1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Dear listener, there are some four letter words that are 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: going to drop here, so be prepared. 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 2: We were just living life. We were very. 4 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 3: Bohem you know, because the New Arekan Poets movement is 5 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:21,080 Speaker 3: a post beat movement, and unfortunately, you know, when you're 6 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 3: in a movement, you usually don't know you're in a 7 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 3: movement until it's moved. 8 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:32,279 Speaker 2: Around. Yeah, yeah, I was part of that, you. 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: Know, from FUDA Media and PRX. It's Latino Usa. I'm 10 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: Maria Ino Hossak. Today a spoken history of the iconic 11 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: New Yurekan Poets Cafe. So let's set the scene. It's 12 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:05,039 Speaker 1: New York City, it's the nineteen seventies. It's gritty, it's violent. 13 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: It's very alive with Puerto Rican music and vibes, but 14 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: there's also deep poverty and xenophobia. It's out of this 15 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: urban chaos that a group of writers Puerto Rican by 16 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: birth but mostly raised in New York City seek out community, 17 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: and they find it within each other and their words. 18 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: They would call themselves the New Eurekan Poets, and together 19 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:40,119 Speaker 1: they would spark a literary revolution. In nineteen seventy four, 20 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: the play Short Eyes, written by New Eurekan writer Nel 21 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: Pinerro was the first production by a Latino to ever 22 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: debut on Broadway. Eventually it became a feature film. The 23 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: epic poem Puerto Rican Obituary by Pedro Pietri became known 24 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,600 Speaker 1: as an isses central indictment of the so called American dream. 25 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 4: They they worked, they work, and they died. They died 26 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 4: bro they died away, they died never know when? What 27 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 4: The front entrance of the first National City banklis life. 28 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: And then there's one of the poet's most lasting contributions 29 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:26,840 Speaker 1: to the arts, the founding of the New Yorrekan Poet's Cafe. 30 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: It's been nearly fifty years since the cafe began as 31 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: a literary salon in MIGUELA. Garin's apartment in Manhattan's Lower 32 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: East Side. By around nineteen seventy five, it was clear 33 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: that Miguel's living room was just too small to serve 34 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: as the cafe for much longer. So the New Yorrekan 35 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: moved to a new location nearby, and then moved again 36 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: to two thirty six East Third Street, where it stood 37 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:58,359 Speaker 1: for over twenty years. 38 00:02:58,400 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 2: Now. 39 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,839 Speaker 1: Miguel, who I was lucky enough to know, was an 40 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: incredibly gregarious man. He was a poet, an educator, and 41 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: a central figure in New Eurekan history. He died nearly 42 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: one year ago in November of twenty twenty. Today, the 43 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: New Euorrekan Poets Cafe is a place for artists to 44 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: perform at open mics and competitive poetry slams. It's a 45 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: place to workshop and collaborate with fellow writers, and a 46 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 1: place where they can stage their own theater productions. On 47 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: this episode of Latino USA, we're going to pass the 48 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: mic along to some of the poets and artists and 49 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: activists who worked alongside Biguel Algarin to build the New 50 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: Eurekan Poets Cafe. First up, poet Jesus Papoleto Melendez is 51 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: going to share his memories of the New Eurekan literary 52 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: movement and what it was like to witness the origins 53 00:03:53,360 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: of the New Eurekan Poets Cafe. 54 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 3: Miguel I got Ing, who was a professor at Rutgers 55 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 3: at the time. 56 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 2: You know, he he was, I guess, like the most 57 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 2: literate out of. 58 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 3: All of us. Well, he had an apartment on Sixth Street. 59 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 3: It was like on the ground floor in the front, 60 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 3: but you know, really nice apartment. Anyway we could go 61 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 3: in and it ran all the way to the back 62 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 3: and we would hang out there for days sometimes like 63 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,960 Speaker 3: a pochie. Reading would begin on a Friday night and 64 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 3: then on a Sunday morning, and you know, we drank wine, 65 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 3: smoke pot. 66 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,239 Speaker 2: And other things. 67 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 3: And I remember we were into Almden why that was 68 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 3: the thing, Almeden saturn. I don't even know what a 69 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 3: saturn is in a chablin, and that's what we were 70 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 3: drinking and smoking. And and we'd fall asleep, you know, 71 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 3: and wake up and the reading is still going, you know, 72 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 3: or you wake up the next and you're the only. 73 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 2: One on accounts, you know. 74 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 3: And what was cool about that was that the poets 75 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 3: would say, okay, okay, I just wrote the poem, and 76 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 3: they reach in their pocket and pull out a piece 77 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 3: of paper that's been folded like eight times to fit 78 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 3: in your pocket, and they had a brand new poem 79 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,240 Speaker 3: on it. They would recite these, you know, and people 80 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 3: and then the poet would finish reading and go sit 81 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 3: down and start working on the poem some more. You know, 82 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 3: you could see them making notes on what they just read. 83 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 3: That was that was cool. 84 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 2: And then when we woke them in the morning. You know, 85 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 2: we had to go. 86 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 3: Buy eggs and milk and make coffee and bread and 87 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 3: shit like that. 88 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 2: It was a fun time. 89 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 5: You know. 90 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 3: My name is Hassus Papa Leto Melendez, Sumee Melendez. That's 91 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 3: my family name, Pedro Papoleto's the name my great grandmother 92 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 3: gave me. Ever since I was a little kid. I 93 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 3: think I knew my name was Papoletto before I knew 94 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 3: it was his. Who's now. The interesting thing about the 95 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 3: word Papoletto, which I like very much, it has the 96 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 3: word poet in it. So after the Pa, you have 97 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 3: po l, and then it's et so and then the 98 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 3: remaining letters spell out the word Paulo. Anyway, I was 99 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 3: born in nineteen fifty. I was conceived in Puerto Rico 100 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 3: and born in New York City. I came to New 101 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 3: York City and my mom's Bientre in January of nineteen 102 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 3: fifty from Puerto Rico, and I was born in June. 103 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 3: I like that because to me, that makes me quintessentially Eurecan. 104 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 3: I was smuggled into the country. Actually, to be a 105 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 3: New York your development as a person has to be 106 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 3: affected by you coming to New York You can't arrive 107 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 3: in New York from Puerto Rico as an adult and 108 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 3: call yourself from the eurecan because it's the experience of 109 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 3: living and struggling to live here at some formative portion 110 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 3: of your life. 111 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 2: That affects you and impacts you. 112 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 3: It makes you who you be then become, So you 113 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 3: just can't grandfather yourself into that kind of reality. I 114 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 3: began writing as a little kid. I think I began 115 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 3: writing when I was around seven or eight. 116 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 2: Years old, maybe earlier when. 117 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 3: I was nineteen and seventeen eighteen nineteen. I wasn't a 118 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 3: literary person, so I wasn't reading Waltman or you know, 119 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 3: or anything like that, where I know other people were, 120 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 3: and they were getting a more literary I was getting 121 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 3: more street education, right. I was writing about what was 122 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 3: around me and what I was thinking. But at the 123 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 3: same time I began to get politicized, you know, like 124 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:08,559 Speaker 3: there was a Vietnam War. 125 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 4: Thousands of demonstrators opposed to the Vietnam War assembled in 126 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 4: the nation's capital for a mass protest. 127 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 3: I lost my leg in Vietnam, and I totally opposed 128 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 3: this war. 129 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 2: We're carrying on over there Kent State. 130 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,560 Speaker 4: Today, when fifteen hundred students started an anti war rally 131 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 4: on the University commons. The guardsmen surrounded them. Two young 132 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 4: men and two young women were killed, and at least 133 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 4: a dozen other students were wounded. 134 00:08:33,640 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 3: Things you couldn't avoid, you know, if you were paying 135 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 3: attention like I do. Anyway, I started going down to 136 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 3: the village because you know, like somehow there's certain things 137 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 3: get that they call you. 138 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 2: The village kind of caused you. It was that kind 139 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 2: of thing. 140 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 3: So we go to the village and in Washington Square 141 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 3: Park at that time, you know, they were like musicians 142 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,839 Speaker 3: playing guitars, you know, on the side, and they were 143 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 3: it's reading, you know, blah blah, so stuff like that. 144 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 3: There was a political movement, you know, the socialists or 145 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 3: movements of Puerto Rico Frieda. 146 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 4: Employment is high, business is bad, and there is too 147 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 4: much colonial style poverty. 148 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:16,959 Speaker 3: Want you to do readings the rallies, you know, how 149 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,000 Speaker 3: could you read this poem? 150 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 2: All these cats? 151 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 3: You know, we're down there and that's where I'm at, 152 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:28,439 Speaker 3: Lucky San Fuego, Bimbo Rivas, miguel O Parenna, Miguelaing and 153 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 3: Pinero uh Pedro Pietri, whom we called elhreendo pelo beeldri 154 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 3: because you know it took correspondent, of course, to become 155 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 3: a reverend. Okay, my friends at Brooklyn College asked me 156 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 3: to do a poetry reading at Brooklyn College. They were 157 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 3: going to pay me, and when the check came, I 158 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 3: called Fedther up and he told me to go meet 159 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 3: him in his house. So I went down to Hunt 160 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,199 Speaker 3: twenty fifth Street to the projects. Bether met me on 161 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 3: the corner and there was a check cashing place right there. 162 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 3: Then there was a liquor store right next to the 163 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 3: catch bit and business said, you want to buy a bottle, 164 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 3: So we walked into the liquor store and bought a 165 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,959 Speaker 3: bottle of the coop. And that's really the beginning of 166 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 3: our hanging out. There was a strong sense of camarai. 167 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 3: You know, people were really close to each other. It's 168 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:32,079 Speaker 3: like people that are mute and they're finally speaking to 169 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 3: other people who were deaf and can finally hear. 170 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 2: You know what I mean. 171 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 3: So there's that appreciation. When I was younger, you didn't 172 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,400 Speaker 3: even know what a poet looked like except Shakespeare. And 173 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 3: we created a movement that helped you see what poets 174 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 3: look like and what they sound like and what they do. 175 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 3: We helped do that in America in the United States. See, 176 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,719 Speaker 3: academia wasn't except they're gonna say you're a poet. Like 177 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 3: right now, I tell people, yo, I don't have a degree. 178 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 3: I'm seventy one years old. I don't have a degree. 179 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,960 Speaker 2: But I know people who have degrees in poetry. 180 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 3: Now and they have jobs and they get positions and 181 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 3: they get all of this things that we never got. 182 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 2: But they get that because of what we did. 183 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 3: One time, we're hanging out in front of the new 184 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:29,199 Speaker 3: Uurrican Post cafe after Pather passed away. So this is 185 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 3: around two thousand and five, two thousand six, and we're 186 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 3: drinking beer outside the cafe in those stupid red cups. 187 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 3: Now we put them into stupid red cups because they 188 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:43,839 Speaker 3: didn't want to be outside drinking, you know, out of 189 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,719 Speaker 3: bottle beer when these two stupid detectives come by, right, 190 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 3: so they wont id And at that point, you know, 191 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:54,599 Speaker 3: I didn't have any idea, had a business card on me. 192 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:57,719 Speaker 3: So when the cop hass me, my ida, I give 193 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 3: my business card. He says, no, no idea. I said, well, 194 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 3: that's my business card. Wh you think I'm gonna give 195 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 3: somebody in my business card when information is false, How. 196 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 2: The hell they're going to get a hold of me? 197 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 2: He said, no, No, I can't believe this, you know, 198 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 2: blah blah. 199 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 3: I said, well, look go inside the cafe and ask 200 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 3: the people in there, who the hell am I? 201 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 2: And he says, what that that? That's a bar? Said, no, 202 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 2: that's a cultural institution. 203 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino USA. For nearly fifty years, the 204 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,079 Speaker 1: New Yorkan Poets Cafe has been a vital space for 205 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: Black and Latino creators, and its next generation of artists 206 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 1: have a rich legacy to learn from. 207 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 6: Our oral histories of the. 208 00:12:39,760 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: New Yorkan Poets Cafe continue stay with us. Yes, Hey, 209 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 1: we're back, and we've been hearing about the New Yorkan 210 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,719 Speaker 1: Poet's Cafe and the movement behind it from some of 211 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: the writers that helped build it. Coming up on the show, 212 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 1: playwright Ishmael Reid and poet, visual artist and archivist Lois 213 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: Elaine Griffith. They're going to reflect on creating a space 214 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: for Black and Latino artists that's uniquely our own but 215 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: first spoken word poet Garidad de la Louise, the Bronx 216 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: poet known as Le Brucha now takes the stage the New. 217 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:01,679 Speaker 7: Arekan Poest Cafe. It still has that that connection to 218 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 7: the seventies, nineteen seventy three when it was founded. It's 219 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 7: like it's the coolest little cafe. It's just like when 220 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:12,839 Speaker 7: you think of like beat nick Era and you know 221 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 7: it's smokey, even though there's no smoke all out in there. 222 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 7: It's just so strange. It's a mystical place. There's definitely 223 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 7: spirits there. It's on the lower east side Loisaia Alphabet City, 224 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 7: nestled between once was tenements now has become high rise 225 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 7: luxury places. And it's just a simple stage, a microphone, 226 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,480 Speaker 7: black curtains, brick walls and magic. 227 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 6: And you can go in there. 228 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 7: And even though it's called the New Eurekan Poet's Cafe, 229 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 7: which you know is rooted in Puerto Ricans in New 230 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 7: York making the New Eurekan culture, it is open to everyone. 231 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 7: You can go to the New yereak In Poet's Cafe, 232 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 7: sign your name and get up on that microphone and 233 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 7: share your authentic self and you will have people hold 234 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 7: space for you to speak your truth. And the new 235 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 7: york In Poets Cafe. That's really what it is. It's 236 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 7: a mecca of truth telling for the world. 237 00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 6: Bang Bang Bang and Yorico. 238 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 7: My name is Garida de la LUs and I am 239 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 7: La Bruja banng. 240 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 8: U Yorico bing bang Uh Yeah Mah. 241 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 7: Poet, spoken word Puerto Rican New Eurekan activist, born in 242 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 7: the Bronx. 243 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 8: The palm trees are all like the skyscrapers. The entrance 244 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 8: says welcome over the gate. And Margarida lost a shoe 245 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 8: by Lando Salsa. She threw away the other to dance deal. 246 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 7: I started my career at the New Yeakan Poet's Cafe 247 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:54,600 Speaker 7: in nineteen ninety six. I started performing on the open 248 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 7: mics hosted by Babito and it was the All That series, 249 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 7: and from there I was offered a monthly slot to 250 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 7: perform at the New yeek In Poet's Cafe. My best 251 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 7: friend's brother the Dubois family, Jerry Dubois, took me to 252 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 7: the New yek And Poets Cafe because we were getting 253 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 7: together on weekends. I was working at Bloomingdale's at the time, 254 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 7: and we would get together on Friday nights and recite 255 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 7: poetry to each other in bars, and he was like, 256 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:29,840 Speaker 7: there's this place, the New York and Poets Cafe. So 257 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 7: my childhood friends came with me and we went signed 258 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 7: my name. The guy in charge of the signing is 259 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 7: actually at Gardo Miranda, who is the creator of the 260 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 7: Budding Genya comic Babito was hosting. There was music, Moms 261 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 7: was on the roster, the Lennon Anderson, Suher Hammad, they 262 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 7: were rocking it during this time, so I was personally shaking. 263 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 7: You have these butterflies in your stomach until your name, 264 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 7: you know, your name is called your The anticipation of 265 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 7: being called and not messing up, the adrenaline was pumping. 266 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 7: I had my notebook, I go up there. It was 267 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 7: the only time I ever wore fake nails. It was 268 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 7: that time I had fake nails on that time. There's 269 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 7: a photo of it, me holding my velvet, green journal, 270 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 7: fake nails, long hair, baggy pants, polo shirt. And I 271 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 7: recited something first in Spanish and it went into English 272 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 7: and that journal got ruined in a flood in my basement. 273 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 7: So I don't even know exactly what I said, but 274 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 7: I know that it had to do with family, Puerto 275 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 7: Rican culture, pride and I got a standing ovation that night. 276 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 7: It was a lunary clips. It was April third, nineteen 277 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 7: ninety six. I bought my name on an open mic 278 00:17:55,840 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 7: list to Spit and the Restless History. I never turned 279 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:07,359 Speaker 7: away from that stage that mike ever again. The birth 280 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 7: of the new Eurekan Poet La Bruja was there. And 281 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 7: since then, not only have I brought my one woman 282 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 7: shows to the New York In Poet's Cafe, or done 283 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 7: collectives and different performances, musicals, and because I started on 284 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,439 Speaker 7: the open mic, I've been hosting open mics for years, 285 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 7: well over fifteen years, and I still now host the 286 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 7: open mic at the New York In Poet's Cafe. I 287 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 7: was the first online open mic in its history. Now 288 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,119 Speaker 7: I hand it over to you, and who will it 289 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 7: be up first? Someone that brings his guitar and his 290 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,639 Speaker 7: folkloric music, original compositions and always makes I had the 291 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 7: blessing of being taught and a mentee of Pedro Pietrill Reverndo, 292 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:06,120 Speaker 7: Sandra mari Esteves, who is the surviving matriarch of that generation, 293 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 7: of that founding generation of New Yerek and poetry, and 294 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 7: Tato la Vieira. I worked with him as well. They're 295 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 7: my family, my poetic family. They were all mentors to 296 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 7: me and as well as Mie lal Garim. 297 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 8: Miguel l. 298 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 7: Gharn was a queen king, honey, Okay. He didn't take 299 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 7: any crap. You want to talk about truth telling like 300 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 7: he had just a lightsaber for a tongue. He loved 301 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 7: listening to poetry. He loved critiquing it. He loved everything 302 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,000 Speaker 7: poetry and he loved us. He would sit at the 303 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 7: bar at that first stool right there, closest to the stage, 304 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 7: which is where I sit when I'm there and I 305 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 7: think of him. It's where he would post up his 306 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:59,320 Speaker 7: books to sell. And you know, he was larger than life. 307 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 7: He was a sacred clown. 308 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 2: You know. 309 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 7: He came up in the time, same thing with Miguel Pinero. 310 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 7: Puerto Ricans during that time, especially lgbt Q. The machismo 311 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,880 Speaker 7: is real. It's like how you can be an oppressed 312 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 7: being but have machismo. 313 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 8: You know. 314 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 7: It was like this amalgamation of conflict and exploration in 315 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 7: manhood and Puerto ricanness and americanness. He was a trip. 316 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 7: He also had HIV and he also did drugs and 317 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 7: was a free spirit and he He was like a 318 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 7: bohemian gypsy telling you it's the energy there. It's the place, 319 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 7: the beginning. It's a place where I have workshopped my work. 320 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 7: Whenever I had something new, the place to go and 321 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 7: share it was the New Eurekan. That's where you do it. 322 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 7: That's where you work out the kinks and you feel 323 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 7: it out, you know, And word of mouth is everything. 324 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,119 Speaker 7: You can buy as many followers as you want, you 325 00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 7: can do all of that, but word of mouth cannot 326 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 7: be bought. And the New Eurekan Poet's Cafe, that's what 327 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 7: it has. Word of mouth. It has cred that's just 328 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:20,880 Speaker 7: from the real work, from really doing it, from really 329 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,879 Speaker 7: being there, from really creating change in people's lives. New 330 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 7: Eurekan has done that for me, and it continues to 331 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 7: do so, and it always will. I was told that 332 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 7: they won a grant and they may demolish it and 333 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:39,159 Speaker 7: do a state of the art New Eurekan Poets Cafe. 334 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 7: So keep that in mind. Those walls are going to 335 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 7: crumble at some point, and will it have the same energy. 336 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 7: I'll make sure that it does. 337 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 5: We were called rabble, you know. Alexander Hamilton used the 338 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 5: term for the masses called rabble, So we call us 339 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 5: a ravel theater, ravel director, ravel playwright, you know, ravel audiences. 340 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 5: My name is Ishmael Reid, our teacher at the California 341 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 5: College of the Arts, where I'm a distinguished professor, and 342 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 5: I've written a lot of books and songs, and i 343 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 5: played jazz piano. I remember my first introduction to Digo 344 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 5: Rican poets, dating back at least to nineteen sixty five 345 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 5: when we joined Allen Ginsburg and I'm Mary Baraka at 346 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 5: a portry eating at Columbia University. But I think the 347 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 5: explosion took place around early sixties, where the New a 348 00:22:55,200 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 5: Orkan writers began to assert their work. And they were bilingual, 349 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 5: and this made sound like a stereotype, but they seem 350 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 5: to have more of a rhythm, a beat, which was 351 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 5: lacking in English. I think that the you might call 352 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 5: it the Latin diaspora, maintained some of the cultures of Africa. 353 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 5: The collap ratio was getting on there and so it 354 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,480 Speaker 5: was inevitable that we would be part of the new 355 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:35,920 Speaker 5: Eurekan sports cafe experience. We still are. I left for 356 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 5: the West Coast in nineteen sixty seven, but we still 357 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 5: maintained ties with the thee Aurekan culture. Now, I don't 358 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:48,480 Speaker 5: know the circumstances under which I met Miguel, but I 359 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,439 Speaker 5: think it was probably through Rome Neil, the theater director 360 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,679 Speaker 5: at the New Orkan. Miguel was a very cosmopolitan person 361 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 5: and he was very witty. He was for example, if 362 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 5: Columbus hadn't discovered America, he couldn't go to French restaurants. 363 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 5: I used that line in my play. I mean he 364 00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 5: had a great sense of humor and keep you in stitches. 365 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,120 Speaker 5: He just was guess a wise, like a funny guy. 366 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 5: But I mean you see a serious scholar. I mean 367 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 5: he knew Shakespeare backwards and forwards and tri lingual and 368 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 5: just a beautiful person. And he took a gamble on 369 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 5: presenting some of my plays. I mean they would not 370 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 5: have been produced had it not been for Miguel. He 371 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 5: would read the scripts and he would give the okay 372 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:44,639 Speaker 5: for the productions. He never said no. For example, we 373 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,640 Speaker 5: did an opera call Get seventy Park, where we updated 374 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 5: the park where Jesus was arrested. We made it into 375 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 5: sort of like a homeless park, and that's played around. 376 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 5: Began at the Black Reptoria Theater the only other theater 377 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 5: in the country that will do my plays. So it's 378 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 5: a black theater in a New York in theater that 379 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 5: will do my plays. Sometimes people in the audience end 380 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 5: up on our plays. It's amazing. It's that kind of 381 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 5: communal situation. Like Laura Robarts, who's Jason Robarts's granddaughter, came 382 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 5: to see our play in auditioned for the new play 383 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 5: The Slave Who Love Caviar, and she's in the reading. 384 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 7: According to the New York Art Crowd, Boscot's career was 385 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 7: made when he began a collaboration with Andy Warhol, but 386 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 7: that story has a counter story. 387 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 5: One of the high points was Mary Wilson of the Supremes, 388 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 5: the Motown Star. She was performing at the Carlisle, and 389 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 5: she came to see Mother Hubbard, which was another play 390 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 5: that attracted a lot of attention. She asked for a role, 391 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,600 Speaker 5: and she learned the songs in her role over the 392 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 5: weekend and appeared in the play. And so sometimes that 393 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,680 Speaker 5: you know, people who are very well known will come 394 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 5: to see our plays and they liked them. The most 395 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 5: controversial play that we did was The Haunting of Lynn 396 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:06,160 Speaker 5: Manuel Miranda. 397 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,920 Speaker 3: Mister Linda, are you the man that wrote the play 398 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 3: about Alexander Hamilton. 399 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 2: Yes, and were you? 400 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 5: My name is then, mister Lyne. 401 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 6: I'm the slave who returned to miss Angelica scholar church by. 402 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 5: Mister Hamilton's We challenged the idea that Alexander Hamilton, Angelica 403 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:32,239 Speaker 5: and all of them were ardent abolitionists. They weren't their 404 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 5: own slaves. Although people say this is an attack on 405 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 5: Miranda personally, it wasn't. Matter of fact. The storyline is 406 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 5: that Miranda has been misled by historians who have misled 407 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 5: all of us, who've been lying to us all along, 408 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:53,920 Speaker 5: and who've been trying to cast villains into marble. So 409 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,639 Speaker 5: we also come to these myths, and so we have 410 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:03,440 Speaker 5: to unlearn all these things. Well, I think the media 411 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 5: is I'm talking about Hollywood, television, newspapers have yet to diversify. 412 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 5: The problem is that they're the ones who define us. 413 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 5: They're the ones who tell our stories, and everybody complains 414 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 5: about it. Asian Americans, Latinos, you know, Native Americans, blacks, 415 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 5: we just don't get a word in edgewise, and so 416 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 5: we're interpreted. We're like some lost tribe that anthropologists have 417 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 5: to interpret when we're perfectly willing to speak for ourselves. 418 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 5: George Bernard Shaw says that when you let other people 419 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 5: tell your story, they will vulgarize and degrade you. And 420 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 5: I think that's the history of our cultures in the 421 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 5: United States. Other people tell our stories and they vulgarize. 422 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 5: And the greatest if you go to the New Yurekan 423 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 5: and other theaters, you know, off off Broadway numbers, you 424 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 5: might get audiences that we have never seen a play, 425 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 5: and so we're not old to writing theater for the 426 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 5: masses of people. Through the New Yeak and we have 427 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:11,680 Speaker 5: provided black and brown actors over the years with challenging roles, 428 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 5: the kind of roles that are not available to them 429 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 5: in the industries like Hollywood and Tellision as their constitutent 430 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 5: now off of profits and promoting stereotypes. So I think 431 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:23,400 Speaker 5: that's the legacy of what we've done. 432 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 6: My name is Loisi Lay and Griffith. I have my 433 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 6: own practice in terms of writing and visual arts. I've 434 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 6: been working with the New York Reports Cafe for most 435 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 6: of my life, since I was twenty seven twenty seven 436 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 6: years old. I met Miguel a few weeks after he 437 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 6: opened the cafe. A girlfriend of mine and I. We 438 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,720 Speaker 6: had gone to used to be a place on Lower 439 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 6: east Side on Bowery called the Tin Palace, and there 440 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 6: was Miguel La Garin, Mio Pinero and Lucky Sian Fuego. 441 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 6: At the time were given readings as the New Eurekan Poets. 442 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 6: And that's how I met Miguel and he said, well, 443 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 6: you must come, and then we established our relationship. We 444 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 6: were partners, and I think we trusted each other. I 445 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 6: would say, Nicha, let's do this. Yeah, okay, let's do that. 446 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:38,840 Speaker 6: Let's get some money and do that. Well, I'm not 447 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:47,480 Speaker 6: New Eurekan. I am Caribbean extraction, Barbadis, Guyana Haiti, and 448 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 6: I came first to the cafe looking for a community 449 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 6: because I think that's essential and understanding New Eurekan Poets Cafe. 450 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 6: The Lower east Side had not been gentrified as yet, 451 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 6: was not what real estate entrepreneurs call the East Village. 452 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,640 Speaker 6: It was Alphabet City, it was the Lower east Side, 453 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 6: let's be real. It was a place where immigrants came 454 00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:21,640 Speaker 6: to these shores and many established themselves. The cafe has 455 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,520 Speaker 6: never been a place where I thought I was going 456 00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:27,080 Speaker 6: to earn a living or make myself a millionaire. It 457 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 6: was always the love of the art and the love 458 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 6: of the community that brought me to it. It was 459 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 6: a kind of place where we had a book at 460 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 6: the end of the bar. You signed your name in 461 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 6: the book, and you could have three four minutes from 462 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 6: the sidewalk to the stage to get up before our 463 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 6: audience say poem. 464 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 4: Rant I was there when Dre decided he wanted to 465 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:58,479 Speaker 4: be our angel. 466 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,120 Speaker 6: Every age, what the one you left me for leaves 467 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 6: you next? I want you to tell me, are you 468 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 6: broken yet? Expose yourself however, and believe me, people did. 469 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 6: When we were on Sixth Street. There was a piece 470 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 6: Pedro wrote that we did called Jesus's Leaving Pedro Pietri 471 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,960 Speaker 6: prolific writer. We did so many pieces, and it was 472 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 6: a story about Mary and Joseph. And I never forget 473 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,320 Speaker 6: how many times I saw the play. Mary was stuck 474 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 6: in the wheelchair, and at the end of the play, 475 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 6: Mary got out of the wheelchair and stripped off her clothes. 476 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 6: And don't you know, the community outside got to know 477 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 6: the play so well that they knew the time when 478 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 6: Mary was going to jump out the wheelchair and take 479 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 6: off her clothes, that they would all come at that time, 480 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 6: like maybe about nine o'clock nine point fifteen, to look 481 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 6: at the window to see Mary jump out the chair naked. 482 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:10,840 Speaker 6: I want to say that term grassroots is so overused, 483 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:15,719 Speaker 6: but it's a kind of organic, let's say, organic development. 484 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 6: And that's really how it started. We got the building 485 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 6: on East Third in nineteen eighty. We got that building 486 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 6: from Ellen Stewart at the time, Lamma, who had her 487 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 6: theater on east Ford Street, and she used two three 488 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 6: six East Third as a place where musicians who would 489 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 6: come into town, she would have them let them stay there, 490 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,560 Speaker 6: you know, just crash. It was a crash house. Half 491 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 6: of New York City didn't even want to be down there, 492 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 6: didn't want to know about that part of the city. 493 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 6: So we said, yeah, we take this. People have been 494 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,240 Speaker 6: asking me lately about where are the women? Where are 495 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 6: the women here? I am, but Sandra Mali Stevis would 496 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 6: come around. Actually, it was because of Sandy that Miguel 497 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 6: wrote I think it was probably his only play, a 498 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 6: theater piece. He wrote, The Murder of Peito. He wrote 499 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 6: that in seventy five, I think Sandy had a friend 500 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:32,040 Speaker 6: who was killed like so many young men, women too, 501 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:37,520 Speaker 6: a color so Sandy came to Miguel rapping on his 502 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 6: window and the night that this happened, and told him 503 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 6: the whole story about what happened this cop and a frenzy. 504 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:46,720 Speaker 6: I mean, how many times did we hear the story? 505 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 6: And Miguel turned it, turned their exchange into a theater piece, 506 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 6: and we did the Murder of Peito that summer, after 507 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 6: Sandy's friend was mysteriously died in police custody. We did 508 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,800 Speaker 6: a play once. I think it was called Blacks and 509 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 6: Blues by the poet Renaldo. This was back in the 510 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:22,800 Speaker 6: early nineties, I guess. And Miguel had this staircase to 511 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 6: nowhere that was built as part of the play because 512 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 6: these four characters I think there were four characters met 513 00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,319 Speaker 6: on the street and the stoop and I remember one 514 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 6: time we did this play with this stairway to nowhere 515 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 6: and after the play, let's turn on the music and 516 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 6: get loose dance. I mean, the nineties, the eighties and 517 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:52,959 Speaker 6: nineties were time when dancing was everything. At the core 518 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 6: of what we did from the beginning was the drum, 519 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 6: the drum, the roomba, the conga, the celebration of the music, 520 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,880 Speaker 6: and so you know, after any kind of poetry or theater, 521 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 6: we would have to, Okay, turn out the music, we're 522 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 6: gonna dance now. And we had this staircase and these 523 00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:25,200 Speaker 6: people came in. I'm neighborhood kids, and they're running up 524 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,839 Speaker 6: I don't know where they thought the staircase. 525 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 5: But. 526 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:33,919 Speaker 6: I'll never forget this. They're running up the stairs disappearing. 527 00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,800 Speaker 6: Thank god I did. But do they not understand the 528 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:45,480 Speaker 6: drop off behind that? Oh that's a memory. It's not funny, 529 00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:51,880 Speaker 6: it's really not funny, but it was funny. Uh, theater 530 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 6: after the theater. It's ironic how oftentimes things that are 531 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 6: outside the mainstream become mainstream. How mainstream uses the outside 532 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 6: to feed itself to begin anew. But sometimes you gotta think, 533 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:15,440 Speaker 6: what do you mean by success, Especially if you've been 534 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,319 Speaker 6: I don't want to say a street poet, but if 535 00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:22,239 Speaker 6: you've been just knocking here and there and stumbled into 536 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 6: the cafe, stumbled onto the stage, begin to get a 537 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 6: name for yourself. What does that do to you? What 538 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 6: does that do to the poet? Where do you go next? 539 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 6: Perhaps this is the next stage that we can become 540 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 6: a center for study. Because half of these young people 541 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:45,759 Speaker 6: who come to the cafe these days Pedro who a 542 00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 6: merry Who, And they're writing poems like them and don't 543 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:53,000 Speaker 6: know the name, don't know where their roots are. So 544 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 6: let's have a place, a repository where you can learn 545 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:04,239 Speaker 6: about your Some of these young poets stand up to 546 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:09,880 Speaker 6: recite poems like Amari Baraka did back in nineteen sixty seven, 547 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,320 Speaker 6: nineteen sixty five where he was writing The Dead Lecturer 548 00:37:13,360 --> 00:37:16,800 Speaker 6: when he was Leroy Jones, and they don't know that 549 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 6: they sounded just like him. It's not something they learned 550 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,320 Speaker 6: in school. And it's time that they learned this in school. 551 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 6: That Sandra Maria Estevis be read. So many Puerto Rican 552 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 6: princesses have arisen and don't know where they come from. 553 00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:38,440 Speaker 6: They come from Hume, they need to know. 554 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:50,880 Speaker 1: Lois started and runs the New Ayorakan Poet's Cafe Founder's 555 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: Archive project. It's a collection of testimonies and recorded material 556 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: for the New Yorkans decades Long. History has been recently 557 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: organizing a digital anthology about Miguel al Garin. It'll be 558 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:21,720 Speaker 1: released in early twenty twenty two. This episode was produced 559 00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: by Alejandra Salasad and edited by Marta Martinez. It was 560 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 1: mixed by Stephanie Lebau and Julia Caruso. The Latino USA 561 00:38:29,719 --> 00:38:35,600 Speaker 1: team includes Andrea Lopez Cruzado, Mike Sargent, Julieta Martinelli, Victori Estrada, 562 00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: Patricia Sulbaran, Gini Montalbo, Frinaldo Leanos Junior and Julia Rocha, 563 00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:44,080 Speaker 1: with help from Raoul Perez. Our editorial director is Julio 564 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:48,080 Speaker 1: Ricardo Garella. Our associate engineers are gabrie L. Paez and 565 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:51,920 Speaker 1: j J. Carubin. Our digital editor is Luis Luna. Our 566 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,120 Speaker 1: New York Women's Foundation Ignite fellow is Maries Quinka. Our 567 00:38:56,200 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: fellows are Elisa Baena, Monica Morales and Andrew. Our theme 568 00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 1: music was composed by Zane RINOs. If you like the 569 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,839 Speaker 1: music you heard on this episode, stop by Latinousa dot 570 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,319 Speaker 1: org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your 571 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:14,080 Speaker 1: host and executive producer Maria Nojosa. Join us on our 572 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: next episode and in the meantime, I'll see you at 573 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 1: the New Yor Reagan Poets Cafe. Have a great one. 574 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 2: I E. 575 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,839 Speaker 9: Latino USA is made possible in part by New York 576 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:33,520 Speaker 9: Women's Foundation. The New York Women's Foundation funding women leaders 577 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 9: that build solutions in their communities, and celebrating thirty years 578 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 9: of radical generosity. The Annie Casey Foundation creates a brighter 579 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 9: future for the nation's children by strengthening families, building greater 580 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:52,400 Speaker 9: economic opportunity, and transforming communities. And the John D. And 581 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 9: Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 582 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 3: Memorial that we did in the hospital, But actually, before 583 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:02,240 Speaker 3: we get into that, do you wanna finish your sandwich? 584 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,280 Speaker 2: I'm gonna finish this half and then we'll talk about