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Speaker 1: Oh La Latino USA listener, It's Marie Nohosa. Today we

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Speaker 1: want to share with you a new podcast from our

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Speaker 1: colleagues at Witness Docs at Stitcher. It's called Ruby Rossa.

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Speaker 1: What would you do if I told you that James Bond? Yes,

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Speaker 1: James Bond, the white British character was actually based on

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Speaker 1: a real Dominican man HM Hosted by Dominican American author

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Speaker 1: Christopher Ribas, Ruby Rosa is a ten part series about

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Speaker 1: the fantastic true story of Portfiitio Rui Rosa and what

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Speaker 1: Christopher's year's long investigation taught him as he also found

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Speaker 1: his true self in a world not made for brown

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Speaker 1: folks just like him. After its finale, the podcast will

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Speaker 1: turn into a weekly show hosted by Chris called Brown Enough,

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Speaker 1: which is also the title of his forthcoming memoir out

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Speaker 1: in October. So give the podcasts first episode a listen

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Speaker 1: and don't forget to subscribe to Rossa. That's Ruby Rossa.

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Speaker 1: Are U b I r.

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Speaker 2: O s A not I?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 4: Witness docks from Stitchard. I'm on meds. Stop no good?

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Speaker 5: How far is your building from boats?

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Speaker 4: Right there?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 5: Right here?

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Speaker 4: This is it. Everything's exactly the same. The colors are

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Speaker 4: the same. This is PS one seventy five. It's my

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Speaker 4: elementary school, and then Halsey, my junior High, is across

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Speaker 4: the street the other way. I was still late to school.

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Speaker 4: That is where my dad worked. As the basement. This

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Speaker 4: is where my dad would sit for lunch. I grew

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Speaker 4: up in Queens, New York, at one O two seventeen

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Speaker 4: sixty fourth Row. My Dominican father was the building super.

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Speaker 4: I lived here until I was eighteen, and I'm back

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Speaker 4: now for this podcast with my producers, Abigail and John.

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Speaker 3: All Right, so you want to go in that basement.

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Speaker 4: Oh, this is a shot.

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Speaker 6: This is my dad's worst face. I love the boiler

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Speaker 6: room as a kid, like I would watch the fire

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Speaker 6: as a little boy. I loved just watching the fire

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Speaker 6: do its thing.

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Speaker 4: We take the elevator up to the first floor, and

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Speaker 4: everywhere I look I feel memories falling down the staircase

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Speaker 4: and cracking my head open, getting in trouble with my friends.

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Speaker 4: Were running an underground poker ring during school hours. It's

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Speaker 4: also dancing in the lobby. Being here is like stepping

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Speaker 4: back into my childhood.

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Speaker 6: That is where my godfather lived. We have the Mamm's

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Speaker 6: on the right side. Oh it was some wor supports.

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Speaker 6: You're the fear first apartment.

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Speaker 4: Okay, all right, y'all, here's where the journey really begins.

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Speaker 2: So this door right here is apartment one Jay, one Jay.

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Speaker 2: This is just like very tiny one bedroom that forth

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Speaker 2: for shure.

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Speaker 4: I'm whispering because someone else lives here now, and I

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Speaker 4: am being very creepy recording outside of his door, recalling

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Speaker 4: this vivid memory from when I was eight years old.

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Speaker 4: My mom was recovering from a back surgery and I

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Speaker 4: was running around the house pretending to be an assassin.

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Speaker 4: Totally normal.

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Speaker 6: Now imagine this. This is like tiny ass apartment.

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Speaker 2: My mom is laid up on a stomach, and I

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Speaker 2: am in my best set of tidy whities, most definitely haines.

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Speaker 2: I have every nerve gunn I have wrapped around my

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Speaker 2: waist using my dad's belts, and I pop my head

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Speaker 2: around the corner and I do this like fully executed tumble,

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Speaker 2: and I land in a fighting stance and I fire

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Speaker 2: a NERF bullet into the distance, whispering into my invisible watch.

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Speaker 6: I'll be heitting out in six flot.

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Speaker 2: That's when my mom calls w y'all, do you I

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Speaker 2: sweat of God if your food gets cold? If I

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Speaker 2: have to tell you one more time, I will break

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Speaker 2: all your toys everything, I will break everything.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, wanting to be an assassin is a

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Speaker 4: very weird goal for an eight year old, but that

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Speaker 4: was my chosen profession, and I would play like that

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Speaker 4: for hours. I was the king of make believe, y'all,

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Speaker 4: the king of being more than what I was.

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Speaker 2: I whisper again into my invisible watch, and I say,

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Speaker 2: my bad Bond is gonna have to meet at the

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Speaker 2: drop of point after dinner.

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Speaker 4: And who I pretended to be above all else was

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Speaker 4: the baddest person I knew, James Bond.

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Speaker 6: His name is Bond, James Bond.

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Speaker 5: Some men just don't like to be driven. No, some

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Speaker 5: men just don't like to be taken for a ride.

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Speaker 7: He doesn't bother killing those people.

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Speaker 4: Well, I wouldn't be very good at my job if

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Speaker 4: it did. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to

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Speaker 4: be James Bond. He's chill, he's tough, everyone likes him.

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Speaker 4: He does important work saving the world and whatnot. And

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Speaker 4: yo he gets mad honeys all while rocking this ridiculous

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Speaker 4: bespoke black tux.

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Speaker 6: That's what I thought. Maybe this awkward Dominican kid from

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Speaker 6: Queens could actually become him in one way or another. Bond.

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Speaker 6: I am a bond HII bond MONI.

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Speaker 4: But a record. My name is not Bond. It's Revas,

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Speaker 4: Christopher Revas, and I'm not an assassin. But then again,

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Speaker 4: what I really tell you, if I was think about it,

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Speaker 4: I am the next best thing though an actor and

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Speaker 4: a writer and a YadA YadA molpyhydphonic creator. You get

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Speaker 4: the idea. I live in La now, pretty dang far

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Speaker 4: from one of two seventeen sixty fourth Road in Queen's

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Speaker 4: But being back in my old apartment building, I remember

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Speaker 4: so fiercely my childhood dream of being bond, and how

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Speaker 4: far away that dream felt for a half Dominican, half

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Speaker 4: Colombian kid like me. I was only eight. But I

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Speaker 4: didn't like how I looked. I didn't like how I talked.

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Speaker 4: I was this four foot ten proop you besting Dominican

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Speaker 4: kid with glasses, a big nose and a curly ass fro.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't just pretending to be someone adventurous and tough.

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Speaker 4: I was pretending to be White. What's up man?

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Speaker 2: How you doing?

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Speaker 4: Hey, I'm a long long time how's the fan?

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Speaker 5: Ah?

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Speaker 4: Good?

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Speaker 6: Oh good?

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Speaker 5: How about you?

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Speaker 4: So I'm great. This is my buddy, Peter partial Jensen.

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Speaker 4: We went to acting school together at cal Arts. We

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Speaker 4: haven't caught up in more years than I like to admit.

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Speaker 4: Time gets away from us sometimes. But Peter, Peter's kind

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Speaker 4: of responsible for changing my life. Do you remember in

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Speaker 4: college a long long time ago sending me that Vanity

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Speaker 4: Fair article?

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Speaker 8: Right?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 9: I saw that article and I was like, oh yeah, this.

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Speaker 5: This guy reminds me a whole lot of.

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Speaker 4: Revis Okay, So it's two thousand and nine and Peter

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Speaker 4: emails me a link to this article. I'm almost positive

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Speaker 4: this subject line read yo revs check this out. I

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Speaker 4: open it up and boom. That's when it happens, life altered.

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Speaker 4: The title of the article is the Legend of Ruby Rosa.

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Speaker 4: It's a Vanity Fair profile and a guy named Porfirio

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Speaker 4: Ruby Rosa, a Dominican man. Everyone calls him Ruby for short.

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Speaker 4: Ough that sounds good, doesn't it. Ruby. The article starts

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Speaker 4: with an excerpt of his obituary in The New York Times,

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Speaker 4: published after his death in Paris in nineteen sixty five.

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Speaker 4: It reads Porfirio rubirosa former Dominican diplomat, international sportsman and playboy,

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Speaker 4: died in an automobile accident. He was alone in the car.

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Speaker 4: The wooden steering wheel of the type used in racing competition,

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Speaker 4: had crushed his chest. He died within sight of two

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Speaker 4: of his favorite recreation spots, the Long Champs racecourse and

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Speaker 4: the Bagatel Polo Club. This article was like a key

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Speaker 4: to a door that I didn't even know existed. You

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Speaker 4: sent it and my life was changed, you know, like

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Speaker 4: you have single handedly changed my life.

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Speaker 6: Oh that's good.

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Speaker 4: In front of my laptop, soaking up everything I could

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Speaker 4: about this long dead Dominican guy. The Vanity Fair profile

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Speaker 4: describes the life of an internationally known figure. He spent

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Speaker 4: the nineteen twenties in Paris the nineteen fifties in Cuba.

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Speaker 4: He's the Latin Lover. He was married five times to

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Speaker 4: some of the richest and most famous women in the world.

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Speaker 4: He was also rumored to have had love affairs with

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Speaker 4: women like Eartha kit Ava Gardner, Jane Mansfield and Eva

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Speaker 4: pron And that's just the start of the list. The

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Speaker 4: tabloids loved to talk about Ruby. A bunch of it

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Speaker 4: was actually pretty racist, like one article that asked, is

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Speaker 4: the world's greatest lover in Negro And there were also

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Speaker 4: a lot of references to homeboys eleven inch. You know

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Speaker 4: there's eleven inch. You know. One of his wives, the

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Speaker 4: billionaire tobacco Eiris Doris Duke, once told someone that Ruby's

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Speaker 4: member was, in our quote, like the last foot of

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Speaker 4: a Louisville slugger bat. Yeah, intense. Ruby Rosa was suave, sophisticated, stylish,

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Speaker 4: dangerous and as cool as they come. The Vanity Fair

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Speaker 4: article said when he was around an unlit cigarette, never

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Speaker 4: touched a woman's lips. After I finished that article, I

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Speaker 4: read it again, and then I read it again and

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Speaker 4: then again, and then I started googling, and I found

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Speaker 4: more articles written about him that helped round out the

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Speaker 4: life he lived. I found a book, a couple of books. Actually,

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Speaker 4: it turns out that Portfitrio Rubi Rosa was way more

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Speaker 4: than just a playboy. He was a diplomat for the

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Speaker 4: Dominican Republic stationed all over the world, and he worked

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Speaker 4: for General Rafael Trujillo. Truhillo was one of the bloodiest

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Speaker 4: dictators in Latin American history, which will definitely come back

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Speaker 4: to anyway. Weeks went by, but I kept digging around

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Speaker 4: for stuff about Ruby, and then one day I came

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Speaker 4: across something online that made the hair on the back

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Speaker 4: of my neck start to tingle. Ruby Rosa, the article claimed,

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Speaker 4: was the real James Bond. I'm sorry, what Dominican? Ruby Rossa? Dominican?

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Speaker 4: This guy, the real James Bond, is a Dominican man? Bullshit?

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Speaker 4: Why didn't I know this? Why didn't my pops or

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Speaker 4: anyone tell me that? Why didn't I know about Ruby?

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Speaker 4: If the Vanity Fair article was like a key to

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Speaker 4: a door, then this new revelation knocked down the whole

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Speaker 4: damn house. I spent the next ten years of my

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Speaker 4: life thinking about and researching Ruby and his connection to Bond.

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Speaker 4: I found myself telling this man's story to as many

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Speaker 4: people as I could. I wrote a play about him.

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Speaker 4: I got up on stages across the country trying to

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Speaker 4: tell people why they too should care. And as I

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Speaker 4: learned more about the story of Porfitio Ruby Rossa, I

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Speaker 4: started to realize that I was also learning more about

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Speaker 4: my own story. I started digging into my own Dominican

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Speaker 4: roots and culture. I learned things I never knew, never

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Speaker 4: wanted to know. I stopped cutting my curly hair. I

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Speaker 4: even publicly declared in the New York Times, nonetheless that

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Speaker 4: I was going to stop dating white women. I started

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Speaker 4: writing a book. It's been a long, intense, soul searching journey,

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Speaker 4: which brings me here with you to this podcast. I'm

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Speaker 4: Christopher Reevas and this is Ruby Rosa, Episode one Haunted.

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Speaker 4: I have you never heard of someone named port Video

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Speaker 4: Ruby Rosa? No, I haven't put Video pil Have you

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Speaker 4: heard of them? Never heard of them? Turns out I'm

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Speaker 4: not the only one who didn't know about though I

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Speaker 4: do know how to pronounce his name. I hit the

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Speaker 4: streets to ask some people about him. First stop my backyard, Hollywood.

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Speaker 4: What if I told you that James Bond is actually

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Speaker 4: based on a Dominican man named Porfidio Rubiosa. It's not true.

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Speaker 4: There's a lot of mythology about James Bond.

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Speaker 6: Is really this?

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Speaker 4: James Bond is really that they said James Bond? I

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Speaker 4: ain't now say Portfolio. Would you believe that that British

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Speaker 4: white guy could be based on a Dominican man. Absolutely.

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Speaker 8: I think a lot of times Hollywood tries to make

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Speaker 8: the hero.

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Speaker 3: Anglo.

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Speaker 4: Next up, I went to a Dominican spot, a coffee

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Speaker 4: shop in Brooklyn called Jenny's Number Two. I could understand

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Speaker 4: if most people hadn't heard of Rubi Rosa. But I

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Speaker 4: mean surely my brothers and sisters from the dr knew

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Speaker 4: who he was, right, Sami porf no porfedio.

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Speaker 10: No.

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Speaker 4: I even went to this Italian joint in New York

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Speaker 4: called Rista. It was literally named after Portfitio. They even

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Speaker 4: have a couple of pictures of him up on the walls.

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Speaker 4: They got to know who he is. You know what

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Speaker 4: they said, restaurant is named Ruby Rossa. Does anyone know? Yeah,

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Speaker 4: a water named Julio had a little bit of an idea.

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Speaker 9: Ruby Rossa was a restaurant. The founder we still love.

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Speaker 9: Going to Italy. He finds out about the person Ruby Rossa.

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Speaker 9: A bunch of girls, bunch of Paris past cars. Maybe

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Speaker 9: there's something there.

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Speaker 4: These people don't really have a clue about who Ruby is.

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Speaker 4: I get it, I was them. But now, ten years

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Speaker 4: after learning about Ruby in my CalArts storm room, I'm

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Speaker 4: firmly on the other side. And one thing is clear.

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Speaker 4: Once you've learned about who this guy is, he leaves

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Speaker 4: an impression on you who doesn't know who's They don't

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Speaker 4: make me like that anymore.

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Speaker 5: You know Robert LSA Remer the same circles as Frank

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Speaker 5: Sinatra Sam, but he was junior Dean Martin Kennedy is.

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Speaker 6: He was very cool and the people at that time

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Speaker 6: were not cool.

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Speaker 4: He was a diplomat for TRUEHDEO.

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Speaker 6: He was attacked by Caste. There was a grenade thrown

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Speaker 6: in his embassy.

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Speaker 5: He was worthless except to the wealthy ladies who married him.

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Speaker 4: Beautifully.

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Speaker 7: But he used to beat you around a little bit.

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Speaker 4: But I deserved it.

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Speaker 10: He was already being called Playboy before the magazine Playboy

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Speaker 10: came out.

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Speaker 5: People were always trying to just, you know, be with

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Speaker 5: him and get with him and chase him and find

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Speaker 5: out what he's got And how do I get that?

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Speaker 4: Even after all these years of obsession, research and exploration,

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Speaker 4: I still have work to do. I still have these

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Speaker 4: big unknowns. I'm haunted. That's what I tell people. I'm haunted,

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Speaker 4: not in a creepy way, but in a I have

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Speaker 4: a mission way. That's what this podcast is. That's what

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Speaker 4: we're doing here. My mission is to find some answers

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Speaker 4: about Ruby's life and about my own. You said everyone

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Speaker 4: falls in love with Ruby.

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Speaker 7: Why, well, he's a walking party.

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Speaker 10: He's a typical Dominican guy.

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Speaker 4: This is Isabella Wall For what it's worth, Isabella is

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Speaker 4: also a walking party. She showed up to our Zoom

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Speaker 4: convo with warmth and energy that kept us chatting for

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Speaker 4: an easy two hours. She knows a lot about Ruby Rosa,

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Speaker 4: a lot.

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Speaker 10: You know, he's the life of the party in the

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Speaker 10: jet setting setting. Life is good because you know, he

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Speaker 10: makes it look good. He makes it look good, and

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Speaker 10: he makes it feel good. And you know, it's the

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Speaker 10: Dominican Republic and it's paradise, and he's got the keys

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Speaker 10: to paradise.

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Speaker 4: Isabella and her husband wrote a book about Ruby, kind

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Speaker 4: of the first book about him in English. At least.

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Speaker 4: Isabella has been out here trying to tell Ruby Rosa's

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Speaker 4: story to the world for decades. Her book Chasing Ruby

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Speaker 4: is some of the first stuff I've found after the

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Speaker 4: Vanity Fair article. And honestly, it feels so good to

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Speaker 4: finally be talking to a fellow Ruby obsessive.

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Speaker 7: What do you want to do? Ruby? This is a

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Speaker 7: question that I've been asking myself for thirty years.

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Speaker 4: I ask a similar question I often talk about being

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Speaker 4: like I use the word haunted, but not in a

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Speaker 4: scary movie kind of way, more in a like I

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Speaker 4: was visited and I'm supposed to do something with this story,

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Speaker 4: but I don't know what it is to your You

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Speaker 4: feel like you've had the same experience. Absolutely, Isabella is

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Speaker 4: Dominican like me, but she actually grew up on the island.

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Speaker 4: What are some of your favorite memories from growing up there?

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Speaker 10: Oh, my goodness, going to the beach, I mean, just uh,

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Speaker 10: I choke up. Even growing up and getting in that

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Speaker 10: warm water in Boca Chica and Juandolo. When we were little,

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Speaker 10: my dad used to take us almost every weekend on

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Speaker 10: you know, day trips and to different parts of the island,

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Speaker 10: and we got to grow up, you know, just watching

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Speaker 10: the people in the country and writing borus and eating

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Speaker 10: kanyasu got in mangos and all of that.

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Speaker 4: Damn sounds nice, doesn't it. Isabella wasn't surprised that people

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Speaker 4: here in the US don't know who Ruby is, but

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Speaker 4: back in the dr Rubyosa is a known entity. Did

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Speaker 4: you hear about Ruby growing up or when was the

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Speaker 4: first time you heard about him?

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Speaker 10: So when I was growing up, because I was a

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Speaker 10: daddy's little girl, and my dad was a neighbor of

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Speaker 10: Rubidosa in San Francisco and mac CoRIS where they were.

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Speaker 7: Growing up, and Ruby a neighbor. Yeah, And so in.

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Speaker 10: Those days, the teenage boys used to go hang out

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Speaker 10: at a certain park and they all gathered there to

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Speaker 10: smoke cigarettes, you know, and drink and stuff like that.

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Speaker 7: And Ruby was young, too young to be hanging out

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Speaker 7: with them.

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Speaker 10: So my dad tells the story that he had to

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Speaker 10: give get him a cigarette because nobody would give him

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Speaker 10: a cigarette. And that was something that I used to

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Speaker 10: hear my dad say regarding just men in general, you know.

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Speaker 10: I mean, he would say things like, ah, no, its Rubrosa.

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Speaker 4: Gre cahun Rosa. He thinks he's a Ruby Rosa. This

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Speaker 4: is something you'd say about a guy who was showing off.

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Speaker 4: It's like Ruby was something young men wanted to be

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Speaker 4: growing up. These stories about Rubi Rosa, they didn't mean

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Speaker 4: much to Isabella. They were just a part of the

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Speaker 4: local folklore. Eventually she left the island, She left her

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Speaker 4: home and moved to the US. That's where she met

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Speaker 4: her husband Marty.

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Speaker 5: Hey, Chris, Marty, how are you my new friend?

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Speaker 4: Back in nineteen eighties, Marty worked for a big radio

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Speaker 4: station in New York ZE one hundred, y'all Z one

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00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,680
Speaker 4: hundred and Hot ninety seven were my two go tos. Anyway,

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Speaker 4: he actually hired Isabella to be in a commercial for

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Speaker 4: the station for Latin audiences. They worked together, they fell

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Speaker 4: in love, you know how the story goes. And one

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Speaker 4: day Isabella brought up this guy Ruby, this guy her

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Speaker 4: dad had grown up around.

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Speaker 5: So Isabella was telling me about this character.

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Speaker 10: I would say, well, Mighty, you know, he was a

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Speaker 10: polo champion, and you know he was a car racer

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Speaker 10: for Ferrari and this and that. And He's like, now, way,

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Speaker 10: nobody's ever heard about Dominican doing that. Why don't I

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Speaker 10: know about it? You know, my parents are from the fifties.

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Speaker 10: I don't know.

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Speaker 7: I don't know.

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Speaker 5: I was really hip to all of the forties and

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Speaker 5: fifties movies and the Ja Jagabores of the world. I mean,

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Speaker 5: how could I not have heard of this person? And

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Speaker 5: kind of challenged her.

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Speaker 7: Marty likes to challenge me, right, and I like a challenge.

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Speaker 7: He said, well, you know what you should do.

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Speaker 10: You should go, you know, see what you find about

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Speaker 10: if it's true, you find stuff at the library, at

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Speaker 10: the New York Library.

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Speaker 5: And she went and spent an entire day at the

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Speaker 5: New York Public Library doing research. And she came home

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Speaker 5: with a copy of his obituary from the New York Times,

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Speaker 5: which was a full page.

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Speaker 4: Ah, the obituary. This is the same one they quoted

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Speaker 4: in the Vanity Fair article. And I gotta tell y'all,

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Speaker 4: not everyone gets a full page obituary in the New

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Speaker 4: York Times. That's a big deal. Like these are the

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Speaker 4: movers and shakers of their day. People like Clark Gable,

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Speaker 4: Walt Disney, and Nat King Cole all got full page

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Speaker 4: obituaries too. But we know those names. So how did

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Speaker 4: Ruby get this kind of spread? The obituary says Ruby

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Speaker 4: grew up in a modest home, the son of a

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Speaker 4: Dominican general. He spent his childhood in Paris and then

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Speaker 4: married the daughter of Trio, the DR's dictator. But the

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Speaker 4: subheadings they say things like suave diplomat and member of

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Speaker 4: the jet set, because those are the things that came

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Speaker 4: to define Ruby. He died as he lived the author

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Speaker 4: rights moving fast. The obituary even quotes Ruby, the ambition

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Speaker 4: of most men is to save money. Mine is to

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Speaker 4: spend it. Marty Wall was impressed.

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Speaker 5: Then just immediately knew that this was a story that

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Speaker 5: needed to be told in some media.

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Speaker 4: At this point, Isabella and Marty set off on a

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Speaker 4: quest to find out as much as they can about Ruby.

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Speaker 4: They start acquiring old photographs. They take a trip to Paris,

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Speaker 4: where Ruby spent a lot of time and where he died,

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Speaker 4: and they call it people who are still alive who

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Speaker 4: might remember their days with ru Rosa. Marty and Isabella

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Speaker 4: also moved from New York to Los Angeles, and since

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Speaker 4: they're living right next to Hollywood, Isabella's dad convinces them

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Speaker 4: that Ruby's ultra glamorous life would make a pretty dope

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Speaker 4: feature film.

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Speaker 10: No, no, no, you gotros You gotta, you know, do

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Speaker 10: all the research and be prepared because you're going to

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Speaker 10: make a movie about that.

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Speaker 5: There is a famous producer named Stuart Benjamin who we

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00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:01,520
Speaker 5: had an opportunity to meet with. He produced and a

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00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 5: couple other films. And when we met with him, you

397
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 5: gave us some really really good advice. He says, you're

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Speaker 5: not going to get anywhere with this project unless you

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Speaker 5: have a book that someone is willing to option the rights,

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00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 5: or you've written your own script. I didn't feel comfortable,

401
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,400
Speaker 5: nor did Isabelle, about writing a script, and since there

402
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 5: were no books in English, what we decided to do

403
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 5: was write the first English language biography, which was published

404
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Speaker 5: in two thousand and five.

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Speaker 4: Marty and Isabella's book. It brings to life so many

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Speaker 4: things that the Vanity Fair article only touched on. They

407
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Speaker 4: talk about Ruby's parents and his childhood, his early career

408
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Speaker 4: in the military, his decades as a jet setting playboy

409
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Speaker 4: and international diplomat, his connections with important people and places

410
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Speaker 4: throughout history, and the many speculations about him being a spy.

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Speaker 4: Their book is called Chasing Ruby The Truth about Video

412
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Speaker 4: Ruby Rossa, The Last Playboy. Can you tell me about

413
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 4: the title?

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Speaker 5: That's what I've been doing for twenty five years is

415
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Speaker 5: chasing Ruberosa and trying to find out who he really was.

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Speaker 10: Look at this conversation that we're having, you know this

417
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 10: is about that.

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Speaker 7: Still.

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Speaker 5: The other thing we realized is, you know, there were

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Speaker 5: a lot of people chasing Ruberosa for his fame, to

421
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Speaker 5: be part of his entourage, But when you read the

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Speaker 5: FBI file, you realize that our government was chasing Ruberosa.

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Speaker 4: Yeah hear that A play that back real quick.

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Speaker 5: But when you read the FBI file, you realize that

425
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Speaker 5: our government was chasing Ruberosa.

426
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Speaker 4: FBI files turns out Ruby with someone the US government

427
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Speaker 4: kept a very close eye on. I don't know about you,

428
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,199
Speaker 4: but that sounds pretty James Bond to me. Was this

429
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Speaker 4: the kind of guy who had more behind the scenes

430
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 4: influence in world events than we could have even known.

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00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,000
Speaker 5: I knew of the Freedom of Information Act, So we've

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Speaker 5: sent applications into the FBI and to the CIA.

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Speaker 10: And then one year I get these two boxes that said,

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Speaker 10: you know, with the COELO the Federal Bureau of Investigation,

435
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 10: and I couldn't even open it until Marty came home.

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00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,640
Speaker 7: I was like, what is that? I can't remember? Did

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00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 7: I this is a RS is what's going on?

438
00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 6: Oh my god?

439
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,400
Speaker 7: So then we opened it and it was incredible.

440
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,840
Speaker 10: It was like, you know, all these pages about this

441
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 10: guy there he is.

442
00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 3: Or Aphiario Ruby Rossa who has served as Dominican ambassador

443
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 3: to various European countries and who occupied the position of

444
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,800
Speaker 3: Ambassador to France is an agent of the Dominican Military

445
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 3: Intelligence Service.

446
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,720
Speaker 4: It's unclear just how big Ruby's government files actually are,

447
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 4: but we got a glimpse from about one hundred pages

448
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 4: the FBI released to us. This excerpt implies Ruby was

449
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:12,159
Speaker 4: a part of the Dominican Cia.

450
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,840
Speaker 5: It became clear to us that this was just, you know,

451
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,959
Speaker 5: not a well endowed playboy. That this was somebody that

452
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 5: had amazing negotiating and diplomatic skills and had connections at

453
00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 5: the highest level with presidents and kings. And when you

454
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 5: realize that people like the New York District Attorney and

455
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,199
Speaker 5: the FBI coming after him for deaths and assassinations, you know,

456
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 5: my interest in telling a story or researching further became

457
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 5: even even more.

458
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:50,880
Speaker 3: The source has learned that Ruby Rosa performs important missions abroad,

459
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:56,120
Speaker 3: and that his specialty is to influence people in influential

460
00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 3: positions and foreign governments in a manner of favorite to

461
00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 3: the Trujillo regime.

462
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 4: These FBI wreckers point to mysteries on a grand scale

463
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 4: God who was this man rially a spy a supporter

464
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 4: of a dictator. They bring to life a Ruby who

465
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 4: is much darker and much more complicated than that suave

466
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 4: gentleman I met in a Vanity Fair article, A Ruby

467
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 4: a lot like James Bond. And then there's this I

468
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 4: want to read you one more line from Rubiroso's obituary quote.

469
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:36,040
Speaker 4: When he lost his diplomatic community, the District Attorney's office

470
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 4: in Manhattan called him in for questioning in regard to

471
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 4: the fate of two outspoken opponents of the Trujillo regime.

472
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,360
Speaker 4: He was also questioned about the disappearance in nineteen fifty

473
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,160
Speaker 4: six of doctor Jesus der Galindez, a Columbia University lecturer.

474
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 4: He disclaimed knowledge of either case. So maybe this Latin

475
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:06,640
Speaker 4: ladies man was also a killer. Marty says that all this,

476
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 4: all this complication, it just makes him more interested in

477
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:12,240
Speaker 4: who Ruby really was.

478
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 5: Big Dick race Card, cheated women, all this kind of stuff.

479
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 5: Those are all truths and all facts. But don't judge

480
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 5: somebody solely on what you know about him until you've

481
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:24,760
Speaker 5: done your homework.

482
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 4: Marty has done his homework, and even with the FBI

483
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 4: docs and murder allegations, he sees a man worth studying,

484
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 4: a man maybe even worth redeeming.

485
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,600
Speaker 5: I'm hoping that if I was speaking to Ruby right now,

486
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 5: I would see that he had the ability to be compassionate.

487
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 5: He didn't show that he didn't. He just was narcissistic

488
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 5: and in it for himself. It didn't mean that he

489
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:58,160
Speaker 5: was always picking up the tab He was always supporting friends.

490
00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 5: So I think for me that I think he was

491
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 5: a better man than history is showing.

492
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 4: In a time when most Latin men were perceived as

493
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 4: either dictators, drug smugglers, or Ricky Ricardo, here comes this

494
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 4: everything man, Ruby Rossa, a brown skinned Dominican man who

495
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 4: navigated the waters of all social cultures and places, and

496
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:25,680
Speaker 4: who had a first row seat to some of the

497
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 4: most important moments of history. Damn, Ruby, who the hell

498
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 4: are you really in this long and winding journey. Sometimes

499
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 4: it feels like Ruby's life story is an invitation to me, Hey, Chris,

500
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:44,280
Speaker 4: here's a slice of the good life. You could have

501
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 4: it too. But at other times it feels more like

502
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,880
Speaker 4: a warning about ego.

503
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 9: Well, my first impressions of you was like, hey, like

504
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:55,880
Speaker 9: what you know, he's like a like not just not

505
00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 9: just being handsome, but like the ladies fawned over you.

506
00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 4: A warning about love.

507
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 8: You sounded just like a confused man, there was just

508
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 8: a little bit of a darker part of you, Like

509
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 8: I felt like you withheld a lot of emotion.

510
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,480
Speaker 4: Do you think that's still true of me? I do

511
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 4: a warning about identity? How come I never learned Spanish?

512
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 5: You didn't find an interest in Spanish?

513
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 10: Oftentimes people do not want to challenge their own reality.

514
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 4: I still find myself asking Ruby, what can and should

515
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 4: I learn from you? What do you have to teach

516
00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 4: me about moving in a world that isn't made for

517
00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 4: brown men like us? What I accept, what I fight for?

518
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:50,080
Speaker 4: What I ignore? What I desire? Most importantly, are you

519
00:31:50,160 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 4: an invitation or a warning? Ruby? I'm listening. I'm ready.

520
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 4: Stay tuned, y'all. There's a lot more to learn, and

521
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 4: next time we'll meet Ruby. Yeah, buddy, all right, y'all.

522
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 4: I need to take a moment here. At the end

523
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:22,360
Speaker 4: of our first episode, a week before we released this podcast,

524
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,480
Speaker 4: at Ruby Rosa got some really sad news. Isabella Wall,

525
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 4: who you heard earlier and you will hear from a

526
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 4: lot throughout this series, died suddenly. Isabella's voice, her knowledge

527
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,280
Speaker 4: of Ruby's life, her book Chasing Ruby, her joyful energy,

528
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,480
Speaker 4: her a huge important part of this series. Our thoughts

529
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 4: are with her husband, Marty and their family. Isabella, thank

530
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:50,320
Speaker 4: you so much. We are dedicating the show to you.

531
00:32:50,800 --> 00:33:14,920
Speaker 4: Thank you. Ruby Rossa is a production of Witness Docs

532
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 4: from Stitcher. It's created by me, Christopher Revas, and I'm

533
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 4: also an executive producer. That's right, ma, I did that.

534
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 4: Abigail Keel is our senior producer. Kevin Tidmarsh is our producer.

535
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,000
Speaker 4: Our story editor is John Delore. Our technical director is

536
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 4: Casey Holford. Camille Stanley is the executive producer of Witness Docs.

537
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 4: Readings of Ruby's memoir are performed by Victor Almanzad. Workhouse Media, Inc.

538
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,800
Speaker 4: Is also a contributing producer to this podcast, as our

539
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 4: executive producers Amelia Baker, Mackenzie Monroe, and Ari Anderson. Thanks y'all.

540
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 4: Original music for this podcast is composed and performed by

541
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 4: Wilson Torres, Jaysan via Mad and Marcos Verrella. Our theme

542
00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,880
Speaker 4: song is composed by Alison Lighton Brown. We want to

543
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 4: hear from you. Send your questions, thoughts, and stories to

544
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 4: Ruby Rosa at stitcher dot com. And if you're enjoying

545
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 4: this podcast, tell a friend about it. Subscribe Shout Out

546
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 4: from the rooftops, write a review, do all that stuff

547
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 4: to help get the word out. We really appreciate it.

548
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:12,839
Speaker 4: Peace y'all,