1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: Ola Latino USA. Listener, combustus. We are celebrating thirty years 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: on the era. I mean it's huge, three that annos, 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: and so we're celebrating with you because honestly, you, dear listener, 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 1: you made it happen. So we want to hear from you. 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: What is an episode that you shared with someone else 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: You were like, oh my god, I just have to 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: and you sent it to your mom or your THEO 8 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: or your dea, your son, your daughter. Let us know. 9 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: Leave us a voicemail at six four six five seven 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: one one two two four. Again that's six four six 11 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: five seven one one two two four, and we might 12 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: just feature your call on an upcoming episode in Yes, 13 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: this is Latino USA, the Radio journal of News and 14 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: Kurtur Latino US six let Latino USA. I'm Mariainojosa. We 15 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you, 16 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: overlooked by the rest of the media. And while the 17 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to 18 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: the stories of black and Latino Studios United Latino Front, 19 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement. 20 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: I'm Maria Ino Josa, NOA. 21 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,279 Speaker 2: I feel like when you don't see yourself, the invisibility 22 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 2: is a statement of your value. It's vitally important to 23 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 2: the kid to be able to see themselves in the pages, 24 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 2: but it's also vitally important for other kids to be 25 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,960 Speaker 2: able to see other people's humanity and perspectives and history. 26 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: From Putro Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa, I'm Maria 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: Josa Today, a conversation with author Meg Medina and trusting 28 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: kids to find and share their own stories. Our country 29 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: has a long history of book banning, but lately censorship 30 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: has reached extraordinary highs. 31 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 2: Around the country, Efforts to ban specific books, or even 32 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 2: whole categories of books are on the rise. 33 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 3: A Florida school district has pulled one hundred and seventy 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 3: six books from its libraries to comply with the new 35 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 3: state education reform. 36 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 4: Lage battles have erupted at schools, school boards, and library 37 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 4: meetings across the country as parents, lawmakers, and advocacy groups 38 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,679 Speaker 4: are debating the value and merit of many books, new 39 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 4: and old, and. 40 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: The books most banned are overwhelmingly by or about members 41 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 1: of underrepresented communities, including the LGBTQ community, black people, indigenous 42 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: people and Latinos and Latinas. Countering the challenges to these 43 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: books can be frustrating and feel hopeless, since the censorship 44 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: is often led by people in power. Thankfully, there are 45 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: others who are you'reually advocating for the rights of kids 46 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: and young adults to read the books they want to read. 47 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: Earlier this year, I was in Midtown, New York, just 48 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 1: around the corner from Times Square. I was there to 49 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: meet one of these people who's fighting back. Her name 50 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: is Meg Medina, a children's book author and the first 51 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: Latina named by the Library of Congress as the national 52 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: Ambassador for Young people's literature. I first met Meg when 53 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: we were at a book conference in twenty twenty two, 54 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: and well, the truth is, both Meg and I are 55 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: a little bit older than kids, and so what took 56 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: me by surprise was Meg's absolute passion and her commitment 57 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: to her young readers. So I wanted to have a 58 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: conversation with Meg about how she ends up as an 59 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: author dedicated to young people and what plans she has 60 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: as being the first Latina Ambassador for the Library of Congress. 61 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: Meg lives in Richmond, Virginia, but when her family first 62 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 1: came to the United States from Cuba. They settled in Queens. 63 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: So on my way to the interview, I decided I 64 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: needed to bring something to Meg to kind of remember 65 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: her days growing up in New York City. So I 66 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: brought you three different than malies, and you can have 67 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: your pick and we can just or we can just 68 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: open them all and just kind of taste do it. 69 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: It was fitting because Meg's books are all about family, 70 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,719 Speaker 1: about memories about identity, which come together in the food 71 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: that we eat every day. 72 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 2: My grandmother and my aunts used to make them malis, 73 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 2: so you would have the malis in Queens we did. 74 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: Those are the stories that we carry with us, stories 75 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: that define us and which are threatened when people try 76 00:04:58,760 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: to set for them. 77 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 2: Meighan Queen's by the way, and Queens. 78 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,719 Speaker 1: I'm sure. Megan and I talked about all of this 79 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: and more in a conversation that got deep really fast. 80 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,520 Speaker 2: A Willa's were always just with pork, with ham, with 81 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 2: this little soulfidel right in the middle. 82 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: Flo. 83 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,799 Speaker 2: I know, I'm just I'm going back. There's comfort food 84 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 2: like okay. So all the elders in my life have passed. 85 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 2: My mother died, my aunts have died, my grandparents are gone. 86 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 2: Some months can go by and I don't have the 87 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 2: taste of home and I miss it. You lose like 88 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:44,000 Speaker 2: the daily sort of exchange and the history, like all 89 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 2: of it. Then suddenly you are the person who has 90 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 2: to hold it in the family right and give it 91 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 2: to your children and. 92 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: Move it on. Wow, you went deep real fast. 93 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,159 Speaker 2: I think when you write, and when you write for children, 94 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 2: that's often where I write, this whole notion of like 95 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 2: family and culture and growing up that intersection. I mean, 96 00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:07,719 Speaker 2: that's your jam, that's Mike Glawich. You were actually just 97 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 2: talking about memory. You're talking about death and loss and 98 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 2: now you being the elder. Yeah, and You're like, and 99 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 2: that's why I write for kids, And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, 100 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 2: the cheery aspects of writing for children, Yeah, my books 101 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 2: usually do have sadness and happiness, like side by side. 102 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 2: I don't shy away from walking with kids through hard 103 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 2: things because I think their lives have that. Their witness 104 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 2: to everything, their witness to the pandemic, their witness to 105 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 2: the economic troubles of their family, their witness to the 106 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,800 Speaker 2: benana's things that happen at school, all of it. And 107 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 2: so I just write it, and death is one of 108 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 2: those things. I mean, we lose grandparents, kids, lose friends 109 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,720 Speaker 2: to violence. So I feel like when I write those books, 110 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:03,280 Speaker 2: I write them both with humor and with sadness side 111 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 2: by side. The way that some people like put salt 112 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 2: on fruit that isn't sweet enough. The combination of those 113 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 2: two opposed tastes, there's something in the alchemy. I think 114 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 2: that that brings things out. 115 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,200 Speaker 1: I love the fact that the tamalis that I just 116 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: bought here in Midtown actually took you back to Queens, 117 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: So take me back to Queens. 118 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 2: So Queens. Back then it was Flushing Queens and growing 119 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 2: up it was Colombian, Cuban, Indian, there was a beginning 120 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 2: group of Asian people. There was Chinese community at the time. 121 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 2: That was the mix, so there was a sense of 122 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,400 Speaker 2: community there. But it was the seventies in New York, right. 123 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 2: It was a rough time, I think for the city 124 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 2: in general. And I feel like at that time, you know, 125 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 2: my family was just sort of working through trauma and 126 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 2: just trying and they figure out the way forward in 127 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 2: this enormous city truma from Cuba. My parents came separately. 128 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,440 Speaker 2: My father came first, my mother then my sister. My parents' 129 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 2: family marriage dissolved, and my mother had one cousin who 130 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:20,920 Speaker 2: lived in Queens and Elmhurst, and she took a greyhound 131 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 2: bus to Virginia, where my mother was, and brought let 132 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 2: Maria and me here to New. 133 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 3: York, which is where we were raised. 134 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,920 Speaker 2: So our mother took a job at a factory, and 135 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 2: I use that factory in one of my novels that 136 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 2: becomes Salon Cora the beauty Parlor. But in that factory 137 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 2: it was a sea of Latinas from many different countries, 138 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 2: from muchakawanas. And they would come to work, fully styled. 139 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 3: Their the leg. 140 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 2: And they'd go and they'd work this boring job. And 141 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 2: so all day long they were plugged in with one 142 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 2: ear to their AM radios, listening. 143 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 3: To radio WAD or whatever else right, but with the. 144 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 2: Other ear listening to each other's conversations. Sometimes they were 145 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:29,440 Speaker 2: memory conversations. 146 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 3: They are Guana gando. 147 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 2: And they would remember some town, some street, and oh, yes, 148 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 2: I knew her and their lives. It was like a 149 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 2: cataloging of what had happened to them. Also, they shared 150 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,679 Speaker 2: a lot of information. Oh what do I do if 151 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:48,840 Speaker 2: the super has cut. 152 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: Off the water solidarity. Oh totally. 153 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,479 Speaker 2: Those women worked that minimum wage job thirty years. 154 00:09:58,600 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 3: You know. 155 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 2: My mother and my aunts all worked there. And as 156 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 2: these ladies passed, they would all come to each other's funerals. 157 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:13,800 Speaker 2: Like years could pass and then someone would die and 158 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,719 Speaker 2: you'd see them all still beautifully. 159 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 5: You know. 160 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,120 Speaker 2: I attended to and so I'm behetas and all that. 161 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 2: But it was friendship, it was loyalty. It was erman Dad, 162 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:28,959 Speaker 2: you're so emotional right now. 163 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 3: I am. 164 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: That movie of my life and my childhood with them 165 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 2: plays in my head all the time. The movie of Queens, 166 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,680 Speaker 2: the movie of the seventies in New York, which is 167 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 2: a little scary. You know, we had Son of Sam Well. 168 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 2: The city is preoccupied with the killer who in one note, 169 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,160 Speaker 2: signed himself the Son of Sam. The city was broken. 170 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 6: New York has been bleeding for the past six months. 171 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: Savage cuts have been made in the public services to 172 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:57,440 Speaker 1: keep bankruptcy at bay. There was a blackout. 173 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 5: As juncture is that it is a city wide. 174 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 2: It was also the women's movement, it was the civil 175 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 2: rights movement. 176 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: It was people taking to the street. 177 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 2: My mother was so scared of that. Isn't that interesting? 178 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 2: Of course, and of course fate gave her two daughters 179 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:17,359 Speaker 2: that were like fully embracing the women's movement and questioning 180 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:19,599 Speaker 2: everything being artistic. 181 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: So ur Abuela Bena Bena is short for Benita. One 182 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: of the most important figures in your life. One of 183 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: the reasons why you really fell in love with stories 184 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: Borghetra Guentista. So she was the one who was taking 185 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:44,440 Speaker 1: care of you while your mom was in the factory 186 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: when you were little. And I'm wondering if you now 187 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 1: can tell me about those stories. So we're moving from 188 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: the factory to you being picked up by you abuela 189 00:11:54,760 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: and spending the afternoon. I mean, she was talking about 190 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: life back on the island. But you've also immediately in 191 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: your conversation about your memories, you immediately brought up trauma. Yes, 192 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: oh my god, so was I were not talking about 193 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: that too? Yes? 194 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 2: Yes, a Willa had no sense whatsoever about a story 195 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:30,840 Speaker 2: that was quote unquote appropriate or inappropriate for children. Awila 196 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 2: went to school until the eighth grade, right, so her children, 197 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:38,600 Speaker 2: like my mother and my aunts, they were the first 198 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 2: generation to complete what they call elbacciato and to do college. 199 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 2: But Auela couldn't help me with my homework or anything 200 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 2: like that. Right, So back then I'd come home, we'd 201 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 2: watch TV, you know those rabbity or TVs Esmeralda was 202 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 2: the soap opera we'd watched together, and she played dots 203 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 2: with me, and then she'd just tell me stories. For example, 204 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:13,080 Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty three, there was an enormous hurricane in 205 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,320 Speaker 2: Cuba and she had just given birth to Isa, my aunt, 206 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:19,559 Speaker 2: when that hurricane came through and completely flattened the town. 207 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 2: And she told me the whole story of like my 208 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:25,559 Speaker 2: grandfather taking the bedslats and trying to hold the walls 209 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 2: up her with this infant, you know, on the floor. Now, 210 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 2: she was a tough cookie, but she was, you know, 211 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 2: ruled by fear, and sometimes that fear was destructive. The 212 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 2: factory is a good example. Like my mother and Hita 213 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 2: also could have tried to redo their licenses as teachers 214 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 2: and become teachers in this country, but Azuela was terrified 215 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:56,800 Speaker 2: of them going far riding the Subweohnohan bad it all 216 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,080 Speaker 2: the things that she was so afraid of, and she 217 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 2: sort of strangled her daughters. 218 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 3: But that's the thing. 219 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 2: All of my family was filled with people like that, 220 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 2: people with this immense capacity for love and good and 221 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 2: also like with some really troubling aspects of themselves. And 222 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 2: so when I write people in my novels, I try 223 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 2: to write people the way they are. 224 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: Coming Up on Latino USA, Meg Medina talks about her 225 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: plans as national Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and she 226 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: shares what all of us can do to fight for 227 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: the right of our kids to read freely. Stay with 228 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: us not. 229 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 5: Hello, Latino USA listener. My name is Ruxandra guirri A 230 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 5: rux and I started at Latino USA way back when 231 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:07,560 Speaker 5: I had just finished grad school and Marino JSA basically 232 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 5: gave me my first break to start reporting, producing, editing, 233 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 5: you name it. It was a very very formative experience 234 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,920 Speaker 5: and I'm most thankful for it. Happy Birthday, Latino USA, 235 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 5: and I hope you get to celebrate many many, many 236 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 5: many more. 237 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: Hey, we're back. And before the break, Meg Medina was 238 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: sharing her memories of what it was like to grow 239 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: up in Flushing, Queens in the seventies and how the 240 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: stories of her family gave her a sense of identity. 241 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: And now we're going to continue the conversation as Meg 242 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: talks about how she found her way to becoming an 243 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: award winning author, and how she plans to continue advocating 244 00:15:47,880 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: for children's unrestricted access to all books. So your first 245 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: memories actually of stories and storytelling Gesto was in Spanish. 246 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: So I'm intrigued because I grew up in the same way. 247 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: I always had a complicated relationship with English and with writing. 248 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: I spoke it fine, I did once I learned it, 249 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: I was fine. I didn't have an accent, but I 250 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: never really felt like I was a good writer, or 251 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: even that I was a good reader. Most of the 252 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: books in my home were all Spanish, and I didn't 253 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: read Spanish. So how did you get from being monolingual 254 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: Spanish first and English becomes your second language, to like, oh, yeah, no, 255 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: but I'm going to be a writer in English. 256 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 2: There was a show called Room. 257 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: I remember this. I see Kevin Paul, and I see Body, 258 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: and I see Susie and I but she never saw Gonzuelo, 259 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: and she never saw Maria. 260 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,360 Speaker 3: I was waiting for them too. 261 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: Every day we were like, when is there going to 262 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 1: be a Maria or a Gonzuelo or. 263 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,879 Speaker 2: And yet you know, my mother spoke to me entirely 264 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 2: in Spanish at home and then I learned English in kindergarten, 265 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 2: outside playing and with rumper room. Back then, we supplanted 266 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 2: language like that was the model. You wanted kids to 267 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 2: be immersed in English. Bilingual programs start to happen a 268 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:35,879 Speaker 2: little bit after that, but mostly you were thrown in 269 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 2: and asked to speak English. And because I was young enough, 270 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 2: it came naturally enough. I was a good reader in 271 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,960 Speaker 2: English and so on. But over time I think the 272 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,240 Speaker 2: loss has been that I don't read Spanish as well 273 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 2: or speak it as well as I speak English, because 274 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:00,200 Speaker 2: there's nothing more frustrating to me than having the idea 275 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:04,080 Speaker 2: and not have My mouth can't move it, I can't 276 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 2: find the right words. And then I think of my 277 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 2: mother spending all those years in this country trying to 278 00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 2: get her mouth and her vocabulary to match all the 279 00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 2: things she knew. And that's the story for so many right. 280 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 2: But now, what I do often is I use a 281 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:24,400 Speaker 2: lot of trans languaging, so in all of my books, 282 00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 2: Spanish is part of how I write it as well, 283 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 2: because that's how we talk in our families. 284 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 1: Trans Languaging when you're writing means that you are not 285 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: italicizing the Spanish. There's nothing that is going to make 286 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,920 Speaker 1: the Spanish look like, oh, you know, we're speaking Spanish now, 287 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:47,200 Speaker 1: something different. You're just writing as we speak, right, which 288 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: is in both seeing Bena without a shame. Right, You're 289 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:52,720 Speaker 1: just kind of doing it. And you actually are really 290 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,159 Speaker 1: important in the work that you've done in the books 291 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: and in your writing to make kids feel okay with that. 292 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,760 Speaker 1: But I'm wondering now, so when you were a little girl, 293 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 1: did you see any kind of book that was like. 294 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 2: No, no, no, no no no. I read Nancy Drew. 295 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 2: It was like I was reading somebody from Mars. It's 296 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 2: like they have a car, I'll come for her. 297 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: Okay, so that study this guy's I didn't even read 298 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: Nancy Drew because I was like, it's not for me. 299 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:29,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I get it, I get it. 300 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:34,600 Speaker 2: I I didn't. I didn't feel that barrier myself. But 301 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 2: I remember reading it just thinking that I was just 302 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,679 Speaker 2: reading from some other place the same way that I 303 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 2: loved like Charlotte's. 304 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 3: Web, A kid in Queen. 305 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 2: You know, I'm reading about buttermilk baths for pigs and 306 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 2: State Fair. 307 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,680 Speaker 3: Okay, so but it was still, you know, a. 308 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 2: Story of friendship, and I could connect in those ways. 309 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 3: My mother was a teacher. 310 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,960 Speaker 2: She understood books, She bought us an encyclopedia, like she 311 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 2: knew those steps and the library, all of that. But 312 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 2: she couldn't have told you what was part of the 313 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 2: children's canon in literature that I had to sort of 314 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:12,200 Speaker 2: discover on my own at PS twenty. 315 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:16,440 Speaker 1: Two, Public School, twenty two. So interestingly, your life actually 316 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:21,480 Speaker 1: is very connected to children, to youth. You were an 317 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: English teacher for over a decade. What grade were you teaching? 318 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 2: I taught all the way from sixth grade to twelve. 319 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: Okay, deep respect for that, because you know, to me, 320 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: kids are the most difficult audience. Yeah right, I'm wondering 321 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:36,880 Speaker 1: what did you see and live through in the classroom 322 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,920 Speaker 1: that helped you later when you became a writer. 323 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,439 Speaker 2: Teaching is one of those jobs that brings you face 324 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 2: to face with humanity. Like all the things, you will 325 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 2: have a kid who doesn't have enough to eat. You 326 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 2: will have a child whose parents are terrible to them. 327 00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,400 Speaker 2: You will have a runaway. You will have a child 328 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 2: who ruggles with learning. You will have a child who 329 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 2: will be a victim. You will have a child who 330 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 2: will be a victimizer, and a belief. You will have 331 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 2: all those kids in your class, and it is your 332 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,239 Speaker 2: job to help them learn how to be human in 333 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 2: addition to teaching them whatever subject matter you're teaching them. 334 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,880 Speaker 2: That's the thing about teaching that I think is so exhausting. 335 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 2: It's not just subject matter ever, right, It's teaching them 336 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:36,240 Speaker 2: how to find their voice, how to be compassionate, how 337 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,879 Speaker 2: to imagine themselves in a community with other people. My 338 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 2: very first class, my third graders, I remember the last 339 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 2: day of school that I had them. They were the 340 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 2: biggest worry I had. 341 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:49,159 Speaker 3: The school was. 342 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:53,480 Speaker 2: Almost entirely Latino. It was PS nineteen in Corona, and 343 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:57,679 Speaker 2: it was recent arrivals, like a week or two. You know, 344 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,680 Speaker 2: they had arrived and I fell in love with them, 345 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 2: but I was so worried because sometimes the teachers who 346 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 2: were not Latino, or who were not like sympathetic or understanding, 347 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 2: would make cracks about their mothers, you know, the moms 348 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: who came to the school yard in right, or they 349 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,239 Speaker 2: take these jigs at them that really annoyed me and 350 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 2: made me feel like they were being disrespected. Those families 351 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 2: were being disrespected, and that kind of casual disrespect afflicts children, 352 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 2: and it afflicts Latino children. So I remember being so 353 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 2: worried for them after they left. Were they going to 354 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 2: be in the hands of someone who felt like they 355 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 2: were just tolerating quote unquote these kids, or were they 356 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,880 Speaker 2: going to be in the hands of somebody who loved 357 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 2: them deeply. 358 00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: What's so hard for me is i'm listening to you talk, 359 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: is that those same dynamics are happening right now. Oh yeah, 360 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: here in Queens, in every part of New York City, frankly, 361 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,719 Speaker 1: and across our country. And you know, so many people say, 362 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: oh my god, our country is going to be destroyed 363 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: by all of these new immigrants. 364 00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 3: And it's like it's exhausting. 365 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: Your first book in two thousand and eight, that's pretty recent, 366 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: and since then you've written everything from picture books for 367 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,520 Speaker 1: very young kids. You've written books for middle grade students 368 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: like Mercy Swatts, Changes Gears, You've written books for young adults. 369 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,639 Speaker 1: And the running thread throughout all of them is this 370 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: main character who is a little girl or a woman 371 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: of color, a woman who is not white. And that 372 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: specificity is I believe why because. 373 00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 3: That's who's in the seats. 374 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 2: I mean, look at any classroom, right we have to 375 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 2: write the stories of everybody, because that's who's in community. 376 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 2: I just finished writing a chapter book that comes out 377 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 2: in September about Buddha and bred. She was the first 378 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,919 Speaker 2: Afro Latina librarian in the New York Public Library System. 379 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 2: My gosh, researching about her was just such a joy. 380 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,440 Speaker 2: But a hundred years ago in Harlem, she was looking 381 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 2: out and saying, no, no, no, no. We need to 382 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:33,399 Speaker 2: have the stories of us. They need to know that 383 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 2: they have roots, that there was a past before them, 384 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 2: that they're part of something that is both of here 385 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 2: but also of another place. 386 00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 3: We need the. 387 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 2: Stories of everybody. So I reach for that all the time. 388 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,880 Speaker 2: I feel like when you don't see yourself, the invisibility 389 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 2: is a statement of your value. It's vitally important to 390 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 2: the to be able to see themselves in the pages, 391 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 2: but it's also vitally important for other kids to be 392 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 2: able to see other people's humanity and perspectives and history. 393 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 2: That's what we want. 394 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: So I want to jump into the part of you 395 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: being unafraid. I think it's a part of you that's 396 00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: from Queen's because you decide in twenty thirteen to write 397 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: this book by the title Jaqi Deliado wants to kick 398 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: your ass. It is a book about bullying. Pity Sanchez, 399 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,560 Speaker 1: who is the protagonist, is a victim of bullying but 400 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:34,479 Speaker 1: can't talk about it, doesn't want to talk about it 401 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: with anyone. Anybody who's been bullied. This is exactly the thing, 402 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:40,679 Speaker 1: right you're up against the wall. You don't know who 403 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:42,959 Speaker 1: to tell, you don't want to tell anyone. And I 404 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: know for you, like for me, when I was writing 405 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: for kids, it's like you have to go really deep 406 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,479 Speaker 1: into those emotions. I became like a ten year old. Yes, 407 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: when I wrote the version of my book for kids, 408 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:55,160 Speaker 1: I was just like, I'm ten. 409 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:55,680 Speaker 5: Yeah. 410 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: But for you, what was the process of writing a 411 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: book about I mean bullied. 412 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 2: People ask all the time like why do you write? 413 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:04,400 Speaker 2: Four children? 414 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 3: Bid all day? 415 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,480 Speaker 2: So not that what you're really writing is for that 416 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:13,359 Speaker 2: kid inside of you at that age. Right, So going 417 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 2: back for me, I had a bully who told me 418 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 2: she was going to kick my ash, and she sent 419 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:20,840 Speaker 2: somebody to tell me she was going to kick my ass, 420 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 2: and it just ruined everything it. I had been a 421 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 2: very I'm not gonna say happy, but I was an 422 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 2: engaged kid in elementary school. I did girl Scouts, the 423 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,920 Speaker 2: glee clubs. Right of school, I had friends. But then 424 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 2: when this experience happened to me in junior high school, 425 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,120 Speaker 2: I closed I completely. I started to fail all my subjects. 426 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 2: I stopped going to school. I started to cut. I 427 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 2: became my mother's worst nightmare. I plucked out all my eyebrows. 428 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 2: All these decades later, I'm still trying to grow them 429 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 2: back bitter Anyway, Wait, why were the eyebrows? 430 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,320 Speaker 1: Because in nineteen because. 431 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 2: You had to, you had to look tough. So that 432 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 2: was my strategy. I was going to become as tough 433 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 2: and vicious as I could be so that nobody would 434 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 2: mess with me. It took me years to get better. 435 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,439 Speaker 2: There was a long way out of that hole, but 436 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 2: I went back to that place. So Yakdado wants to 437 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 2: kick your ass is about bullying. But when I talk 438 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 2: to Latina girls about this Latina, they will say to me, 439 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 2: they see like the whole notion of what does it 440 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,879 Speaker 2: mean to be Latina? Because it is wrestling with that 441 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 2: Like is it the classes you take? Because it the 442 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 2: friends you have? Is it? The tone of your skin? 443 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,400 Speaker 2: Is it whether you speak Spanish? Are those the defining 444 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 2: things of being Latina? So I love to book this 445 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,479 Speaker 2: book with latinas because they see not only the story 446 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 2: of bullying, but they also see all the cultural things. 447 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,080 Speaker 2: And immediately it got heat and it got excitement. You know, 448 00:27:56,119 --> 00:27:59,119 Speaker 2: the kids immediately do want to see it. The teachers 449 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 2: get screaming, WI, the librarians put it behind their desk. 450 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,240 Speaker 2: The principal said, no, you know, all of those things 451 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 2: have happened. 452 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 3: To that book. 453 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 2: I get a lot of soft censorship, which is almost 454 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:16,679 Speaker 2: worse than full on the censorship because you can't track it. 455 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 2: But it's still an obstacle. But what I say to 456 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 2: parents all the time when they bring up the title 457 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 2: and say, oh, I didn't think she was ready. So 458 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 2: I think teenagers have heard the word ass. That's ay 459 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 2: b That is the nicest thing a bully is going 460 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 2: to say to you, right, the softest thing you're going 461 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 2: to hear. 462 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:37,880 Speaker 3: And three, I just. 463 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 2: Think that there are so many possibilities for conversation that 464 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,200 Speaker 2: this book opens that I wish they would trust kids enough. 465 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 2: Kids are moving through their lives, they have opinions about 466 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 2: what's happening to them, and they need to work that 467 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 2: out and think about it. 468 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: Agreed, Trust the kids, Yeah, A key finding of Pan 469 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: America's report on banned books and schools is overwhelming. The 470 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 1: book banners continue to target stories by and about people 471 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: who are not white. 472 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,680 Speaker 2: And also LGBTQ youth or are completely being slammed right now. 473 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 2: I think the danger is that we're trying to ban 474 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 2: people or ban perspectives that feel you know, it's being 475 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,800 Speaker 2: cast as anti American, anti family, all of those kinds 476 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 2: of things. Here's what I say all the time. I 477 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:32,080 Speaker 2: am pro kid, I am pro information and knowledge. I'm 478 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 2: extremely pro library, and I think when we start putting 479 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:43,719 Speaker 2: obstacles in the way of kids really engaging with what 480 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:47,400 Speaker 2: they're reading, really engaging with what's happening in their lives 481 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:50,560 Speaker 2: as it's reflected in those books, I think we're doing 482 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 2: them an enormous disservice. Especially now as ambassador. It's a 483 00:29:56,320 --> 00:30:00,840 Speaker 2: nonpartisan position, so I'm talking to people with all kinds 484 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 2: of political opinions and so on, but my position is 485 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 2: to advocate for kids reading lives. 486 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: I love the way that you just kind of threw 487 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: in that. Now that I'm ambassador, so yes, you are 488 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:15,760 Speaker 1: now the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for the 489 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,520 Speaker 1: Library of Congress DeLisi that is for the first Latina. 490 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: It's a very big deal. So what do you want 491 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:23,200 Speaker 1: to accomplish. 492 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 2: I got inaugurated in January and it's a two year commitment, 493 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 2: and you really have to think of it as that 494 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 2: this is a huge job. Right, So there are seventy 495 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 2: four million kids in this country and you have to 496 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 2: be ambassador for all of them. So you're trying to 497 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 2: wrap your arms around kids across the nation. I know 498 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 2: that being the first of anything is important, and for 499 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 2: Latino kids and Latino families to see that reading can 500 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,360 Speaker 2: be part of your life, that your story is part 501 00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 2: of the American story, like all of those things. That 502 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 2: is an important piece to me to be sort of 503 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 2: a representation of that. 504 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,560 Speaker 1: And I also want to talk about Gwiname, which is 505 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: your project, yeah, which I love. I love that Gwenamelo Gwen, 506 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: which is tell me the story, tell me the story. 507 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 2: You see other Latinas immediately get it, so guenta me. 508 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,400 Speaker 2: That name started with my daughter Sandra, So she said, 509 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 2: how about Gwiname like story me? And I thought, I 510 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,120 Speaker 2: love that idea because that's first how little kids talk, you. 511 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 3: Know, story me, mommy. 512 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,240 Speaker 2: Right, they come with a book and they want you 513 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 2: to story them. And I love that notion of like 514 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 2: bathing someone in stories. I love like the subtext of 515 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 2: a storied life. So quentam it just as you said, 516 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,160 Speaker 2: is how old friends greet each other. 517 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 3: Gwinam, mama, gwyndam. 518 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 2: You know, just tell me, tell me story me up. 519 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: I love your story me. I had never thought of gwenna. 520 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 1: That may as story me, but that is what the 521 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:04,560 Speaker 1: word is. It's so beautiful. 522 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. And so my three things in that. 523 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 2: The first is book talking, talking to kids about the 524 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 2: books that I love, not as a book discussion, not 525 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 2: as a book report, no vocabulary list. Now I see 526 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 2: in a minute or two, like the Passion, right, what 527 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,840 Speaker 2: it is that I love about it? And I'm telling 528 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 2: you about me, right, And there's the connection. And then 529 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 2: you're going to tell me about a book you love. 530 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 2: So my visits to schools are showing kids really had 531 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 2: a book talk, introducing them to authors that maybe they 532 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 2: don't know yet and books they don't know. And I'm 533 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 2: listening to them. I want them to book talk to 534 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:48,720 Speaker 2: me the books that they think I should read. So 535 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 2: I'm telling everybody this is how I'm now reading horror 536 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 2: and manga, which I have not read before. So there's 537 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,520 Speaker 2: that piece. The second piece is linking families back up 538 00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 2: to public libraries. You can go to a library, pick 539 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 2: up a backpack filled with books. You can go to 540 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,720 Speaker 2: English language conversation cafes, esl classes, sewing thing. I mean, 541 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 2: libraries have become so vibrant and they're free, and they 542 00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,840 Speaker 2: are a place to knit your community together, to become 543 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 2: like La factoria, right, But make it your library, and 544 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:25,040 Speaker 2: make it around books, make it around something that fortifies 545 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 2: your child and your family. And then the third thing, 546 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,880 Speaker 2: a little still in the planning stages, is I want 547 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 2: to create an audio archive. That's my big idea of 548 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 2: authors reading like a minute or two of their work. 549 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 2: They have to tell me why they pick that minute, 550 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 2: Beto damming. One thing they believe to be true about 551 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 2: growing up and one thing they believe to be true 552 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:49,000 Speaker 2: about reading in children. 553 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,480 Speaker 3: And I think like having that in. 554 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 2: The Library of Congress elevates children's literature properly and gives 555 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 2: it its place in American life, literary life, and in history. 556 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: There's another reason why I decided to write a young 557 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: reader's book, and it is a piece of data that 558 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: I've been kind of obsessed with for a while. The 559 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: most common age for Latinos and Latinas is around eleven 560 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:20,040 Speaker 1: years old right now, So you're really targeting such a 561 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: huge part of what the future of the United States 562 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: looks like. 563 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 2: I think there's only one way to really think about this. 564 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:32,520 Speaker 2: So you and I, we didn't get here by ourselves, right. 565 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 2: Somebody helped us and got us going right. There was 566 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 2: some scaffolding there. So I'm doing the work, certainly for 567 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 2: these two years and for as long as I'm writing. 568 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 2: My job is to become the scaffolding for the next 569 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 2: ones who come and help them. And my hope is 570 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,719 Speaker 2: that they will continue to help and we just keep 571 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 2: building as we go. But it is there's a huge weight. 572 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,640 Speaker 2: I mean, there's not one of us who can do it. 573 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 2: It has to be done in community and together. We 574 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 2: have to decide together that we want this, that we 575 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:15,359 Speaker 2: want our children to be excellent readers, that we want 576 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 2: them to not only consume stories, but we want them 577 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 2: perhaps to write and pen their own stories and to 578 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 2: be the voice of the next generation coming Untos. 579 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,719 Speaker 1: We can do it. You're talking about the scaffolding, how 580 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,040 Speaker 1: we have to pass this on, right, yeah, and this 581 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: is a little bit of an activist question, But what 582 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: do you recommend each one of us to do on 583 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: the question of the banning of books? How do we 584 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: respond to people in power in a way that is 585 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: again you think we're a threat, we're not. But how 586 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,240 Speaker 1: do you do this? Because the banning of books is happening, 587 00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:58,279 Speaker 1: and it's been happening in this country since forever. It's 588 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,279 Speaker 1: on a rise again, but it's been constant. So what 589 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,319 Speaker 1: do you say to each of us, Like, what is 590 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:06,640 Speaker 1: our responsibility apart from being the scaffolding. 591 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I do think you need to advocate in large 592 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,800 Speaker 2: ways and small depending on what you're comfortable doing. For sure, 593 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 2: if you are a strong voice, run for the school board, 594 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,759 Speaker 2: go to the school board meetings, the PTA doloso, have 595 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,160 Speaker 2: your voice heard. But there are smaller ways too, like 596 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 2: make relationship with a librarian who can guide you to 597 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 2: those books that sort of name our experiences, the books 598 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,280 Speaker 2: that are being written by the best voices of Latino 599 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 2: writers right now and bring them in your home. Fill 600 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 2: your home with books and stories, read them with your child, 601 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 2: engage in that way, celebrate the simple ways that are 602 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:57,359 Speaker 2: part of family life that support literacy, the sharing of recipes, 603 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:01,799 Speaker 2: the sharing of family stories and family sties and family photographs, 604 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:06,160 Speaker 2: like there was a before and that before. It doesn't evaporate, 605 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 2: It stays within each of us and keeps rolling and 606 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:15,480 Speaker 2: forming us own that celebrate that, you know, just being 607 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 2: aware and not just deciding that someone else is going 608 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,200 Speaker 2: to do that fight for you, because it's not going 609 00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 2: to happen that way. 610 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: I think where you're essentially saying is what you basically 611 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: say in every piece of your work and writing, is 612 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 1: on your voice, on your power. Yeah, thank you, Meg Medina. 613 00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,279 Speaker 1: It's been so much fun having a conversation with you. 614 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 3: Oh, it's wonderful. You're one of my heroes and Lista 615 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:46,000 Speaker 3: malis rock. 616 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,160 Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Victoria Strada. It was edited 617 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:18,160 Speaker 1: by Andrea Lopez Grusado. It was mixed by Julia Caruso 618 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: and JJ Carubin. Production assistants by Raoul Perres. The Latino 619 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,960 Speaker 1: USA team also includes Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Daisy Contreras, 620 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: Rinaldo Leanos, Junior, Patrisa Subran, and Elizabeth Lowenthal Torres. Our 621 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,160 Speaker 1: editorial director is Bernande Santos. Our director of engineering is 622 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: Stephane Lebau. Our associate engineer is Gabriel Labiez. Our marketing 623 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: manager is Luiz Luna. Our theme music was composed by 624 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: Sene Ruinos. I'm your host and executive producer Maria jo 625 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 1: Josa joined us again on our next episode and in 626 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: the meantime, look for us on social media and remember 627 00:38:55,719 --> 00:38:57,800 Speaker 1: not tevayas. 628 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:02,080 Speaker 6: By Latino US Say is made possible in part by 629 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,439 Speaker 6: California Endowment building a strong state by improving the health 630 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:07,520 Speaker 6: of all Californians. 631 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:08,759 Speaker 2: The Annie E. 632 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:12,640 Speaker 6: Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation's children 633 00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:18,040 Speaker 6: by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities, 634 00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:23,160 Speaker 6: and the Ford Foundation working with visionaries on the front 635 00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,160 Speaker 6: lines of social change worldwide. 636 00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 2: I stema Benita, and you know he'd write this beautiful 637 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:36,480 Speaker 2: letter and then she'd write by and so on, and 638 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,800 Speaker 2: then he'd return her letter, like fixing all her grammar 639 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,839 Speaker 2: mistakes and so on, which, like, I don't know, that 640 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,880 Speaker 2: doesn't seem like a winning strategy to me.