love that. I love that you said that it’s there are so many different issues to address. Underneath that is the human connection and the ability to create empathy, situations where people can be open to other people’s lived experiences. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With that said, do you have any advice to a young poet, someone in their teens, 20s, or even an older person who’s looking to make their first sound, as you said?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cb>Michelle “Mush” Lee: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Look, I’m 41 years old. I was born in 1982. This is a different moment. You know, I have a child that’s 11 years old, so it’s a different moment. I recognize that. It’s really hard. I feel like it’s even harder for our young people today to feel like they can truly make mistakes and fail publicly.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Shame based culture, there’s all kinds of stuff that existed even when we were children but it’s, it’s a different scale and scope. And so I would say, look, you’re going to suck. And it’s going to be fine. But if it feels right when you’re up there, no matter how much your paper is shaking, you got to keep doing it and that’s it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once you put your pen to paper, don’t stop and seek out mentors. And then finally, come find Youth Speaks. Even if you’ve never written a poem,\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and we will walk with you.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Music]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Pendarvis Harshaw: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mush, thank you for your time, for your personal story and for assisting the next generation in telling their story. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Again, Mush is the Executive Director of Youth Speaks, you can learn more about that organization by checking out their website, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">youthspeaks.org\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This summer Youth Speaks will be one of the many poetry orgs participating in Brave New Voices in Washington D.C., for more info on that check youthspeaks.org/bravenewvoices\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And for more on Mush, she’s on Instagram. You can find her @ Mush510_ \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was hosted by me, Pendarvis Harshaw. Marisol Medina-Cadena produced this episode. Chris Hambrick held it down for edits on this one. Christopher Beale engineered this joint. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Rightnowish team is also supported by Jen Chien, Ugur Dursun, Holly Kernan, Cesar Saldaña, and Katie Sprenger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rightnowish is a KQED production. Until next time, peace!\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish\">NPR One\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I\">Spotify\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/Rightnowish-p1258245/\">TuneIn\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish\">Stitcher\u003c/a> or wherever you get your podcasts. \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "In Southern Mexico, Bay Area Artists Seek Refuge and Cultural Exchange",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Xalapa is a magical portal of colors, culture, great energy and healing. It felt like my soul knew it was right at home.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those are the words of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101894675/poet-mimi-tempestt-defies-and-reclaims-her-identity-in-new-book\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland poet Mimi Tempestt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who recently traveled to Xalapa — the capital of Veracruz, Mexico. She spent a week in the Spanish colonial city, visiting for the first time as part of a new artist residency that has taken root in the city’s downtown: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.huertodeososperezosos.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (“vegetable patch of the sloths”).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural of a sloth is painted on a tall concrete wall in an outdoor garden\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of a sloth (or “oso perezoso”) is painted within the arts residency compound. The mural was painted by San Francisco’s Adrian Arias, who visited Xalapa last year. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not every day that a Bay Area poet decides to visit Xalapa. I would know. It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2022-10-16/history-pickled-jalapenos-xalapa-veracruz-mexican-food\">my parents’ hometown\u003c/a>, where my mother and grandfather currently live. I’ve been there many times throughout my life, and have always enjoyed its quaint historical vibe with narrow cobblestone roads, orchid blooms and artistic ebullience. But I’ve never encountered Bay Area artists there, especially ones who aren’t Mexican.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I was delighted — and surprised — when I heard that a poetry acquaintance of mine, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924716/nomadic-press-a-chosen-family-for-queer-and-bipoc-writers-closes-up-shop\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">J.K. Fowler\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">had relocated from the Bay to Xalapa, a place that feels hidden, tucked in the misty mountains along Mexico’s southeastern shoreline. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924716/nomadic-press-a-chosen-family-for-queer-and-bipoc-writers-closes-up-shop\">Previously, Fowler operated Nomadic Press in Oakland\u003c/a>, which was known as a grassroots hub for diverse voices until it shuttered about a year ago. (Over the years, I read my work at several of their events.) [aside postid='arts_13955195']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Fowler does, he is now working down there to connect others through his growing network of local artists — and he has a slate of Bay Area writers, muralists and multidisciplinary creators who are just beginning to enter Xalapa’s “magical portal.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On my recent trip to see family in Xalapa, I caught up with Fowler at his artist compound. “Consider it your second home,” he told me as we strolled through a wondrous garden where he hosts events.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you ever need chayote, you can take some from here,” he said, and I could tell he meant it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955343\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a tropical garden in southern Mexico\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Xalapa’s biggest attractions is the verdant greenery. Within the artist residency, there are two tropical outdoor gardens. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The thing about Fowler’s vision is that it doesn’t function like a simple Airbnb might. It’s an integrated cultural exchange, in which Fowler partners with artists from the region and fosters an international dialogue through collaborations and events.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fowler also has a cafe, Bundo, which used to be located less than a 10 minute walk from the residency, and offered an array of beverages and snacks, specializing in oven-fired pizzas. He is currently in the process of moving the cafe inside of Huerto to give visiting artists an on-site dining option. (Xalapa has a heralded food scene, even by Mexico’s standards.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto has high ceilings and earth tones that radiate a modern, minimalist Mexican aura. The lower portion of the living space has a total of five rooms, including a dining area, lounging spaces, an office, a bedroom and a kitchen, with Fowler’s living quarters located beyond the courtyard’s garden. While touring the spacious property, I met two local artists lounging in the outdoor patio discussing their ideas in Spanish, before switching over to English to introduce themselves to me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"plates of food are laid out on a wooden table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of Fowler’s vision is to provide a cafe space for locals and visiting artists. At Bundo’s former location in downtown, the cafe served a variety of fresh dishes. Fowler plans to relocate Bundo. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto feels fresh, and full of potential. It’s a bicultural space where artists of diverse backgrounds can intermingle and inform each other’s practices. It also offers respite and privacy for those in need of a fresh environment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Visiting artists from Northern California include Tempestt (who recently published her debut book with City Lights), Keenan Norris (a novelist who received the 2022 Northern California Book Award), E.K. Keith (a San Francisco-based poet) and Adrian Arias (a Bay Area writer, painter and illustrator). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955340\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"books about Oakland art are on display at a shop in Mexico\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fowler’s mission is to create an international exchange between artists, and he shares work from Bay Area authors and painters with local Xalapeños. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This summer, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900077/ayodele-nzinga-oaklands-first-poet-laureate-is-here-for-the-people\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Oakland’s poet laureate) and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916674/tongo-eisen-martin-poet-laureate-parker-occupied-school-city-lights\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (San Francisco’s poet laureate) have signed up for visits. Nzinga is planning an anthology titled \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bridge\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, in which she will gather poems from authors based in both the Bay Area and Xalapa, culminating with a reading at Bundo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not only for Bay Area artists, either. Huerto is also a way-point for local Xalapeños and Mexican nationals from other parts of the country. In fact, Huerto’s inaugural resident was Javier Peñalosa\u003cem>, \u003c/em>a screenwriter and children’s book author from Mexico City. [aside postid='arts_13954510']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The space is genuinely tranquil and inspiring,” Peñalosa wrote in Spanish on Huerto’s website. “It’s like an oasis in the heart of Xalapa,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For first-timers in Xalapa — a small city that has virtually no foreigner presence, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-07-13/mexico-city-essay-daniel-hernandez\">unlike Mexico City with its influx of U.S. transplants \u003c/a>— the scenery and ambiance can overwhelm with its quiet positivity and reflective possibility.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955338\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955338\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a quaint kitchen in Mexico \" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos offers ample living space for visiting artists, including a full kitchen that is attached to an outdoor garden. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a certain synergy that artists can tap into in this off-the-radar destination, whose population is slightly larger than Oakland’s. Xalapa is ensconced in verdant greenery and often clouded and foggy like London, but with much warmer weather and tree-lined avenues where friendly women sell banana leaf-wrapped tamales. It’s the kind of unknown dimension that you might stumble into as a U.S. citizen and return from with an altered sense of gratitude.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My last night at Huerto, I walked out to the courtyard after dinner and stood in the lovely mist, and appreciated the way the lamplight fell over the compound walls and into the courtyard, beautifying the quiet, tropical scene,” Norris shared in a testimonial. “It really did feel like a caesura in time itself, a space to contemplate.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.huertodeososperezosos.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (located in Xalapa’s historic center) is available for seven-day visits with varying price ranges. Xalapa is roughly four and a half hours from Mexico City’s easternmost airport via bus, and one hour via taxi from Veracruz’s international airport.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"headline": "In Southern Mexico, Bay Area Artists Seek Refuge and Cultural Exchange",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Xalapa is a magical portal of colors, culture, great energy and healing. It felt like my soul knew it was right at home.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Those are the words of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101894675/poet-mimi-tempestt-defies-and-reclaims-her-identity-in-new-book\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oakland poet Mimi Tempestt\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, who recently traveled to Xalapa — the capital of Veracruz, Mexico. She spent a week in the Spanish colonial city, visiting for the first time as part of a new artist residency that has taken root in the city’s downtown: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.huertodeososperezosos.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (“vegetable patch of the sloths”).\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a mural of a sloth is painted on a tall concrete wall in an outdoor garden\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa3-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural of a sloth (or “oso perezoso”) is painted within the arts residency compound. The mural was painted by San Francisco’s Adrian Arias, who visited Xalapa last year. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s not every day that a Bay Area poet decides to visit Xalapa. I would know. It’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2022-10-16/history-pickled-jalapenos-xalapa-veracruz-mexican-food\">my parents’ hometown\u003c/a>, where my mother and grandfather currently live. I’ve been there many times throughout my life, and have always enjoyed its quaint historical vibe with narrow cobblestone roads, orchid blooms and artistic ebullience. But I’ve never encountered Bay Area artists there, especially ones who aren’t Mexican.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So I was delighted — and surprised — when I heard that a poetry acquaintance of mine, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924716/nomadic-press-a-chosen-family-for-queer-and-bipoc-writers-closes-up-shop\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">J.K. Fowler\u003c/span>\u003c/a>, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">had relocated from the Bay to Xalapa, a place that feels hidden, tucked in the misty mountains along Mexico’s southeastern shoreline. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13924716/nomadic-press-a-chosen-family-for-queer-and-bipoc-writers-closes-up-shop\">Previously, Fowler operated Nomadic Press in Oakland\u003c/a>, which was known as a grassroots hub for diverse voices until it shuttered about a year ago. (Over the years, I read my work at several of their events.) \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As Fowler does, he is now working down there to connect others through his growing network of local artists — and he has a slate of Bay Area writers, muralists and multidisciplinary creators who are just beginning to enter Xalapa’s “magical portal.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On my recent trip to see family in Xalapa, I caught up with Fowler at his artist compound. “Consider it your second home,” he told me as we strolled through a wondrous garden where he hosts events.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you ever need chayote, you can take some from here,” he said, and I could tell he meant it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955343\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a tropical garden in southern Mexico\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa7-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Xalapa’s biggest attractions is the verdant greenery. Within the artist residency, there are two tropical outdoor gardens. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The thing about Fowler’s vision is that it doesn’t function like a simple Airbnb might. It’s an integrated cultural exchange, in which Fowler partners with artists from the region and fosters an international dialogue through collaborations and events.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fowler also has a cafe, Bundo, which used to be located less than a 10 minute walk from the residency, and offered an array of beverages and snacks, specializing in oven-fired pizzas. He is currently in the process of moving the cafe inside of Huerto to give visiting artists an on-site dining option. (Xalapa has a heralded food scene, even by Mexico’s standards.) \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto has high ceilings and earth tones that radiate a modern, minimalist Mexican aura. The lower portion of the living space has a total of five rooms, including a dining area, lounging spaces, an office, a bedroom and a kitchen, with Fowler’s living quarters located beyond the courtyard’s garden. While touring the spacious property, I met two local artists lounging in the outdoor patio discussing their ideas in Spanish, before switching over to English to introduce themselves to me.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955341\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"plates of food are laid out on a wooden table\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa5-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of Fowler’s vision is to provide a cafe space for locals and visiting artists. At Bundo’s former location in downtown, the cafe served a variety of fresh dishes. Fowler plans to relocate Bundo. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto feels fresh, and full of potential. It’s a bicultural space where artists of diverse backgrounds can intermingle and inform each other’s practices. It also offers respite and privacy for those in need of a fresh environment.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Visiting artists from Northern California include Tempestt (who recently published her debut book with City Lights), Keenan Norris (a novelist who received the 2022 Northern California Book Award), E.K. Keith (a San Francisco-based poet) and Adrian Arias (a Bay Area writer, painter and illustrator). \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955340\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"books about Oakland art are on display at a shop in Mexico\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa4-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fowler’s mission is to create an international exchange between artists, and he shares work from Bay Area authors and painters with local Xalapeños. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This summer, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900077/ayodele-nzinga-oaklands-first-poet-laureate-is-here-for-the-people\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ayodele Nzinga\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Oakland’s poet laureate) and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916674/tongo-eisen-martin-poet-laureate-parker-occupied-school-city-lights\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tongo Eisen-Martin\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (San Francisco’s poet laureate) have signed up for visits. Nzinga is planning an anthology titled \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Bridge\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, in which she will gather poems from authors based in both the Bay Area and Xalapa, culminating with a reading at Bundo.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not only for Bay Area artists, either. Huerto is also a way-point for local Xalapeños and Mexican nationals from other parts of the country. In fact, Huerto’s inaugural resident was Javier Peñalosa\u003cem>, \u003c/em>a screenwriter and children’s book author from Mexico City. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The space is genuinely tranquil and inspiring,” Peñalosa wrote in Spanish on Huerto’s website. “It’s like an oasis in the heart of Xalapa,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For first-timers in Xalapa — a small city that has virtually no foreigner presence, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-07-13/mexico-city-essay-daniel-hernandez\">unlike Mexico City with its influx of U.S. transplants \u003c/a>— the scenery and ambiance can overwhelm with its quiet positivity and reflective possibility.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955338\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955338\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a quaint kitchen in Mexico \" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Xalapa2-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos offers ample living space for visiting artists, including a full kitchen that is attached to an outdoor garden. \u003ccite>(Alan Chazaro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a certain synergy that artists can tap into in this off-the-radar destination, whose population is slightly larger than Oakland’s. Xalapa is ensconced in verdant greenery and often clouded and foggy like London, but with much warmer weather and tree-lined avenues where friendly women sell banana leaf-wrapped tamales. It’s the kind of unknown dimension that you might stumble into as a U.S. citizen and return from with an altered sense of gratitude.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“My last night at Huerto, I walked out to the courtyard after dinner and stood in the lovely mist, and appreciated the way the lamplight fell over the compound walls and into the courtyard, beautifying the quiet, tropical scene,” Norris shared in a testimonial. “It really did feel like a caesura in time itself, a space to contemplate.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12127869\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"78\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-400x39.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/09/Q.Logo_.Break_-768x75.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.huertodeososperezosos.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huerto de Osos Perezosos\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (located in Xalapa’s historic center) is available for seven-day visits with varying price ranges. Xalapa is roughly four and a half hours from Mexico City’s easternmost airport via bus, and one hour via taxi from Veracruz’s international airport.\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
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"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
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},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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