WEBVTT - CHRIS RIVAS - Wait, That Egg Is Phenomenal 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.199 Hey, y'all, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:05.800 I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have a 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:11.400 very special guest actor, author and podcaster Chris Reeva's is 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:13.960 in the building. What's going on, y'all? Hi, Hi, thank 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:15.880 you for having me. I'm so excited for you to 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.040 be here today. It's gonna be good. We're gonna have 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.800 some delicious stuff. It's gonna be simple but delicious. Yes, 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.599 it's gonna be delicious. It looks like very uh so, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.360 what are you having us eat today? White rice, black beans? 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.000 And what really makes it special? As you put a 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:35.960 perfect Friday on top of it perfect Friday and make 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.960 the best Friday eggs. You heard it here. First, I 0:00:39.080 --> 0:01:07.039 make the best fried egg. Okay, I am going to 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.720 rate your fried egg and all's little peep. How you're 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.920 doing it. To make it the best is not to 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.520 touch it. You gotta get the pants. Well, I'm gonna 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:22.880 show you good layer of butter, crack the egg. Okay, um, 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.200 go ahead and show me. Shall we begin? Yeah? We 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.600 should we can begin a we're good. Um, So, why 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.560 don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:34.400 are you from? Originally? I am from New York City, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.440 born and raised Queens to be exactly, Queens Burrows the 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.600 most diverse burrow on the planet. I don't actually think 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.760 that's a I think that's the like scientific fact. Oh 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:51.240 is it? Especially Jackson, I didn't know that. I I 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.280 have a joke amongst my friends that Queen's is the 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:59.640 only burrow I don't really like. Alright, it's just I 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.800 don't know why I don't like it, really, I just 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:05.840 feel like it's always out of the way. I'm from Brooklyn, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.120 but just the way, it's just out of the way. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.120 All right. So we're gonna I'm gonna fry this up 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.960 a little bit. You gotta get it crispy. Okay, I've 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.079 never rice before. Don't let it do a thing. Did 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.400 you have to put butter or anything in there? Because 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:21.919 I wanted to crisp up a bit and it's already 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:23.519 cooked him and let it just sort of like get 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.720 real hot. You've never had crispy rice? No, well, I 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:29.359 mean when I go to a sushi restaurant. This is 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:33.440 kind of like I've never done it though. Okay, heat 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:37.240 up some beans, real simple, Okay, No one's gonna worry. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.519 So you're an actor, author, and podcaster. I'm going to 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:48.120 assume podcasters the last uh, like the most recent. Yes, 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.440 it is the most So where did you start in acting? 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.960 I started in acting in like fifth grade. Uh in 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.720 New York. Saw Peter Pan, Sa Beauty and the Beast 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.399 in the same year. Huge for me. Where you saw 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:05.960 them on Broadway? Fancy my school took me. Uh, And 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.560 then I knew I wanted to act, but it didn't 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:12.839 really I didn't really settle in until I saw John 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:18.160 Nke was almost freak. John him, yeah, so a freak, 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.679 so freak was his his Broadway show, one man show, 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:23.600 just about his life. And he was like, he's a 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:27.840 Colombian kid. I was Colombian. He's from Queens Your your 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:37.400 least favorite burrow. Uh you know SOSPC. He was from 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:42.680 Queen's Colombian like me and I. And it was just 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.240 a person. It was just a person being a person 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.440 telling the truth. And my life changed and I was 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:51.400 like that's what I want, you know, because when I 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.040 saw Peter Pan, it was it was like cool, yeah, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:56.920 you know, kid who never grows up, which some could 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.880 argue that I'm still that uh. You know, some people 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.160 argue that that you're still like that, really, I think, 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.600 I think that's something I'm proud of, Like my curiosity, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.720 it's something I never want to lose. That's what allows 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.760 me to say yes more than say no. And so, 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:16.839 but I just saw this guy like it wasn't some 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:19.080 teacup singing like Beauty and the Beast. It was just 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.039 a person being a person. And I saw a room 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:25.960 full of white people loving it. You know, hearts open, 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.560 and I was like, that's what I want to do. Wow, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.080 it's funny because now I see. Now I'm starting to 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.599 see why you do what you're doing, just based on 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.080 you saying that it was a room full of white people, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.160 and he was actually just being himself and he was Columbia. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.600 That's it. He was just himself and that was so 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.880 powerful to me. And that's the acting part. And then 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.360 you know, fast forward many many many years later after 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.320 like I go to performing arts high school college, did 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.400 some off Broadway stuff. Uh. When I read James Baldwin 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.880 and Eldridge Cleaver, that was the same thing. I've read 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:05.080 books before, But here were these two people just being 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:10.320 themselves and they were just being completely honest about how 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:12.640 they moved through the world. And I saw more of 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.040 myself in their honesty than someone trying to preach me something. 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:21.960 It's it's funny because acting is Everything you're saying is 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:29.360 like honestly, but isn't acting acting? Wow? Like that isn't 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:33.680 acting a lie? You're living a lie? You're fake? No? Sorry, yeah, 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.479 I mean I didn't. I didn't want to say it 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:37.000 like that, but then you know what I'm trying to get. 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:38.640 It isn't yes, no right because we sort of we're 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.640 making things up. But let's be honest. If you watched 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.520 if you watched an actor who didn't believe it that 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:50.160 you would, it would be trash. Yeah, so you that's 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.520 why you see all these actors go to all these 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.160 extremes to like feel the person. You'll see someone like 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:59.000 lose three pounds and pretty much try Heroin, pretty try 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.320 almost try Heroin. The day I see an actor actually 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:08.000 try Heroin to fit into do you think so? Would 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.080 you do it Heroin? I'm just I'm just asking. I 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.200 want to see how committed to like you. I would 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.240 do a lot of things. I wouldn't do Heroin for 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:19.359 a role. You wouldn't you would draw the line? I 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.720 think I would? You know I'm saving you can hang 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:23.400 out with a heroin addict and kind of get the 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.520 feel right, Yeah, I think I think like enough descriptions 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:30.520 of it, uh would do me, would do me the service. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.600 I don't think now that I asked that question, I 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:38.080 don't think there's heroin Okay. So I used to say 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:40.599 this when I was a kid, Please don't judge me, world. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.640 I used always be like, if I don't accomplish my dreams, 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.880 I just want to be a heroin addict. My philosophy 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.039 And it looks like since I was little, like my 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:56.200 philosophy was like, at least I won't have to live 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.920 the rest of my life knowing I didn't like hit 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.520 the mark, and then I'd be so addicted to heroin 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.640 I wouldn't even care. So it would be a distraction 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.919 from the fact that I didn't, you know, accomplish my 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:12.280 goals or whatever. And I think the only reason why 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.360 I even knew about heroin was because I was from 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:17.320 New York and it's like what we saw all the time, 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.320 you know, I saw a lot of did you see 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:21.600 that too? On the subway? Just a lot of like 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:29.880 yeah you do the yes, yeah. My parents would they'd 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.840 always be like, uh, that's what happens when you started. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.840 My pop. No, but like I didn't get a cigarette, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:37.760 but it was always a big deal that my dad 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.760 would be like, you know that pointed it out. Yes, 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:42.680 they were always pointed this is how you know, like 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.840 either this is how you can lose yourself and be careful. 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.320 That's that person. Or they'd be like, yo, that was 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.680 a doctor and he'd be like that was like he 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:52.440 was a lawyer, he had a family. He'd be like, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.440 oh shore, Like they would tell me. They would literally 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.360 point them out and just tell a story behind them 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.280 where you'd be like, I'm good. Like when people are 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.000 like offering cigarettes in high school, I'm like, I'm good. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:06.800 That's that's the gateway that leads to that. I have weird, 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.520 vivid memories of my pops being like, look at that 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.720 dude's track marks, Like really wanted me to see this stuff. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.680 But that's that's my pops. I mean that I think 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:23.000 explains the acting in me. It explains the writing in me. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:27.120 My dad taught me in New York does this better 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:31.679 than most places in the world how to observe the world. Yeah, 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.439 Like my pops did not let me move through blind. 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.320 It's like I saw everything around me. That was his 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.760 favorite game. You know, we watch people and he'd be like, 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.360 where are they going, where they're coming from? Why do 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.400 they walk that way? Yeah? You know what now that 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.000 you say that, it makes sense because when you're if 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.960 you hang out in New York or you visit New York, 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:53.760 you know, you ride the subway trains. That's the thing 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:55.720 about New York. It's like we kind of see stuff 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:58.480 and we're like it's like we're aware, but we're not 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.720 responding to it. Like you know, we're not even participating. 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:04.800 We're just watching it. And you will be on this 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:10.640 go ahead some Larri's. I know it's controversial. Well, the 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:16.280 way you pour it it should be. Um, yeah, that's 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.240 interesting you say that. I never thought about it. But yeah, 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.439 new York is really observing. It's almost like a pay 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.480 attention observed, but definitely not respond state. I've never seen 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.560 something go down. Huh. They could teach you more than 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.240 a book, you know, if you're if you're just aware 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:34.839 when you're in it. Yeah, So what did your parents say? 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.800 Do you wanted to be an actor? That's the best part, right, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.640 Like that's the biggest blessing I guess is my parents. 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:47.720 My mom's an immigrant, my dad's you know, first generation. Uh. 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.800 They got said no to a lot by their parents. 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.840 And I think one of the things, whether they knew 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.880 it or not, is they decided, like whether it's conscious 0:09:59.920 --> 0:10:03.440 or they decided they were going to let me do 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.200 what I wanted to do as safely as possible. Like 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.000 they tried to say yes to me more than no. Now, 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:13.920 if something stupid, it was definitely a no. But I'm like, 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.080 I want to be an actor and it brings me joy. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.880 And my dad wasn't able to be the musician he 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.079 wanted to be, and then he wasn't able to be 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:27.480 the like the engineer he wanted to be. Uh. They 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.000 wanted to give me any opportunity they could. Wow, So 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:34.640 they say, yeah, that's pretty awesome. So are they really 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:39.360 proud of you? Now? Yeah? Do you think that them 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.640 seeing you reach your goals? Do you think that it 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:48.960 could is me reaching Do you think it can be 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.000 a little bitter sweet for them knowing that they were denied? 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.559 There's have you ever even thought of that? And I 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.920 just literally planning a horrible seat in your brain. I 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:00.640 have never thought of it. But I also know it 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:05.559 it is not the case because I want broke his 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:09.560 hell in college. Feeling really grateful for my parents, and 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.600 I wanted to get them a Christmas gift, but I couldn't, 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.880 so I wrote them a letter. H And in the letter, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.320 I wrote, everything I do I do for you, and 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.920 my dad said, can we curse? And my pop said, 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:29.200 the fund is this? I was like crying while I 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.280 was reading it, and he's like, what the fund is this? 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.040 He said, why are you doing this ship for me? 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.320 You're getting loans, taking out loans student death for me. 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.000 He's like, don't do that for me, do it for you. 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.200 He said, everything we did we did because we wanted 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.719 to do it right. We didn't do it for you. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.120 We wanted to do it not to prove something to someone, 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:53.080 not to get it. We wanted to do this, and 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.920 we're able to give you these you know, these things. Uh. 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.800 And so that's how I know my pops don't have 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.880 sort of like resentment. My parents don't have some sort 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.640 of resentment or anything. I think they just this is 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.280 exactly what they wanted. I love the way they damn 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:11.520 that's almost a tear jokeer like I don't. I don't 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.680 think a lot of parents. I'm gonna steal that line 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.640 for when my daughter girls are because I know for 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.040 days sure, I would definitely say. What most parents say 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:21.440 is like you know how much I did for you? 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.640 Or doing how much we sacrifice you grow I grew up, well, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:26.880 a lot of people grow up that's how their parents talked. 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.040 But I love that your parents were like, we did 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.240 it because we we wanted to do and we did it. 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.760 That's you know, how they were. It's why I can 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:37.960 plagiarize it was so you can plagiarize it said we 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:41.160 didn't do anything we did for you. We did it 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.280 for us and you get to get these things. But 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:48.480 we did it for us, not for you. Dope parents. 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:51.560 I do have dope parents. Were they in New York? 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.480 They're in Miami. Now, you know that's what Latin people do. 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.160 They're still married. They're still married. It'll be forty years 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.520 in a couple of weeks. Wow, how many siblings do 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:06.240 you have? I got a sister in Austin. You do, Butter, Look, 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.360 it's a big trick to the egg. Let me tell 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.440 you something. You don't want to come up in my house, Butter, 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.119 is like the most used thing when you make pancakes, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.040 you make good pancakes. First of all, I murdered pancakes, 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:19.840 but you know I could do. I like them thin, 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.319 like the fluffy like McDonald's kind, but way better than McDonald's. 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:25.559 But I slab it. I do it so good. You 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.160 don't need syrup because my secred thing is just real butter. 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.079 That's real butter too. I learned that from Nile Evans 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:33.520 shout out because he was on our show and I 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.640 was like, what's the difference between real butter and fake butter? 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.920 And then I tried it, and then I said, oh, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.839 that's what That's what they serve at the restaurants. I'll 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.679 be trying to eat that thing whole. It's real butter. 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.320 So now I buy the caseload at Costco. I got 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:50.959 a homie who's trying to get me into it. He 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:58.760 turns his own butter, facts his own butter. Yeah. Never. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:00.760 First of all, I've never heard of like just to 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:02.920 put a homie in someone that turns his own butter 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.600 in the same senses. It's crazy because because he would 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:07.600 never think, like my homie, yeah, you know what he's 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.120 doing at the CREB man, he turned the butter. Right now, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.240 you want some butter and give him so much. He's like, 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:14.880 once you turn your own butter, you never go back. Yeah, 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.280 just like he's got a whole machine. He tried to 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.400 get me get an Amazon. It's not simple. You just 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.800 get like heavy whipping creamer. Oh, don't tell me it's 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.840 a heavy cream in there. Please don't tell me that. No, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:25.160 no, no no, no, no no, I didn't hear it. I 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.160 didn't hear that. I hate heavy cream. I hate heavy cream. 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:29.920 No no, no, no, no no, no, no no no. I 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.960 wish you didn't tell me that. Is that what's really 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.920 in there? Yea, you never made butter as a kid 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.880 in New York. You didn't go visit the Amish and like, no, 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.040 never have you. Yeah, that was in a school trip. No, 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.600 I don't know what amazing school you went to, but 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:48.200 the school I went to. The most you got was 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:50.040 a trip to d C. Well, there you go, don't 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:55.880 Queen's published school, Queen's public school showing up? They are 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.960 so tell me more trip, good amount of great amount 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:02.760 of butter? You did good. I need that pen to 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:04.600 get hot. So where I started to see that the 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.920 butter go a little and then uh, and then and 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.200 then I'll pop him in and you don't touch him. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.520 That's the that's the whole goal of frying and egg 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.680 is not touch it. Too many people touch it. What 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:20.800 are they touching it for? To pop that yolk? I 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:23.560 don't know why. I never touch it. I never touched it. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.200 The only time I may touch it is accidentally if 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.320 I drop a little egg part in it, I'll take 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.320 the eggs shell and like try to scoop it out, 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:36.920 which really happens, guys. Because I'm gonna semi egg professional thing. 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:39.800 I'm not gonna do both eggs at once because I 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.080 talked a lot of game and just in case they 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.600 is kind of weak, I need to step it up 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.360 on the second one. I'm gonna serve you first, make 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:57.720 your plate. Here we go, great sound, You're hilarious. I'm 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.480 gonna judge the crap out of your eggs, and you 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.120 want it the way you're doing it. He's acting like 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.560 he's putting on a whole production over here. So is 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.240 that the reason why you named your podcast brown is brownish? 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:13.240 Brown enough, brown enough, brown enough? Sorry? Uh, we I 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.400 mean we named it that mainly because of the book. 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.600 So the brown enough the book, uh, and then Stitcher 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:20.880 wanted to turn it into a We had done the 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.000 Rubio podcast, which is about the Dominican man James Bom 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.640 was based on, so we did like ten episodes of that, 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.520 and then they wanted to turn the book into a 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.160 podcast as well, where we just kind of put brownness 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:37.040 on blast, like in this white black world, what was 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.200 happening in that middle space and what we're brown people doing, 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.360 and so we've just had really incredible people on there. 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:47.080 Just if anything's in a way, it's an ode to 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:52.960 my building where I grew up, Queens Ah. The impetus 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:54.880 for the book was when Tana Hussey coats you know, 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.080 I asked him, like as a Dominican Colombian brown kid 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.640 from Queens Whearing and the race conversation, he said, not 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.760 in it. And so I thought of my whole neighborhood. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.920 I thought of Queen's I thought of my parents. I 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.640 thought of the countries I you know, I come from 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.480 that are in my blood. I thought of Jackson Heights, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.680 and I thought about being in it. And so we 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.040 sort of built this world of what it means to 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:20.880 be a brown body in this world and to take 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.840 up space. Why do you feel like your culture is 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.199 so important to you? Because even like when you were 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:29.040 talking about John langsam Oh, it was just like it 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.119 seems like that's the one thing even when you were 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.840 a little that kind of stood out was like who 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.919 he who he was kind of like by who he represented, 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:42.760 you know, which he represented Colombian. I think it's yeah, 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.359 the Colombia, I mean, thing really did matter, but it's 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.760 it's more of the word representation that that has mattered 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:54.080 to me in my work. Like that was I saw 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.760 John Leguizamo as a kid, and it gave me enough 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:03.199 armor encouraged to say, my dreams can come true. Like 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:06.119 one moment gave me that White people get that seventy 0:18:06.119 --> 0:18:09.320 times a week. They in every plaything, in every movie 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.280 there and every billboard. You know, they're in every TV show. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.480 And I was always looking for myself, whether I knew 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.520 it or not, I was always looking for that armor 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:22.199 and that courage. And and so when I saw it 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.480 look like the life, it gave me the courage. It 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:27.640 gave me to like keep going even as like bad 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.800 breaks happened, and I lived in my car for a 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.080 year and my broth days making ricing beans. You know 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:36.439 my salad days like uh, and so that John moment, 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.280 it's one piece of armor, and so I wanted to 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.280 create more armor for more young kids. I wanted them 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:49.360 to have armor too. Wow. I didn't think representation mattered 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:56.840 until and I called I consider myself like educationally ignorant. 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:58.720 I don't know, I just made that up just now, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.600 but like I try to introduce myself to people, like, look, 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:05.080 I'm a college dropout. Like, don't don't give me you know, 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.440 but I like to read. But um. I didn't think 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:13.160 representation mattered until Barack Obama came in office. And even 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.560 then I fought it and I was like, it doesn't matter, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.639 it doesn't matter. But the older I get, I'm like, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.560 oh my gosh, representation matters. This is the best. Just 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.159 slides right. You didn't even try to double it. No, 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:32.720 you don't need it. Look that I need to flip. 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.920 I need it flipped. I'm sorry, I need it flipped. Really, yes, 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:41.200 look at that that's cood. Let me see you need 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:46.400 a flip. I need a flip. Flip it looks good, 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:49.359 but yeah, I need a flip. I would feel much better. 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:52.600 You did a good flip. Yes, were you did you 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.240 feel like like I just ruined your perfect egg because 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:58.240 I want to flip It's not it's not ruined. You know, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:02.760 we all make we all mad, you mess up your 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:04.960 own eggs. No, I'm just really weird about it and 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.120 told you I get that. How much flip you need? 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.920 You good? I'm good. I'm good, even though barely put 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:11.399 it on the fire with it. It's okay as long 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:15.359 as I don't see it's fine. That looks very beautiful. 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.639 And then you get all that juice, the butter juice. 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.560 So I didn't even think of that, your hot saucepers 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:28.359 quick answer. I'm a jewmaking even though I look Mexican, Cuban, Dominican, 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:35.080 Puerto Rican, Hispanic. What other Latino race can you? Yeah? 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.480 You know what. That's the thing about being mixed. Everyone 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.399 thinks for everything exactly. And that's why that's why I 0:20:40.480 --> 0:20:42.000 use the word brown, you know. And that's why I 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:47.440 wrote this book and make this work. And because there 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:50.200 isn't a single box that can contain the twenty four 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:53.120 different countries that represent nothing need odd, and there isn't 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:55.440 a single box that can represent you know, the jewmaking 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:58.959 like in you we are not containable in a box, 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.280 and yet brown felt like such a There's so many 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.800 of us are brown. I think there's more brownness in 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.840 the world than anything else. Yeah, I have a and 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:12.720 you gotta get into you. I have another ignorant question, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:19.400 hit me. What's the difference between culturally? Since you grew 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:22.280 up in a household with your mom and your dad, 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:27.760 what's the cultural difference between Puerto Rican and Dominican cultural 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:30.600 menia your parents? Your mom is Puerto Rican, right, my 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:35.399 mom's Colombian Dominicans. What's the different cultural difference between a 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:40.720 Colombian and a Dominican? Ah? What is that one thing 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:46.080 that they just in the house, like you know that 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:51.040 that Colombian anyan boy? I like Colombian food more than 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:58.240 I like Dominican food. I like Cuban food the best. Oh, 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.679 I love Mexican food. I've this hard, but we'll just 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.080 stick to call me in Dominican like Colombian. But what's 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:07.119 the difference between the two, Like growing up with your parents, 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:09.880 is there a difference between the two that like they 0:22:09.880 --> 0:22:12.240 can legit like throw shade at each other. I think 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.760 there's a there's a very unique difference in the men right, Uh, 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:18.840 that's what's kind of beautiful. I have a Columbian mom. 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.560 They're the sweetest moms in the world. They're the sweetest 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.480 moms in the world. And then I have a Dominican father, 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.080 and Dominicans this whole dig at osmo and dig it 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:32.360 and maybe you heard of it. Ah, the Dominican man 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:38.680 can be very stereotyped, is very much small like playboy. Um, 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:41.560 I'm gonna tell you right now, Dominicans. I was driving 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:46.080 in probably Queens. I was like seventeen or eighteen, and 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.560 it was this fun. I mean, to this day, I 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.400 don't know if I've ever seen him do so fun. 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:55.440