Latest / Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela] / Capítulo 052: "A South Side Girl's Guide To Love", with Mayda del Valle

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Capítulo 052: "A South Side Girl's Guide To Love", with Mayda del Valle · Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela]

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Local Radio. Radio Radio Commies a Myth and Bullshit, a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: radio phonic novella Local Radio hosted by malamo Ola La Locomotives.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Local Dota Radio. Welcome back, Welcome back.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: This is Mala and this is Dios and we are
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Last Radio, a radiophonic novella coming to you once again
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: from Radio Spacio and boil Heights. Thank you for joining us,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning in. Local Radio is a radio
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: phonic novella archiving the legacies, geniuses and brilliance of women
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and fans of color. Thank you for being Thank you
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: for tuning. We have a really, really, really exciting episode
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: for everybody. This got people little like we're dying are
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: our guests our interview like we're screaming internally externally so excited.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Last time on look at that our radio. We actually
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: interviewed the Jacqueline Diego of the Pink Slipped web series,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: which follows the lives of three best friends navigating their
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: careers while coming to terms that they are greater than
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the some of their stifling job, self sabotage, and cultural stereotypes.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: And that was a really fun episode. I can relate
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: to our last can relate. Yes, honestly, honestly, Um, yeah,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that was That was a short little capital that we
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: did for ya. Jacqueline was actually in the l A area.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: She's also Chicago based like our guests. That so excited. Okay,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: so we actually just have one quick announcement before we
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: get into Oya Lokas. Right, so we have another event,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: an important one, a big one, a big one, maybe
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: our biggest yet maybe our biggest thing coming up saved
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the day, November sixteen. It will take place in downtown
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: l A. So that's a Friday, Friday night. Mark your calendar,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Mark your calendars, get you make yourself available, get your
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: boo ready, get your home girls. Yeah, lie, stuff gets
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: out in Yeah, and start the shopping now. Cute one. Right,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you already know, you already know what to exp know
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: you have to show out little hints, little hint, little hint,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: baby hint. Is that it is It will be our
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: two years look over sery. Yes, so just planting that scene,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: keep that in mind. Emotionally prepared, mentally prepared, honestly, more
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: information tv A, t v A. We're not announcing quite yet,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: but that is We're just going to plant the little
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: seed the little idea there all right. In the meantime.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: In the meantime, we are going to answer some listener
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: questions via locas. Come here. Oh yeah, look gus my
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: favorite segment, my favorite segment, right, all right, So what
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: do you all want to know about? So y'all asked
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of questions on the i G post, which
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  Speaker 1: we appreciate so much. We love the questions. The good
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  Speaker 1: question we have like so many to answer. Now for
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  Speaker 1: the next few, thank you, thank you. Um. This first
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  Speaker 1: question is did you always want to start a podcast?
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  Speaker 1: Do you plan on expanding the podcast? I'm praying they
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  Speaker 1: give you ladies a show. Thank you for your prayers.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, thank you so much for those prayers. Girl,
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. Let us put that out into the universe. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: get us that we're manifesting. And I'm just going to
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: say that this is not the first time. Look, I'm
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: a listener, a follower has said something about us having
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: a show, right, so I think it's fascinating. I think
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: that it is very fascinating and also very exciting. So
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: let's see what happens. What happened? You never know, You
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: never know anything. It's possible, right, I mean and today
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that we always wanted to start a podcast, I would
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: say no. I mean we both went to undergrad right,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and we have our like our bachelors in said degrees,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and then we both worked in the nonprofit sector, and
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: now we're both out of the nonprofit sector, and then
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the podcast kind of just came along the way, like
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: wanting to do something, create something, do something different, do
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: something new, and also like take our online friendship into
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: like in real life friendship. Absolutely, like we neither one
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: of us have studied like journalism or communications or you know,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: you can study film, radio and television, and we didn't.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: We did not. Everything has been d I Y. So
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: sometimes like when there's glitches, when something doesn't upload correctly,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: or like it's maybe maybe it sounds too loud or
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: maybe it sounds too low. Like that is why we
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: are completely d I Y. And we love your support.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: We love your patients than we love that y'all keep
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: coming back. We do. Yeah, yeah, I feel like if
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: you're ever like down that sounded kind of weird. That's
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: why you know, our listeners are really helpful because whenever
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: there's audio issues, they'll be the first ones to tell yes,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'll be like, hey, by the way, and I'm like,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: oh fucking then I freak out and I have to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: go do damage control, and I get it. Honestly really
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: stresses me out whenever there's where at work. Yeah, by
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the time, right im at work and I'm like, oh
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: my god, people are listening and then they can't like
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: finish the episode at get quality. Yeah, it honestly really
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  Speaker 1: stresses me out. Um. Also, like I am, I mean
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: you'll probably know this. I'm a little bit more of
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  Speaker 1: the organized one on this show, like in terms of
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: like let's get the cup, let's get our schedule. I
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: keep us on schedule. I like try my best to
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: always have the guppys out on a Monday. That's not
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: always the case, it happens, but like that really is
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: my goal. Is that there's like a nice structure. Yeah
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: oh yeah. Um podcasting you know, for me to like
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  Speaker 1: podcasting wasn't really on my radar at all until us suggested.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: We know, MoMA wasn't even listening to podcast I barely
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: started listening to cast like this month, Like literally this,
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  Speaker 1: It's honestly very true. Yes, I even made the comment, Yes,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I love how you listen to podcasts all of a sudden,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: this bitch two years two years later. Well, it's kind
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of like I'd like to remain I'm like, I don't
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: want to. I don't want too many other influences. No, no, no,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: I want to remain original. Absolutely. Well that was my
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: That was I mean, if this is I mean, I
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: don't know the person that has asked this question, but like,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: if you've listened to the podcast for a while, if
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you've read any of our articles or interviews, the inspo
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: behind the podcast was actually another podcast, Like I was
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: listening to Rama shout Out and there are Latino X
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: music podcasts, and that was actually my first introduction to
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: latin X podcast and I was like, Mala, I want
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to start a podcast. I would love it if you
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: could do it with me. I want you to be
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: my co host. And really the idea just took off
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: from there. We had no idea what the content was
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: going to be like when the idea was first talked
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: about until we had our first sit down and wept
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: everything our name like, and then we kept it a
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: secret for like three months, even from the mommy's like,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: nobody knew. It was really hard. Nobody knew what we
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: were doing UM, and that's just always something that we
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: personally recommend, like keep it on the low until you're
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: ready to actually delivery, like until you can put your
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: guff out, until you have your logo, until you've had
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: your photo shoot. And that's just for us, that's that's
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: our brand, Like we didn't want to tell everybody, tell
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: our friends, and then what if like it just didn't
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: work out, we didn't do it, what if we never
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: did it. Um has this tweet the other day that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I liked UM and she said, she's like fifty speaking
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: into existence, shut the funk up, don't don't drinkx it right.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: So it's kind of that balance. That's my motto. Manifesting
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: is real, you know, like manifesting is real. But I
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: think on some level two, it's like let me actually
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: we do the work first, so I have something to
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: show you ye first. And I think that that is
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: something that we hold very true to the local to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the podcast because a lot of stuff happens that we
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: can't share and right now it makes it really difficult.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, it's the same thing, like
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  Speaker 1: like what I just said, like what if we were
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to tell y'all, oh, we're going to do this, and
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: then it never happens. That never happened, and then you're
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for it or you're disappointed or you know what
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, you would a waste of energy, right, So
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: like why why would we set us set ourselves up
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: for that like disappointment ourselves? You know, I will say
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to like going back to like did we always want
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: to start a podcast? I did have an interest in radio,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: like for a long time, so like you did. When
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I was in college, me and my friend Laurenne, and
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: I've talked about this before, but me and my my
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: homegirl Laurenne, we had a radio show UM at University
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: College London u c L because we both studied abroad
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: there together for a year and so we had like
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  Speaker 1: a year long radio show and that was really fun
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: because like we had a Twitter at the time and
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: our friends who were still at Tufts in Massachusetts with
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: like listen us and call it. So we had an
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: international radio show. And then when I came home, when
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: I came back to l a UM when I first
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: met Gordrid the apple Bum When I first met Gotto
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: was here at a SPA nine because I was working
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: on this anti gentrification radio show called Fuentes with Gotto,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: with God the apple Bum and with Cecia, who is
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: another home girl who does a lot of activism and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: stuff and she does like like hoop dancing, like when
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the hoops are like on fire, fire in flames, like inflames.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: So she's really cool. Um, So we had this point
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: funt this, but I wasn't able to keep up with it,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Like I just couldn't, so I stopped. But so, but
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: this has been like the project that's we've sustained. We've sustained. Yeah,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, and I will say that like during my
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: undergrad there was us there was a radio station, a
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: radio radio station, and they would like have like little
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: calls to do stuff and it always piqued my interest
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and I would always grab a flyer. But the anxiety
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: was real for me. Oh my god. Did you know
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Melina Soto? She had a radio show at UCSP. Now
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: I don't think so, No, name doesn't sound familiar. Okay,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: she was at the radio stage. Really well, there was
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: there were these group students actually that had this show
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: called and they would like talk about politics and they
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: would play music and stuff like that, and so that
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: I was like Okay, those girls are doing it, you know,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: but I never actually took the initiative. And you know
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: that's for a lot of different reasons, but to like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: actually go and like let me intern here, let me
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: like even just like come and check it out, Like
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I never really went that far. Um, But living in
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: l a radio radio itself is a huge part of
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: my life. Like we grew up, we grew up on radio.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I remember in the mornings my parents listening to Spanish
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: radio when they would like take me to school, same
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: with my grandparents, like k love on Thursdays, like is
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: like what my mom would listen to with her with
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: my ambola when they would like cook on Thursdays. You
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: know it's likesta. So even now, like on Thursdays, I know,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you know, so I like tune into that. So radio,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: especially radio, Spanish radio, has been a really big part
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: of my life one or two point seven when he
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: used to be Rick Dy's right, like throwback, like I
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: would listen to that right and Kiss FM and then
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Ryan Seacrest and all that ship so that girl that era.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: So radio has been a very big part of my life.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: And like now I listened to point three a lot
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: and love um, and then everyone's and then like my friends,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: their moms were listening to Guadalupe Radio. That was a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: very popular one. And I grew up every morning and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: still in the mornings when I go to work every day,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I listen to Big Boy Big Boy. And I was
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: listening to Big Boy when he was on Power Wino
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: six And now he's was gonna ask, Yeah, I remember
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: him on Power Why were when like big Boy was
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: like a big boy, right, so he's I've been with
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Big Boy for many, many years, so I love him. Yeah.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: So radio and l A. I mean, we spent a
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: lot of time sitting in traffic and as I think,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: one one component of like why radio is so successful
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: here because we're commuting all the time. So I think, like,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you know, one way or another, like mom and I
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: were meant to be here. We were meant to be
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: on this path and found each other. And yeah, you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: good question. It's a great question question. Thank you for
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: that question. Number two? Okay, um, how do you confront
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: your mom when she's in denial about your depression? Also,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: why don't y'all foote with the valleys? So good question,
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  Speaker 1: which let's answer the depression one first, okay, so we
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: can end like on a lighter Okay. So first, um, well,
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  Speaker 1: I will say my mom, and my mom knows that
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I go to therapy, right, and she asked me, like
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: she knows my therapy days, and she'll like ask me
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: things here and there. She herself needs therapy, she does um,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: and she like will not say that I have a
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: mental illness. She'll be like, you don't have a mental illness.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: So I know that that's her denial. And also like
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the stig, especially like Latino household of like no, you
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: don't have anxiety and depression, like, oh, this is awkward
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: because I do. Um, and even like I'll say and
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I actually haven't confronted my family about this, but um my,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: so whenever I spiral, like mentally, my room is a disaster.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And we've talked about this, like in our with like
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: where we talk about creating like your sanctuary and your
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: safe space, even if it's just your bedroom or if
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: you share a bedroom, your side of the bedroom and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: making that be your your place of sanctuary. So I
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: do my best to like first thing in the morning,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: you make your bed, right. However, when I'm I can't
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: get out of bed, because I'm not feeling it right,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling like depressed or anxious, sad, I can't get
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: out of bed. So then what do you know, I'm
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: running for work, So I'm not going to make the
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: bed and I'm not going to clean my vanity after
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I do my makeup, and I'm gonna put on a
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: million different things right before I find something that kind
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: of feels right. So then what a tornado hit my room? Right?
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Like that's how it looks. So my mom or my
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: don't make comments about like, oh how long is your
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: room going to stay clean? Like they'll make comments like that,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm like, I am not a messy person. However,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: my depression or my anxiety makes me not want to
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: clean up, you know, yeah, and that's super common. I'm
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the exact same way. And like there's so many there's
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: so many depressed people on Twitter, like right, so great
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and terrible, right right? Because I saw this, I saw
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: this name where it's like you'll be like, I'm like
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: I want to die today, and instead instead of someone
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: being like are you okay, they're like yes, yes, the
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: same bitch. So I follow this one tweet along those
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: lines where it was like yes, sex is great, But
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: have we ever cleaned your room after being depressed for
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: six Yes? I mean this is right, like sends to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: all my depressed bread. I mean, this is not a
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: part of the question, but I want to offer this tip.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Some thing that's helped me is like dackling a tiny
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: little corner, like little by little, like when you're really
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: when your room is a disaster, Like where do I start?
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: So for me, I'll start with like my little light dresser,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: and I'll put stuff away, and then I'll move on
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: to the next area. Um, and then that makes And
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: even if I just do that, I'm like, oh, well
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: that looks nice, like that's that's my accomplishment. No, and
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: it does make a difference. I really feel better. I
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: feel so much better. And what I try to do
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: as much as possible, it's just clean little by little,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: like one thing a day, Like Okay, while I'm in
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the shower, I'm going to scrub the shower. I'm in here,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I'm in here anyway, you know, I'm in front of
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: the mirror and just wipe it down real quick. So
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: that's what I try to do, um, just to make
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: things not quite so overwhelming. But with my mom and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: my depression. Well, you know, it's interesting because I think
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: that over the years, as a family, we've and we
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: have these conversations with each other. We've all talked to
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: each other about how I think everyone would benefit from
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: going to therapy. Yes, you know, my parents both have
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: their own very specific trauma, and they're very upfront and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: honest about that and how they would benefit from seeing somebody,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: how my grandmother would benefit from seeing somebody. I mean
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: my parents. You know, I live with my family, So
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: they saw me through you know, working um at peace
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: over violence and the stress that that caused me, and
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: like they are very like aware that it affected me.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: So I think. And the other thing is my my
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: sister also has struggled with depression and was also very
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: open and upfront with it. It's very much like in
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the family, um, we all have a little bit of it.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: And so I think that kind of when we um
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: kind of retreat or need our alone time or disappear
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: or unplugged, we kind of get it. And so my
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: parents let me have my space because they know because
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: we all kind of have similar sort of behavioral patterns.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: So we're all a little sad, but we're supportive of
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: each other and like my mom doesn't push me, she's
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: like very like gentle about it. And even my stir
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: she can only handle so much like human interaction right
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: and everyone's like, yeah, Ivan needs to just like recharge.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Same we're going to leave on alone. I think because
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: my mom and I are we tend to um we're
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: when we're both home, we tend to be in the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: public area, like the communal the public area, the communal
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: public space, the communal living space like the living room.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: But if I'm going if I get home and I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: go straight to my room, like that's unsigned like I
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: need to unwind a little bit, I need to clean up,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I need to do something right and same with you're
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: doing right, am, like what I can now talk to
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: you right now? You know, Um, I wanted to share,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: I wanted to say, mole, I was thinking about this
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: while you were speaking. But I think sometimes it also
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: takes like you being the one to talk about it,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you know, to get your family to like also be
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: self reflective because that I'm aware of my brothers don't
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: have anxiety and depression that I'm aware of, right the
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: same with the same with my my mother like don't
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: know what that's the case, right, But that could be
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: because they're not talking about it, that doesn't mean it's
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: not there, right, same with lots of things in our
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: LATINOX households, right, our Latin X families. Just because we're
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: not talking about it does not mean it's not there,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: you know. So it's like I think I share this
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: one time on an earlier episode, but there was a
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: family thing and I'm like, oh, I'm not going I
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: have to go to therapy. And my mom said, oh,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: she has a doctor's appointment. And I was like, you
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: could say I have therapy. I literally say I have therapy,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And sometimes that transparency and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that honesty, like we'll make our mothers uncomfortable. They're not
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: used to it, no, but I'm like used to it.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: That's fine, like speaking in coded totally and just like
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: illusion and symbol, I'm going to allude to this suggestion, right, Yeah,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: they have a hard time. My mother cannot confront me
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: about things, right, should rather just ignore it? My mom
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: is very passive, aggressive, sure sure, sure, sure, right, my
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: mom has my mom has her moment And my favorite
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: still to this day is like my mom was trying
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to set me up with this guy that that worked.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: My mom's a teacher, so there was like a teacher's aid.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: There was like around my age. Oh I know this story. Yes,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: it is a great story. So my mom's like trying
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to like set me up with this guy, and she
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: wants me to go volunteer at the school. So I
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: just happened to run into him and be in the
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: same room for the entire day and I'm like, mom, no,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: like he's on my type. I'm not interested. And my
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: mom goes, well, well, what is your type? Down and out,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: She's like you could do worse, you haven't done, Whereas
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I'm like, thanks a lot, Mom, which leads us to
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the second part of this question. Actually, right, why don't
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: talk with the valley? So first of our moms, let
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: us be clear. Number one, we love our listeners that
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: live in the valley. We have worked with council Woman
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Maria Martinez, who represents the valley. Um we have gone
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: to the valley for now. We have not gone to
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the valley for events. However, however, we could go to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the valley for events like if y'all invite us, or
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: if you have something we you know, come, come, come
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: to this. I don't know books signing whatever, you know
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: what I mean. Anyway, the reason we do not funk
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: with the valley is because both of our exes live
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: in the valley that we well, my last started dating
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: cars before I did. But there was a time where
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: we like, we're dating them at the exact same time,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: and we were commuting, y'all, and we were commuting to
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the valley, and I literally would tell people I was
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: in a long distant relationship and people would get mad
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: at me, and I'm like, I had to take five
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: free ways to get to him. That is the fucking
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: long distail. It was just it's just one of those things.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Is like sometimes you can just burn a place out
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: right right, you go too often have bad memories. I think. Also,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: we had no reason to be in the valley, right
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: those our families don't live in the valley also shout
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: out there's a big proving population in the San Poritarcy Valley.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: There is, but my friends and my family don't live
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: in the valley, so it was literally for the excess.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: So we had no like other reasons to be there
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: except for them. So now that we're both like you know,
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: broken up with them having gone all that ship. We're
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: just we have this ongoing joke of like the valley
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: but no shades to our listeners, we know that there's
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: a lot of valley fried. Also, if you go to
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: like the city Hall and Pequoima, right, there's a mural
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: there with like all of the residents of Pacoima who
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: have gone on to do like amazing things like you know,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Danny Trejo and stuff. I'm not from Pacoima, but my
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: face is in the murals astronaut in the mural here
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: in Pecoima. I am like a little astronaut because the
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: artist Ignacio Gomez like used me and my siblings and
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: my family as models for his public works for many
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: many years. So I love it. That's why you're still
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: in the valley, bitch. I'm in the value of the value.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I'm just saying, oh, that's so funny. Also, Richie Valence
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: from the valley, lots of people. Yeah, no, no shade,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and like that's only shades our exits and now, like
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: unless you're booking us at season, like, we have no
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: reason to be out there, right except for sometimes we
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: go see our friends at Belladonna in the valley. Okay,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: we do have that reason. There's that reason. We do
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: drive to the valley to see La La. Yes, we carpool.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Its still so far far away. Anyway, one way in,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: one way out. Whenever you see that, like I don't
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: even know what free way it is. It's like a
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: two twelve or it's like from like I've never seen.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: When I had to get on that, I was like,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: where the funk am I going? Like any anyway, great question.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's time to get into song break. Um
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: um um m m m m of it and ship
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: all right, everybody, and we're back from our song break.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here with us once again.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: We are absolutely fan girling out right now, like so excited,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: so like geeking out to have our this next wonderful
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: guest on the show. We have the amazing Mida than Vayan.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Before she comes onto the show, I want to read
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: her bio so our listeners can get to know her
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: if they don't already. So here it goes. My Dadva
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: is the author of the University of Hip Hop and
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: a winner of the Drink and Gordon chap Book Poetry
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Prize from Northwestern University Press. She appeared on six episode
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: six episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Deaf Poetry,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and was a contributing writer and original cast member of
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the Tony Award winning Deaf Poetry Jam on Broadway. A
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: gifted performer that Vaya has read her work at venues
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: all over the world, including the White House. My that
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: is here to talk to us about her illustrious career,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: really her journey with poetry, and her new book, A
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Southside Girl's Guide to Love and Sex. So may thou
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: welcome to look at our radio. Hi. It's so good
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: to be on here with you guys and just listening
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and being on the show. I'm really excited. Yes, thank
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: you so much. And you're calling in from Chicago, correct,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: I am, yes, where the temperature is dropped. It's like
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: fall is really here, summer's over right and stress and
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: you're you've moved back home to Chicago. You're Chicago native,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: you spent some time in l A. Can you tell
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: us a little bit about Chicago and the role that
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: Chicago has played in your poetry. I think a lot
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: of us, um, we were introduced to your work on
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: YouTube through Deaf Jam watching the videos, and Chicago was
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: a central figure and theme and source of inspiration and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of your poetry. Absolutely so I was. I
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: was born and raised in Chicago, and I left in
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: ninety six to go to school and h that took
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: me to the East Coast for about eight years between
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: school and then moving to New York where um uh,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: you know, during those years of being in New York
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: is when death poetry really kind of happened, and that
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: whole era of my career. Um, and then I went west.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: You know, I had an amazing opportunity with working on
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: a project that was being produced by Norman Lear, and
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: so I moved out to l A and I ended
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: up living there for twelve years. Um. So I definitely
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: consider l A one of my home bases, and it's
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: very near and dear in my heart. And um yeah,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: I moved back to Chicago a year and a half ago,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: January of two thousand and seventeen. You know, my family
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: is still here. My parents are getting older and my
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: father is experiencing some health issues, and I just felt
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: like it was timed away, you know, make my way
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: back and to be close to the family and and
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: and be here and it's been an interesting transition, but
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: I feel like I'm back home and I'm also relearning
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the city all over again. It's it's so new and
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: also so much the same. So yeah, right in an
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: ever changing Chicago. You know, we are listening. We have
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: listeners in Chicago and our friends in Chicago, so hearing
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: like the the flight of gentrification also happening in Chicago,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: and we can obviously relate here in l A. UM,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: I'm really interested to hear. Um. In your book, A
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Southside Girls Guide to Love and Sex, you talk about
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: diaspora and being a child of Puerto Rican immigrants. Can
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: you talk about how living in these different very Latino
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: centric cities UM, like l A, Chicago, and New York, Like,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: what has that, how has that contributed to your writing
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: and even your identity as a Puerto Rican in the US.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because I grew up in on
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: the South Side of Chicago, and so back in the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: day when my parents kind of first made their way
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: here um to Chicago to United States in the early sixties,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: there were a lot of Puerto Ricans on the South Side,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: but they kind of either all went back home or
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: moved up North into what's now more recognized as the
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Puerto Rican neighborhood of Chicago, which is like Humble Park.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: So when I grew up on the South Side, UM,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the particular neighborhood that I grew up and was mostly
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: polished and Lithuanian, and the demographics really shifted over time.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: So I actually grew up around a lot of Mexican. So, UM,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: you know, I can, I can. My accents switches up
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: really easy. I got to see Puerto Rican Spanish and
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: I could, I could slip into a Mexican accent really.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: But so you know what if what it being that
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: took me to New York and wanted so to live
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: in New York was being close to UM, a large
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Puerto Rican community. You know, it was kind of like
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: as a Puerto Rican having the New Eurecan Poetry Cafe
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: there was like a mecca. You know, it's like an
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: a mecca of of identity. UM. And then moving to
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: l A was was really driven by a career and
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: it was, you know, really interesting to be in the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: city that was so diverse and you know, a lot
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like Chicago in many ways and and and very different
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: and it's you know, and um, and very unique in
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: it's in its own way too. So UM, I feel like,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: you know, they've all left an imprint on the Chicago's
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: home obviously, It's made the biggest, you know impression and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: has had the biggest influence on my on my work. Um.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: You know, like you said that, it's a rapidly changing city.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Were undergoing a lot of gentrification right now. It's a
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: very segregated city. You know, Chicago has a really racialized history,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and so, um, I'm kind of in the middle, you know. Racially,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, thanguous, so I'm not why I'm
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: not black, um. And you know, I'm not part of
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: one of the biggest lett you know, populations in the city,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: which is probably you know, the Mexican population here. So
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: it's kind of always been in this kind of middle
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: place of of being able to bridge different identities and
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: communities and feeling like I see a lot around me,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: I'm able to observe and watch and take in a
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: lot of information, um, because I can kind of like
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: be in this in between liminal space of of of identity. Um.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't know if that answers the question
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: of absolutely yeah, and so you know, your Puerto Rican heritage, Chicago.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: All of these things are major influences in your work
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: across your poems. Also, hip hop and the pillars of
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: hip hop just show up so often in your your
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: body of work as a whole. And if you could
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: talk to us a little bit about hip hop in
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: your life and hip hop today, you know, hip hop
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: today and like how we feel about at Lanski, So
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you know hip hop. Hip hop was like the culture
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I chose, you know, it was it was. It was
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: a space I think for a lot of young people,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: you know, and especially here in Chicago. It was a
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: space where you could be with like minded people. It
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: was a space where people of all races and all
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: backgrounds and all religions could kind of come together and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: discover themselves and discover each other. So it was it
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: provided the probably one of the most integrated spaces racially
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: in Chicago. You know, um growing up as a young person,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: so you know, it was it was a place where
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: I could I could discover myself and I could create
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: my own identity, right because it felt like so much
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: of growing up was either a lot was being dictated
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: by the culture that I was growing up in you know,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: being like Latina, first generation Catholic, My parents were super
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: old school and so that paid it a lot of
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: what I could and couldn't do. And then just also
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: kind of growing up in the city where you were,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: you were boxed into, you know, either being black or white. So,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: um so hip hop really gave me a space to
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: to discover myself, to discover identity. It's um you know,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: I had, I had mentors um at around that age
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: who also like put me onto music, and um, you
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: know it's hip hop also became like a force for
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: community organizing in my life because of an organization that
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: UM that I was being mentored at called the Southwest
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Youth Collaborative UM on the southwest side of the city.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: And so a lot of the things that we organized
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: for ourselves as young people were sentering around hip hop
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: you know, kind of helped to create this this program
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: called the University of Hip Hop. And our mentors were like,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: what do you guys want to do with this, you know,
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: with this funding that we have, and you know, what
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: are you guys interested in? And we would be like, yeah,
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: we want we want to learn all about hip hop.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: So we created this this program that you know, successfully
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: went on for over ten years, is called the University
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: of hip Hop and UM kids would come and there
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: were there were classes in graffiti, there were breakdancing classes,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: there were DJ classes, there were empty classes, and some
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: of the most successful hip hop artists from all over
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: the city, you know, would come and teach UM. And
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: so I remember, you know, I was there. I was
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: I was sixteen, seventeen years old while we were helping
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: to to create this program, and UM, it was it
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: was a central theme to to my to my development
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: as a writer, as an activist, UM and as as
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: an artist. So and it still is, you know, I
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: think UM in a lot of ways, you know, my
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: my my taste have have varied, and I'm and I'm
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: I've grown up now, I listened to a lot of stuff,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: but I still find myself coming back to to hip hop.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: And definitely, the the aesthetic of the culture is the
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: one that that always creeps its way into my work, absolutely,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: and also the sort of blending. So one of my
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: favorite poems is Elemental, where it's the comination of the
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: deity with hip hop right and how the two have
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: fused together. And I feel like the book a Southside
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Girl's Guide to Live in Sex probably does a lot
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: of the same, right of the fusing of the two. Yes, yes, yeah,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: um yeah, it's definitely there. And you know, and it's
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: like even if you you know, if you look at
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the book, the first half of that book is very
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: it's almost like two completely different parts of my life.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: You know. There's one that's kind of like the coming
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: of age story of being in Chicago, and then the
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: second half of that book is really, you know, the
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: last couple of years that I spent in l A.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: And you know, the kind of the heart aches and
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: the struggles of being in l A during those last
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: couple of years and a lot of the lessons that
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: I learned. And so it's it's still in there. It's
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: just there in a different way. You know, it's there. Um,
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: you know that the elements of it are still woven
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: throughout that kind of more mature gaze, you know that
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: like that that experience of being a woman and not
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: not the sixteen year old girl growing up on the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: South Side. Um, but it's kind of it's a journey
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: and so um, it's still finds its way into those
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: poems that it's still in there and you can feel it.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: And you know, I think definitely when I read it's
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: it's something that isn't in my in my style of reading,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: it's always going to be there. Um, it's just there
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: in a different way, you know. Yes, yeah, I think
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to like we were in high school, Yeah, we were
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: on scouring. There's this whole generation, our generation like yeah,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: like I mean I can can speak for myself, like
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: I was like really into watching spoken word performances and
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: watching the Deaf Jam but online watching just really being
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: consumed on repeat, like I remember Obvious like being one
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: of the poets that I was really into, and Anthea
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: and of course like going with you right. So to
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: see like where y'all are at now and to like
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: see the amazing work that y'all are continuing to do
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: is just like it makes my little teenage girl hard
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: like really happy, like and I as an adult like, wow,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: I get to interview and talk with mine and Bias.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: So like to say that we're fan girling is like
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: to say the least of what we're feeling. Yeah, it's
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: such a trip. It's so funny. You say that it's
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: so funny. You say that people don't like do you
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: ever get recognized? You know, you're kind of saying that.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: I was like, I'm so not, Like I'm really not.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: As the other day, I was like hanging out with
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: a friend and the South Loop here in Chicago. We
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: went to this like random, kind of out of the way,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: a little bar you know, around the South Loop where
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: they were like playing trap music on a Friday night.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, this is great, this is perfect.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I don't have a drink and post up at the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: corner and all of a sudden that here's like this
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: girl queel and that was like that was tripping. It
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: never happens. It was. It's feel like the strangest most
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: random thing love it that ever happens to be like
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: this this this is hilarious to me. It's such a weird,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: random place for it. That's really funny. Yeah. I think though,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: that's the beauty and the power of like the like
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: YouTube in the internet, like people all over in all corners.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: As long as you have a WiFi connection, you could
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: watch my we could connect with like other artists. Yes,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: wow yeah yeah. Um So where can people buy your book,
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: read your book, continue to follow your work? How can
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: folks continue to like, you know, see what my has
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: it too. So I have a website which is probably
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: um in in in much need of being updated, but
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: you know, definitely their information booking information is available there.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: I'm on Facebook, I'm on Twitter, on Instagram, UM pretty often.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Instagram is probably the platform that I that I use
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: most frequently. UM. So that's that's available on there. And
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: then the book is actually, if you're on the west
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: coast of the l A area, is available at tachu Che, Okay.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: So that's available on their website, it's available in the store.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: It's available on Amazon, and also at the Northwestern University
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Press website. So all three of those places have it available.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. Thank you so much.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: We're so welcome. Before you go, UM, before we exit
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: our interview, I wanted to ask you about um music
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: and performance. You know in the song that we're going
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to exit our outro our interview. UM, you know, Mommy's
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: making mumbo like I wanted to. I wanted to ask
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: you about the role that music not only hip hop
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: but also like salsa, and like what has that role
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: played in not only your poetry writing but also your performance.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, UM, yeah, I grew up like doing
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: musical theater. Super random fact about me to musical theater
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: and U. And I grew up with me in the
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: house all of the time. Like my mom was constantly sinking.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: She was in a church choir, I was in I
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: was in the church choir when I was a little girl. Um.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: And it was just you know, it was like the
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: lifeblood of our household. There was always music playing all
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: of the time, all of the never never a moment
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: when there wasn't like a radio playing. And you know,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: something like this, this really beautiful detail that I always
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: carry with me is this um Puerto Rican radio station
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: all the way at one end of the AM dial
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: that my mom to listen to in the morning every
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: morning from about eight to eleven o'clock. UM. And that
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: was like that was like the lo all the like
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans in Chicago, you know what it was called.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: And so people would shout each other out for days
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: and you could get dudes from Puerto Rico on there
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: and all the music. UM. So this is it was
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: just like a sound check to my life, you know. UM.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: And I don't even know how it happened or when
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: it happened or why it happened. It just organically made
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: its way into the writing and became a part of
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: the of the performance and you know, and and the
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: poems that still does I still, um, I still seeing
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: in a lot of my poem there's still you know,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: there's a very kind of distinct kind of musicality to
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: my poems that I really work musciously I'm putting in
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: there and um so yeah, it's just it was part
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: of my life, so it makes sense that it would
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: be part of the work. Um in the most recent years.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: You know, I started dancing and drumming, um with with
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: a couple of groups in l A doing bom Ba music,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and I started writing Bomba songs, so I like composed
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: a couple of Bomba songs. So yeah, it's kind of
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: this thing that you know, feed my spirit in a
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: really big way. And and it again and so kind
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: of like hip hop in the same way, it just creeps,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: it creeps its way into the work. Absolutely, I'm just
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: like continuously amazed by just everything that you do. Know
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: you even you know, like a reiky healer as well
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: in addition to I am, I mean, it makes so
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: much sense, like you know, not only are you a
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: healer like with your art, but also like now to
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: do reiky like it just makes a lot of sense
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: to us. Yeah, it does, it does. Yeah, Like wait
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: a minute, it's the weirder ransom. I'm like, not like
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: when I look at all the things, but I write
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: it's a random Yeah, they sit together somehow, you know,
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: it's just m Yeah, they're all. They're all just part
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: of part of the walk, part of the journey. Amazing
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: using well Amy that I can't thank you enough for
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: just all the work that you have done and put
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: out into the world, and like the fact that we've
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: been like kind of following you like little ducklings. You know,
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: we're just really grateful for you and thank you so
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: much for who you are. Yeah, yeah, thank you so
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: much for everything that you're doing too. Thank you. We
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: got we got mina advised blessing. Yes, yes, okay, well,
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. What we're gonna do is we
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: are actually going to play our outro. We're going to
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: play Maida's Mommy's Making Mambo and this is actually her
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: deaf jam performance and renditions, so musical throwback throwback. What
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: year was this when you were when you performed Mommy
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: is Making Mambo on Deaf Jam. Wow three four baby, Yeah,
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: this is a throwback for sureback. Can I just say
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: the other reason we love to watch just made my
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: heart so the time she flies. No, but I all so,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: I just want to put this out there because a look,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I thought it. We're all about looks and aesthetics, and
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: you served incredible looks and aesthetics every episode of Deaf
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Jam like we were definitely watching for the outfit world.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: I love it. So anyways, thank you again, Mayda, as always, yes,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: thank you so much and as always, look on what
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: is you know? Now we're to find Minaw. We're going
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: to post her information on our Instagram as well. Um
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: if you can listen in on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: We're on audio Boom and SoundCloud. Yes, and leave us
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: a review on Apple podcast A nice one please if
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: you feel like to do so. Thank you so much.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: And this is thank you Mada, and thank you everyone
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: for tuning in. This is Mommy's Making Mambo by Maday,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Mommy making, Mommy making mom oh and the domain and
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: that then by your kitchen. My mother is the dictator.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: I refresh what his Carmen's culinary queendom. She becomes a
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: cuisine Gounki style d our wheelding a freshly sharp and
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: knife like a thought above her head. Here go Yad
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: doesn't stand the chants, no prepackaged ship. She is the
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: menu mercenary, the soldier of soul food backed off, funk
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: up cause mommy is making mombo. She hands the hats
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: of iron chefts off the window, still like roa stuck trophies,
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: and laughs at the sight of any edible food item.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: A no meats and the freezer spam and corn beef
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: and a can are transformed into virtual peel in minon,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: rice cooks itself instantly at her command and being jumped
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: into bubbling pops, shrinking e roll and Julia child mere
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: hamburger flippers in her presence. It was there in my
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: mother's kitchen that I learned more than just how to cook.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: It is where I learned the essence of rhythm and power,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: learned to dance in the midst of clanking glovit pots
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: and wooden mortars and pestles. She would say to me,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the way to a man's heart is through his stomach
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: and your hips. So you better learn how to cook me. Huh.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: She gave me the secret rescipe for a great more
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: too and a half cups of God. That I was
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: a pound, a gyrating pelvis, a pinch of her slips
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: or table spoon of shaking shoulders, and a generous hoping
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: of oh, combine and nix. And now I'm dancing the
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: way my mother cook slow, sultry, spicy sun lost an
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: natural instinctively chipping sweet sweat like fresh. Let you the
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: cock spinning. That's fast, that's beta was nothing summertimes upside.
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: He's dancing with us much kicking spot on my cards,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: standing strong like a morning time will stand o steamy
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: as my standard. That Christmas plan being clip poppy Mama
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: like bin Ya la la my love watering from music
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: with somebe ain't got that a foos dwn My hips
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: do stay as sally as ah fo God go little Flora.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: I'm cooking with stop out on my lando thunstop out
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: because Mommy is making mambo. Mommy is making mamba Mama
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: come int the food's radi