1 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:08,400 Speaker 1: I had never seen anything written about party crews, especially 2 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:11,560 Speaker 1: in the Eli Weekly. I mean, most media, especially at 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: the time, was very white centric and not really covering 4 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: Latino communities. So here was the story that was really 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 1: about these young women of color, these Latinas, and then 6 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: about this whole culture, this whole underground culture. It wasn't 7 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: the culture that we were listening to on the radio 8 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: or like watching on TV. This was like totally underground, 9 00:00:39,479 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: even though it was huge. From My Heart's Michael Dura Podcast, Network, 10 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,199 Speaker 1: Vice and Elias Studios, this is Party Cruz, the Untold Story. 11 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: I'm Janis Yamoca. In this bonus episode, I talked to 12 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: writer Caribbean Fragosa. Caribbean Fragosa is a writer, editor, and 13 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: co founder of the South Elmante Arts Posse, an arts 14 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: collective based out of her hometown South and Monte She 15 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: also co edits Boom California, a cultural journal published by 16 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: the University of California Press. Most of her work is 17 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: focused on Latin X women and girls whose narratives aren't 18 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: always portrayed in the mainstream. I first came across her 19 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 1: work because of a short story she wrote for Bomb 20 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: Magazine in twenty fourteen. It was titled The Vicious Ladies, 21 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,680 Speaker 1: and it was inspired by the news coverage surrounding Emery 22 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: Munos's real life party crew. The short story was eventually 23 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 1: published in her twenty twenty one debut collection of stories 24 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: titled Eat the Mouth That Beats You. Caribbean was actually 25 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: never in a party crew herself, and she grew up 26 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 1: in the nineties, a different generation than mine. But I 27 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: felt very seen by her short story, and that's part 28 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: of why I wanted to talk to her. The way 29 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: I see it, her work captured the spirit of an 30 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: all girl party crew, so I wanted to understand what 31 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: drew her to write about the scene. Like me, she 32 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: grew up in the Sangebreel Valley, so I also wanted 33 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: to understand how her own personal experiences shaped how she 34 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:32,680 Speaker 1: writes about the coming of age experience. What was your 35 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: familiarity with party crews growing up? My familiarity was always 36 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: from the outsider perspective. I'm member in middle school in 37 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: particular seeing flyers getting distributed around or seeing posters up. 38 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: But really the flyer is something that I saw all 39 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: around me, and it was just part of like the 40 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: visual culture that I was swimming in and I was 41 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: very interested in them, but I was too young to 42 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: go back and the time, and there was no way 43 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: that my parents were gonna let me go. And then 44 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: as I got a little older, some of my friends 45 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: were going to these backyard parties or house parties or 46 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: ditch parties. And there was a little tiny part of 47 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: me that did want to be like a tough girl, 48 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: sort of Chola, and did want to go out to 49 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: the parties and do whatever I wanted, and I did 50 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: want to belong. I did want to feel like I 51 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 1: was with my homegirls, but I wasn't going to go 52 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,599 Speaker 1: because I needed to get an a in whatever and 53 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to fall behind. And then also my 54 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: mom would kill me. And you know, my mom was 55 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: to stay at home mom, and she would find out. 56 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: There was no way that I could ditch without her 57 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: finding out. Fast forward to two thousand and seven, Caribbean 58 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: was fresh out of grad school and it was around 59 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: that time that she read an article in Ellie Weekly 60 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: called Flying High with the Vicious Ladies by writer Christine Palisk. 61 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: Reading about the crews of my generation in a published 62 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: magazine made her start thinking about being a team again 63 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: and about the tough girls she knew, the ones that 64 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: went out to parties, and eventually she would write her 65 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: own short story around the themes that interested her. To me, 66 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: they represented, I guess, a freedom that I didn't have, 67 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: because I knew it was very youth led and it 68 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: was a space for young people to sort of do 69 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: what they wanted to do, whatever that was, and dress 70 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: how they wanted to dress, and just be free, and 71 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: that was something that was interesting to me. I was really, really, 72 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,799 Speaker 1: really compelled by the idea of creating that a party 73 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: crew for only girls and women had been created, and 74 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: actually the whole scene, the whole party crew, from what 75 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: I saw and what I've learned over the years, was 76 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 1: really like a business really driven by young people or 77 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: like adults, but not very old adults. Was really interested 78 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: in sort of the di wyeness of the party crew scene, 79 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:09,799 Speaker 1: and I was thinking a lot about how we many 80 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: of us have to, especially as creatives, have to create 81 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: our own paths professionally. We have to find ways to 82 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: hustle and make money. Her short story, The Vicious Ladies 83 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 1: follows a young woman who goes back home after graduating college, 84 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: and she finds herself hanging out with the people from 85 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 1: her past, the party crew she left behind. The imagery 86 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: in the story was so vivid to me. Caribbean describes 87 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: doing nas as a clandestine baptism and flyers in the 88 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: air as multi colored snow. I also found that in 89 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: some ways I related to the main character too. In 90 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: the story, the main character returns to the party crew 91 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 1: scene and doesn't feel like she belongs. When I started 92 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: reaching out to old party crew friends, one of my 93 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: guy friends told me, I thought you were too good 94 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: for us. He said it in a jokey tone, but 95 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,479 Speaker 1: I knew he meant it. It felt like her story 96 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: hit close to home. Caribbean tells me that the main 97 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: character is also a version of her as a young person. 98 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: How did you feel growing up in Yeah? I mean, 99 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: obviously I felt very at home because that was the 100 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: only home I'd always known. Everybody looked like me, talk 101 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: like me, sounded like me. Like we're all like these 102 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: working class Mexican Mexican American kids with immigrant parents bilingual. 103 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: So in that sense, I was just like everybody else. 104 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: But I was also always a misfit. I was like 105 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: a nerd girl, and I was always proud of it. 106 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: I was never ashamed or embarrassed about being like a 107 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: nerd and loving literature, loving art. I was always interested 108 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: in in culture, and I was very ambitious. I was 109 00:07:57,240 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: I wanted good grades. I wanted to go to college. 110 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: Like I grew up with that messaging that college is 111 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,119 Speaker 1: the key, education is the key, and so I made 112 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: sure to really get those grades. I wanted to be 113 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: the top, the best. And for those reasons, it really 114 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: put me at odds in different ways with my classmates 115 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: and with my peers around me, because they were looking 116 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: at the world, in their place in the world differently. 117 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: What do you mean by that? I think many people 118 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: in our generation understood the message that education is the key, 119 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 1: going to college is the way to in some ways 120 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: do better or more than our parents had done or 121 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: had been doing. Especially as the children of immigrants, we 122 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: have this expectation and this pressure to do more to 123 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: make that dangerous migration across the border worth it. And 124 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: I certainly grew up with that, and I knew that, 125 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: even though it was unspoken among my peers, like we 126 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: all shared that expectation. We knew that we were supposed 127 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:01,559 Speaker 1: to progress quote unquote and make good on the American dream, 128 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: but it wasn't clear to us how to do that. 129 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: And so, you know, a lot of people that I 130 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: knew didn't end up going to college. Certainly a bunch did, 131 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: but not everybody, And so the working class way of 132 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: living continued for a lot of my friends that became 133 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: adults and raised children of their own. Hearing you say 134 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: like that like unspoken. It's almost like an unspoken pressure 135 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: that you have. And like my mom was always I mean, 136 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: as an adult, she's always told me, like you need 137 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: to be better than me, which hurts, but at the 138 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: same time I kind of understand, like I know she 139 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:41,280 Speaker 1: wants or me to be, like she wants to push me. 140 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: But it also fell at that time like so like 141 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: impossible to like carry for me, at least being sixteen fifteen, 142 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: it was just like a lot of weight. There was support, 143 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,079 Speaker 1: and then there was of course pressure, and then there 144 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: was like the unknowingness, the not knowing really what your 145 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,280 Speaker 1: future was supposed to look like. Right, there's supposed to 146 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: be bright, and it's supposed to be great, and you're 147 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: supposed to be free of financial insecurity, But how does 148 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,440 Speaker 1: that work out? Specifically was never really articulated and it's 149 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 1: something that I think many many of us and generations 150 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: younger than us, have really been trying to figure out, 151 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: like how do we make it? How do we survive 152 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: in this world that is supposed to be ours and 153 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: it's not, And it just seems to be getting harder 154 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: and harder to survive, especially as people of color, and 155 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: Caribbean specifically hones in on the expectations placed on women. 156 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: As a young woman, I really and as a girl 157 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: really at a very young age, I felt that pressure. 158 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: I think that's what weighed on me the most, the 159 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 1: gendered expectations of what it means to be a girl 160 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: and what it means to grow into a woman and 161 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: what that looks like. And as the child of Mexican immigrants, like, 162 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: there's very specific expectations of what a girl and a 163 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: woman should look like, what we should behave, like, what 164 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: kinds of things we should and should not do, And 165 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: so I felt those things really weigh on me a lot. 166 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: I constantly found ways to push against that. So I 167 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 1: was always and still am like a kind of tomboy. 168 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: Caribbean says that adopting a tomboy identity served as a 169 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:40,560 Speaker 1: literal and figurative guardrail from society as a woman, I 170 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 1: felt like sort of disguising my more feminine aspects under 171 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 1: baggy clothes or dark clothes and hoodies and baggy pants 172 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: like made me look maybe a little bit like a hoodlum. 173 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: But also I felt protected and I was able to 174 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: move around in the world a little at least a 175 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: tiny bit more. See. It seemed to me it's interesting 176 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 1: hearing your um, like how you were kind of coming 177 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: to terms of understanding your own femininity, because I feel 178 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: like I kind of went to complete opposite. I was like, 179 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,360 Speaker 1: let me be like hyper sexual, like let me show 180 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: off my curves, let me show off my legs. My 181 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: family's religious, so like I was fighting against that. My 182 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,120 Speaker 1: style of dressing was like crop tops and tiny tink 183 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: tops and like, wow, it was fashion. Like I was 184 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 1: still like I'm gonna do it because I can't do it, 185 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:32,680 Speaker 1: you know, like because they won't let me or because 186 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: they think whatever. Right, It's like i'mm was like, you 187 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: can't drink out of the like a beer bottle, and 188 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: I was like what I remember I always used to 189 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: get like these unsolicited tutorials on how to walk like 190 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,200 Speaker 1: a lady. From my DEAs and you're supposed to move 191 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: your hips like this, and you're supposed to stand straight 192 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,320 Speaker 1: like that, And then on purpose, I would sort of 193 00:13:05,360 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: like slouch and I would just kind of carry myself 194 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:14,520 Speaker 1: like this angry little tomboy in the world. And then 195 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: I sort of kept that up throughout college to a 196 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: certain extent, like as I tried to find my own 197 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: version of femininity, like what is being a girl and 198 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: what is it being a woman feel like? And what 199 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:34,439 Speaker 1: feels right to me. We'll be right back. Look more 200 00:13:34,559 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: from Caribbean Ferragosa. Welcome back. I'm speaking to writer and 201 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: artists Caribbean Fragosa. As a writer, Caribbean tells me that 202 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: when it comes to telling Latin stories, she feels it's 203 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: important to be constantly challenging the norm and inviting in 204 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: new ideas and voices. I just wanted to know what 205 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: is a typical Chicano story. Well, I think the Chicano 206 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: stories are often about family and about community. And I 207 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: know I write about family and I write about community. 208 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: But there's certain like tropes that I find interesting and 209 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: then also maybe in need of of rethinking. And I 210 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 1: know that for example, like the Aulita character is one 211 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: in particular that has struck me, like there's always an 212 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: auelita that is like sweet and making tortillas for you 213 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:57,480 Speaker 1: and this and that. But for me, I love my grandma. 214 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: But my grandma did not fit that sort of stereo 215 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: type of the aguelita. Like my Mayaguelitas were never that. 216 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: They were very strong and angry and um express their 217 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: affection and these really strange, sort of aggressive ways for 218 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: me and um, like my grandmother when she when she 219 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: wanted to express affection to me, she would say, and 220 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: I knew that was an expression of love. Like I 221 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: knew that was aggressive, but I knew that was like, oh, 222 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: my grandma loves me. Because she holding space for women 223 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: to be themselves in any way that feels natural, whether 224 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: their grandmother's, teens or writers is important to Caribbean. Drawing 225 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: inspiration from party crews, she established an online culture and 226 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 1: literary zine for writers. Why did you name your magazine 227 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: the Vicious Ladies? Well, I named it the Vicious Ladies 228 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: because I had published this story, The Vicious Ladies, which 229 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: was directly inspired by the actual Vicious Ladies, and I 230 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: felt like over the years I had built like an ethos, 231 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: like a real commitment to not just telling the stories 232 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 1: of women and girls and writing about artists that are 233 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: women and girls and in fiction also, but through the 234 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,240 Speaker 1: publication and Vicious Ladies, which is a sort of online 235 00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: magazine of cultural criticism, really trying to create safe space. 236 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: I was thinking about how I could do it, maybe 237 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: not as an actual like party crew, which is not 238 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: my thing, but maybe through my thing, which is writing, 239 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: especially for younger and emerging writers to enter and start 240 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: producing their own bylines. But then I'm also interested in 241 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: intellectual and creative safety, and by that I mean creating 242 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 1: or having a space in which people of color can 243 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: develop their own sort of decolonized way of speaking of 244 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: viewing the world, developing a voice as a writer, as 245 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,399 Speaker 1: an intellectual that is unique to us, that can be 246 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: bilingual if it wants to be, that can draw on 247 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: a whole set of cultural references that are not just 248 00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:28,480 Speaker 1: white centric or eurocentric. I guess for me, when I 249 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: think about like another safe space, think about where you 250 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,720 Speaker 1: can be free or feel like yourself the most. Whether 251 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,280 Speaker 1: it's like safe to dance like no one's watching, you know, 252 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: I kind of just like be free with your body 253 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: and like move and like no one's judging, right. I 254 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: had this experience where I didn't create the safe space, 255 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: but I sort of felt safe unexpectedly, and there was 256 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: a like a like a little DJ collective or something 257 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:01,840 Speaker 1: like that, and they just threw like a party at 258 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: some dive bar, like a dirty, ugly little dive bar 259 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: in my neighborhood. And I had never gone into that 260 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: bar before because it was just like by size, all 261 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 1: men like and everybody's drinking like bud light or cores 262 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: and like that's it and like no women ever, So 263 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: I'd never gone in there. And they threw like a 264 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: party there and I came and I felt good because 265 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: there was a whole crew of them. And then they 266 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,920 Speaker 1: started playing all these songs from like the eighties, like 267 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: from when I was a kid, or early nineties, like 268 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: Mexican pop like Magneto and Flan and all these like 269 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: things thembidice, and then I just felt like, oh, like 270 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: we can just dance here, like we can just be 271 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 1: So I felt like really healed, even though I was 272 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: like a whole grown ass woman with like kids and everything, 273 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,119 Speaker 1: partying with these like twenty something year olds listening to 274 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: music from my childhood, and I just felt like my 275 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: like inner baby Caribbean was being healed beyond safe space. 276 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: What's interesting is seeing the way Caribbeans work preserved a 277 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:21,320 Speaker 1: moment in time. Even though it's her interpretation, I still 278 00:19:21,359 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: feel like it brought the scene a lie from me again, 279 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: and it made me feel like what we experienced was 280 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:32,800 Speaker 1: important and worthy. When people make art, or write stories 281 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: or even share old pictures, experiences can become more. They 282 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:44,040 Speaker 1: become a collective memory, a collective history, and that history 283 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: is what helps us look back process our experiences, not 284 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: just as individuals, but as people living in a society 285 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:57,960 Speaker 1: that doesn't value young women of color. I feel like 286 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: Emory's story is just it still repeats itself. I feel 287 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,520 Speaker 1: like I read about it too often, in particular too 288 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: indigenous women who are murdered or disappeared. I'm thinking about 289 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: like the women along the border, I'm thinking about documented women. 290 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about women all over throughout the Americas and 291 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 1: beyond where violence is inflicted. I mean Neonamas, the women 292 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,280 Speaker 1: in Mexico, particular Mexico City, that are really speaking out 293 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: against violence against women. This is something that continues still today, 294 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: and it's still not being addressed efficiently, and I feel 295 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: like we need to keep pressing on with that. And 296 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: I still want to encourage myself and other women to 297 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: keep pushing to keep being rebellious no matter where you're at, 298 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: whether you're a married mom with kids, whether you're like 299 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 1: a young person graduating from college, whether you're a teenager. 300 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 1: I think we all have to be in dialogue with 301 00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: each other across generations. We can all learn from each other. 302 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: Like unfortunately, there's still violence, and we still have to 303 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: shape the world in a way that is going to 304 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: protect us and allow us to grow and change the 305 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: world in ways that are good for us. Why is 306 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: it important for us to look back? What do you 307 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: think it is that pulls us back to our youth, 308 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: even if we don't think we want to like revisit 309 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: that time. Well, I think there's a lot from our 310 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: youth and from the places that we grew up that 311 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:50,400 Speaker 1: needs to be examined, and nobody else is gonna examine 312 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: it and think of it in the careful terms that 313 00:21:55,119 --> 00:22:00,040 Speaker 1: it requires as much as we do. And there's a 314 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: whole generation or a couple generations now that are turning 315 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: back to their community to learn about what is valuable, 316 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: what is useful? What do we keep? But then a 317 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: question that I always return to is not just what 318 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: do we keep and what do we value, but also 319 00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: what has to be thrown out and what does not 320 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 1: serve our communities? And so for one like homophobism or 321 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 1: like machismo, those are things that do not serve us. 322 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,439 Speaker 1: So I think that it is valuable to sort of 323 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: re examine our youths and re examine the places that 324 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: we grew up in and figure out how we can 325 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 1: build productively for our communities and for our future generations. 326 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:51,600 Speaker 1: My last question is what kind of party crew would 327 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: you have joined if you could? I think my party 328 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: crew would have been more like new wave like, sort 329 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: of gothy, maybe punk, kind of mix um with a 330 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: lot of Cumbias in there somehow I'm not sure how, 331 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: and uh a lover of Mexican pops of Mexican pop 332 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: in there. You have to give yourself a name on 333 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: the spot. What would your crew name be? Oh, my god, 334 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:24,600 Speaker 1: last Jamaicas. I don't know, Las Jamaicas. Thank you so much, Caribbean, 335 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:29,719 Speaker 1: this is great. Thank you. That was writer and artist 336 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: Caribbean Ferragosa. This episode was written reported and hosted by 337 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: me Jennie Jamoca. It was produced by Marina Penga, Victoria 338 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: Lejandro and Sofia Pelissa Carr. It was edited by Antonia 339 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:58,200 Speaker 1: Sehido and Any Abilis, fact checking by Nidia Bautista. Sound 340 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: design and original music composition by Kyle Murdoch. Our supervising 341 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: producer is Janet Lee, Art by Julie Ruiz and Victoria Kyon. 342 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: Our executive producer from Vice Audio is Kate Osborne. Our 343 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: executive producers from Elias Studios are Antonia Siedl and leog 344 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: Our Vice president of Podcasts from Elias Studios is Shane 345 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: and Naomi Krocmo Party Crews. The Untold Story is a 346 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 1: production of Elias Studios and Vice Audio in partnership with 347 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: Ihearts Michael Tura podcast Network. For more podcasts, listen to 348 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,199 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 349 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Special thanks to the UCLA Department of 350 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: Communication Archive for access to their news collection. And Hey, 351 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: were you and a party crew? Send us your party 352 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: flyers or photos. I'd love to see them, even a 353 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: voice message about your memories. Anything. You can send us 354 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,280 Speaker 1: a message or a picture at party cruise app at 355 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: Elias Studios dot com. Support for this podcast is made 356 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: possible by Gordon and Donna Crawford, who believe that quality 357 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live. This 358 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: program is made possible in part by the Corporation for 359 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.