Speaker 1: Lokata Radio is a radiophonic novela.
Speaker 2: Which is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
Speaker 3: I'm fiosa fem.
Speaker 4: And I am ma la munios.
Speaker 2: We're podcasting through another Trump election year. We've been podcasting
Speaker 2: through election years, a global pandemic, civic unrest, political controversies,
Speaker 2: the Me Too movement, the rise of TikTok, and we
Speaker 2: are still here.
Speaker 4: We're not done telling stories.
Speaker 1: We're still making podcasts. We're older, we're wiser, We're even
Speaker 1: podcasting through a new decade of our lives.
Speaker 2: Since twenty sixteen, we've been making Loca to Our Radio
Speaker 2: independently until we joined iHeartMedia's Michael Dura Network in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two.
Speaker 1: From our Lips to your ears, fall in love with
Speaker 1: Loka to a radio like you never have before.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Season nine, Love that first Listen, O.
Speaker 1: Lao La Loka Motes. Welcome to see than nine of
Speaker 1: look at Dora Radio.
Speaker 3: I'm the Osa and I'm Mala.
Speaker 1: Look at Otra Radio is a podcast dedicated to our
Speaker 1: chiving our present and shifting the culture forward. You're tuning
Speaker 1: in to Capito one ninety seven.
Speaker 2: Last time on loc at Totter Radio, we interviewed Mariana
Speaker 2: de Miguel aka Girl Ultrap.
Speaker 5: This is actually my Mike Coachilla first time ever. I
Speaker 5: haven't even went to the festival before, but I wanted
Speaker 5: to keep the core of like Girl Ultra, like talking
Speaker 5: to people on stage and just coming up, coming down.
Speaker 2: Go back, listen to that episode, leave us a review
Speaker 2: and share with a friend, and make sure you stream
Speaker 2: Girl Ultra's music.
Speaker 4: She has bangers.
Speaker 1: So before we get into today's interview, we have a
Speaker 1: really great interview, by the way, but before we get
Speaker 1: into that, we just want to take some time to
Speaker 1: check in, catch up. If you've been listening since the
Speaker 1: launch of season nine, you may have caught on that
Speaker 1: our episodes are not necessarily current, you know, because we
Speaker 1: had to shift things around, and so yeah, just check in,
Speaker 1: and also announcing a couple fun things coming.
Speaker 2: Oh, super fun things the podcast. We have been just
Speaker 2: grinding and putting out episodes for a while now, and
Speaker 2: we have a big anniversary coming up that we want
Speaker 2: to celebrate with you all.
Speaker 1: We like the true latinas that we are, find any
Speaker 1: reason to celebrate. Yes, it's not just an anniversary, right,
Speaker 1: It's not just an anniversary, a birthday.
Speaker 3: It's like a milestone.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's a milestone, right, we must celebrate.
Speaker 1: We have to celebrate every little thing here. I look
Speaker 1: at our radio because we deserve it, and so do y'all.
Speaker 1: And so we are hosting a pop up an activation
Speaker 1: at Boulevard Market on June eighth, in celebration of our
Speaker 1: two hundredth episode.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited, and we know some of you have
Speaker 2: listened to all well. By the time the activation happens,
Speaker 2: you will have listened to all two hundred episodes. We
Speaker 2: know we have some rider Die dedicated listeners out there,
Speaker 2: some of you who have been listening since you were
Speaker 2: in high school, in undergrad and now you're fully fledged adults.
Speaker 2: We have raised children, we are mothers, and so we
Speaker 2: want to invite you all to come out to Boulevard
Speaker 2: Market in celebration. The party's going to start at six
Speaker 2: and from six to eight, we are going to be
Speaker 2: collecting sound bites from our listeners. If you want to
Speaker 2: come and bring a memory, a favorite episode, if you
Speaker 2: have ever attended Loca Live a podcast party you want
Speaker 2: to talk about it, We're going to be collecting some
Speaker 2: audio and you might just have a chance to be
Speaker 2: featured on a future episode of Look At What Our Radio.
Speaker 1: On the two hundredth episode. It's a milestone episode, a
Speaker 1: big episode, and it's so fun because when we hit
Speaker 1: our one hundred episode milestone, we launched our crowdfunding campaign,
Speaker 1: yes you know, and that was like on the road to.
Speaker 3: One hundred k. We crowdfunded, y'all.
Speaker 1: Gave us money, thank you, and because that we were
Speaker 1: able to launch loc a thought our productions. This was
Speaker 1: all pre iHeart and so pre dated iHeart right like
Speaker 1: maybe two years even a year or two. But we
Speaker 1: really wanted to commemorate our two hundredth episode, not just
Speaker 1: with an episode that comes out we weekly like the
Speaker 1: rest of them, but with an activation where we could
Speaker 1: involve y'all. And we know in the past we've put
Speaker 1: out calls for y'all to submit voice memos and that
Speaker 1: has been really fun. But in case you haven't notice,
Speaker 1: we've kind of been on a hiatus from live events
Speaker 1: from pop ups, and so this is like our return
Speaker 1: pre pandemic. We used to do pop ups all the time.
Speaker 1: If you're an OG you went to our Meho Sola.
Speaker 3: Pop up at.
Speaker 1: So fun where we like hit a big olda that's
Speaker 1: a dump him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and people put in memories of their exes inside
Speaker 2: the piginata and then hit it.
Speaker 3: It was camp.
Speaker 4: It was like, it was cute.
Speaker 3: It was so cute.
Speaker 2: We had a big mirror there and people wrote affirmations
Speaker 2: on the mirror.
Speaker 4: It was a great time.
Speaker 3: It was a great time. We've done. We had a
Speaker 3: Pianna party.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, the Piatna party was so fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and DJ Sizzle was there too. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Anyway, so we've hosted lots of pop ups, lots of
Speaker 1: live events over the last eight years, and so this
Speaker 1: is like our comeback, launching summer with a cute pop
Speaker 1: up activation.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like Mala mentioned, from six to eight, we're going to
Speaker 1: be gathering soundbites, we're going to be talking with y'all,
Speaker 1: and then it's going to be a party.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If you've never been to Boulevard Market, it's a great time.
Speaker 1: It's a food hall, there's a brewery, there's wine, there's cocktails.
Speaker 1: There's going to be a specialty look at cocktail. And
Speaker 1: so we're really excited to just be out and about again.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And this is not a live podcast, it's not
Speaker 2: a live show, but we are going to have our
Speaker 2: little microphones and we will be collecting some audio again
Speaker 2: from listeners. So think about think about what you love
Speaker 2: most about us, and then come prepared to tell us
Speaker 2: live at in person. We're probably gonna have merch as well.
Speaker 1: We're definitely going to have yeah, brand new merged never
Speaker 1: before seen. We're gonna have some og merge, some old merch,
Speaker 1: some of the boppy hats, the originals that you know
Speaker 1: are kind of out of print right now, but we
Speaker 1: have some, yeah, so come and grab those.
Speaker 3: It's basically going to be like live worshiping.
Speaker 2: Yes, actually, now that you mention it, just come worship
Speaker 2: us and each other live and in person.
Speaker 4: And I miss our look at live.
Speaker 2: I miss our live shows because we would always have
Speaker 2: listeners who ended up making friends and then became besties
Speaker 2: and relationships would form. I know that's even happened for
Speaker 2: us basically at our own shows. So it's another opportunity
Speaker 2: to meet other listeners. There is a little community of
Speaker 2: locomotives out there, and so if you haven't connected with
Speaker 2: other listeners, this is going to be a really great
Speaker 2: chance to do that.
Speaker 1: Yes, So come through June eighth at Boulevard Market from
Speaker 1: six pm to eleven pm.
Speaker 3: We're gonna eat, we're gonna drink, we're gonna chat.
Speaker 2: Come through, come through, And.
Speaker 1: Now we're super excited to bring on Annavette Martinez, co
Speaker 1: founder of the Radical Monarchs. But before that, we're gonna
Speaker 1: go on a quick break and we'll be right back. Awesome,
Speaker 1: and we're back, Okay, Loka Motives without further ado, We
Speaker 1: are so excited to have Anna Yvette Martinez, co founder
Speaker 1: of the Radical Monarchs, with us today. Annaivette, can you
Speaker 1: introduce yourself to our listeners?
Speaker 6: Yes, Hello, my name is Anievett Maria Martinez. Pornouns are she,
Speaker 6: her and femme. I am a queer mother of color.
Speaker 6: I identify as a high fem Centro Americana. I recently
Speaker 6: crowned Olricia Santa born and raised in the Bay and
Speaker 6: I am one of the co founders and CEOs of
Speaker 6: Radical Monarchs.
Speaker 4: Amazing, Thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2: I feel like we have been following your journey, your work,
Speaker 2: and the Radical Monarchs in particular for years now, and
Speaker 2: watching the Radical Monarchs grow and feeling just like really
Speaker 2: proud of the organization and the program and what you're
Speaker 2: doing for the community.
Speaker 4: So thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: I'm look at Dora today.
Speaker 3: Yes, of course, So let's get started with that.
Speaker 1: With the origin story of the Radical Monarchs. I know
Speaker 1: was inspired by your own daughter, your own child, So
Speaker 1: can you tell us more about how it got started
Speaker 1: and just its evolution.
Speaker 7: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 6: So when my daughter Lupita was in fourth grade, a
Speaker 6: lot of her classmates for joining a local traditional Scouting troupe,
Speaker 6: and so naturally she wanted to join too, and she
Speaker 6: was like, Mommy, there's this like troops starting up in
Speaker 6: my class and my friends are joining, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 6: I was like okay, And you know, like no shade
Speaker 6: to the Girl Scouts of America that I was never
Speaker 6: a girl Scout. That didn't exist in my community, so
Speaker 6: I didn't know much about it. But when I started
Speaker 6: to look at the composition of what that troop would
Speaker 6: look like for my daughter, she would have been only
Speaker 6: one of two girls of color, and so that concerned me.
Speaker 6: In addition to that, you know, Lupita was raised in
Speaker 6: a very politically conscious radical household, and so Lupita's been
Speaker 6: attending marches and pride events and visuals and actions since
Speaker 6: she was a baby, since she was like literally out
Speaker 6: of the womb and a stroller. And so I also
Speaker 6: kind of felt like what traditional scouting looked like was
Speaker 6: very kind of watered down, was a very water down
Speaker 6: version of what justice looks like for us, And so
Speaker 6: I started to kind of dream about what would it
Speaker 6: look like for us to have something they had some
Speaker 6: elements of scouting right, this idea of like camarodity, right
Speaker 6: of building, like fear, sisterhood, earning badges right based on things.
Speaker 6: But I was like, what would it look like if
Speaker 6: they actually earned badges on like radical cool shit that
Speaker 6: you don't typically learn until you're much older. And so
Speaker 6: I had this idea and I literally just pitched it
Speaker 6: to Lupita and I was like, I don't know about
Speaker 6: you joining that, like you know, traditional scouting troupe, but
Speaker 6: what if we do this kind of like on our own.
Speaker 6: And she immediately like lit up and was just kind
Speaker 6: of like, oh my god, Mommy, like yes, that's what
Speaker 6: I want to do.
Speaker 7: Let's do it. And I was like, okay, like let's
Speaker 7: do it.
Speaker 6: At the time, I was, you know, a full time
Speaker 6: community organizer. I also have a second child, and so
Speaker 6: I was really busy and so to be honest, I
Speaker 6: kept forgetting about it, like and Lupita like never let.
Speaker 7: That idea go, Like she was like, when are we
Speaker 7: doing that thing? When are we doing that thing?
Speaker 6: And she was like literally recruiting her classmates. She's like,
Speaker 6: my mom and I are starting this troop, like do
Speaker 6: you want to join?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 6: So I was like, oh my god, Okay, I guess
Speaker 6: I have to do this for my kid. And so
Speaker 6: at that point I turned to one of my best
Speaker 6: friends and chosen sister Feends Marilyn Hollandquest and I was like, Hey,
Speaker 6: I have this idea of doing this thing for my kid.
Speaker 7: I can do this by myself. Both her and I are.
Speaker 6: Longtime you know, community organizers, activists, youth workers, and educators,
Speaker 6: and so I knew that she'd be a great person
Speaker 6: to do this with. And so I was like, what
Speaker 6: do you think about doing this with me? It would
Speaker 6: just be for Lupita and her homies. And she was
Speaker 6: like hell yeah, Like that is a dope idea, Let's
Speaker 6: do it.
Speaker 7: And so that's how it started, like really organically.
Speaker 2: And how did you come up with the name Radical Monarchs?
Speaker 2: I think, you know, monarchs, butterflies have this symbolic meaning historically,
Speaker 2: and like movement spaces, migrant immigrant spaces. How did you
Speaker 2: decide to land on that name?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so it wasn't our initial name. Our initial name
Speaker 6: was actually the Radical Brownies.
Speaker 3: Do you remember, Oh yeah, right, yeah totally.
Speaker 6: So initially it was very much like, oh, like the
Speaker 6: girls got brownies, but radical, so Radical Brownies, and so
Speaker 6: that was our initial name. But the minute we started
Speaker 6: to get some media attention the first time we attended
Speaker 6: our first action. Now it's important to note that, like
Speaker 6: we launched in December twenty fourteen, that was like right
Speaker 6: in the middle of all the uprisings around like the
Speaker 6: Michael Brown, the murder of Michael Brown, et cetera, et cetera,
Speaker 6: and so it was kind of like go time, you know,
Speaker 6: when we launched. And so the minute we attended our
Speaker 6: first action, a lot of folks were kind of like, oh, like,
Speaker 6: who is this group with these berets and these brown vests,
Speaker 6: and so we got interviewed by someone from I want
Speaker 6: to say, the San Franciso Chronicle, and so little did
Speaker 6: we know that that media coverage would just kind of
Speaker 6: put us everywhere, and we kind of blew up and
Speaker 6: we started to get you know, both death threats and
Speaker 6: people who were interested in joining our movement. And so
Speaker 6: one day we got an email from the Girl Scouts
Speaker 6: of America's like.
Speaker 7: Like head office, and they were like.
Speaker 6: You know, knock knock, like hey, like, it seems like
Speaker 6: you're doing something really cool for your community, but you
Speaker 6: also are creating what they call brand confusion because people
Speaker 6: are confusing your organization for our organization, which at that
Speaker 6: point where we're not even an organization, and so you know,
Speaker 6: they very politely kind of were like, y'all have to
Speaker 6: like cease and desist using Brownie's because they legally own
Speaker 6: that word as meaning a group of young girls. But
Speaker 6: the nice part about that was, and at first I
Speaker 6: was like really irritated with that. I was like, you know,
Speaker 6: like screw that, like we're going to fight them for
Speaker 6: this name. And then it was kind of like, you
Speaker 6: know what, like this gives us an opportunity to actually
Speaker 6: name ourselves and have the monarchs themselves or like you know,
Speaker 6: our trupe members name themselves and have them be a
Speaker 6: part of that process, right, And so we had them
Speaker 6: brainstorm some names and then they voted, and they voted
Speaker 6: on monarchs, and they loved the idea of the monarch
Speaker 6: butterfly and how one how it you know, how there
Speaker 6: are no borders, and how it they migrate and also
Speaker 6: how you know they also represent like this idea of
Speaker 6: transformation and how social justice is very transformational.
Speaker 2: We hope you've been enjoying this interview with Anna Yvette.
Speaker 2: We will be right back with more.
Speaker 1: I love that story so much because I remember when
Speaker 1: I first started following you at Annaievette was when you
Speaker 1: founded the Radical Brownies and then seeing the evolution, so
Speaker 1: it's so beautiful to see, like you know, we launched
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen, and so we're not that much younger
Speaker 1: than you, but so like I feel there's you and
Speaker 1: I have connected so much and like growing our our businesses,
Speaker 1: the practice all of that taking care of ourselves and
Speaker 1: to see this evolution from like Indie Rascuatche even like
Speaker 1: to then five A, one C three to you, like
Speaker 1: going on retreats with your organization and really prioritizing care
Speaker 1: and WHI the talk has been so beautiful to see
Speaker 1: this evolution of the Radical Monarchs and the organization and
Speaker 1: to see you too, like at the center of it.
Speaker 1: So how do you think aside from the ways that
Speaker 1: I just mentioned, Like, how else has the Radical Monarchs
Speaker 1: evolved since it's founding in twenty fourteen, Oh my gosh.
Speaker 7: So much.
Speaker 6: We're now our own five O one C three. So
Speaker 6: we were a physically sponsored project for most of our years,
Speaker 6: and then just last year we actually became our own
Speaker 6: five O one C three. We are now national, so
Speaker 6: we now have troops in New York in Brooklyn and
Speaker 6: the Bronx Minneapolis, Denver, Los Angeles soon to be Long Beach.
Speaker 6: So we're now a national organization and we're still a
Speaker 6: small team, but we you know, initially this was much
Speaker 6: like Loco, like a labor of love, right, So me
Speaker 6: and Maryland, my the other co founder, my best friend.
Speaker 7: This was what we did on the side.
Speaker 6: We would literally come home from our full time jobs
Speaker 6: and work on Radical Monarchs until we literally could not
Speaker 6: keep our eyes open anymore. And so the biggest transition
Speaker 6: happened in two thousand and seventeen when we got to
Speaker 6: actually hire ourselves and pay ourselves for this work, and
Speaker 6: that was like a huge moment for us. And then
Speaker 6: now we're actually a staff of five. So the fact
Speaker 6: that we have five full time paid staff members is
Speaker 6: like so major for us.
Speaker 3: That's huge, that's huge.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And for those listening who are curious, you know, the
Speaker 2: Girl Scouts I think historically are for girls. And who
Speaker 2: are the Radical Monarchs for? And what type of children
Speaker 2: is the Radical Monarchs serving?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Radical Monarchs is for young girls and gender expansive
Speaker 6: youth of color, beautiful.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know that brings us to the topic
Speaker 1: of today's episode, which is radical mothering. And when I
Speaker 1: first met you so many years ago, ten years ago now,
Speaker 1: I can't believe it.
Speaker 4: You.
Speaker 1: I remember when I first came across your Instagram in
Speaker 1: your bio, it was like Cuma, queer mother of color,
Speaker 1: and I knew, like off the bat, okay, like this femme,
Speaker 1: this woman is like, ah is a radical mother. Just
Speaker 1: by having identifying as like a queer mother of color,
Speaker 1: I know you're a radical mother.
Speaker 3: Obviously. I've gotten to know you more over the years,
Speaker 3: and I know that.
Speaker 1: That's part of your praxis, that's the way you part
Speaker 1: of the way you raise your children, and you've raised
Speaker 1: them because I know Lupita's grown now, right, So talk
Speaker 1: to us about like what radical mothering means to you
Speaker 1: and maybe how that's also evolved for you over the
Speaker 1: years in like birthing the radical monarchs and also your
Speaker 1: actual children.
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, yes, there's definitely been. It's definitely evolved,
Speaker 6: I would say, right. I think when I was first,
Speaker 6: I was also a young mother, and I think that
Speaker 6: that also has a lot to do with it. Right,
Speaker 6: So I was pregnant with Lupita. I got pregnant Lupita
Speaker 6: when it was in my last year in undergrad at UCLA.
Speaker 6: So she literally like walked across stage with me in
Speaker 6: my tummy when I graduated.
Speaker 7: And I think that initially, as.
Speaker 6: A young mother and as a young radicalized mother, I
Speaker 6: felt very much like, okay, like I'm not doing nothing
Speaker 6: that I was raised with, right, Like I'm gonna like
Speaker 6: my you know, my baby girl is like nothing is
Speaker 6: going to be pink and everything's going to be like blued.
Speaker 6: I'm just gonna flip everything on its head. And I
Speaker 6: think that initially that's what felt right to me. And
Speaker 6: I think that what I learned as as my motherhood
Speaker 6: progressed was like, oh, it's actually less about you know,
Speaker 6: having my daughter wear like you know, mask or boy
Speaker 6: representing things, or my son wearing feminine you know, presenting things,
Speaker 6: and more about giving them all the options to explore
Speaker 6: and to be curious, right, and giving them the space
Speaker 6: and agency to explore what it is they like and
Speaker 6: what it is they want to do, and what it
Speaker 6: does they want to play with.
Speaker 7: And so I think that that.
Speaker 6: Was one of my earliest lessons that I had in
Speaker 6: radical motherhood.
Speaker 7: And I think that now that my kids are.
Speaker 6: Lupita is nineteen, she's about to turn twenty in July,
Speaker 6: which feels like next month, and my son Diego is seventeen,
Speaker 6: I think that that continues to like really evolve and
Speaker 6: change as to what it looks like. I think that
Speaker 6: it also looks like them seeing me as more than
Speaker 6: just their mother, right. I think it's about them also
Speaker 6: seeing me as a whole person and ask someone that
Speaker 6: needs to care for myself and love myself and that
Speaker 6: I'm not self sacrificing.
Speaker 7: So to free that mother that a lot.
Speaker 6: Of us kind of grew up with, right, There's been
Speaker 6: a lot of undoing of that that I've had to
Speaker 6: do that I feel like is incredibly radical and I
Speaker 6: think that my and I think that my kids are
Speaker 6: only going to be stronger people by seeing that, by
Speaker 6: seeing that that side of myself that I think that
Speaker 6: a lot of us weren't able to see of our
Speaker 6: own mothers. And so I consider that also a part
Speaker 6: of my queer motherhood and my radical motherhood.
Speaker 3: I love that.
Speaker 2: Do you see similarities with the other parents of the
Speaker 2: other Radical Monarch members. Are they tending to, like be
Speaker 2: walking a similar path as you and trying to sort
Speaker 2: of redefine parenthood for themselves. Do you find like they
Speaker 2: tend to be like minded in that way?
Speaker 7: It's definitely a mix. We definitely have a mix.
Speaker 6: I think that the Monarch's families that come to us
Speaker 6: live on a spectrum. We have some that are like
Speaker 6: the radical like they you know, there were also organizers
Speaker 6: and activists, and then we have some that are more
Speaker 6: like newly arrived migrant families that haven't had the kind
Speaker 6: of space and capacity to be able to engage politically
Speaker 6: in that way. And so we definitely have a mix
Speaker 6: of families and how they show up in their radical parenthood.
Speaker 7: But I think that one.
Speaker 6: Of the commonalities is definitely and a common thread between
Speaker 6: all of us is that we're all we all want
Speaker 6: our kids to be able to be active and making
Speaker 6: a difference in this world, and we want to center
Speaker 6: their voices and their experiences.
Speaker 1: I love that so much, knowing a little bit about
Speaker 1: the types of parents that find y'all and arrive to y'all.
Speaker 1: And I love what you said about you being a
Speaker 1: person outside of your role as mother, because I think
Speaker 1: that there are you know, adult children that can go
Speaker 1: their whole lives without seeing their mothers as people and
Speaker 1: just like the Soufrida, like you said, the subservient like
Speaker 1: mother role and that's it. And so to see you
Speaker 1: be able to embody that and be more than just
Speaker 1: like the one role that is often forced upon us
Speaker 1: by depending on who you ask, right, I think is
Speaker 1: really powerful. I recently realized this. I've all come to
Speaker 1: recognize my mother, of course, as her own person. But
Speaker 1: there was something she said to me a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago that made me really see, like, oh, my
Speaker 1: mom is like really just figuring it out, even in
Speaker 1: her late sixties, just like the rest of us.
Speaker 3: You know, it's ongoing.
Speaker 1: We're all people, were all evolving, right, just because we
Speaker 1: take on this role of mother or father or parent
Speaker 1: or not. You know, it doesn't mean we stop being
Speaker 1: people outside of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I remember, just to piggyback off of that.
Speaker 2: When I was a child, I remember once my mom
Speaker 2: got so mad at us for something. There's three of
Speaker 2: us siblings, and I remember being in the car and
Speaker 2: she was so upset with us.
Speaker 4: I don't know what we did.
Speaker 2: We were being little shits, of course, and.
Speaker 4: We're like mo mo mo mo. Mom.
Speaker 2: She turns around and she says, my name is not
Speaker 2: mom mmm, and it flipped my world upside down. It
Speaker 2: was like, I remember, it was like getting smacked.
Speaker 4: In the face, like, oh, who is this lady? I
Speaker 4: don't even know her name?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 4: But she has a name too. I didn't know. I
Speaker 4: didn't realize.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's some those realizations are pretty wild.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting because then for some people, for some mothers,
Speaker 1: it's like the biggest sign of disrespect if you call
Speaker 1: them by their actual name.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 1: There was a period where my mom and I were
Speaker 1: we weren't working together, but she was working for an
Speaker 1: organization that I was working for, and so my boss
Speaker 1: was like, when you're around her, I know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be really hard.
Speaker 3: But don't say mom, say her. You have to say
Speaker 3: her name.
Speaker 1: So now I refer to her as her name all
Speaker 1: the time when I'm talking about her, and people are like,
Speaker 1: you call your mom by her name, and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: there's a backstory. But also yeah, at this point, like
Speaker 1: I got used to it, and so when I'm talking
Speaker 1: about her, yeah, I say her name.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it is definitely like, well, that is her name.
Speaker 4: You know you do that. How's Maggie, how's Murtha? Oh
Speaker 4: my god, you're not going to believe what Mirta just did.
Speaker 7: We're whole ass people.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's beautiful Annie that I'm super curious. I want
Speaker 2: to go back to something that you shared earlier about
Speaker 2: when you first launched, that you guys got death threats.
Speaker 2: Now I'm curious, as the years have gone by, have
Speaker 2: you still experienced that type of pushback or that type
Speaker 2: of vitriol And what is it that people is rubbing
Speaker 2: them the wrong way?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 4: What is it that is like.
Speaker 2: Fueling that that bitterness and that anger towards the organization?
Speaker 6: Yeah, we definitely get it less. If we get it
Speaker 6: spikes when we get like mainstream media coverage.
Speaker 7: That's when it spikes.
Speaker 6: That's when like all of a sudden, we get flooded
Speaker 6: with like terrible death threats and just like called every
Speaker 6: name in the book. Particularly, I would say it happens
Speaker 6: mostly on Facebook, like these these Facebook trolls are like
Speaker 6: a other like brand. It happens less on Instagram and
Speaker 6: more on Facebook and in our emails, because our emails
Speaker 6: are public because they're in you know, they're on our website.
Speaker 6: And so so whenever we get any kind of mainstream
Speaker 6: media coverage, we expect to get the like the clowns
Speaker 6: come out, the trolls come out. So so anytime that happens,
Speaker 6: we like prepare ourselves.
Speaker 7: And I think that the.
Speaker 6: Things that we mainly hear are like, oh, you're raising
Speaker 6: you're brainwashing kids, You're raising little racist like you're pimping
Speaker 6: out kids, just like wild as wild wild accusations. Yeah,
Speaker 6: it's really intense. And you know, at the very beginning,
Speaker 6: when we first got our biggest media coverage, it was
Speaker 6: like like CBS ran something on us, and then oh,
Speaker 6: who is that person from Fox?
Speaker 7: Is it Hannity, Joe Hannity or something.
Speaker 6: He's like the bill o, right, Kennedy, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: So he invited us to be on his show.
Speaker 4: Trap A trap, Yeah.
Speaker 7: A trap.
Speaker 6: Instantly we were like, what we're not gonna do is
Speaker 6: go on, But they still ran the segment, and they
Speaker 6: used coverage from another news media outlet, like an affiliate.
Speaker 7: It was like a Fox affiliate, which we didn't know.
Speaker 6: You know, all the things you learned where you're like,
Speaker 6: you're not knowing this world, world. And so when that
Speaker 6: coverage hit, that's.
Speaker 7: When it was most intense.
Speaker 6: And that's what actually someone even called a bumb threat
Speaker 6: into my kids' school.
Speaker 7: No, and so it was really really scary.
Speaker 2: Oh, Sean Hannity, Yeah.
Speaker 6: Sean Hannity, Sean Hannity, Yes, and so scary.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: And what we've learned and what we still implement today
Speaker 6: because of all this, all this, you know, terrible experience
Speaker 6: we have had in the past is we never post
Speaker 6: what we are in real time, So we always post
Speaker 6: after the fact as a safety percussion for our monarchs
Speaker 6: because that's our number one priorities, keeping them safe.
Speaker 3: Wow, thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 4: That's intense.
Speaker 2: We over the years, we've got nothing that bad, nothing
Speaker 2: like a bomb threat, but we have also received horrible
Speaker 2: emails and death threats and rape threads trigger warning. So yeah,
Speaker 2: and I think it has also coincided with there's been
Speaker 2: an interview, there's something we've been highlighted somehow, and they're
Speaker 2: like waiting, They're like laying in wait for something to
Speaker 2: pounce on.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the most recent one wasn't It wasn't bad, but
Speaker 1: it was it was funny. People got really upset about
Speaker 1: our name, Like we had Spanish speakers, Spanish speakers emailing
Speaker 1: us saying like we need to learn grammar and spelling
Speaker 1: because it's actually and I'm like, well, no, that's you
Speaker 1: didn't listen to the segment then, because we explained how
Speaker 1: we flipped it, But okay, sure, yeah, go off.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It seems like there's a lot of people out there.
Speaker 2: I think that this sort of coincides with a lot
Speaker 2: of the hatred towards like gender affirming care for trans children, right,
Speaker 2: people who like it's not their kids, They may not
Speaker 2: even have kids, but they get very up in arms
Speaker 2: about like children being brainwashed and like children you know,
Speaker 2: and I don't know, is that sort of the energy
Speaker 2: that you guys have seen, is that what it is
Speaker 2: that they're coming at you with when it happens.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's definitely the energy.
Speaker 6: I would say that coupled with we're being exclusionary, like
Speaker 6: why can't my white daughter join?
Speaker 7: What about the white kids?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 6: Like we get that a lot too, So I would
Speaker 6: say it's both those kind of energies that we get.
Speaker 3: What is your stance on that as an organization, Like
Speaker 3: what do you say?
Speaker 7: We say no, what about.
Speaker 3: Go to the brownians?
Speaker 6: Oh my god, you know, we've gotten really good how
Speaker 6: to answer this question because you've had to answer it
Speaker 6: so much. And so what we typically say to people
Speaker 6: is radical monarchs came out of a very specific need
Speaker 6: to center young girls and general expansive youth of color,
Speaker 6: and so it wouldn't like and so because of that need,
Speaker 6: this is what we are here to bring. This is
Speaker 6: what we are here to serve, and we haven't quite
Speaker 6: figured out where white allies fit into this picture. Yet.
Speaker 6: You are more than welcome to create your own like
Speaker 6: affiliate no organization if you'd like to. But you know,
Speaker 6: this came out of a very specific need of central
Speaker 6: in young girls and kids of color, and so that's
Speaker 6: what makes us unique.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can always write a check, honey, they can
Speaker 2: always make a donation.
Speaker 7: Exactly exactly.
Speaker 3: I love that so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it's like it's kind of like read the Room,
Speaker 1: but also like I can imagine there are like these
Speaker 1: you know, progressive white liberals that are like, you know,
Speaker 1: they want to radicalize their children in that way or
Speaker 1: like have them in this like more progressive group, but
Speaker 1: also like read the Room. You know, there's so many
Speaker 1: other places for y'all. Yeah, it's interesting how you navigate that.
Speaker 2: And as your daughter, as Lupita has gotten older, she's
Speaker 2: a whole adult now. Yeah, and the friendships that she
Speaker 2: made in the Radical Monarchs, do you see those Like
Speaker 2: do the kids stay with the program until they're teenagers?
Speaker 2: Do they age out? Do they keep in touch? Like
Speaker 2: I'm so, I mean, the Girl Scouts is a really
Speaker 2: really old organization and this is almost the first generation
Speaker 2: Lupite's like the first generation of the Radical Monarchs. And
Speaker 2: so how has that worked as they've gotten older?
Speaker 6: Yeah, so we have. So Lupita's troop was our first
Speaker 6: inaugural troop, and the first inaugural troop. Most of them
Speaker 6: are either like in their second or first year in
Speaker 6: college now wow, or they're graduating from high school like
Speaker 6: this year or next year, so it is wild and
Speaker 6: so of course as they've gotten older and as they
Speaker 6: graduated from the program, because so the way our program
Speaker 6: works is it it's a cohort model. So the troop
Speaker 6: is together for three years and after three years they graduate.
Speaker 6: So for three years they're together as a troop, they
Speaker 6: earned badges, and then they graduate. And then once they graduate,
Speaker 6: we have alumni opportunities, so we have paid internships. So
Speaker 6: we have many of our alums from Troop one and
Speaker 6: Troop two have come back and been paid interns where
Speaker 6: we pay them to work on our newsletter. There's an
Speaker 6: alumni newsletter. They help us on the socials, make it
Speaker 6: the tik takis because we're not good at you know.
Speaker 6: So we've also had our alumni interns fly with us
Speaker 6: to observe the new troops, our new national troops, and
Speaker 6: so they're able to come with us and observe them
Speaker 6: and give feedback to the troop leaders about like what
Speaker 6: they saw and what they liked and things they could
Speaker 6: do differently. We also have our alumni involved in our hiring,
Speaker 6: so whenever we bring on new troop leaders, we bring
Speaker 6: on our alums to help interview them because they know
Speaker 6: what they're looking for, because they've been a part of
Speaker 6: the program and know what makes a good troop leader.
Speaker 6: So we definitely are very much still engaged with our
Speaker 6: alumni who have graduated from the program.
Speaker 3: That's so cute.
Speaker 4: That's so cute.
Speaker 3: I love that so much.
Speaker 4: That's so cute.
Speaker 1: So pivoting a little bit, but still related to motherhood,
Speaker 1: you know. I think one of the things one of
Speaker 1: the reasons we wanted to talk about radical mothering one,
Speaker 1: we've never really talked about motherhood, right, We're think so
Speaker 1: like other than talking about our own mothers and the
Speaker 1: ways like patriarchy like has affected women and mothers. Right,
Speaker 1: I feel like in those ways, we've definitely talked about motherhood,
Speaker 1: but we ort least me, I've noticed, like, a we've
Speaker 1: grown up, our listeners have grown up. Some of them
Speaker 1: are becoming mothers, right.
Speaker 3: I know some of my friends are talking about.
Speaker 1: Becoming mothers, and so we're like, Okay, we need to
Speaker 1: have like a radical mothering episode. Yeah, And so that
Speaker 1: was one of the reasons, aside from all the incredible
Speaker 1: work that you do, Like, to me, you have like
Speaker 1: been this person that has really modeled like what it
Speaker 1: means to be a radical parent, a radical mother, And
Speaker 1: so how has your idea of motherhood changed over the years.
Speaker 3: Like at the top of the episode, you said.
Speaker 1: I knew I was I wanted to do everything different, right,
Speaker 1: But I know you also have a really close relationship
Speaker 1: with your own mom. So how have you balanced those
Speaker 1: two of having this close relationship, wanting to do things
Speaker 1: differently and honoring like who you are in this moment.
Speaker 6: I think that it's a work in progress. I think
Speaker 6: that therapy has been really helpful for me and being
Speaker 6: able to unpack what are things that I have learned
Speaker 6: from my mother that I want to unravel and cycles
Speaker 6: that I want to break, and then also what are
Speaker 6: things that I really love that I inherited from my
Speaker 6: mother that I want to continue and I want.
Speaker 7: To share with my own children.
Speaker 6: And so I think it's constantly a work in progress.
Speaker 6: It's constantly it kind of like sorting of like what
Speaker 6: serves me what doesn't you know? And I'm constantly kind
Speaker 6: of looking at like, okay, like there are ways in
Speaker 6: which my mom mother that actually really didn't serve me, right,
Speaker 6: And I find myself in a trap where I start
Speaker 6: seeing that I'm doing those same things, and I'm like, Okay, no, wait,
Speaker 6: stop pivot. Like what I'm not going to do is
Speaker 6: continue these cycles, right, And so I think it's just
Speaker 6: it's a constant thing, and I think that it's it's
Speaker 6: a part of the work. And I think that I
Speaker 6: am grateful that I have an amazing therapist. I think
Speaker 6: that I'm really grateful. Especially I think what was really
Speaker 6: hard for me too, was it because I was a
Speaker 6: young mother. A lot of what you see now wasn't
Speaker 6: available to me back in the day. You know, Like
Speaker 6: I always tell my boo who my boo recently had
Speaker 6: a baby, right who is now?
Speaker 7: She just turned two.
Speaker 6: Yesterday, And I'm like, oh my god, Like when I
Speaker 6: had kids, like you would not find a lactation room,
Speaker 6: a like, you know, like none of that shit.
Speaker 7: I kind of figure that shit out, Like I was.
Speaker 6: In bathrooms, on toilet seats, breastfeeding my kid, like the
Speaker 6: and the world is still completely not catering or not
Speaker 6: like in favor of like you know, mothering or parenting.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: But I am so grateful to see what kinds of
Speaker 6: resources are available now because I didn't have that, and
Speaker 6: as a young mother, I was really just kind of
Speaker 6: lost and trying to figure shit out, you know.
Speaker 7: And I was also a student.
Speaker 6: I went to grad school when luk At that was
Speaker 6: months old, and then I had my son when I
Speaker 6: graduated from grad school, so I had like two kids,
Speaker 6: you know, like by the time I get out of
Speaker 6: grad school. And so I think that I love seeing
Speaker 6: all the content that is available to us now online
Speaker 6: and the types of conversations, and so I think that
Speaker 6: I'm also someone that's constantly learning, you know, even though
Speaker 6: I am a mother of a nineteen or seventeen year old,
Speaker 6: I'm not like I have it all figured out. Like
Speaker 6: I'm very much like looking for other other resources and
Speaker 6: other parents and other moms that are having conversations about
Speaker 6: things that I feel like I also need to hear
Speaker 6: or learn.
Speaker 2: This is fascinating because I'm curious now that reflection about
Speaker 2: what was available to you and what wasn't and how
Speaker 2: it informed your own mother ing. Does that lead you
Speaker 2: to reflect on what was available to your mother and
Speaker 2: what wasn't available to your mother and how that you know,
Speaker 2: impacted or was reflected in her mothering of you.
Speaker 6: One hundred percent on thousand percent, Yeah, I'll have conversations
Speaker 6: with my mom all the time now, you know, in
Speaker 6: reflecting about her motherhood and about you know, her relationship
Speaker 6: with my father for example, and you know, she'll tend
Speaker 6: to like really kind of get down on herself and
Speaker 6: apologize and she'll just be like, I'm so sorry, miha,
Speaker 6: Like I'm so sorry, Like I should have done X
Speaker 6: y Z, I should have done this better, I should
Speaker 6: have left your father sooner. You know, she has said
Speaker 6: these things to me, and I'm like, mommy, it is okay,
Speaker 6: Like you were doing the best that you could do
Speaker 6: with what you had, with what you had available to you.
Speaker 6: And so it definitely has opened up a space or
Speaker 6: of empathy right for my own mother as well, and
Speaker 6: I think it has also caused her to have more
Speaker 6: empathy for her own mother.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: So there's that saying, right that we feel ourselves we
Speaker 6: heal seven generations.
Speaker 7: I'm like, oh my god, here it is and it's happening.
Speaker 7: Action mode. Yeah, it's happening.
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, that's so powerful because it's like it's not just,
Speaker 1: of course, we do the work for ourselves to be
Speaker 1: better people and to be a better verse universals, but
Speaker 1: we really are healing like the family line. Like it's
Speaker 1: not just some cheesy instagram saying, you know, like we
Speaker 1: really are healing the family lines if you're like the
Speaker 1: chosen one to be the like cycle breaker.
Speaker 6: Honestly, yeah, And I think that one of the most
Speaker 6: beautiful things that I've been able to witness now is
Speaker 6: seeing that in my own children, you know, and so like,
Speaker 6: there'll be times, you know, Lupita now lives on.
Speaker 7: Her own, she lives on her own in Oakland.
Speaker 3: I can't believe.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I know it is wild.
Speaker 6: It is wild, and sometimes well she called me like
Speaker 6: three times a day first of all.
Speaker 1: But.
Speaker 6: There was one time where, you know, she called me.
Speaker 6: We were talking because we're incredibly close, and she was like,
Speaker 6: oh my god, you're not gonna believe what happened. And
Speaker 6: she tells me this like wild story and I'm like,
Speaker 6: oh my god, like and it happened like the week before.
Speaker 7: I was like, why didn't you tell me?
Speaker 6: She's like, Mommy, I'm trying to hold healthy boundaries and
Speaker 6: I don't want to put stuff on you and I
Speaker 6: wanted to figure it out on my own.
Speaker 7: And I was.
Speaker 6: Just like, wow, damn, thank God, Like it it was
Speaker 6: just so yeah, I don't even know what to say.
Speaker 7: Like, I was just blown away. I was like, wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 2: And you modeled that. Yeah, you modeled that. She knows
Speaker 2: that she can come to you if she really really
Speaker 2: really needs your help, but she's also learning to be
Speaker 2: independent and handle things on her own.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: She was like, you carry so much. I wanted, like,
Speaker 6: I don't want to put everything on you. I have
Speaker 6: my she has her own therapist. And she was like,
Speaker 6: and I needed I wanted to work this out on
Speaker 6: my own and not stress you out and not put
Speaker 6: that on you. And I was just kind of like,
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, Like it's just something that I never
Speaker 6: imagine was even possible.
Speaker 3: That's so beautiful.
Speaker 1: So, Anivetta, in addition to being this wonderful queer mother
Speaker 1: of color and the co founder of the Radical Monarchs,
Speaker 1: you are also in a really beautiful relationship that we
Speaker 1: admire from afar And so I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: about like creating your chosen family, creating a family with
Speaker 1: someone where you're not necessarily co parenting but you kind
Speaker 1: of are but kind of not. So can you tell
Speaker 1: us more about that?
Speaker 6: Yes, Oh my gosh, So when my boo, when I
Speaker 6: first met It was like one of our first dates.
Speaker 6: She was like, you know, I really want to be
Speaker 6: a parent, I really want to be a mother. And
Speaker 6: I instantly was like, oh, this ain't going to work.
Speaker 7: I I have already done this.
Speaker 6: I am almost out of this, Like my kids are
Speaker 6: like you know, in their late teens. And so I
Speaker 6: was like, there's no way you couldn't pay me to
Speaker 6: start over, Like a girl is tired, like.
Speaker 7: I am tired.
Speaker 6: But something told me like wait a minute, Like, one,
Speaker 6: she's not asking anything of you, right, She's just saying
Speaker 6: what she.
Speaker 7: Wants for herself.
Speaker 6: And two like who knows if it's even gonna happen, right,
Speaker 6: Like who knows?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 6: So we began dating right before the pandemic hit. Then
Speaker 6: a pandemic hit, and like everything was kind of like
Speaker 6: no one knew what was going on, and so that
Speaker 6: conversation didn't come up again. And then we, in the meantime,
Speaker 6: you know, started to really solidify as a really.
Speaker 7: Beautiful, deep relationship.
Speaker 6: Right, which was very unexpected. I wasn't looking to be
Speaker 6: in a long term relationship. I wasn't looking for love
Speaker 6: at all at that time. I had just come out
Speaker 6: of an almost twenty year relationship with an ex, and
Speaker 6: I had taken a year after that separation to just
Speaker 6: really heal and grieve and let go, and so I
Speaker 6: was like, I'm never getting a long term relationship again.
Speaker 7: I'm never getting married again. I just want to date
Speaker 7: and have lover. It's like that's it.
Speaker 6: But then the pandemic slowed everything down and we fell
Speaker 6: in love and two years after because we're like still
Speaker 6: in this pandemic, right, So like two years after us
Speaker 6: linking up, in April of twenty twenty, my boo was like,
Speaker 6: I still really want to have a baby, and I
Speaker 6: was like, damn okay, Like who am I to tell you?
Speaker 6: Like no, like this is like your dream to be
Speaker 6: a mother. And so we had some really hard and
Speaker 6: really really hard and really honest conversations about what that
Speaker 6: would look like. And the conversations were just kind of continuous,
Speaker 6: and you know, I was very clear and that I
Speaker 6: wasn't going to stand in her way in any way
Speaker 6: or form. I was going to support her, and that
Speaker 6: I really needed to feel like I didn't have a
Speaker 6: whole other child to raise, and so you know, we
Speaker 6: made some insemination magic happen. I'm an official fan baby daddies,
Speaker 6: I like to say, and it was a one and
Speaker 6: done sharpshooter, and.
Speaker 7: The baby came and the baby.
Speaker 6: Is here and it's beautiful. I also feel like, so okay,
Speaker 6: so I also feel like experiencing motherhood in this way,
Speaker 6: not as the direct mother, has also been.
Speaker 7: Healing from my own motherhood.
Speaker 6: And so the baby calls her mama because that's mama,
Speaker 6: Like that's who birthed you, that is your mama. And
Speaker 6: then she calls me mammy Thiiti.
Speaker 3: It's my favorite. That's my feah thing in the world. Honestly, Yeah,
Speaker 3: whenever you post that, I'm like.
Speaker 7: Oh, yeah, yeah, because my boo is Puerto Rican.
Speaker 6: So everyone's tie thi, right, like every like you know,
Speaker 6: like every chosen thea is thi Thi. And so I
Speaker 6: was like, I don't want to just be Thithi because
Speaker 6: I'm not going to just be thifi, you know, like
Speaker 6: I'm aa love this baby like this is like you know,
Speaker 6: but I'm also not mama, and so I was like,
Speaker 6: what about mammy Thithi? And so I just kind of
Speaker 6: made up that term and went with it. And the
Speaker 6: minute the baby was able to put those like syllables
Speaker 6: together and say, I just like melted and so I'm
Speaker 6: like forever mammy thithi. And it's the perfect way to
Speaker 6: kind of describe my relationship to her, Right, I am
Speaker 6: like a mother figure, but I'm also kind of like
Speaker 6: a deepie.
Speaker 7: Figure, right, like her mama is her mama.
Speaker 6: And so I think that's really important to me because
Speaker 6: I'm tired. I've been doing this for nineteen years, and
Speaker 6: so the thought of having to like have the responsibility
Speaker 6: of raising a whole other child, especially because with my
Speaker 6: own children I did a lot of the parenting myself.
Speaker 6: That feels exhausting. I don't get that in this situation, right, So,
Speaker 6: like g is the main mama, Like when that baby
Speaker 6: wakes up, it is her who is picking up that baby,
Speaker 6: Like it is her who is leading all the like
Speaker 6: all the things, right, But I am one hundred percent
Speaker 6: there in support. Of course, I'm with the baby. I
Speaker 6: love the baby. I'll help out with the baby, but
Speaker 6: it is not my full responsibility. And I think that,
Speaker 6: like I mentioned earlier, I think that that has felt
Speaker 6: really healing for my young for my like young mother self,
Speaker 6: because I felt like I had to do everything. I
Speaker 6: felt like I had to hold everything for so long
Speaker 6: with my kids, and so to be in a relationship
Speaker 6: with a little one who is you know, my.
Speaker 7: Booze baby and our baby and.
Speaker 6: Not feel like it's all on me feels like I
Speaker 6: get to finally just like enjoy enjoy being like a
Speaker 6: mom and not have to like worry to death about
Speaker 6: a through zi things that need to get done.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I love that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you don't hear that very often, you know,
Speaker 2: Like I mean, I think we've talked about this on
Speaker 2: the podcast before, but the unequal division of labor when
Speaker 2: it comes to parenting in motherhood. You just talked about
Speaker 2: it with your own young motherhood experience. So I just
Speaker 2: I don't know that I've met a mother figure mother
Speaker 2: who has you can enjoy the child, like you're saying,
Speaker 2: without being the you know, Sufreira and giving away your
Speaker 2: whole life to dedicate to raise this child. And it's
Speaker 2: that sort of thing where like you get it's like
Speaker 2: the best the best parts, You get to experience the
Speaker 2: best parts one hundred percent.
Speaker 7: That's how it feels.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is like it encompasses like that the
Speaker 1: feeling where it's like okay, your mind but Also they're
Speaker 1: going back to your mom.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm giving you back.
Speaker 7: Yes, I get to give this one back, Yes, because mine,
Speaker 7: like I can't do that. I have never been able
Speaker 7: to do that. So it feels.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it feels so healing and so different. So I'm
Speaker 6: really thankful for this experience.
Speaker 2: Fabulous, and thank you for sharing.
Speaker 7: Absolutely of course.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think our listeners are going to love that
Speaker 2: story that you just shared.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't know if it's just my algorithm
Speaker 1: or like I mentioned earlier, like my friends are really
Speaker 1: talking about becoming mothers in like very real ways, especially in.
Speaker 3: The coming years.
Speaker 1: We're definitely not on that timeline, Mala, you and I
Speaker 1: right now, but we see others around us, and so
Speaker 1: it feels like, I don't know how it feels for
Speaker 1: you because you're you know, like you said, your your
Speaker 1: kids are in their late teens. But I feel like
Speaker 1: there is so there's so much conversation about whether or
Speaker 1: not to be a mother, you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: people are really interrogating it in ways that I've never
Speaker 1: seen before. And I don't, like I said, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's just because I'm now at this age
Speaker 1: and everybody around me is talking about it, or if
Speaker 1: there really is like a shift happening where it's like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I actually have a choice in this.
Speaker 1: I actually don't have to, but I can if I
Speaker 1: want to, and if I don't want to, I also
Speaker 1: can can do that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think there's definitely been a shift one hundred
Speaker 6: percent because I feel like, you know, on one side,
Speaker 6: I was a young mother, and so it was hard
Speaker 6: for me because I felt very like like none of
Speaker 6: my none of my friends had kids, like I've I've
Speaker 6: been the only friends with kids for a very long time,
Speaker 6: Like it's like my friends just now are starting to
Speaker 6: have kids, if at all. But I feel like I've
Speaker 6: always been the kind of mother too where I've never
Speaker 6: sugarcoated motherhood, Like from the very beginning, I was like,
Speaker 6: this shit is hard, this shit is not cute, like
Speaker 6: breastfeeding sucks, like like you know, like I've always been
Speaker 6: like it's really important to like to to kind of
Speaker 6: like break up the narrative about how motherhood comes naturally
Speaker 6: as well. Like I also, I have often said that
Speaker 6: I don't feel like I came into my motherhood truly
Speaker 6: until I had my second.
Speaker 7: Born, like I did, I didn't.
Speaker 6: It didn't come naturally to me to be a mother
Speaker 6: with my first firm, Lupita, Like it was hard.
Speaker 7: I was tired. I was like what am I doing?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 6: And it wasn't until later that I started to hear
Speaker 6: and meet folks who were like, yeah, like I don't
Speaker 6: want to have kids, like and I would be like,
Speaker 6: that's great, that is like good for you.
Speaker 7: I'm glad that you know that.
Speaker 6: And I am glad that, like, yes, like it is
Speaker 6: not what you see on TV at all whatsoever. But
Speaker 6: I feel like that was very rare, and I feel
Speaker 6: like the reactions people would have to that were very like, oh,
Speaker 6: something's wrong with them, like they don't want to have kids,
Speaker 6: like you know.
Speaker 7: And I feel like now I love that there's so.
Speaker 6: Much dialogue around, like people proudly being like, I, you know,
Speaker 6: I am choosing to not have kids because X y
Speaker 6: Z reason Like I'm just like, like I live for it.
Speaker 6: I'm like, hell yes, Like some of my staff feel
Speaker 6: that way. And I'm always like whenever we do those
Speaker 6: of us that do have kids, when we talk, they're
Speaker 6: just like, y'all ain't selling it.
Speaker 7: For me, And I'm like, I'm not trying to sell
Speaker 7: you nothing, and like, I love that. I love that.
Speaker 6: I definitely feel like there's been a shift, and I'm
Speaker 6: so thankful. I'm so thankful for that. I think that
Speaker 6: conversation is well deserved and needed.
Speaker 2: Anaevett, thank you so much for joining us today and
Speaker 2: for sharing all the gems that you have shared. You
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier that there are Radical Monarch chapters all over
Speaker 2: the country now, and so I'm curious if there's somebody
Speaker 2: out there that wants to start a Radical Monarchs chapter
Speaker 2: in their city, in their town, what do they do,
Speaker 2: how do they start?
Speaker 4: Where should they look?
Speaker 6: Yes, so we are now at the point where every
Speaker 6: fall we launch a new cohort of Radical Monarch troops.
Speaker 6: Like every year we're just like launching them. So I
Speaker 6: would say to look at our Instagram, follow us on Instagram,
Speaker 6: which is you know, at Radical Monarchs, because that's where
Speaker 6: we do most of our work and our callouts. And
Speaker 6: so in the fall, we have an info session where
Speaker 6: anyone who's interested to start their own Radical Monarch troupe
Speaker 6: will join in the zoom a zoom call and then
Speaker 6: we basically give you all the information about starting your
Speaker 6: own troop and then you can apply to be a
Speaker 6: troop leader and then we go through the application process.
Speaker 1: I love that. And if someone wants to join an
Speaker 1: existing troop like you mentioned La Long Beach, Oakland right
Speaker 1: and other parts of the country. If there's an existing chapter,
Speaker 1: how can folks join that one.
Speaker 6: The best way to join that one would be to
Speaker 6: go to our website and to email us and to
Speaker 6: let us know which troop you are interested in joining,
Speaker 6: and we can let you know whether there is space
Speaker 6: in that troop or not.
Speaker 3: I love that. Thank you so much for everything.
Speaker 1: Thank you for all the work that you do, for
Speaker 1: your vulnerability or honesty. This is such a great interview.
Speaker 7: Thank you so much, Jo, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Annavette Martinez for joining us. Thank you
Speaker 1: to the Radical Monarchs for all the incredible work that
Speaker 1: they're doing. And we will catch you next time. Lokomotives,
Speaker 1: we hope to see you on June eighth.
Speaker 3: You don't want to.
Speaker 7: Miss itos.
Speaker 1: Lokata Radio is executive produced by Viosa Fem and Mala Munios.
Speaker 4: Stephanie Franco is our.
Speaker 1: Producer, Story editing by Me Viosa.
Speaker 2: Creative direction by Me Mala Look.
Speaker 1: At Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael Dura podcast Network.
Speaker 2: You can listen to Loka to a radio on the
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Speaker 1: Leave us a review and share with your prima or
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Speaker 2: And thank you to our locomotives, to our listeners for
Speaker 2: tuning in each and every week.
Speaker 1: Besitos Loka Loon