WEBVTT - Willie Perdomo Comes Home

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<v Speaker 3>I'm Maria Inojosa La Latino Usa. Listener Alizba a show

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<v Speaker 3>from Los Archibos.

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<v Speaker 5>It's attention, you know, it's attention of kind of being

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<v Speaker 5>a native son and coming back and feeling like a stranger,

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<v Speaker 5>but yet feeling like this is still your you know,

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<v Speaker 5>your bodyo, this is still your your neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 3>From Uturo Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Nojosa. Today,

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<v Speaker 3>Poet Willie Perdomo comes home for today's episode. I'm going

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<v Speaker 3>to hand it over to producer Antonia City Huizel, Who's

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<v Speaker 3>gonna take it from here? Here's Antonia.

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<v Speaker 6>In the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties, New

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<v Speaker 6>York City was undergoing a moment of intense change. It

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<v Speaker 6>was the golden age of hip.

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<v Speaker 7>Hopes the world is Yours.

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<v Speaker 6>But it was also a time in which communities of

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<v Speaker 6>black and brown New Yorkers were seeing the effects of

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<v Speaker 6>both the crack epidemic and the decades long War on drugs.

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<v Speaker 6>Steve Young reports on a new kind of cocaine called crack.

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<v Speaker 7>Last year, we had over two thousand homicides here in

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<v Speaker 7>New York City. That's an average of five or six homicides.

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<v Speaker 6>Okay, this is the East Harlem that Willie Pedlomo tries

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<v Speaker 6>to wrangle with in his newest book of poetry, The

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<v Speaker 6>Crazy Bunch. Since the nineteen nineties, Willie has been known

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<v Speaker 6>as a poet, former, and writer with a special interest

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<v Speaker 6>in the sounds and sights of the city he grew

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<v Speaker 6>up in.

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<v Speaker 5>And it's going to be like two church boys talking

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<v Speaker 5>loud on the train, praising the Lord in a spanglish

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<v Speaker 5>hip hop speak.

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<v Speaker 7>Better guess on.

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<v Speaker 6>That's WILLI on Deaf Poetry Jam back in two thousand

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<v Speaker 6>and one. His most recent book focuses on a weekend

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<v Speaker 6>in the lives of a group of young men growing

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<v Speaker 6>up in Harlem, some of them based on characters from

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<v Speaker 6>Willy's own adolescence.

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<v Speaker 7>Basically, this is all my neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 5>But most of really, most of the book takes place

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<v Speaker 5>in you know what do we are?

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<v Speaker 7>One twenty?

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<v Speaker 5>Yeah, we're right around you know where everything happens, basically

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<v Speaker 5>where I grew up.

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<v Speaker 6>Along with producer say okay Vi though, Willie and I

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<v Speaker 6>decided to take a walk through his old neighborhood to

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<v Speaker 6>hear some of his work from his newest book and

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<v Speaker 6>reflect on his teenage years growing up in Harlem, even

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<v Speaker 6>the not so memorable spots. Does this block have a particular.

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<v Speaker 5>Significant But not really. I mean all these neighborhoods look

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<v Speaker 5>different to me. Like this building right here is just

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<v Speaker 5>you know, I would have never imagined a building like

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<v Speaker 5>that would just go up, and this thing look like

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<v Speaker 5>right now, it looks like a stencil.

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<v Speaker 6>Since the nineties, many people have left the neighborhood because

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<v Speaker 6>of rapidly rising rents. Willie himself moved out to New

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<v Speaker 6>Hampshire in twenty thirteen, and over the last several years,

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<v Speaker 6>East Harlem has seen, like many parts of New York,

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<v Speaker 6>an influx of developers, as evidenced by the shining new

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<v Speaker 6>condo we're standing in front of.

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<v Speaker 7>It's way out of place.

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<v Speaker 5>It seems like an an namely alvoice, you know, But

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<v Speaker 5>it seems like it's trying too hard too, you know.

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<v Speaker 5>So so we're going this way.

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<v Speaker 7>So this is where I grew up on fifteen East

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<v Speaker 7>one twenty second Street. The whole world really existed.

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<v Speaker 5>On this street. This is where I learned how to

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<v Speaker 5>play cards. This is where I saw my first gun.

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<v Speaker 5>This was everything. This is where I started thinking about

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<v Speaker 5>becoming a poet. And this is where I wrote some

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<v Speaker 5>of where Nickel kassa. Di'm on my good old fashioned

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<v Speaker 5>Olympia electric typewriter that I was my only Christmas gift

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<v Speaker 5>for nineteen eighty five. And you can hear me at

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<v Speaker 5>like two or three o'clock in the morning or you

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<v Speaker 5>hear like like like I thing like like that's all

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<v Speaker 5>you hear.

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<v Speaker 7>That's all you hear. You know.

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<v Speaker 5>So in the back we played stickball and then this

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<v Speaker 5>building came up and it had a nice basketball court.

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<v Speaker 5>They called this nineteen ninety. Now they call it the Smiley.

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<v Speaker 5>I think they call it like it has a whole new, fancy,

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<v Speaker 5>gentrified name. Now the Smiley's.

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<v Speaker 7>Yeah yeah, yeah.

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<v Speaker 5>So now eventually, what happens in the young brother's life,

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<v Speaker 5>really you grew up here, if you know, if that's

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<v Speaker 5>your trajectory, we're not gonna say for all young brothers,

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<v Speaker 5>is that basically you make your way from the stoop

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<v Speaker 5>and you make your way to the corner, and in

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<v Speaker 5>the corner is where you start letting all your lessons

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<v Speaker 5>you know about man, I'm not sure, if it's the

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<v Speaker 5>same now, But it was like that back then.

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<v Speaker 7>You know, we can go left here and then come

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<v Speaker 7>back up.

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<v Speaker 6>And this is the corner.

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<v Speaker 5>No, I'll tell you the corner we're about to walk

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<v Speaker 5>up in the corn This is one of the hottest corners.

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<v Speaker 5>In fact, you know that Lou Reed song where he

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<v Speaker 5>says when he's going looking for the man, this is

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<v Speaker 5>where he is up one hund twenty thirty.

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<v Speaker 7>Electus is around there looking for his man, for his connect.

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<v Speaker 6>Maating for my man.

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<v Speaker 7>So this is where everything was everything. There was a

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<v Speaker 7>Cuban man named Julio who had a video.

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<v Speaker 5>Game shop in this little store coming up here, but

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<v Speaker 5>you know this would be filled with people who just

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<v Speaker 5>lived in the neighborhood and kids and all that. You know,

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<v Speaker 5>there was there was commerce, there was traffic, there was music,

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<v Speaker 5>there were babies being born, and it seemed like such

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<v Speaker 5>an electric place, so electric that I could see it

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<v Speaker 5>coming out the train station on the summer night.

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<v Speaker 7>I could see this block shimmering. Basically, That's what the

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<v Speaker 7>way it felt like. But maybe because I was so

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<v Speaker 7>excited to come back. You know why is that?

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<v Speaker 5>Well, because the closest thing you knew to family was here.

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<v Speaker 6>The Crazy Bunch is the story of one tragic and

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<v Speaker 6>life changing summer weekend, told through the eyes of a

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<v Speaker 6>crew of friends, and it's modeled off of the memories

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<v Speaker 6>and stories will he grew up with. His work is

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<v Speaker 6>reflective of Harlem culture and the figures and places that

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<v Speaker 6>made it what it is, an attempt in some ways

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<v Speaker 6>to preserve a place and time that no longer exists.

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<v Speaker 6>I read that you said that even though the buildings

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<v Speaker 6>are the same when you come here, the faces are

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<v Speaker 6>completely different, completely.

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<v Speaker 7>Yeah. I mean there's something ghostly to that, right, right,

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<v Speaker 7>You're used.

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<v Speaker 5>To seeing certain folks on certain corners, or sitting on

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<v Speaker 5>a stoop, or being in front of a store in

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<v Speaker 5>the store walking down the avenue, and those kind of

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<v Speaker 5>moments now are few and far between. But it's attention,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, it's attention of kind of being a native

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<v Speaker 5>son and coming back and feeling like a stranger m hm,

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<v Speaker 5>but yet feeling like this is still your you know,

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<v Speaker 5>your body, or this is still your your neighborhood, this

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<v Speaker 5>is still your your blocking And if someone were to

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<v Speaker 5>to doubt that you would have enough stories to tell them.

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<v Speaker 1>Actually, can we read the first.

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<v Speaker 5>Poem yeah, So this is the It's called in the

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<v Speaker 5>face of what you remember, And the title was taken

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<v Speaker 5>from a from a Lanxon Hughes poem and the first

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<v Speaker 5>stanza in the poem was the first that came to

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<v Speaker 5>me when the book started. You remember, that was the

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<v Speaker 5>summer of up rock, quarter water speed, notch, pillow bags

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<v Speaker 5>two for five, Jesus pieces in bamboo, the Willie Bobo

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<v Speaker 5>was turned up to ten, and some would have said

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<v Speaker 5>that the science was dropped on our summer, the summer

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<v Speaker 5>that was lit with whispers of wild style rock steady

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<v Speaker 5>battles and white party plates made all kinds of moons

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<v Speaker 5>on the playground phone. The some of the burner was

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<v Speaker 5>used to eat in mandate inspired Sunday sermons became a

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<v Speaker 5>literary influence, with humming climaxes, a bribeable tale, a dove

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<v Speaker 5>tied to a string, and squashing beef wasn't an option

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<v Speaker 5>to summer fresh shrills in a future somerssaulting off a

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<v Speaker 5>monkey bar a future placing bets that all us old

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<v Speaker 5>heads desperate to find a new cool could not flip pure.

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<v Speaker 5>That was the summer that our grills dropped to below freezing.

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<v Speaker 5>Back then, Baaloviyejo was thermal and therapy. Bones were smoked

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<v Speaker 5>in the cut, and you had to expect jungle gym

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<v Speaker 5>giggle to be accompanied by a puck shot. That was

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<v Speaker 5>the summer Charlie Chase hijacked Mega Watch from Roses Kitchenette

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<v Speaker 5>found gems in a milk crate spent as one in

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<v Speaker 5>twos below rims that still vibrated with undocumented double dunks.

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<v Speaker 5>The same summer we became pundits and philosophers, poets and

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<v Speaker 5>pushers that we all tried to fly.

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<v Speaker 7>But only one of us succeeded to some of that.

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<v Speaker 5>Babu turned up to extra status, the only one in

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<v Speaker 5>the crew who had reduced Fame's window by a fifth.

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<v Speaker 5>When the camera panned his kazal laced up rock the

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<v Speaker 5>rocky scene of Beech Street, one could say we gave

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<v Speaker 5>the black gasp and gossip body and bag of folk

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<v Speaker 5>tale worth its morphology. That was the season we had

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<v Speaker 5>reason to rock capes and wings, chains and rings. Some

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<v Speaker 5>of us flew high than most, and tricks will hardly

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<v Speaker 5>ever pull from a hat. All that and a bag

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<v Speaker 5>of barbecue bon times was enough for at least one

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<v Speaker 5>of us to say I'm straight.

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<v Speaker 6>Did you always know that you were going to be

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<v Speaker 6>the storyteller of your group of friends?

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<v Speaker 5>No, I think that happened as a result of first listening,

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<v Speaker 5>you know, and it's just kind of being an observer

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<v Speaker 5>and then trying to relay what I had just seen

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<v Speaker 5>to on paper, you know.

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<v Speaker 7>I think the.

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<v Speaker 5>Storytelling really came from my mother and just kind of

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<v Speaker 5>in the living room, and she loved telling stories about

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<v Speaker 5>things she saw seeing on TV, the old days at

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<v Speaker 5>the palladium, hanging out to the break it dawn and

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<v Speaker 5>then even after.

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<v Speaker 7>So she was always full of stories. But I think,

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<v Speaker 7>you know, I grew up.

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<v Speaker 5>Around some really great storytellers, I think, and the storytelling

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<v Speaker 5>process was a part of their bodies, you know.

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<v Speaker 7>So people were always talking.

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<v Speaker 5>That's why I like to walk and talk, you know,

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<v Speaker 5>and so that that was part of it. I think

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<v Speaker 5>storytelling kind of also gave me a way to access

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<v Speaker 5>my imagination and a place was that was sometimes a

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<v Speaker 5>little bit too real, you know, in a way that

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<v Speaker 5>I could not process.

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<v Speaker 7>Well.

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<v Speaker 6>One thing's interesting about this poem is is I get

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<v Speaker 6>the sentence that sort of the different people in your

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<v Speaker 6>in your crew kind of like played roles and I'm wondering, like,

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<v Speaker 6>even when this happened to the setting of of I mean,

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<v Speaker 6>what year would you say this book this book?

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<v Speaker 7>It would me like in the nineties for sure.

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<v Speaker 5>And something that really needs to be emphasized is that

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<v Speaker 5>the book is kind of a work of fiction for

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<v Speaker 5>anything else, you know, And while it's based on some

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<v Speaker 5>images and h and the language and the vernacular of

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<v Speaker 5>its time, you know that that should be.

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<v Speaker 7>Emphasized, I think. But the idea of.

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<v Speaker 5>Living in a tribe, and in this particular instance, the

0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:15.360
<v Speaker 5>tribe was for the most part, a male tribe, and

0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.960
<v Speaker 5>so what I started noticing is that everyone had a strength.

0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.480
<v Speaker 7>There was kids could run fast, there were kids who

0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:29.200
<v Speaker 7>were like Romeos, Romeos to the max. There were kids

0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:30.120
<v Speaker 7>who could fight.

0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.680
<v Speaker 5>And it's weird to find yourself in that kind of

0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:38.000
<v Speaker 5>dynamic and not have a single strength that you can

0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.080
<v Speaker 5>point to, you know, except that you were like a

0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:42.319
<v Speaker 5>bookish kid, right so that you were, by the fault,

0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.480
<v Speaker 5>considered the smart kid. You know, Well, that's definitely a strength,

0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:49.160
<v Speaker 5>I think so, but it wasn't considered one in that domain,

0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:54.760
<v Speaker 5>you know. So when I became a poet, the beautiful

0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:55.720
<v Speaker 5>thing about becoming a poet.

0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:57.599
<v Speaker 7>Is that I wasn't shamed.

0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.200
<v Speaker 5>As a result of being a poet, you know, and

0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.959
<v Speaker 5>so everyone that I was hanging out with at the

0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.559
<v Speaker 5>time really celebrated the fact that I was a poet.

0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:06.040
<v Speaker 7>You know.

0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.480
<v Speaker 5>That's the kind of role that started to develop, you know,

0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.080
<v Speaker 5>and also being in that space where you're seeing things

0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:15.560
<v Speaker 5>that someone else.

0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:16.360
<v Speaker 7>Might not be seen.

0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.600
<v Speaker 6>Right when you ask that question, do you have an

0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:21.319
<v Speaker 6>example that comes to your mind?

0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.440
<v Speaker 5>So there's one time and the image comes up and

0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:27.520
<v Speaker 5>I was standing on a corner and this man walks

0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:31.360
<v Speaker 5>into le Bo that with a cactus on his head,

0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:33.960
<v Speaker 5>you know, and I'm standing on the corner. I look

0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.280
<v Speaker 5>and he just kind of scurries right into it, and

0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.040
<v Speaker 5>I'm like, this is kind of an odd image.

0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.040
<v Speaker 6>Willie's poetry is thick with vivid imagery and confronts some

0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.880
<v Speaker 6>of the harder aspects of growing up in East Harlem

0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.240
<v Speaker 6>in the early nineteen nineties, including the violence he witnessed

0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:56.120
<v Speaker 6>growing up. In a poem from his book called How

0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.680
<v Speaker 6>It Went Down, Willy alludes to a shooting from his

0:13:58.760 --> 0:13:59.520
<v Speaker 6>teenage years.

0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:01.240
<v Speaker 7>This is how it went Down.

0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.760
<v Speaker 5>A man walks into Kadaffi's with a cactus on his head.

0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.080
<v Speaker 5>This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's not.

0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.680
<v Speaker 5>We called them Kadaffi, but his name was Domingo. We

0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.120
<v Speaker 5>called him Kadaffi because he looked like Kadaffi. The cactus

0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.880
<v Speaker 5>wanted three for ten. When you take shorts, you can

0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:20.440
<v Speaker 5>only take as much as been took.

0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:21.960
<v Speaker 7>But when you're taken, then you need.

0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.320
<v Speaker 5>To start thinking about what they call in theirs and

0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.680
<v Speaker 5>what you're calling yours. The car that suddenly pulls up

0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.240
<v Speaker 5>is more delivery than package, more end stopped than ellipsis.

0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.240
<v Speaker 5>The dreads sit there and perch there and chill there,

0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.360
<v Speaker 5>and lamp there and chill there and rest there, still

0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.600
<v Speaker 5>there word They don't move next to let the dreads

0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.600
<v Speaker 5>know that nothing was happening, even though he just opened up.

0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.040
<v Speaker 5>Pete says, I heard those cactuses never die. They say

0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.200
<v Speaker 5>that getting shot is a scene study where all your

0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.480
<v Speaker 5>reward circuits go blank. You only remember the blast, the

0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.320
<v Speaker 5>smoke after the blast, the nano second after the smoke,

0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.480
<v Speaker 5>and then you remember the cactus, untouched, sitting on a

0:14:58.480 --> 0:14:59.480
<v Speaker 5>stoop still.

0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.840
<v Speaker 6>This is a book that deals with death and with trauma.

0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:20.480
<v Speaker 6>Why write about these particular instances of violence and trauma.

0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.000
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, because there were a signature I think in my

0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.920
<v Speaker 5>own coming of age. I think I've always wondered what

0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:33.000
<v Speaker 5>the effect of seeing that kind of violence had on

0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.480
<v Speaker 5>my generation now that we're all turning fifty, you know,

0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.800
<v Speaker 5>and how is that showing up and our approach to living.

0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.840
<v Speaker 5>You know, there are a generation of black and Puerto

0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.360
<v Speaker 5>Rican men who are the age of fifty and over

0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:52.080
<v Speaker 5>who are probably suffering from some sort of post trauma

0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.840
<v Speaker 5>based on all the ravages of the drug war.

0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:01.080
<v Speaker 6>You know, when you say post trauma, stress or how

0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:02.480
<v Speaker 6>did that manifest for you?

0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.680
<v Speaker 5>I think some of it was that, you know, it

0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:09.320
<v Speaker 5>manifested it as a part of my silences. I think

0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:14.840
<v Speaker 5>it manifested and my need to dream a little bit more,

0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.160
<v Speaker 5>my need to escape a little bit more. It manifested

0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.760
<v Speaker 5>clearly as a younger person. There's a level of self

0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.480
<v Speaker 5>destructive behavior that's not the most healthiest. It could be

0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.440
<v Speaker 5>anything from eating a big map to drinking too much run.

0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.080
<v Speaker 7>It shows up in your body.

0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.040
<v Speaker 5>It shows up in your sugar, It shows up in

0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.440
<v Speaker 5>your cholesterol. It shows up in the way you perceive things.

0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.360
<v Speaker 5>It shows up in the way you have arguments with folks,

0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.760
<v Speaker 5>it shows up on the way you might get angry

0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:45.240
<v Speaker 5>for no reason. So I think the manifestation is a

0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.280
<v Speaker 5>multitude of the way you know and how it shows up.

0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.840
<v Speaker 5>And sometimes, if you're lucky, you can kind of use

0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.640
<v Speaker 5>your art to think about it. So the conflicts that

0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:02.120
<v Speaker 5>maybe you could not play out in your existent life

0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.520
<v Speaker 5>are conflicts that you might be able to play in your.

0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:16.960
<v Speaker 6>Creative Willie continues to write about Harlem and visits when

0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.679
<v Speaker 6>he can. He's the recipient of a pen meond the

0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.720
<v Speaker 6>Margins Award, and the author of several books of poetry,

0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.119
<v Speaker 6>including his most recent, The Crazy Bunch.

0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.320
<v Speaker 3>This episode was produced by Sayer Givedo and edited by

0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.720
<v Speaker 3>Sophie Palissa Ka. It was mixed by Stephanie Lebau. The

0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:02.760
<v Speaker 3>Latino USA team includes Andrea Lopezko Russado, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent,

0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:08.800
<v Speaker 3>Daisy Contreres, Victoria Strada, Regnardo Leanos Junior, Patrisa Sulvan, and

0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.080
<v Speaker 3>Elizabeth Lental Torres.

0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:12.840
<v Speaker 4>Our editorial directory.

0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:13.600
<v Speaker 3>Is Fernanda Santos.

0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:18.840
<v Speaker 4>Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. Our associate engineers our

0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.639
<v Speaker 4>gabriel Le Biez and jj Carubin. Our marketing manager is

0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.280
<v Speaker 4>Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed by Zane Rubinos.

0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.399
<v Speaker 4>I'm your host and executive producer Marieno Rosa. Join us

0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.720
<v Speaker 4>again on our next episode. In the meantime, look for

0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.159
<v Speaker 4>us on social media. Remember Montevayas and we'll see you

0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:37.119
<v Speaker 4>on the next one.

0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:37.600
<v Speaker 7>Ciao.

0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:44.520
<v Speaker 8>Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,

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<v Speaker 8>building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.

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0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:03.760
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<v Speaker 8>on the front lines of social change worldwide.

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<v Speaker 6>Hello, docness, my old friend, I've come to talk to you.

0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.680
<v Speaker 6>Bargain BBD BDDD