Latest / Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela] / Capítulo 129: Woman of Light with Kali Fajardo-Anstine

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Capítulo 129: Woman of Light with Kali Fajardo-Anstine · Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela]

0:02
Speaker 1: Radio Radio Radio Commies, a myth and Bullshit, a radio
0:16
Speaker 1: phonic novella. Look Radio hosted by Mala La Loca Mortis.
0:23
Speaker 1: Welcome to season six of Local Radio's next door. Look
0:29
Speaker 1: At Radio is a radio phonic novella, which is just
0:32
Speaker 1: a very extra way of saying a podcast. I'm Viosa
0:37
Speaker 1: and I'm Mala. Welcome back to look At Radio. Look Is. Today,
0:43
Speaker 1: we will be in conversation with the one and only
0:47
Speaker 1: Gali Fajaro Anstein. She is the nationally best selling author
0:51
Speaker 1: of her latest novel, which we will be discussing today,
0:55
Speaker 1: Woman of Light, and the widely acclaimed short story collection
0:59
Speaker 1: Sabrina and Gordina. You might remember her from a past
1:02
Speaker 1: episode of look at Our Radio, so I'm going to
1:04
Speaker 1: link that in the show notes. Tune into that first
1:07
Speaker 1: if you haven't already. It's really going to help round
1:10
Speaker 1: out the conversation for today's episode. We're super excited to
1:13
Speaker 1: welcome her back. We will also be reading Woman of
1:17
Speaker 1: Light for look us bo Libro's book club by look
1:21
Speaker 1: at the Our Productions. You can join us on Patreon
1:24
Speaker 1: dot com by subscribing becoming a member at Patreon dot
1:28
Speaker 1: com slash look at Dash Productions and you can join
1:33
Speaker 1: in on the conversation there read along with us. Now
1:36
Speaker 1: let's get into today's interview of it. And Hi, thank
2:27
Speaker 1: you so much for having me. So nice to be
2:29
Speaker 1: here with both of you. It has been years since
2:34
Speaker 1: we last sat down for our first interview on look
2:37
Speaker 1: at our radio. I remember it like it was yesterday,
2:41
Speaker 1: pre pandemic. We were still recording at EsPAS nine. You
2:45
Speaker 1: were visiting boil Heights because your mad had invited you
2:50
Speaker 1: out to do a reading of your first book, Uh,
2:54
Speaker 1: Sabrina and Corina, And now it's you have your first
2:58
Speaker 1: novel out, so we're to get into the journey from
3:01
Speaker 1: then until now. Thank you so much for stopping by
3:04
Speaker 1: once again. Oh my gosh, thank you for having me
3:08
Speaker 1: that that visit to boil Heights, to the studio with
3:12
Speaker 1: you both in Espasio. That was such a highlight of
3:16
Speaker 1: my debut year with Sabrina and Karina. And so yes,
3:20
Speaker 1: I also remember it like it was yesterday, and I
3:21
Speaker 1: feel like I'm sitting there with you both again today. Yes,
3:26
Speaker 1: So let's get into just a general like how are you.
3:31
Speaker 1: It's been such a long time, so many changes. Pandemic
3:36
Speaker 1: work moving like let's talk about all of it. How
3:40
Speaker 1: are you doing today today? I'm okay, Um, I'm getting
3:45
Speaker 1: really sort of I'm accepting the fact that I have
3:48
Speaker 1: a novel coming out, and it appears to me that
3:51
Speaker 1: a lot of people are already reading this book. And
3:54
Speaker 1: I think that's because of what happened with Sabrina and
3:56
Speaker 1: Karna and what happened, I mean, all the amazing, fabulous
3:59
Speaker 1: things how it found so many readers across the world.
4:03
Speaker 1: But this is really different, and so every day I
4:06
Speaker 1: sort of wake up and I have to feel a
4:08
Speaker 1: little bit more grounded because it's like if I opened
4:10
Speaker 1: my email right away, there's a lot of things that
4:13
Speaker 1: need my attention. Um. And because of the pandemic, I've
4:17
Speaker 1: just sort of been in a lot of different spaces
4:19
Speaker 1: both where I've lived because I didn't have stable housing
4:22
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the pandemic Denver, the housing market
4:26
Speaker 1: is just totally unlivable in some ways, So I've been
4:29
Speaker 1: sort of flung around all over throughout these past few
4:32
Speaker 1: years since I last talked to you. Um. But yeah,
4:35
Speaker 1: like today, I'm feeling extremely hopeful and excited because I
4:40
Speaker 1: got this book coming out and it's it's here and
4:43
Speaker 1: it's beautiful and I'm so excited for it to be
4:45
Speaker 1: in the world. I mean, when Serena Gordina came out,
4:50
Speaker 1: I remember like it was yesterday because this was before
4:54
Speaker 1: for me, pre book club, but still like a love,
4:57
Speaker 1: a lover of books, a reader, and I remember that
5:01
Speaker 1: book just literally like circulating online like constantly, and that's
5:06
Speaker 1: what led me to inviting you to join us the
5:09
Speaker 1: first time. Now, like you have a dedicated following of readers.
5:15
Speaker 1: UM you even had two are were they podcasters or
5:20
Speaker 1: to two folks write you a love letter, a love
5:23
Speaker 1: letter to Bali Fajado Anstein. So you have like a
5:27
Speaker 1: real dedicated fan base and we love that for you.
5:29
Speaker 1: You know, it's so important to support the people and
5:32
Speaker 1: the work that we love, and so to see you
5:34
Speaker 1: get that support from everyone is amazing. So much has
5:38
Speaker 1: changed since you were last on Look at the Radio.
5:41
Speaker 1: How has the UM release, the upcoming release of A
5:47
Speaker 1: Woman of Light differed from Sabrina and Cornina's release. Yeah,
5:52
Speaker 1: so it's been it's been a lot of different. It's
5:54
Speaker 1: been a lot of it's been a very different release.
5:58
Speaker 1: And if I'm going to be frank, I want to
6:00
Speaker 1: share this with listeners because I want listeners to know
6:03
Speaker 1: I have support now from the publisher in a way
6:06
Speaker 1: that I did not have before. And I think this
6:08
Speaker 1: is important for all Latina and Latin NEXTUM creators to
6:12
Speaker 1: know about UM because now I see how different it
6:16
Speaker 1: can be. UM. So from the very beginning of this
6:19
Speaker 1: book being turned in, there was a lot of excitement
6:22
Speaker 1: at the publishing house. I'm so grateful. I'm with my
6:26
Speaker 1: my same editor for Sabrina and Karna and Nicole Counts.
6:28
Speaker 1: She's an incredible person. But I've been pointing in front
6:32
Speaker 1: of a lot of booksellers, I've done a lot of
6:34
Speaker 1: events UM just small things here and there, but all
6:37
Speaker 1: of that really adds up and you can really feel
6:40
Speaker 1: when you have sort of institutional support backing you. And
6:44
Speaker 1: it's something I want to share because I want other
6:46
Speaker 1: people to know we can strive to get that and
6:49
Speaker 1: when we have it, I it's I think it's important
6:51
Speaker 1: to make the best of it because I do know
6:53
Speaker 1: what it was like when it was just me, like
6:55
Speaker 1: emailing people and being like, please please pay attention to
6:58
Speaker 1: my book. UM So it's been It's been wonderful that way,
7:02
Speaker 1: but it also comes with a new readership, and that
7:05
Speaker 1: new readership maybe is not as familiar with my themes
7:08
Speaker 1: or the kinds of characters I write about, or even
7:11
Speaker 1: the history of the people that I come from in
7:13
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form. So it does come with challenges,
7:16
Speaker 1: but that's part of why I'm making work. I want
7:19
Speaker 1: this to be expanded. I wanted to be out there
7:21
Speaker 1: in the world and I want people to see us.
7:24
Speaker 1: And I seem to remember that for Sabrina and Gordina,
7:28
Speaker 1: you were essentially organizing your own book tour and getting
7:33
Speaker 1: carrying your box of books around the country, um to
7:39
Speaker 1: to read and to get it up there. And I mean,
7:44
Speaker 1: what does what does the support of like a publisher
7:49
Speaker 1: now mean for your ability to travel and really get
7:53
Speaker 1: the work out there? Because I know it's it's way
7:56
Speaker 1: different like we have been Indie since the beginning, just
8:00
Speaker 1: like you've been Indie, you know, and we're trying to
8:02
Speaker 1: get to that next place too of having that institutional support.
8:07
Speaker 1: And I'm so curious about like the in person events
8:11
Speaker 1: and and the book signings and things like that, and
8:17
Speaker 1: if even maybe you like miss it a little bit
8:19
Speaker 1: like the origins, you know, the beginning, and just that
8:24
Speaker 1: hustle and just yeah, especially with the in person and
8:27
Speaker 1: the touring stuff. Oh my gosh, MA, they'll never take
8:31
Speaker 1: the hustler out of me. So I am still like,
8:33
Speaker 1: I'm like, do you guys want to take care of this?
8:35
Speaker 1: I'm still like trying to email and set up my
8:36
Speaker 1: own gigs or like what are you doing? Um? Okay.
8:40
Speaker 1: So because of the pandemic, the publishing house has learned
8:44
Speaker 1: that we don't need to be in person as much.
8:47
Speaker 1: So a lot of it still will take place I
8:49
Speaker 1: don't know about digitally, but they'll be very selective um
8:53
Speaker 1: where I'm sent, and it won't be back in like
8:56
Speaker 1: the nineties and eighties people were going on these math
9:00
Speaker 1: some book tours and being flown all over the country.
9:02
Speaker 1: That model really doesn't work anymore, and I think it's
9:05
Speaker 1: because we have social media. So a lot of this
9:08
Speaker 1: is about strategically placing me in front of markets. Another
9:12
Speaker 1: thing that's changed since we last spoke is that I'm
9:14
Speaker 1: represented by speaking agent now and so if the university
9:18
Speaker 1: wants to book me or something, it's no longer just
9:21
Speaker 1: me behind the computer pretending to be an assistant and
9:26
Speaker 1: pretending to book my gigs. It's now sent over to
9:30
Speaker 1: an agent who um can either kick it back to
9:33
Speaker 1: me or they'll work on it themselves. Um So, a
9:36
Speaker 1: lot of it has changed, but I've gone I've gone
9:39
Speaker 1: through this sort of phase of recognizing that I am
9:42
Speaker 1: now a business and back when it was just Sabrina
9:45
Speaker 1: and Karina and me trying to get anybody in the
9:48
Speaker 1: world to listen to me. Please this little library in
9:50
Speaker 1: this little town. I'll never forget. I did a reading
9:54
Speaker 1: in a mountain town in Colorado and it was only
9:56
Speaker 1: me and two librarians that showed up, and I just
9:58
Speaker 1: sat and talked to them. But they're still fans to
10:01
Speaker 1: this day. Um So, I guess what I'm learning is
10:05
Speaker 1: that this is a lot of work by itself, and
10:09
Speaker 1: you can't really complain about this kind of work. You
10:11
Speaker 1: can't complain that you have to get up early and
10:13
Speaker 1: get dressed for a photo shoot and then switch over
10:16
Speaker 1: to another interview. You can't complain that you're getting weird
10:19
Speaker 1: reviews because the fact is people are paying attention to you.
10:22
Speaker 1: So it comes with learning a new skill set. But
10:25
Speaker 1: I think that hustle mentality that allows us to be
10:29
Speaker 1: better at our jobs when we do get to this level,
10:32
Speaker 1: Because if I don't. If you're not used to chasing
10:34
Speaker 1: and constantly um putting yourself out there like that, this
10:38
Speaker 1: could be a little uncomfortable. And right now I feel
10:41
Speaker 1: like I have pretty good boundaries and when something is uncomfortable,
10:43
Speaker 1: I just say I'm gonna let my public sister, my
10:46
Speaker 1: team handle that. And before I probably would have just
10:49
Speaker 1: walked away and like then like I don't want to
10:51
Speaker 1: talk to you, but now I have like people amazing, amazing,
10:58
Speaker 1: and you know, I want to remind folks UM that
11:00
Speaker 1: are listening or maybe becoming familiar with your work for
11:03
Speaker 1: the first time through this second interview, is that since
11:07
Speaker 1: we spoke, Sabrina and Cordina was a National Book Award finalist,
11:10
Speaker 1: in was winner of an American Book Award, and in
11:16
Speaker 1: one was the award winner from the American Academy of
11:20
Speaker 1: Arts and Letters. I want to senior year praises and
11:24
Speaker 1: your accolades on the interview, UM, because it's important to
11:28
Speaker 1: for folks to know, like all the work and the
11:31
Speaker 1: journey that you've been on, and you're also now an
11:34
Speaker 1: endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State and a
11:37
Speaker 1: ton of million other accolades, which is so deserved, right
11:40
Speaker 1: So what has that experience been like, going from, like
11:45
Speaker 1: Mala mentioned, indie hustling to now, you know, teaching creative
11:50
Speaker 1: writing at a university. Well, I haven't gotten there yet.
11:55
Speaker 1: I'm moving there in August and I'll just be there
11:57
Speaker 1: until December. UM. I really struggled as a student. So
12:02
Speaker 1: I'm really open with the fact that I dropped out
12:05
Speaker 1: of high school. I have a g E. D. UM.
12:08
Speaker 1: I dropped out of my first master's program as well.
12:11
Speaker 1: It was really isolating and hard for me. UM. And
12:14
Speaker 1: so I've always wanted to be an educator, and I have.
12:17
Speaker 1: I've taught before. I've worked as a college instructor, and
12:21
Speaker 1: I've worked. I taught high school dropouts, and I'm really
12:25
Speaker 1: passionate about helping other people learn because I felt like
12:29
Speaker 1: I was a non traditional learner, and instead of teachers
12:33
Speaker 1: trying to find creative ways to help me, I was
12:35
Speaker 1: punished with bad grades. So all throughout, like K through twelve,
12:40
Speaker 1: I'm getting d s and f s and maybe a
12:42
Speaker 1: C once in a while if I was lucky. UM,
12:45
Speaker 1: I don't know if these are the kinds of students
12:47
Speaker 1: that I'll be working with in a graduate program. Maybe
12:49
Speaker 1: you know, you'd ever know. Um, But I I think
12:52
Speaker 1: it's really important that we do think about an education
12:57
Speaker 1: who is in these positions of power. Um, I'm coming
13:01
Speaker 1: from this background that maybe is not very common in academia.
13:05
Speaker 1: I guarantee that many of my colleagues will not have
13:08
Speaker 1: a G. E. D UM, And so I'm gonna be
13:11
Speaker 1: very open about that while I'm there, And I'm also
13:13
Speaker 1: going to remind people that you shouldn't judge somebody based
13:17
Speaker 1: on their previous education experiences. UM. I'm just really excited
13:21
Speaker 1: for this opportunity to be able to be teaching at
13:23
Speaker 1: this level. But it also I mean, it felt really
13:27
Speaker 1: good when they offered me this job, like I thought
13:31
Speaker 1: they were calling about something else. I had never even
13:34
Speaker 1: dreamed that this was possible. And I was like joking
13:37
Speaker 1: with somebody because if you google me, UM, that right
13:41
Speaker 1: by each other, side by side, there's an article that
13:44
Speaker 1: says high school dropout publisher's novel, and then there's an
13:48
Speaker 1: article that says colleague for hard of Anstey named Endow
13:51
Speaker 1: Chair of Texas State University's Creative Writing program. And so
13:54
Speaker 1: this is really important to take up space in that
13:56
Speaker 1: way and to see that we can have educational diversity
14:00
Speaker 1: in these positions. That's a flex. If if nothing else,
14:07
Speaker 1: that is a flex And it really exciting to see
14:11
Speaker 1: and just to see you and your talent and your
14:14
Speaker 1: work and your hustle in action and to be rewarded
14:18
Speaker 1: in these ways, um in an academic space. It's very
14:22
Speaker 1: cool and just kind of knowing, like our listenership and
14:27
Speaker 1: our followers and likely a good segment of your readers,
14:31
Speaker 1: there are so many latin As in particular who have
14:33
Speaker 1: had non traditional educational and work experiences, and I think
14:39
Speaker 1: that that's part of why so many folks have gravitated
14:43
Speaker 1: towards your writing. It's also your your story and who
14:46
Speaker 1: you are as an author. So I just want to
14:49
Speaker 1: shout you out for that and because you have this
14:54
Speaker 1: uh more unique kind of trajectory. How has that maybe
14:59
Speaker 1: impacted your writing process? How has that influenced your writing process,
15:03
Speaker 1: especially now in putting together this novel? Yes, okay, so
15:08
Speaker 1: this is the hardest thing I've ever done, is write
15:11
Speaker 1: a novel. Writing short stories was hard for me. But
15:15
Speaker 1: I could do it maybe in a month or two
15:17
Speaker 1: and then revised. It would take a long time to revise,
15:20
Speaker 1: But you can't write a whole novel in a month,
15:23
Speaker 1: and especially this novel, So a Woman of Light. It
15:27
Speaker 1: is essentially inspired by my ancestors that came north from
15:31
Speaker 1: southern Colorado in the nineteen twenties and thirties, and there's
15:35
Speaker 1: never been a novel that's addressed our history or this
15:39
Speaker 1: sort of migration pattern before. So I really had to
15:42
Speaker 1: do extensive research for this, and then I had to
15:45
Speaker 1: pivot and take all of that research. So I'm going
15:48
Speaker 1: to libraries, I'm going to archives, I'm going to elder's houses.
15:52
Speaker 1: I would have to take extensive notes. Then I would
15:54
Speaker 1: have to pivot, go over to the computer and then
15:58
Speaker 1: invent chapters. And I did this for over ten years.
16:01
Speaker 1: And so the idea of sort of pushing myself and
16:05
Speaker 1: being able to finish this it just seemed impossible in
16:08
Speaker 1: the very beginning. And one of the reasons it seemed
16:10
Speaker 1: impossible is before Sabrina and Krena came out, I was
16:15
Speaker 1: working all kinds of different jobs. It wasn't like I
16:18
Speaker 1: could just be a stay at home writer all day long.
16:21
Speaker 1: I had to go. I worked at a zip line
16:23
Speaker 1: from desk place, I was teaching at a front rag or,
16:27
Speaker 1: I was teaching at front range community college. I was
16:29
Speaker 1: teaching at Fort Louis College. I sold books, like I'm
16:33
Speaker 1: doing all these other things. So with this book, when
16:36
Speaker 1: it really came time to finish it and hunker down
16:39
Speaker 1: and get my job done, there were a few things
16:42
Speaker 1: that really stuck with me. One, I have to get
16:46
Speaker 1: it done. If I don't get it done, I don't
16:48
Speaker 1: have a book that comes out. That's just like the
16:50
Speaker 1: end of it. That's the end of the matter. Two,
16:54
Speaker 1: I have to because if I don't, then everything my
16:57
Speaker 1: family worked toward for me kind of sort of disappears
17:01
Speaker 1: with the success of Sabrina and Karina, and like there's
17:04
Speaker 1: more to it, Like we have to keep contributing. I'm
17:07
Speaker 1: very communal and very family oriented. So it was like
17:10
Speaker 1: I can't let all these people down, Like I have
17:12
Speaker 1: to keep going um. And Three I just I had
17:16
Speaker 1: a contract, Like I'm not somebody who's flaky. I gotta
17:20
Speaker 1: get this thing in. And I've known a lot of writers.
17:22
Speaker 1: This is very unfortunate, but there's a lot of writers
17:25
Speaker 1: who will sign contracts for books they haven't finished, and
17:28
Speaker 1: sometimes they're not able to get them done. So when
17:31
Speaker 1: it came time to finish this, I got off Twitter
17:34
Speaker 1: for I think it was I started for Lent, like
17:37
Speaker 1: I got off Twitter for Lent, and then I just
17:39
Speaker 1: stayed off for like five months and I and then
17:43
Speaker 1: I wrote a lot during that time. But I would
17:45
Speaker 1: write probably for six hours a day with a lunch break,
17:49
Speaker 1: and I've never done like full days like that. And
17:52
Speaker 1: I had a little, um, a little nap like chair
17:56
Speaker 1: in my office, and when I would get super tired
17:59
Speaker 1: from writing, I would go and I would nap and
18:01
Speaker 1: I would dream about my characters. Like Lizette would come
18:04
Speaker 1: to me and she'd have like clothes that she was making,
18:07
Speaker 1: and she'd be like, hey, what's up. You gotta get
18:09
Speaker 1: up and keep writing, and that I honestly have never
18:12
Speaker 1: dreamed about characters before. Like this is the first book
18:15
Speaker 1: where they started visiting me. So yes, it's been a
18:18
Speaker 1: I missed finishing the book. Actually, Like if I look
18:21
Speaker 1: back to last spring, that was a wild time in
18:24
Speaker 1: my life. Okay, first of all, so much fresher to
18:30
Speaker 1: continue your family legacy and document the origin story. And
18:35
Speaker 1: you definitely feel that in the book you like, you know,
18:39
Speaker 1: dedicated to your grandmother and your aunt I'm correct, Yeah,
18:44
Speaker 1: my great grandma esther and my Aunty Lucy her sister, right,
18:48
Speaker 1: And so you definitely feel that in the book that
18:51
Speaker 1: you're this is part of your family origin story and
18:54
Speaker 1: your family history. And in some ways you were acting
18:59
Speaker 1: like a story in and a novelist, so clearly different
19:04
Speaker 1: from Sabrina and Cordina. I know that that was inspired
19:07
Speaker 1: by some family stories as well. So how was the
19:12
Speaker 1: problem the writing process different from Sabrina and Cordinda. I
19:17
Speaker 1: know you explained like having all this different all this time,
19:20
Speaker 1: but in terms of like actually like how you told
19:23
Speaker 1: this story, was there any difference? The biggest differences it's long.
19:29
Speaker 1: I mean this is like over three pages and a
19:32
Speaker 1: short story. I mean that the most are like twenty
19:35
Speaker 1: five pages. So you have to really make use of
19:40
Speaker 1: this all this page space, Like I'm not the kind
19:43
Speaker 1: of writer who's going to tell a boring story, Like
19:45
Speaker 1: that's just not what's going to happen. So I have
19:48
Speaker 1: to figure out what kinds of dramatic scenes can I
19:51
Speaker 1: fit into all of these pages. And luckily, because Loose
19:56
Speaker 1: is she's a tea leaf reader, she can see back
19:59
Speaker 1: and forth. And I'm her brother Diego because he's a
20:02
Speaker 1: snake charmer and he's got all these different girlfriends, and
20:05
Speaker 1: there Auntie, Maria, Josie, she also has all these girlfriends.
20:09
Speaker 1: Because these characters are so dynamic, I had no shortcomings
20:14
Speaker 1: of scenes, like I would just sit down and think
20:17
Speaker 1: about them, and they were constantly doing things together. Um
20:21
Speaker 1: and so in that way, it was different because you
20:23
Speaker 1: just have to keep them going. I just have to
20:26
Speaker 1: keep them going off the page to the next page.
20:29
Speaker 1: I studied a lot of TV series when I was
20:33
Speaker 1: writing this book. I remember studying Breaking Bad. I watched
20:37
Speaker 1: it once in its entirety, like the whole series, and
20:40
Speaker 1: then I went back and I watched certain episodes and
20:42
Speaker 1: I really paid attention to the way that they're structurally made. Um.
20:47
Speaker 1: This helped because honestly, like a lot of us are readers,
20:50
Speaker 1: and more and more people every day are reading novels,
20:54
Speaker 1: but a lot of us we love TV shows and
20:56
Speaker 1: that's kind of the way that our brain has functioned
20:59
Speaker 1: around story, and we love oral storytelling. So I really
21:03
Speaker 1: wanted to sort of merge those two feelings. Another thing
21:07
Speaker 1: that was different about Woman of Light, it's just the
21:11
Speaker 1: sheer energy it took to keep going. So I actually
21:15
Speaker 1: did not write this whole book on the computer I
21:18
Speaker 1: wrote a lot in notebooks. I would sort of pre
21:20
Speaker 1: plan and then I would move those chapters over to
21:23
Speaker 1: the computer. And that's just something I don't do with
21:26
Speaker 1: short stories. With short stories, I sit down and I
21:28
Speaker 1: type it out. But this it's And also, I think
21:31
Speaker 1: because it's set in the nineteen thirties and in the
21:35
Speaker 1: eight hundreds, there was so much world building that had
21:38
Speaker 1: to go on. I had to think about their dresses,
21:41
Speaker 1: their their perfume. I had to go order Shalimar perfume
21:45
Speaker 1: and I ordered a bottle shall now number five so
21:48
Speaker 1: I could smell what they were like, you know. And
21:51
Speaker 1: I think because I was building all of this, it
21:54
Speaker 1: just was a lot to hold in your head. I
21:56
Speaker 1: posted some photos on my Instagram. I'll have to find them.
22:00
Speaker 1: You um where I'm just standing behind this wall of
22:03
Speaker 1: all these chapters and scenes. I mean, when you write
22:07
Speaker 1: a novel and you look back at what you've done,
22:09
Speaker 1: you cannot believe that the human brain can hold so
22:12
Speaker 1: much information, uh, so much information and so much like
22:21
Speaker 1: archival work and research and family history. I'm sure that
22:25
Speaker 1: you had to partake in to really be able to
22:28
Speaker 1: write this book. And I'm wondering, um, if you can
22:32
Speaker 1: share with us a little bit about the research into
22:35
Speaker 1: your family history and if there's anything in particular that
22:39
Speaker 1: was really transformational for you or that was surprising or
22:44
Speaker 1: or a real find um and maybe how that shows
22:47
Speaker 1: up in the work. Yeah. So this process of writing
22:52
Speaker 1: this book has also been a process of getting to
22:54
Speaker 1: know myself and my family better. And in that way,
22:58
Speaker 1: it's such a gift, like, no matter what happened with
23:00
Speaker 1: the book out there in the world, it's changed me.
23:03
Speaker 1: And while I've always known that we are indigenous people
23:07
Speaker 1: and I've always known about our roots. I found an
23:11
Speaker 1: old oral history video cassette tape that my mother did
23:14
Speaker 1: with my great grandma esther, and she's asking her all
23:17
Speaker 1: these questions about the languages she spoke when she was
23:19
Speaker 1: growing up, and they were talking about the Spanish they
23:22
Speaker 1: spoke and the French, and she sort of pauses and
23:26
Speaker 1: she looks at my mom and she says, we didn't
23:28
Speaker 1: just speak those languages though, and she mentions that they
23:32
Speaker 1: spoke to Youua. And this is the first time I
23:35
Speaker 1: ever realized that I grew up knowing my great grandma
23:39
Speaker 1: and the fact that I was this close to my
23:42
Speaker 1: indigenous language, that it was right there that I could
23:44
Speaker 1: touch it. Um. It was just so illuminating for me
23:49
Speaker 1: how that history has been erased from so many populations
23:52
Speaker 1: of our communities and erased very rapidly. It's not something
23:56
Speaker 1: that's super distant into the past. It's just a fuge orations.
24:01
Speaker 1: So that that was a huge gift to learn about. Um.
24:05
Speaker 1: I found my my godmother. She's my cousin, so she's
24:09
Speaker 1: loose in the story. In the story is her mother.
24:11
Speaker 1: Essentially my godmother is is very proud queer Chicana in
24:15
Speaker 1: her eighties, and she when we were growing up, she
24:19
Speaker 1: wasn't open about her sexual identity. It was more like
24:23
Speaker 1: she lived with my anti Dolores, but it wasn't her wife.
24:29
Speaker 1: It was like her roommate or her friend that like
24:32
Speaker 1: lived in the other you know, the other part of
24:34
Speaker 1: the room. I was like, we all knew, like that's
24:37
Speaker 1: your wife. Um. But through the process of writing this book,
24:41
Speaker 1: my godmother has become a very very open about her
24:43
Speaker 1: sexuality and about stories and the struggles that she went
24:47
Speaker 1: through as a queer butch woman. And it's just like incredible.
24:53
Speaker 1: And she also she pulled out this folder that she
24:56
Speaker 1: had and it was sort of like the top secret
24:58
Speaker 1: history of our family. Lin. And there were photos of
25:01
Speaker 1: my godfather, her brother. He was in drag in the
25:05
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies. He's so beautiful. There was one of my ancestors,
25:10
Speaker 1: my uncle Jakie, in the nineteen thirties. He was dressed
25:13
Speaker 1: like Carmen Miranda, and he's just so lovely looking in
25:17
Speaker 1: all this drag. And the fact that my family has
25:20
Speaker 1: a super rich queer history was just something we always
25:23
Speaker 1: knew it through the oral tradition. But to have all
25:26
Speaker 1: these beautiful photographs, um, but I think they had to
25:29
Speaker 1: hide them too because of the dangers associated. And she
25:33
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the police brutality inflicted upon my ancestors.
25:39
Speaker 1: What a gift and also sounds like some very intentional
25:44
Speaker 1: self preservation on your family's um, on your family's side,
25:50
Speaker 1: to to try to preserve themselves, right, the self preservation
25:54
Speaker 1: of all of it, of themselves, of the legacy um.
25:57
Speaker 1: And also a te tim into you being here with us.
26:02
Speaker 1: So what are your hopes for this book? For a
26:07
Speaker 1: woman of life? I mean, the biggest hope is is
26:11
Speaker 1: that people are entertained, Like I want people to be
26:14
Speaker 1: wrapped up in a big story and swept away. And
26:18
Speaker 1: then I want them to learn. I want them to
26:20
Speaker 1: pay attention to these characters, their hearts and their minds,
26:23
Speaker 1: but also to the historical context of what's happening here.
26:27
Speaker 1: Um my whole life, I felt like Chicanos from Denver,
26:31
Speaker 1: that our families had come from what is now southern
26:34
Speaker 1: Colorado and northern New Mexico. I felt like our culture
26:37
Speaker 1: was really invisible, and not very many people knew of us,
26:41
Speaker 1: especially a family like mine that's so multi ethnic, that's
26:45
Speaker 1: so blended. Um My great grandfather, Alfonso, he came from
26:48
Speaker 1: the Philippines. He makes a cameo in this novel. Um,
26:52
Speaker 1: there's Greek characters in this novel. It's just it's filled
26:56
Speaker 1: with sort of a Denver that used to exist that's
26:59
Speaker 1: no longer. You're here, and I want people to really
27:02
Speaker 1: be aware of that feeling of vibrancy and love. A
27:06
Speaker 1: friend of mine was telling me, he's like, you have
27:08
Speaker 1: to learn about Boyle Heights, Like the history is so fascinating.
27:12
Speaker 1: And he sent me a history book and he was
27:14
Speaker 1: saying that there's there's these old Greek families and there's
27:16
Speaker 1: these old Italian families. I was like that sounds just
27:19
Speaker 1: like where I grew up in Denver, and I think
27:23
Speaker 1: in this way maybe Woman of Light will connect communities
27:26
Speaker 1: that have not been connected before. And so that's another
27:29
Speaker 1: one of my big hopes. I sent it to my
27:31
Speaker 1: translator in Japan, Umiko Toke, and she has not convinced
27:36
Speaker 1: her publisher to take it yet, but they're gonna see
27:38
Speaker 1: how it does. So fingers crossed it will be in Japanese.
27:43
Speaker 1: But she was so blown away and she said, this
27:45
Speaker 1: multi lingual city. I've never seen anything like this in
27:49
Speaker 1: American books. And that's what I want. I want people's
27:52
Speaker 1: perception of our history to change and it to be
27:55
Speaker 1: a little bit closer to the reality of what it was.
27:58
Speaker 1: From my aunt, sisters and count other families, chills, amazing, Wow.
28:05
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Gali for joining us again. How
28:08
Speaker 1: can folks support you and support your book, your body
28:13
Speaker 1: of work. Please let them know. Well, the number one
28:16
Speaker 1: thing you can do is you can buy a copy
28:18
Speaker 1: of Woman of Life, preferably from a local independent bookstore.
28:23
Speaker 1: And then once you get Woman of Life, if you
28:25
Speaker 1: have not read Sabrina and Karina, I suggest going back
28:28
Speaker 1: and getting that book too. And then my other big
28:30
Speaker 1: ask is. Please tell other people because that is the
28:34
Speaker 1: number one way books get out there is through word
28:36
Speaker 1: of mouth, and follow me online. I'm on Instagram and Twitter,
28:40
Speaker 1: mostly Instagram at Kali Maja and Collie is serving face
28:45
Speaker 1: and looks and all kinds of things on Instagram, So
28:48
Speaker 1: give her the follow It's worth it, I promise, yes, face, looks, books,
28:53
Speaker 1: all of it ums and we are also really my
28:59
Speaker 1: bio yes please true les. We are also reading Women
29:03
Speaker 1: of Light with our book club Locas Bolibros, so if
29:07
Speaker 1: you want to join us in the discussion, you can
29:09
Speaker 1: join Loca. So thank you so much Gali for joining us.
29:13
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. It was so
29:15
Speaker 1: lovely to see you both again. Thank you Loka Motus
29:19
Speaker 1: for tuning in, and thank you once again to the
29:21
Speaker 1: brilliant Gali fa harlo Anstein for joining us. If you
29:25
Speaker 1: want to tune into her past episode on local radio,
29:29
Speaker 1: please do so, and also tune into all the previous gapulos.
29:32
Speaker 1: You have so much to catch up on. If you're
29:34
Speaker 1: a new listener, if you're an o G listener, welcome back.
29:37
Speaker 1: Thank you again. Bes