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1. Y por el mundo, www.kpfk.org.
2. I am Gregorio Luke, and you're listening to KPFK, 90.7 FM, Los Angeles, 98.7 FM, Santa Barbara.
3. And throughout the world, you can contact us at www.kpfk.org.
4. La Raza Radio, with Matt Cedillo.
5. Welcome to La Raza Radio, ready for La Raza, la casa de la gente, de la eslan.
6. We at La Raza Radio believe in drawing understanding from the study of history and economics
7. and our sense of direction for the advanced people and the movement.
8. Welcome to La Raza Radio.
9. This hour we're going to be joined by poet and author Erica Castro,
10. educator Erica Castro, as well as poet, author, and editor Eduardo Olmi,
11. and poet, filmmaker, and cultural curator, as well as organizer with Food Not Bombs,
12. Veronica Hauerke.
13. Welcome to La Raza Radio.
14. Welcome back, everyone.
15. We are now joined by Erica Castro. We're really honored to have her on for the hour.
16. Erica is a publisher as well as a poet. And she is for many years now been running Daxon Press.
17. They've published incredible titles, incredible poets, built a lot of community out in the poetry world here in Los Angeles.
18. And so really honored to have her on. So, Erica, let's get started. Tell us about your journey to becoming a poet.
19. Well, I started writing when I was really young. And it's weird because I wanted to be a writer.
20. That was like my vision. But then when I went to college, I majored in English and then I became a teacher.
21. And then you kind of forget that dream. So during the pandemic, I joined CLI, the Community Lit Initiative, and I wrote a poetry book.
22. But before that, I had written a self-help book called Creating Peace Through the Grieving Process.
23. But I knew that I had to write. And then I wrote in several anthologies.
24. I've been in a lot of anthologies, chapters about my life and things like that.
25. So it kind of started there and during the pandemic.
26. Where did you go to college?
27. I'm from Texas.
28. I'm from El Paso, Texas.
29. So I went to UT El Paso.
30. And then as soon as I graduated, I moved to LA.
31. Do you remember any of any inspirational professors you had or inspirational teachers along the way?
32. My teacher, June Sapkowitz, she was my English teacher in high school.
33. And she was the one who taught me how to write.
34. when I was in high school.
35. I was in a writing contest
36. and I won second place or something.
37. It was really cool.
38. And it was because of her.
39. She really pushed you.
40. She wasn't really close,
41. like where we were close or anything like that,
42. but she had high expectations and she pushed me.
43. Do you remember what you write about?
44. Was it a short story, an essay?
45. No, it was hilarious.
46. They gave us a quote about war, right?
47. And I guess I misread it.
48. And I think that's why I won.
49. And it talks about we must end these violent games before we destroy our society.
50. And I wrote about football and the demolition derby.
51. And I wrote about all these violent sports because I misread the quote.
52. And I won second place.
53. There you go.
54. There you go.
55. You had an interesting take you know Yeah So you moved to Los Angeles What time did you move to L As soon as I graduated so I was 22 years old I moved here
56. And I started teaching right away.
57. I've been teaching high school since 1997.
58. What brought you to Los Angeles?
59. I followed a guy.
60. A typical story.
61. So you become a teacher.
62. Where were you teaching?
63. I teach at Shore High School in Montebello.
64. I've been teaching there since 1997. So next year will be my 30th year. Yeah.
65. Wow. That's incredible. It's incredible. So you start, you come here, you become a teacher,
66. you start writing poetry, start taking poetry more seriously. What was that shift
67. in your life that made you decide to take poetry, make poetry more integral part of your life?
68. So I had applied for CLI, the Community Lit Initiative for the spring semester of 2022,
69. two and I got declined. They said that that I didn't qualify or something. And I was like, oh,
70. OK. You know, so then during the pandemic, they had Zoom meetings to like workshop and do poetry.
71. So I would join those Zoom meetings and I would, you know, work on poetry. And then I applied again.
72. I got accepted and we I was in the best class with the best teachers and best students. I felt like
73. the smallest person in the whole room because we have such incredible poets we had cory best kept
74. he's in our class winter uh tyler we had all these incredible poets in there as a matter of fact
75. in our class there was 14 and 13 have published their books so it's just it was a very strong
76. class so i felt like small in that room of incredible poets but um during that time in
77. I was going through a really, really difficult time and poetry saved me.
78. I was able to put it all in the page and I was able to navigate my life during that time.
79. And then it became a healing modality for me.
80. Could you dig a little more deeper into that? How exactly did poetry, you know, save you and change you?
81. Because I've always suffered from depression, anxiety, mental health and suicide ideation.
82. And I didn't have it as an outlet before.
83. And so when I wrote, I was writing what was happening, my feelings, and I was able to speak out loud the suicide ideation.
84. And so one of the things I do believe was we are only as sick as our secrets.
85. If people talked about what they're really feeling or what they've thought.
86. And then they have an outlet to put it out, then it loses power.
87. And so it became my space to speak my truth and navigate everything that I was going through at the time.
88. It was really a dark moment. And so throughout my life, I've always suffered from suicide, suicide ideation.
89. So the last episode I had was January of 2022.
90. And that in itself is a miracle.
91. Like, but it was because of poetry and poetry became my answer.
92. Wow. That's very brave of you, Sharon. Very, very powerful.
93. I'm really glad that you were able to find an outlet that regeared your mind and that poetry has a powerful impact in your life.
94. and ability to express yourself.
95. Could you share with the audience a poem?
96. Sure.
97. Let me see This is called How I Became Chicana Schooled in the racist Texas public school system the Mexicans were non In history books the Tejanos who died fighting Santa Ana were mere number never named
98. Yet the whites who fought at the Alamo were honored and venerated.
99. All over El Paso, Texas were high schools carrying the names of white men who died at the Alamo.
100. I had no idea until UT El Paso what a Chicano was and what it meant.
101. schooled by Chicana professor Rosalilia Solorzano, exposing myself to massacre of dreamers, trying to discover who and what I was.
102. Was I a Chicana? Being taught by Emma Perez and reading Gulf Dreams, learning love exists crossing genders that exist merely among humans.
103. Genders are irrelevant. Reading the controversial essay of Perez's essay, having the chutzpah to call Octavio Paz el gran chingón.
104. speaking truth giving voice but is standing in her power as a chicana woman saying my voice matters
105. these seeds were planted at age 22 and yet my chicana identity evaded me still not knowing
106. who i was until ethnic studies 20 years later was incorporated in la schools i learned the story i
107. never knew existed i learned about nomas the best these women signing their fertility away
108. their womanhood chopped for the preservation of the white man i was never taught about the
109. Bracero program, how these men lived in squalor, exposed to pesticides, not being paid, enslaved.
110. I had no idea there were high school walkouts, these brave students rebelling against the
111. vocational tract. My valedictorian professor of 18 told, your track is secretary, no college,
112. you're female anyway, you will be pregnant soon enough. Yet she rose and got her PhD.
113. These were the women who believed in me, who gave me hope, exposed me to empowered works that
114. screamed, you too, Archie Gunner.
115. That's great.
116. So in that poem, you mentioned some of these kind of challenges you had in your educational
117. journey, facing racism, facing real terrible sexist insults.
118. Can you tell our audience a little bit about, a little bit, expand on that a little more.
119. Tell us about some of the discouragement, because oftentimes I have people on the radio
120. show and many people who've distinguished themselves as professors, as authors, as
121. intellectuals of various kinds, all share the same experience of every time they showed a little bit
122. of spark in high school or even in college, it was almost like it had to be extinguished.
123. And so this is a really, really common experience for so many people, you know, so many Chicanos,
124. so many Chicanas that I've spoken to over the years. Can you tell our audience a little more
125. about that? So I'm an English and history major. So one of the things that I realized is that in
126. high school, they don't really teach all the entire history. It's almost like they only teach
127. what they want to teach. And, you know, a lot of the times it's, I know, I don't want to say it's
128. the teacher's fault because they have to follow a curriculum. But I didn't learn anything about
129. Chicano, about the United Farm Workers, the Brasa. I didn't learn about any of that until I went to
130. college. And so one of the biggest issues that I see is that students don't identify or connect
131. with who they are because there's nobody out there in the books that represents them.
132. And so what I do in my classes is that I teach at the end of the year a Chicano unit study.
133. and I teach them all those things that I didn't learn and you know and show them
134. documentaries I teach them about Ruben Salazar you know the Chicano moratorium these things that are left out only so that they know that they happened and that they existed and that we wouldn be here
135. And I tell them all the time, I, as a brown person, would not be standing right here as your teacher had this not happened, had the students not walked out, you know, had they had not fight for the rights.
136. We we wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to go to school and do something.
137. and so I tell them and then I teach them on a bellow so we're really close to East LA and I
138. tell them look everything happened here in East LA like you know art, Chicano art, Chicano music
139. like all these major things happened right here where you're standing this landmark and so so
140. yeah I make it a point to make sure I the cool thing is that I get to teach what I want so so
141. long as I incorporate writing, I teach them these things. How is the ethnic studies, the fact that
142. there's been such a huge push to teach ethnic studies statewide, how has that really affected
143. you as a writer? I mean, taking in this new information and how has it changed? So I was a
144. history major, right? And I'm still not certified to teach history. But when the ethnic studies
145. program came out, I asked to be trained in it. And that's when I was like, I have Professor Ochoa
146. from Cal State LA. He just recently published a book. He was our professor who came and taught us
147. and prepared us to teach ethnic studies. And so that's when I found out all these things that I
148. had never knew existed. Now I did learn a little about it in Texas in my history classes, but very,
149. very little um and at the uh the college level very little you know not much but when i took
150. the ethnic studies that i had no idea about nomas bebés you know and these women their femininity
151. been stolen i had fertility and stuff i had no idea all these things that happened um it was
152. because of professor o'truava and cal state lay who came and trained us on ethnic studies um and
153. And I was blessed to be able to be a part of it, even though I wasn't certified yet
154. to be history teacher.
155. So I would have never known.
156. I would have never known.
157. And I feel that these big gaps in our education system are a problem.
158. Now this year, they have implemented ethnic studies at the college level.
159. Now it's required.
160. You have to take at least one ethnic studies class as part of your general education.
161. Traditionally, at my high school, the kids have to pass ethnic studies one semester.
162. And I honestly think it's not enough, but at least it's something.
163. But the thing about it is they incorporate everything.
164. The Japanese internment camps, everything, everything in that one semester.
165. But at least it's something versus not having anything in the past.
166. You're listening to KPFK, La Raza Radio.
167. We're now joined by Erica Castro.
168. Erica Castro is a poet, a publisher, an educator.
169. and we're really, really honored to have her on this hour.
170. So Erica, so tell us a little bit more about,
171. so you as a history major,
172. how important is incorporating historical events
173. and themes and ideas into your work as a poet?
174. I was recently published and actually these poems that I read,
175. it's going to be published in the Círculo de Poetas anthology,
176. the one I just read, and then I was published in this anthology.
177. And we had like a Zoom meeting because it was actually happening in El Paso.
178. The meeting was in El Paso, but I was through Zoom because I couldn't go over there for this book.
179. And...
180. The ladies that were there in El Paso, what they said was, thank you for writing that piece.
181. Because I had to go and research all the events you pointed out in your poem because I never knew they happened.
182. So I think it's important to incorporate history because you never know who's going to take it further and research it.
183. You're cracking the door open with some really bright shining light.
184. Can you share another poem?
185. Sure.
186. Here it is.
187. Right.
188. So the one I'm going to read right now.
189. So this poem was inspired because I'm from El Paso, Texas.
190. And there's a detention center right outside of El Paso and it's in Clint, Texas.
191. And they've done investigative reporting and they've done all these different things to
192. show that these detention centers are not adequate for the children that they have there.
193. So I wrote this and it was inspired by the terrible conditions that these children have to live in.
194. And yet there's other options, but our government is just not, it's just not really seeing these
195. children as children. So this one's called detention centers. My name is Nina, short for
196. I am 8 years old. I crossed the border with the Coyote. Before we got captured, I am currently in
197. Clintex at the detention facility. I'm in charge of a two-year-old little girl. It is my job to
198. protect her because a man comes and takes some of the other girls and they do not come back the same.
199. I am eight, but I understand. The older girls say it is abuse. I'm not sure what exactly. I just get
200. a sick feeling in my stomach. I came to be with my mom. It has been cuatro años since she crossed
201. so we can have a better life.
202. But we got caught.
203. We are riddled with piojos.
204. The policeman got mad because we lost a piojo comb.
205. I know piojos.
206. We're not supposed to share the comb.
207. But they only gave us one.
208. And we all have piojos.
209. They do not care.
210. They feed us maruchan sopa, avena en la microondas, comida hecha con agua.
211. A little girl died.
212. We do not know how.
213. Something tells me she was killed.
214. There are people who are willing to pick us up.
215. I have a tia, a tio, mi mama.
216. But this government will not permit it.
217. They think we are better off detained.
218. But they keep us here, abused and touched by these cochino men.
219. The babies are taken care of by the teenagers.
220. They do not have enough pampers.
221. They do not let us take a shower.
222. This is a better life?
223. I would have rather stayed with Abuelita.
224. I just miss Mama so much.
225. Now I'm stuck here, hungry, dirty, and with piojos.
226. This is what this country does to all these little immigrant girls.
227. We are dangerous.
228. I do not know how.
229. They keep us in these cold cells.
230. We sleep on the floor.
231. They are sick children.
232. They give them Tylenol two times a day, but these kids are still sick.
233. I am eight, but I know that this is wrong.
234. Children suffering because this great country see immigrant children as a threat.
235. No parents, no rights, just trapped behind these dreaded walls.
236. Thank you.
237. No, it's a powerful piece about a terrible situation.
238. Erica Castro, you are, in addition to being a poet, you're also a publisher.
239. Can you tell us a little bit about DAX and how that got started?
240. And what does the name mean?
241. And let's start with that.
242. What was the name of the inspiration of the Dachshund Publishing?
243. So my grandson, his name is Dachshund, and he's Down syndrome.
244. And so when I decided to come up with the name, I wanted to honor my little grandson who, you know, who's a little piece of heaven.
245. And so one of the goals that I have and maybe I can throw this out there I want to do an anthology for Down syndrome parents and donate the proceeds to the foundation Because Down syndrome children are like the best They like the cutest precious things in the world And so that how I named him I named it after Daxon and yeah
246. he's the best. He really is. And so, yeah, I do think that it's important to amplify voices.
247. And so a lot of parents don't ever get to share their story about their child. And so I want to
248. to do that um as an anthology eventually trying to collect parents who have down syndrome children
249. and then donate the proceeds so let's be a collection of essays poetry short stories
250. anything poetry essays anything any type of writing you know to honor their their child
251. you know so another anthology that i did um was when leaving is the answer and i collected uh
252. There was 13 poets, different authors and writers and stuff, 13.
253. And, you know, a couple, one did a poetry and others did like their story.
254. But I think anthologies are so important because it gives you different perspectives of the same thing.
255. And, you know, I wanted that book.
256. That was my baby.
257. It took a whole year to put it together.
258. But because, you know, I had authors come in, authors come out.
259. but it was so important because I wish I had had that book when I was going through my divorce.
260. And so I think, you know, those are the type of anthologies that I like to put together,
261. anthologies that amplify stories and voices.
262. And they don't necessarily have to be poems.
263. They could be just the story, you know?
264. Yeah. Tell our audience a little bit more about this anthology.
265. When Leaving is the Answer, I actually have two men in there.
266. That was a hard one, is to get men to write their story.
267. but when I recruited the authors it was very very specific like you can tell us what happened
268. but you need to tell us how you healed and you need to give us resources you know sometimes
269. people just tell the story but then they don't give us the answer like what it what helped you
270. now everybody's different so you got to find what works for you so when I recruited the authors it
271. was very specific you can tell us the beginning you can tell us how you guys broke up you can tell
272. us everything that happened, but you can't leave us there. You got to tell us how you healed and
273. what resources you used that helped you. And, and yeah, we did that. And it was, you know,
274. like I said, it was something that I really wanted to put out there only so that people can get some
275. guidance and, and some sort of reprieve by listening to other people's stories. That's
276. Toy stories are so powerful because you don't know who you're going to heal with.
277. You know, I tell my authors all the time and I also publish student work at my work at my high school.
278. And I tell my students, you don't know whose life you're going to change with your voice, with your poetry, with your story.
279. This story, this book is not for you.
280. It's for who you're going to change because you wrote it.
281. and so and so I push my students to to write their books and stuff tell us more about the
282. the anthology you have with students that's very interesting the inner audience let's hear about
283. that so at my work I publish an anthology that has stories poetry art photography
284. and graphic art and so this year it was really cool because one of the things that I require
285. my students to do is I require them to submit and submit, submit, submit.
286. So this year we submitted to Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards and we submitted to 826 which is a national publication And I haven done the New York Times one yet but I think we going to do that one next year and I make them submit and it I don
287. care it's for a grade you have to do it you have to turn it in and thank god because this year
288. we won 17 writing awards for the regional level and two art awards and you know again these kids
289. wouldn't know their value and their level of writing. Because I can tell them how good they
290. are, all that they want. But when they get an award, it's a completely different animal. And
291. what I've seen, because I have had several students publish their little books, it changes
292. them. They're not the same. They become more confident. They believe in themselves. They
293. started a project and they finished. So it's such a big deal. One of my students that I had
294. that published his book, I was very shy, very quiet. I mean, he, you know, he was kind of quirky
295. and he found me and he said, thank you. And he said, now I'm president of the Puente program.
296. And if you had told me two years ago that this kid would be the president of the Puente program,
297. I'd be like, nah, but he is. And I think a lot of it was because he published his book.
298. Wow. That gave him the courage and the confidence.
299. Now you've taken Daxson Press to AWP. I saw that, you know, we ran into that and in other conferences.
300. So, you know, this press is an independent press, but, you know, you're doing some big things with it.
301. So tell us a little bit about AWP, what AWP was and why it was important to get Dax impressed there.
302. So we this year will be our third year at AWP.
303. It's the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.
304. And so when it came to LA, I had my little table there and it was my first year.
305. It was incredible. And then last year we went to Baltimore.
306. And it was incredible because we ended up having like three off-site readings and we had a reading at there as well. And it was great. It was a great experience. I think I had six authors come with me. Let me see. Oh, Peter, Cherise, Clara, me, six, six authors.
307. And so that was, you know, just exposing the authors of what's out there, you know, the different sessions, because there's a lot of sessions and stuff and you can always grow and learn networking.
308. It was a really good experience. And so this year we applied for some proposals. We'll see what happens in Chicago.
309. you know I we do have a booth this year also we're we're splitting it with one of my partnerships
310. a simply youth and so um yeah we're gonna go to Chicago um I just think it's important I think as
311. writers I know we live in LA but as writers when you go to the AWP conference it just takes you to
312. another level because you see thousands of people there you know so many people there and they're
313. all in the same type of industry and stuff so i think it's incredible it really grows you it
314. really kind of envi makes your vision larger now i 100 agree i mean it's really honored to you know
315. the el martino press and daxton press have a good working relationship it's really great to work
316. with you can tell us a little bit more about the some of these authors that you mentioned though
317. can you tell a little bit about peter lechuga his book and and uh and where else you would like to
318. highlight i have really i very very blessed because i gotten really good authors and their books are just incredible Peter Lechuga he pretty much my right hand man
319. Him and Charisse, Charisse Cameron, they both were my editors for the anthology that we published, Together We Rise, to raise money for Chidla.
320. And so, you know, Peter, if I need him and he's available, he's there.
321. Charisse as well she's my editor and you know they're both they're both committed to like
322. the cause and Peter's poetry is more political and and you know trying to set a statement and
323. um I just applaud them both because you know together the three of us came and said okay we
324. have to do something what are we going to do and then we're like okay let's create this anthology
325. okay then and we did it and um and you know we've donated about 480 to chila and you know we haven't
326. really sold a lot of books but still you know something is better than nothing and we're trying
327. to trying to get them funds it's completely a pro bono project you know well that's one of the
328. things that i like to do i know a lot of people are like oh how are you doing these pro bono
329. projects because i believe that you put good in the world and if you put good in the world
330. you're gonna get get it all back you know what i mean and so for me i've done several pro bono
331. projects i did the chila one and i also did the one for the commerce library and it's because
332. it honored people from the community you know people who are in their 80s and 90s and they
333. were writing their stories for commerce like that's such an important part of history important
334. part of the community. And so, you know, so that's why sometimes I do do those pro bono projects is
335. to help, you know, whatever I can help. And, and so, yeah, I do it for the good of the world.
336. And I believe that everything that you put out there that's good will come back. And so,
337. so yeah, Peter, Charisse Cameron, she wrote Gamma De Collectica Mandane, great book.
338. um sam sammy her book is incredible we have a split pomegranate by melanate why i don't know
339. how to say her last name kintsugi jamie maxwell we've just had a ton of books in a short time
340. lily of the valley rosalia mendoza just all these different books that have come across
341. that we've done my berkeley author i have a berkeley author her name is aria
342. altimirana cuaresma she's done um she's done a couple of anthologies um americas sin fronteras
343. she put that one together um peruanas that's a an anthology of peruvian women and it's fully
344. bilingual it has all english all spanish um and she did mariposa de fuego so yeah i've had several
345. authors i have um a lot of my i'm famous for uh pride month we did uh alex una lorenzen we did
346. their book and then um shane we did their book also so yeah i'm you know it's so important to
347. give people voice it's just something and i'm going to be doing maestro deshawn's book soon
348. also. So I'm super excited about that.
349. And so, yeah,
350. I'm just trying.
351. I think I'm remiss not to have asked this earlier,
352. but when did you get started with Dax and Press?
353. May
354. 9, 2024
355. was my first book release.
356. Wow. So in just a little over two years
357. time uh you've accomplished all this that's incredible yeah incredible amount of publishing
358. oh ellie lupe chiona chingona great book great book yeah um yeah we've had some pretty great
359. authors i'm just blessed just blessed that they would um come with me you know and i'm also in
360. partnership with simply youth it's a non-profit and i publish their books pro bono it's um they
361. work with a specific age group like 16 to 24 and we publish their anthologies or if they have
362. individual books we publish their books so yeah yeah that no that that's really an amazing amazing
363. feat uh in two years time and you're doing such important work i guess i could ask you right now
364. if you could share one final poem uh with our audience if possible sure of course i want to i
365. to read this one and lakesh is a short poem a mayan poem recited daily in tucson's classrooms before
366. the band and lakesh you were watering tucson students with self-love and respect they were
367. blooming honoring you scream devotion and acceptance your flowers thrived doing the
368. impossible doing homework wanting to learn applying to college these flowers meant to fail
369. were learning, taking in a slan with so pochli, finding who they were. En la kesh, your words
370. forged bonds, your words inspired peace, your words spoke for them, the marginalized. Superintendent
371. Horn dehydrating these flowers, controlling the racist school system, making foolish laws,
372. trampling these flowering students. They were fighting to keep you alive, protesting, challenging,
373. going to court, but en la kesh you were banned, made illegal, claiming you were dangerous,
374. infecting their brains, isolating, brainwashing. How could something so pure, my dear, in Lakesh,
375. you, be so damning, so cursed? You were just shining light, inspiring, uniting, believing,
376. healing. Had this been for white kids, you would have survived, but you were changing children of
377. all colors, so they had to change the narrative. They had to say you were conspiring treason.
378. You were segregating, saying brown kids are better than others. How could Tucson Public Schools
379. actually allow brown kids to succeed.
380. They do not belong in college.
381. These kids are the day laborers,
382. the bottom rungs of society.
383. In Lakesh, you are powerful.
384. You changed the trajectory of their lives.
385. You gave them hope when there was none.
386. You showed them that they mattered.
387. They were loved.
388. I question how could a short poem be so threatening
389. when there are just simple words, yet.
390. In Lakesh, you were a ritual in their souls.
391. You were a way of being.
392. you were resilience defining for them true empowerment you're listening to kvk la raza
393. radio we're joined by erica castro and this incredible poetry that she's been sharing
394. erica final question where can people find out more about you specifically as a writer and where
395. can people find out more about your press dax and press so i have um my instagram erica lopez 74
396. that's me and then dax and publishing on ig we are revamping our website but we still have it
397. It's DaxonPublishing.com.
398. I finally hired someone to join us to our website because I'm not too good at that.
399. But I can publish books.
400. So, yeah, you can find me, reach out.
401. You can also email manuscripts or if you know anybody with parents that have Down syndrome and they would want to write their story at DaxonPublishing at Gmail.
402. And, yeah, I'm open to receiving anything from anybody.
403. Thank you guys all for being here and for having me here.
404. I really appreciate it And I actually lied Final final question What advice do you have for young writers or anyone who might be struggling with depression uh and the healing power of writing how it might help
405. get through some tough times well okay so there's this online journal called penzu.com that i really
406. strongly suggest and this is where you cuss everybody out and you tell like you want to
407. that this is i mean i remember i opened it up the other way i'm all this is some f and f and f and
408. And that's where I do this thing called Penzook because you don't want it to be out there in the world.
409. It's something that you want to do for your own healing.
410. So I really do suggest you, you know, you spit, put it all on the page, you know, and you keep it safe.
411. And so that's where I, you know, when I have really difficult things going on or I'm really angry and I want to, you know, cuss people out that I shouldn't cuss in their face.
412. I do it in this journal.
413. and just taking it out and putting it on the journal is just such a powerful thing because
414. it allows you to get it out of your body. See, I believe that trauma, it lives in our body.
415. And so when you don't pull it out, it stays there. And so I strongly suggest that you guys use this
416. modality of poetry, stories, writing, so that you can help others heal. And one of the things,
417. you know, for writers that are struggling or whatever.
418. One of the things that I suggest is Julia Cameron's artist way.
419. She talks about the morning pages where you just put it all on the page.
420. Just put it all on the page.
421. The first, you know, 750 words, just put it all out because it takes it out of your head,
422. out of your body, onto the page.
423. And I think that's really helped me, especially I didn't think I shared, but I'm ADHD.
424. and so um that writing it all on the page was really hard for me but when you do it and you
425. do it and you do it eventually it becomes a habit and you're able to do it even meditating you know
426. meditating and they call it sitting in the power it was very difficult for me but after a little
427. bit at a time you get better for writers i suggest you submit you submit you submit you submit because
428. you never know who's going to pick up your pieces. If you don't submit, the answer will always be no.
429. The answer is always no, we don't submit. That's beautiful. Thank you so much for your time,
430. Eric Castro, and we will talk again soon. Thank you.
431. And welcome back to La Raceria.
432. We're now joined by Veronica Hauerge.
433. Veronica Hauerge is a poet, a cultural organizer, a curator, and also a filmmaker,
434. and also a volunteer with Food Not Bombs.
435. And Veronica, tell us a little bit about what's going on this Sunday in Highland Park.
436. Well, we've been relaunching the Highland Park Food Not Bombs.
437. and every Sunday, two to four, we have tacos and music, solar music.
438. You can come jam out with music.
439. I mean, there's nothing like this in the whole city.
440. This is very unique.
441. You get free food.
442. You get to feed hungry people.
443. You get to taco people.
444. You get to listen to great music while laying down, picnicking.
445. There nothing like this in the whole city You could go to maybe a music thing that they just having Yeah but you not going to get free food So I mean this is amazing and people shouldn be missing out And we need more volunteers So I came back on the radio to see please
446. we just need volunteers to help us get food from the farmer's market, to help us prepare food,
447. help us take the food over.
448. I think I might make, I get paid this week,
449. so I think I'm going to make some burritos with these really great tortillas.
450. Anyway, so going on to, I want to expand to East LA,
451. to the East LA Civic Center.
452. So we need volunteers for that.
453. So if you'd like to expand and if you're in the East LA area,
454. we need like some good people to just help out.
455. very easy stuff just help us out uh getting the leftovers from uh from farmers markets
456. asking markets we have all the paperwork we are a non-profit we have been going on for
457. since the 60s it started uh well chris will come on the radio show and tell you the whole history
458. of food not bombs but um he had he has been doing food not bombs for probably like 20
459. 20 plus years in Highland Park
460. with a lot of people.
461. But we're doing it at Highland Park.
462. We've been doing it for about two to three years.
463. And this is a new rendition we're doing in the park.
464. So we're calling it Sunday in the Park.
465. Music in the Park, Food in the Park.
466. You could even just bring something to share,
467. like a potluck, you know,
468. and just come and listen or jam out with the music.
469. so east la we want to do it at the civic center and uh we want to have music and we want to have
470. more like latin music so let's focus on what's going on in highland park though so sunday what
471. time two to four in front of the bike oven pasadena avenue and um and figueroa it's a little
472. park and it used to be just a pool like that was it it was just a pool there and and they covered
473. it over and they just it's just a little park now yeah now last week there was some poetry as well
474. oh we had poetry last week it was fun matadillo was there cotarian i did some poetry and then um
475. we had such a good time that on tuesday at the farmer's market uh woody uh from food not bombs
476. downtown LA, which they feed on Sundays
477. at Pershing Square, I think at 5,
478. and at Skid Row in front of the
479. police station, I think at 6 or 7. So that happens
480. every Sunday. So we are doing two things on Sunday. So we're 2 to
481. 4, and then later on they are feeding in Skid Row.
482. And then we're going to expand to East
483. on Wednesdays. So if you'd like to volunteer for Wednesdays, come on Sunday. We'd like to meet you
484. and it's pretty easy work and you're doing a lot of good. We also do a pantry. So tell us why is
485. it so important to include music and poetry and various other forms of culture at these events?
486. Right. Usually Food Not Bombs just feeds people at protests. But we feel that a protest can be
487. anytime because we are called
488. Food Not Bombs. The whole thing
489. that we're doing is a protest.
490. So, I mean, where we are,
491. what we do feeding people is an act of protest So one final time where are you going to be this Sunday We going to be at Grayers Park which is in front of the bike oven in front of Avenue 50 on Figueroa
492. And what's the best way to get a hold of you if people do want to volunteer?
493. It is a Cypress stop on the Gold Line.
494. It used to be called the Gold Line.
495. Now it's the A-Line.
496. So what is the best way to get a hold of you if people want to volunteer?
497. I would say to show up
498. I would say show up on Sunday
499. 2 to 4
500. last week we had
501. somebody from HM 157
502. and hopefully we will be doing poetry
503. and music there
504. coming up in August
505. and we'll let you know those dates
506. okay we'll let you know those dates come closer
507. thank you so much for your time
508. one last time for our audience
509. where is this going to be on Sunday
510. on Sunday it's Grayers Park
511. it's in front of the bike oven
512. in front of Avenue 50 in the Avenue Show.
513. It's Pasadena Avenue and Figueroa,
514. and it's a Cypress stop station.
515. So we do make a, we prep some food,
516. and then we make tacos or burritos or whatever we have.
517. Fruit, we cut up fruit.
518. We give and we share and eat food and enjoy music,
519. bring a blanket, and just prepare to chill.
520. Thank you so much for your time.
521. Thank you.
522. And welcome back, La Raza Radio.
523. We're now joined by Eduardo Olmi.
524. Eduardo Olmi is a poet, an author, a cultural curator,
525. as well as an editor over at Ensemble Edizioni based in Italy.
526. And he is one of the managing editors at Affluenti,
527. which is an imprint on Ensemble.
528. So really glad to have you back.
529. We had you last week to talk about the upcoming trip.
530. And it's kind of an interesting thing.
531. I thought it would be really good to have you give us an update on how your trip went.
532. So, Eduardo Olmi, how have you experienced the state of California?
533. Yeah, it was a great trip.
534. And I want to thank Massadillo, first of all, of course, for the opportunity to have a reading again in Los Angeles and in San Francisco.
535. And so I want to thank, of course, also La Rasta Radio for this space and for this transmission.
536. and I had the pleasure to see a reading from El Martillo Press,
537. authors and poets in Roman Bookstore,
538. that is one of the oldest bookstores in Los Angeles
539. and I think one of the most important bookstores in Los Angeles.
540. And then we had a reading in Studio 347 on June 28th
541. and the day after, on Monday, we went to San Francisco
542. for a reading in the Italian bookstore
543. and then I had the pleasure to stay for some hours in Café Trieste
544. to write some poems in Café Trieste
545. and especially to meet some San Francisco poets
546. in the historical Café Trieste.
547. So great days, great trip and I hope to be back soon.
548. We have a project between Italy, Europe and the United States
549. with my studio at Martillo Press.
550. So I really hope to be back soon.
551. So, Eduardo, you had the opportunity to read with a number of really incredibly
552. well-known Chicano authors, Lorna Cervantes, Prince Louis Amandam.
553. What has been your experience?
554. I know that, you know, I've read out there with Italy many times
555. and represented Chicano culture there in Italy
556. and represented Chicano poetry there in Italy.
557. But what is it like for you to come here and see all these other Chicano poets
558. and be kind of immersed in some of the Chicano art scene?
559. I have to say that Chicano culture in the United States is something that I keep discovering every day and every step,
560. because my meeting and my path with that culture started and developed especially with the talent edition of Mastodilo Poems for Edizion Ensemble and Affluenti,
561. So I started to have a better view, a most large view of this very old and very important culture and sometimes especially counterculture in the United States.
562. And so this path developed and as I started to meet, I already was in touch with David Romero, but now I'm in touch also with important voices as Leonardo Cervantes.
563. So I'm discovering this world, I already know about this world, but every day and every time I'm discovering new voices and new aspects, new experiences of this important culture in the United States.
564. Of course it's very linked to the United States, but also to Mexico and to centuries of culture, of Chicano poets, of Chicano artists.
565. artists. Today we were also in touch with Jose Aguirre from Mexican Cultural Institute
566. in Los Angeles. So I had the opportunity to see some of Jose Aguirre's works, some mural works
567. of Jose Aguirre in Los Angeles. And I really had the feeling of this strong community and this very
568. ancient culture. And so I really hope that this meeting with Chicano Culture will go on. And
569. And I hope that we can keep letting this culture be known in Europe and in Italy too.
570. That's fantastic.
571. You listen to La Rassa Radio.
572. I'm Matt Cedillo.
573. This is KPFK.
574. And we are joined now by Eduardo Olmi here on La Rassa Radio.
575. Eduardo, so also you had the opportunity to read in San Francisco.
576. I know that reading in San Francisco means a lot to you.
577. That has been very profoundly shaped your view of writing.
578. you know, I know that you studied a lot of California literature, a lot of the beats, a lot of that writing that comes out of California,
579. and that City Lights and the whole history of North Beach was very important.
580. So we had a reading up in North Beach at the Italian bookstore, in North Beach at the Telegraph Hill Books.
581. What was it like for you to read at the Italian bookstore?
582. Of course, to have readings in Los Angeles and also in San Francisco is something very, very important to me.
583. I grew up with many influences from beat poetry, of course, also from Italian poetry, Italian avant-garde,
584. but beat poetry was something very important for me, to me, since I started my path with poetry.
585. and that influence keeps going on.
586. So having the opportunity to do this pilgrimage,
587. how to say, this trip, this big travel inside
588. the historical places of big culture
589. is something that I feel very much It was something very impressive to me to go to City Lights already in 2024 to meet new people in City Lights
590. On Monday too I was in the bookstore and I had the opportunity to have a trip in the
591. bookstore and I'm also discovering the Italian culture in San Francisco.
592. course as you know there is a big and important Italian quartier so places like Cafe Trieste,
593. Cafe Vesuvio and something some other historical places for big poets but also historical places
594. for Italian culture in San Francisco so I'm very happy about how the Telegraph bookstore
595. opened the door to me to mezzedillo to the poets for the reading and it's still impressive to me
596. to understand how in such historical places for poetry and culture, counterculture in the United
597. States and worldwide, Italian poetry is appreciated. This is very impressive to me to
598. understand how Italian tradition in poetry and Italian poetry is appreciated in such historical
599. places in the United States. I think it's an important dialogue that we can and we must keep
600. doing from Italian tradition and new Italian poetry and beat poetry and new poets from
601. Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have a question since I'm still here. You ate at the Paria today
602. and which is a historical restaurant for East LA. Did you get serenaded by mariachis? Did you
603. hear the mariachis? They go table to table. Yeah, to be honest I saw some mariachi maybe in the same
604. street that was a bookstore where we had a meeting about 68 in Mexico and 68 in Italy. Yeah, in San
605. Gervasio. I remember that in that occasion outside the bookstore I maybe saw that same restaurant and
606. saw mariachi playing in there and some of these things, some of the aspects will be in the
607. writings that I started from Los Angeles and San Francisco and I can I cannot do any spoiler
608. about this okay about this but Chicano culture Mexican culture in California and also mariachi
609. from that place will be will be in one of my poems there was not I think there were
610. not today but I remember the mariachi two years ago in that I think was the same restaurant
611. and the same place.
612. So it's a travel to me in this culture.
613. We have contact also, for example,
614. with Spanish and Mexican poets,
615. as even Vergara,
616. that keeps Mexican culture in Spain, for example.
617. Marcelino will be invited
618. for a meeting in La Sapienza in December in Italy
619. and then for a festival in Madrid, in Spain.
620. So I think this meeting
621. and this cultural bridge will go on
622. and something interesting could happen
623. in this meeting, okay?
624. we can share new things and new kind of dialogue between Mexican and Chicano culture and Italian and European culture and poetry.
625. It's one of the only restaurants where mariachis go table to table.
626. There is another restaurant, Si è Litto Lindo, where they are all facing the mariachi.
627. The mariachi are the center of stage and everyone goes in and they're all facing rows, rows, facing mariachis.
628. and when the mariachis go everyone sings along. This is a different
629. experience but this restaurant is one of those where there mariachi at every table I have to say that I did already know about of course about Chicano culture and Chicano influence in California history but to be here and
630. to see in person that culture and that history is something impressive because
631. it's stronger than everything I could think about it okay. It's
632. really the heart, one of the big heart of this place, this region of
633. of California. So it's something very beautiful, something wonderful to me to discover this
634. world and this historical culture and to share and develop the dialogue also with Italy and
635. with Europe about Chicano culture.
636. Yeah, shout out to La Paria and beautiful Boyle Heights. Okay, before we go, where do
637. you go, Edoardo? Can you share with us a poem?
638. about yeah this is a poem that I wrote in Rome when ten years ago I think it
639. was I had a reading with the great Jack Hirschhorn in Rome and I wrote this poem
640. is called the Big Nose Rome and when I was reading this poem in the last days
641. here in Los Angeles San Francisco people asked me to read the poem also in
642. Italian now I read it in English but was nice to me to read the poem also in
643. Italian for people in California.
644. Big Nose Rome.
645. Spring water gushes from the hidden stones of the eternal city, washing the wounds on
646. the consular roads, and the best part is that you can get soaked.
647. Young mothers in Torpignatara have rag dolls in strollers.
648. They sit at the gardens of compliance, sharing the pace with the others.
649. Like many, they don't know what to do.
650. Whether to rally on the Alessandrino Aqueduct or on the Centrocelli Archaeological Park,
651. where's Clash, Claudia, Vera Riot holding on to a free Wi-Fi by the hips, Puss in Charge
652. and Prenest in Love?
653. With only a few flues in the Carma, for too long awaited sky-blue scores, the craters
654. at orange traffic lights made out by riders on the Alle Primavera, and the brief, carved
655. in the middle of Via delle Robinie.
656. The manga tattooed behind the seat, two rounds of shots at the Suarez concert, pleasure and
657. desire that are recomposed in the mantra repeated at the Caserina Ring Road.
658. Electronic caterpillar pull.
659. Meeting at Filarete Station, they screwed the nose in to read a sign, wondering what
660. it meant.
661. From the Borgata dotted with shops, everyone seems to know his own.
662. Endless stories hang.
663. along the teeming water murals in the rest place between East and West.
664. But there is only one story at the moment.
665. The little stores with fresh fruit open until late at night, they deliver you to the far
666. west of Via Prenestina, self-managed bookshop with make-up for the set of Pasolini's films,
667. and partisan rally races up to the liberated Arizona of Pigneto, with the showdown at the
668. between evenings, organize it via WhatsApp after the readings with the laureate poets from overseas.
669. Thank you so much, Eduardo, for your poetry. Thank you so much for your time. Final question,
670. where can people get a hold of you? Where can people follow your work and find out more about
671. what you're doing? Well, now actually I have something like 15 poems translated into English.
672. Some of the poems translated were published in magazine reviews. For example,
673. Naked is a review from Victoria University in Wellington in New Zealand and other poems translated into English were published in Solstice It is an American review both paper review and online review and De Antonim also is an
674. Indian review, international review, published some poems of mine translated into English. All
675. this material can be, you can search on the web and find the Edward Dolmy poems translated into
676. English so both from for Italian and for American audience it's possible to to
677. follow my work I have a Facebook page an Instagram page and you can find my poems
678. translated into English also on the web thank you so much Eduardo thank you and
679. with that we want to thank our guests Erica Castro Veronica Hauergy and
680. Eduardo Olmi we want to thank you the listener we want to thank as always Gary
681. Baca without whom the show would not be possible thank you Gary and as always
682. always give you a lot of
683. ass.
684. Thank you.
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