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Speaker 1: I don't know what's happening. What's this? Is this thing on?

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Speaker 1: Is this thing on? Hi? Come with stats. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: Sesame Street.

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Speaker 2: From Futuro Media. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Josa and

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Speaker 2: today can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

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Speaker 2: We speak with Rosita, the show's first regular Spanish speaking muppet.

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Speaker 2: Nearly thirty years ago, a bright, fuzzy five year old

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Speaker 2: turquoise monster with a love for music and soccer. Oh wait,

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Speaker 2: actually football moved from the caverns of Mexico to the

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Speaker 2: friendliest block on television.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, we're just passing where Elma lives. In one

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Speaker 1: to three steps there, yeah, and now, oh here, here

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Speaker 1: is Hooper Store. Let's go in.

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Speaker 2: That's Rosita and today she and her guitar are a

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Speaker 2: familiar sight on Sesame Street. Rosita first appeared in the

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Speaker 2: neighborhood in nineteen ninety one on the show's twenty third season.

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Speaker 2: Her family joined her soon after on the show. When

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Speaker 2: Rosita arrived on Sesame Street, she made history as the

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Speaker 2: show's first full time Spanish speaking muppet.

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Speaker 3: Me and now Rosita will tell us how to count

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Speaker 3: to ten in Spanish?

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Speaker 4: Oh?

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Speaker 5: Why did tell you when I can't see it.

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Speaker 2: She would end up teaching several generations of children, their

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Speaker 2: Abbe says, alongside other iconic Latino cast members like Soya Mansanos,

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Speaker 2: Maria and Emilio Delgado who plays Luise gotamin Osbad is

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Speaker 2: the muppeteer behind the making of Rosita, and she still

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Speaker 2: plays the muppet on TV today. Rosita came along after

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Speaker 2: Godmin had already spent years in the puppeteering business. At first,

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Speaker 2: the muppets personality was a little bit shy.

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Speaker 4: That got advised from everybody, and they told me, you

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Speaker 4: have to be very comfortable right now creating this character.

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Speaker 4: And what I actually thought was about my best friends.

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Speaker 4: My best friends her name is Rossa and she's like Rosita.

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Speaker 2: And Godiman saw the character as the life of the party.

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Speaker 5: They say, gos.

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Speaker 3: Le mean chail, everybody say.

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Speaker 2: In this segment of our How I Made It series,

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Speaker 2: we hear from the star of the show along with

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Speaker 2: the woman who made her happen. Rosita and Catmin both

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Speaker 2: reflect on their journeys to Sesame Street and talk about

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Speaker 2: some of their adventures after almost thirty seasons together.

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Speaker 1: My full name is Rossiti. That monstro De las Cuevas

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Speaker 1: so mene. I'm originally from Mexico and my name is

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Speaker 1: from there. I love music, so I do play the guitar.

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Speaker 1: I love dancing. I like when I had I'm able

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Speaker 1: to draw. I like drawing, and I like sports. Well

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Speaker 1: I'm five right now. But when I moved here to

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Speaker 1: Sasame Street, I was little. I was I was so nervous,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't know if I was going to be

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Speaker 1: able to communicate with everybody because I didn't know a

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Speaker 1: lot of English. I didn't know how I was feeling.

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Speaker 1: I had my belly, was was hurting a little bit.

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Speaker 1: But when I got here, I realized that I right

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Speaker 1: away had friends.

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Speaker 5: Today, Ellen, I am going to answer the question what

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Speaker 5: is a.

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Speaker 1: Friend like you? I'm not in Rosita.

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Speaker 3: No about friendship because I'm not in Rosita a friend.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember meeting Big Bird and Elmo and Cookie

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Speaker 1: Monster and everybody was just so nice. So I always

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Speaker 1: remember that. That's my favorite day.

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Speaker 4: Yes, when Rosita was introduced on Sesame Street. And You're

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Speaker 4: gonna think that I'm a little weird, but I'm not

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Speaker 4: sure anymore.

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Speaker 1: The year So would you tell me your name again?

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Speaker 5: Please?

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Speaker 1: Sure?

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Speaker 5: My name is Rosita the Monstro, the last Rosa Monstro. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: oh yeah, you got it, but.

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Speaker 1: You can call me.

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Speaker 6: I got it down so much you make me think

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Speaker 6: you name it is my father.

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Speaker 1: Stream of love of.

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Speaker 4: My name is Carmen osba Vertis. How I became Rosita,

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Speaker 4: Well that's a long story, but I.

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Speaker 1: Can tell you.

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Speaker 4: You know, I am from Mexico City and I was

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Speaker 4: working in a company called Televisa, where they do you

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Speaker 4: know a lot of television there in Mexico, And I

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Speaker 4: was doing puppet shows in Mexico and television. So when

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Speaker 4: I heard that they were auditioning, I was really excited.

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Speaker 4: I was able to be invited to observe the puppeteers

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Speaker 4: here in New York. It took me two seconds to

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Speaker 4: realize when I saw them working that the show was

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Speaker 4: more than a show. They truly believe that children have

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Speaker 4: the right to be children, to laugh, to learn, children

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Speaker 4: have the right to have an education. And when I

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Speaker 4: start learning all those things, I thought, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 4: I don't want to go back to you know, I

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Speaker 4: want to stay here with them. And they need a

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Speaker 4: bilingual Garl. That was my dream and I never thought

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Speaker 4: that it will happen, but it did. It took me

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Speaker 4: two years, and Jim Henson in those days was around

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Speaker 4: and he hired me. We were in the studio and

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Speaker 4: he asked me if I wanted it to be part

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Speaker 4: of his family, of his Muppet family. And since then

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Speaker 4: I'm here.

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Speaker 1: My daddy moved here for work and my mommy too,

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Speaker 1: so I came with them. And then we were missing

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Speaker 1: my abuela so much, and then she came over. So

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Speaker 1: we're all together now. But but you know, when my

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Speaker 1: daddy had an accident and now he's in a wheelchair,

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Speaker 1: so things change at home a little bit. Where's your

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Speaker 1: daddy in a wheel chair? Well? Remember when I told

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Speaker 1: you that he got hurt. Yeah, well, ever since then

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Speaker 1: and he has needed that thing. We had to learn

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Speaker 1: how to play together because we used to play soccer

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Speaker 1: and we used to run together. But now he just

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Speaker 1: he can't. But we found ways to do different things

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Speaker 1: and we still have a lot of fun.

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Speaker 2: You should see my girl throw the ball. Are you ready?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, sometimes it's hard, but we're all we're all

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Speaker 1: together and we all help each other.

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Speaker 4: I just hope that what we're doing that I'm able

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Speaker 4: to inspire somebody else. So it's incredibly important for me

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Speaker 4: to know that I'm able to help our little audience

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Speaker 4: somewhere I might touch somebody with that. I was introduced

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Speaker 4: to the world of puppetry by a mistake. It's amazing,

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Speaker 4: I have to tell you, because if you interview other puppeteers, here,

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Speaker 4: they were born with a puppet in their hands. Really

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Speaker 4: they knew that they want to be Muppet teers and

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Speaker 4: here on Sesame Street on the Muppets since they were

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Speaker 4: like two or three. In my case, I was an

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Speaker 4: audience of Plus Sesamo. That is like the co production

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Speaker 4: of Sesame Street in Mexico, and it's being seen in Mexico,

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Speaker 4: Central and South America. And I remember the day that

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Speaker 4: I watched the first episode the Plus Cesmo air in Mexico.

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Speaker 4: I think it was sixty nine or seventy and I

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Speaker 4: was with friends and I was older. I was like

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Speaker 4: eight nine, so it was like I was not a

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Speaker 4: young child, but I was still a kid, and I

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Speaker 4: loved it. I always follow the Muppets and I always

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Speaker 4: follow Sesame Street and Plus Sesamo. And when I was

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Speaker 4: in college, I read a note in the board that

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Speaker 4: is said, we need people that their interest in taking

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Speaker 4: a workshop with American puppeteers, because we have everything to

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Speaker 4: do a television show with puppets, but we don't have puppeteers.

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Speaker 4: So I thought, oh my god, that will be great.

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Speaker 4: I want to see how those things work, right, Because

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Speaker 4: I didn't know if you were with them or you

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Speaker 4: were put I didn't have a clue, so I went

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Speaker 4: to the workshop by curiosity, and probably a week in

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Speaker 4: the workshop, I realized that I didn't want to do

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Speaker 4: anything else and that here we go.

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Speaker 5: Yami guitar, Rosita by me, Rosita, yam your unit.

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Speaker 1: You'r m eita resit. He's with me in Mexican means to.

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Speaker 4: Me rosida is totally Mexican. I mean because I can't

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Speaker 4: hie that right if I was trying to represent something else,

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Speaker 4: my strong Mexican.

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Speaker 1: I don't me.

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Speaker 4: Well, yeah, it will be hard to hide.

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Speaker 1: From my guitar. Play your food on a musage show.

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Speaker 1: And I love to sing all the songs that I

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Speaker 1: bring from where. I love to share my heritage with

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Speaker 1: my friends. So first of all, I love teaching them

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Speaker 1: Spanish little words because it's difficult. I have problems with

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Speaker 1: English and actually watching you know, all my friends here

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Speaker 1: on Sesame Street helped me a lot to learn English,

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Speaker 1: so I'm trying to help them the same way.

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Speaker 2: Oh Rosita, h it's time to tell everyone the Spanish

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Speaker 2: word of the day.

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Speaker 5: Oh goody, because there are still people that want you

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Speaker 5: all to meet Mama's everybody coming.

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Speaker 3: Here and I do us everybody. I want you to

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Speaker 3: meet me, Papa, me, Mamma, nabuelo. Abuela is pretty must

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Speaker 3: luis econcha ah.

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Speaker 2: So that means the Spanish word of the day must be.

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Speaker 1: They all know how to say basil, yeah, brassil. That

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Speaker 1: means kiss and hugs.

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Speaker 4: It's always been incredible for me to have the responsive families.

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Speaker 4: You know that they come and they tell me, oh,

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Speaker 4: I thank you. I was able to see myself in

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Speaker 4: Rosita and some shows, Rosita deals with kind of being

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Speaker 4: embarrassed and then realize that everybody is supporting her and

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Speaker 4: saying no. All the contrary. You have to be proud,

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Speaker 4: proud of who you are, proud of where you come from,

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Speaker 4: wherever the country is, whatever the place is, it is

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Speaker 4: part of you and you should always be proud of it.

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Speaker 1: Looks like everyone liked hearing a story about a little

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Speaker 1: Mexican girl just like you.

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Speaker 6: They did, They really did.

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Speaker 4: I would love to train somebody to take over Rosita

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Speaker 4: when you know, I retire, and I will invite you guys,

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Speaker 4: Latinos out there and African Americans, come over. Train We

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Speaker 4: need you. There are missing, We're missing, you know, Asian

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Speaker 4: puppeteers and Latina puppeteers. And if you're out there and

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Speaker 4: you have a dream, follow it. And if your dream

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Speaker 4: is to come to Sesame Street and be a muppeteer

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Speaker 4: here and you're bilingual any language you have, weather come over.

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Speaker 2: That was the voice of Rosita, la Monstra de las

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Speaker 2: Cuevas Sesame Street first by Lingual and Latino muppet and

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Speaker 2: karimen Ospar the muppeteer who brings the iconic character to life.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Alejandra Salasad and edited by

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Speaker 2: Sofia palisa Ka. The Latino USA team includes Miel Masis,

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Speaker 2: Luis Reyes, Julieta Martinelli, Gini Montalbo, and Alissa s Carce,

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Speaker 2: with help from Andrea Lopez Gruzsado, Adriana Tapia and Raoul Perez.

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Speaker 2: Our engineers are Stephanie Lbau, Julia Caruso and Lia Sha

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Speaker 2: Our director of programming and operations is Natalia Fiederhoz. Our

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Speaker 2: digital editor is Amandel Cantra. Our New York Women's Foundation

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Speaker 2: Ignite fellow is Julia Rocha. Our intern is Sofia Sanchez.

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Speaker 2: Our theme music was composed by Senor robinos. If you

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Speaker 2: like the music you heard on this episode, stop by

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Speaker 2: Latinousa dot org and check out our weekly Spotify playlist.

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Speaker 2: I'm your host and executive producer Mariao Kosa. Join us

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Speaker 2: again on our next episode, and in the meantime, look

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Speaker 2: for us on all of your social media as La

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Speaker 2: Proxima c CAO.

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Speaker 6: Funding for Latino USA is cuage of a culture of

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Speaker 6: Health is made possible in part by a grant from

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Speaker 6: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible

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Speaker 6: in part by New York Women's Foundation, the New York

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Speaker 6: Women's Foundation funding women leaders that build solutions in their

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Speaker 6: communities and celebrating thirty years of radical generosity, and the

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Speaker 6: wind Coat Foundation.

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Speaker 1: Don't tell anybody, but my favorite hiding place is big

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Speaker 1: Bush Nest. Nobody finds me there, sh.

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Speaker 2: I'm Marieojosam Next time on Latino USA. Alzheimer's disease has

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Speaker 2: become one of the leading health crises for Latinos and

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Speaker 2: African Americans, and for journalist Yvonne Laddie. This story is

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Speaker 2: also personal.

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Speaker 1: Hi mamys Ebon Huiha.

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Speaker 2: An intimate portrait of a mother's life before and after Alzheimer's.

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Speaker 2: That's next time, Let the USA