1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: Hey, let you know, USA listener, here's a podcast from 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:04,200 Speaker 1: our archives. 3 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 2: And so I have three audiobooks under my belt and 4 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 2: I didn't even know that was a possibility. And so 5 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 2: they were like, oh, yeah, we're going to start auditioning 6 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 2: people for with the poetics. 7 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 3: And I'm like, wait, audition like for what? Like I'm 8 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:17,640 Speaker 3: right here. 9 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: From Futura Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria 10 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: no Hoosak Today. A portrait of Elizabeth Acevedo, a star 11 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: in young adult literature. Elizabeth Acevedo is a poet and 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: award winning author who's the daughter of Dominican immigrants. Her 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 1: love of language and storytelling started in her parents' home 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 1: in New York City, where she would hear them telling 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: stories about her family's experience in the Dominican Republic, and 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: as she got older, Elizabeth I. Savo was inspired to 17 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,399 Speaker 1: share her own experiences. Her debut young adult novel, The 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: Poet X, reveals the struggles of a Dominican teenager, Siomara, 19 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: who's growing up in Harlem, New York City and feels 20 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: constrained by her religious mother. In it, Siomara uses slam 21 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 1: poetry to find her voice. The story resonated with young 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: women around the country. But before Elizabeth Assevelo became a novelist, 23 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: she performed slam poetry. Much like her character. 24 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 3: Siomara, My mother tells me to fix mynd. 25 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 4: And by fix she means straightened, she means white end fix. 26 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: Elizabeth's vibrant performances often highlighted the complexities of Afro Latinidad 27 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: and gained her the title of National Poetry Slam Champion. 28 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, Elizabeth released her second novel, with The 29 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: Fire on High, about a young Afro Latina who dreams 30 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: of becoming a chef. Elizabeth Asavillel joins me in the 31 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: studio to talk about her childhood, how storytelling became an 32 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: important part of her life, and her latest work. Elizabeth Asaviel, 33 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me on Latino USA. 34 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me Maria. 35 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: You have made your life into a life of words, 36 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: both in poetry and in novel form. And you like 37 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:27,919 Speaker 1: to say that you come from a family of storytellers. 38 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: So what were the stories that you were hearing as 39 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: a child, and were they all talked stories that you 40 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: were hearing or were some of those actually read to you. 41 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 2: Literature was big in my family. My father bought two 42 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 2: newspapers every single day. My mother is always reading about 43 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,200 Speaker 2: like homeopathic remedies and the Bible, which was really big 44 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 2: in my household. 45 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,399 Speaker 3: But most of the stories I heard they were oral. 46 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 2: My father doesn't talk a lot about his family or 47 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,639 Speaker 2: his past, but he always has a barbershop joke he 48 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 2: wants to share that he always gets the timing perfectly 49 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 2: for My grandfather had a third grade education. He used 50 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 2: to drive oxen in the Dominican Republic, so very much 51 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 2: you know of the land of Compasino, but he knew 52 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 2: these long riddles twenty thirty minutes long, right, and he 53 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 2: would just recite them off the top of his head 54 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 2: without missing a beat. But it was really my mother 55 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 2: who was the one who told stories. I didn't grow 56 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 2: up with a lot of Disney We had two Disney 57 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 2: movies in the house. I didn't grow up watching a 58 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 2: lot of what we consider fairy tales in this country. 59 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,280 Speaker 2: But my mother loved talking about where she was from, 60 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 2: and so I learned those stories about when she wrote 61 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 2: a jagua that she wasn't supposed to ride and fell 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 2: off and the jaguar ran off, and she knew that 63 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 2: she was gonna get in trouble with her father. 64 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: First, we need to say, because I know what a 65 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: yigway is, there may be a lot of people don't 66 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:50,200 Speaker 1: know what a yegway is. So what is a yegwe? 67 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, a mayor. 68 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 2: My grandfather had one single horse that my mother decided 69 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 2: to ride one day, and it was a mess because she. 70 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 3: Did not know how to ride it well, and it 71 00:03:58,680 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 3: got spooked and she. 72 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 2: Fell off, and the jaguar left with what she was 73 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 2: supposed to have picked up at the little Gormdo, and 74 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 2: so she didn't take dinner. She lost the horse, and 75 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 2: she fell and hurt herself. So it was a hot mess. 76 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,440 Speaker 2: But it was these stories of a place I had 77 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 2: never seen that my mother painted vividly and painted her adventures, 78 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 2: and I think she took a lot from reciting those memories. 79 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 2: But I don't know that she knew how much she 80 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,800 Speaker 2: instilled in me this love of stories. 81 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: But what were you thinking in terms of when you're 82 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,560 Speaker 1: leaving high school and going to college. Were you already like, 83 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 1: I'm a writer, I'm a poet, or were you still 84 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: trying to find out what you were going to do? 85 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:41,599 Speaker 2: I knew that I wanted to perform poetry, which even 86 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 2: at that stage in my life, I wasn't sure if 87 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:45,880 Speaker 2: I was calling myself a poet, if it still felt 88 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 2: like poetry was felt different than what I was making, 89 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 2: that I still wanted my work to be heard. I 90 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:54,360 Speaker 2: still felt like I needed to be in the room 91 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 2: to translate what I wrote, to have people see my 92 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 2: body as I'm infested the language. So thankfully I sold 93 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 2: my first novel a year later, but I had been 94 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 2: touring that entire year after graduating. I was on the 95 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 2: road doing one hundred shows a year at colleges with 96 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 2: my poems. I would get on stage and do an 97 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 2: hour of poems every single night for I mean over 98 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 2: one third of the year I was on the road. 99 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: But what was the part about being on the road 100 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: and performing and doing your poetry live. What was that 101 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,719 Speaker 1: infusing into you from you know, when you were like writing, writing, writing, 102 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: and now you're on stage doing your work. 103 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 3: I think I love the human connection, the moment where 104 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 3: you see someone nodding or someone crying or someone laugh right, 105 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 3: and just that connection of Although I may have been 106 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,160 Speaker 3: alone when I wrote this, and may have been feeling 107 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,960 Speaker 3: alone in the actual sentiment of the poem, like it 108 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 3: is this moment of humanity that is the point, right, 109 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:06,480 Speaker 3: It's the acknowledgment of the wound needs a witness, and 110 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 3: like I see yours, but also I expose myself so 111 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 3: that you can see mine. 112 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 4: Afro latina kamina conmigo, sols a swagger anywhere, shigo comobo 113 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:23,799 Speaker 4: a sow god dance to the rhythm beat the drums 114 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 4: of my skin. 115 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,719 Speaker 2: And I think I loved very early on. You know, 116 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 2: I grew up with a lot of shame, as I 117 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:33,040 Speaker 2: think a lot of young women do, and particularly if 118 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 2: you're raised within certain religious identities that have a sense 119 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 2: of anything you do that is about pleasure about your 120 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 2: body is wrong and you are bad and you are evil. 121 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 2: For that had so much shame. And to stand in 122 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 2: front of audiences and stare that shame in the face 123 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 2: and tell people look at me. 124 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 4: Afro descending the rhythms within the first language I spoke. 125 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 3: With Spanish, learn from love whispered in my ear. My parents' tongue. 126 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:05,440 Speaker 4: Was a gift which I quickly forgot after realizing my 127 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 4: peers did not understand it. They did not understand me, 128 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 4: so I rejected acheline mangu much preferring happy meals and 129 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 4: big Max straightening my hair and imitation of Barbie. I 130 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 4: was embarrassed by my grandmother's colorful skirts and my mother's 131 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 4: he brochie ingli which cracked my pride. 132 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 3: When she spoke. 133 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino, USA, with the Fire on High, 134 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: we talked more about Elizabeth A. Savedo's new novels that's 135 00:07:31,120 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: coming up. Stay with us. Hey, we're back and we're 136 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: going to continue our conversation now with author and poet 137 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Acevedo. So, your newest novel is out now. It's 138 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: called With the Fire on High. It's got a beautiful 139 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 1: cover of an Afro latina and lots of fruit all 140 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: around her hair with big hoops. But what's the story about? 141 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 3: This was a fun project for me. 142 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 2: I am really interested in magical realism and how do 143 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 2: we bring magic into fiction. And when I was teaching, 144 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 2: I had several students who were teen mothers, and in 145 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 2: literature for young people, you find that there are stories 146 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 2: about whether or not young people will have a baby, 147 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 2: right like there'll be those stories of will she or 148 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 2: won't she get an abortion? 149 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 3: What kind of decision is she going to make, But. 150 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 2: Very rarely do you find stories that are interested in 151 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 2: what happens after that kind of decision and what happens 152 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 2: to parents who are young. And so for me, I 153 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 2: was fascinated by not writing a tragedy when it came 154 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 2: to a young mother, when it came to a teen mom. 155 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,959 Speaker 3: How do I give a character hope and love. 156 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 2: And a community that is holding her up and that 157 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 2: the one thing she is trying to conquer is her 158 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 2: own fear that she is not allowed to follow her 159 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 2: dreams because of a choice that she made when she 160 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 2: was fourteen. 161 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 3: And so it's the store of in. 162 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 2: Monte Santiago, who is an Afro Puerto Rican senior in 163 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 2: high school. She lives in Philadelphia, and she wants to 164 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 2: be a chef, and that's her connection to her to 165 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 2: her lineage, that's her connection to her mother's side, who 166 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 2: is Black American from North Carolina, on her father's side, 167 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 2: who is Afro Puerto Rican, and her food has magic. 168 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 2: And so I love pitching the story. I was water 169 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 2: for chocolate, but in the hood, right, you eat something 170 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 2: that she makes and it it brings up all these 171 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 2: feelings and all these memories, and you have a sense 172 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 2: of who she is when she is making that she's 173 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,880 Speaker 2: telling you a story through her food. But because of 174 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 2: the circumstances that she comes from, she doesn't think she's 175 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 2: allowed to follow this incredible talent and this gift, honestly. 176 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 2: And so I just had a lot of fun playing 177 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 2: around with the different constraints of what has been done 178 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 2: within magical realism, within teen mother stories, within hood stories, 179 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 2: and just kind of throw it all in the air 180 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 2: and say no, there's triumph fear. 181 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: So there's a beautiful passage in the book. It's called Catharsis, 182 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if you could set us up and 183 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: then read that little segment. 184 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 3: Sure. 185 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,439 Speaker 2: So Emani often cooks when she is upset, and this 186 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 2: is a way for her to get things out. And 187 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 2: so this is just a quick passage where Amani has 188 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 2: had something happen in school that she is trying to 189 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 2: come to terms with but doesn't really know how to process, 190 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 2: and so she turns to cooking a way to kind 191 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 2: of put her feeling somewhere, to make something beautiful out 192 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 2: of what doesn't feel like there's a formula for or 193 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:10,440 Speaker 2: an easy recipe within her life. 194 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,960 Speaker 3: And so this is Cartharsis. Weela comes into the kitchen 195 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 3: and turns on the radio. 196 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 2: The sound of Mark Anthony wailing alongside an orchestra fills 197 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 2: the kitchen. 198 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 3: That jos up. 199 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 2: I would wrap my soul in a bowl and sell 200 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:31,959 Speaker 2: it with the quickness to be able to cook for 201 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 2: Mark Anthony. 202 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 3: That man can sing. Weela pulls out the herbs as she. 203 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,199 Speaker 2: Gets directly from El Campo Puerto Rico and sets them 204 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,479 Speaker 2: on the counter, the sweet smelling yet babuena the Caribbean oregano. 205 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 2: She hands me the knives before I ask for them, 206 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 2: cleans the cutting board before I realize I need it rinsed. 207 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 3: Some days when my feelings are like this, like a full. 208 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 2: Pot of water with the fire on high, I don't 209 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 2: know what to cook. Plans and ideas escape my mind, 210 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 2: and instead I let my heart and hands take control, 211 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 2: guided by a voice on the inside that tells me 212 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 2: what goes where. 213 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: There's something in your work that really communicates to women, 214 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: to latinas, to Afro latinas, this profound sense of self love. 215 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 3: I appreciate that. I hope that comes through. 216 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 2: I don't know that there are enough stories that deal 217 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 2: with characters like the ones. I'm writing with Afro Latinas, 218 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 2: with black characters, with queer characters, with latinas that are 219 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 2: writing tenderly towards us, or with generosity, or with a 220 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:49,280 Speaker 2: deep sense of like I love you, like if you're 221 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 2: reading this, like I love you, and I hope you 222 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 2: feel that love on this page, even with the characters 223 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 2: that are quote unquote antagonists. Like I love the mother 224 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 2: character and the poetics, and I tried to make her 225 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 2: as empathetic as I could, and she is a hard character, 226 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 2: but there's so much fear there. And I look at 227 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,719 Speaker 2: that character and I know her. I know a mother 228 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:12,760 Speaker 2: who is afraid of the country she has moved to 229 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 2: and does not want to lose her daughter to what 230 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,319 Speaker 2: she sees as all of the things that could lead 231 00:13:18,360 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 2: her astray, And like, how could you not feel for that? 232 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 2: And so I hope that there's a message of self 233 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 2: love and also like that you are loved in these pages. 234 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,240 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Assabdo, thank you so much for joining me on 235 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: Let the USA. It's been a great pleasure speaking with you, so. 236 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 3: Great talking with you, Madia, Thanks for having me. 237 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Asavedo is a Dominican American Award winning author and 238 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: New York Times bestseller. Her latest novel is With the 239 00:13:51,600 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: Fire On High. This episode was produced by Caroline Aguire 240 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,280 Speaker 1: and edited by Fernando ca Marena. It was mixed by 241 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: Stephanie Lebau. The Latino USA team includes Andre Lopez Cruzalo 242 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: Marta Martinez, Daisy Contredras, Mike Sargent, Julieta Martinelli, Victoria Strada, 243 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:26,960 Speaker 1: Patrice Sulvaran, Gini Montalgo and Hendra Salasad Rinaldo, Leanos Junior 244 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: and Julia Rocha, with help from Raul Perez. Our editorial 245 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: director is Julio Ricardo Barella. Our senior engineer is Julia Caruso. 246 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: Our associate engineers are gabriel A Baez and j j Carubin. 247 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: Our marketing manager is Ris Luna. Our fellows are Elisa Reena, 248 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: Monica Moreles Garcia and Andrew Vignalis. Our theme music was 249 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: composed by Sane Ruinas. I'm your host and executive producer 250 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: Marie Josa. Join us again on our next episode and 251 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: in the meantime, look for us on all of your 252 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: social media. Remember not deva yes, and we'll see you 253 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: on our next episode. Bye. 254 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 5: Latino USA is made possible in part by the Annie E. 255 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 5: Casey Foundation. Creates a brighter future for the nation's children 256 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 5: by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity, and transforming communities. 257 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 5: Funding for Latino USA's coverage of a Culture of Health 258 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 5: is made possible in part by a grant from the 259 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 5: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and New York Women's Foundation. The 260 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 5: New York Women's Foundation funding women leaders that build solutions 261 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 5: in their communities, and celebrating thirty years of radical generosity. 262 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: Do you prefer Elizabeth or Liz? 263 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 3: We're friends now. You can call me Liz.