1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,119 Speaker 1: It's attention, you know, it's attention of kind of being 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:05,000 Speaker 1: a native son. 3 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 2: And coming back and feeling like a stranger. 4 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 1: But yet feeling like this is still your you know, 5 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: your BODYO, this is still your neighborhood. 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 3: From Futuro Media. It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa for 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 3: today's episode. I'm going to hand it to our producer 8 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,240 Speaker 3: Antonia Srijuido, who's going to take it from here. 9 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 4: In the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties, New 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 4: York City was undergoing a moment of intense change. It 11 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 4: was the golden age of hip hop the world, but 12 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 4: it was also a time in which communities of black 13 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 4: and brown New York we're seeing the effects of both 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 4: the crack epidemic and the decades long war on drugs. 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 4: Steve Young reports on a new kind of cocaine called crack. 16 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 2: Last year, we had over two thousand homicides here in 17 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 2: New York City. That's an average of five or six homicides. Okay. 18 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 4: This is the East Harlem that Willie Ploma tries to 19 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 4: wrangle with in his newest book of poetry, The Crazy Bunch. 20 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 4: Since the nineteen nineties, Willy has been known as a poet, performer, 21 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 4: and writer with a special interest in the sounds and 22 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 4: sights of the city he grew up in. 23 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:31,919 Speaker 1: And it's going to be like two church boys talking 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: loud on the train, praising the Lord in a spanglish 25 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: hip hop speak better guess on. 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,559 Speaker 4: That's Willy on Deaf Poetry Jam back in two thousand 27 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 4: and one. His most recent book focuses on a weekend 28 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 4: in the lives of a group of young men growing 29 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 4: up in Harlem, some of them based on characters from 30 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,280 Speaker 4: Willy's own adolescence. 31 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: Basically, this is all my neighborhood, but most of really, 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: most of the book takes place in you know what 33 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: do we are? One twenty He Yeah, we're right around 34 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: you know where everything happens, basically where I grew up. 35 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 4: Along with producer say Ohka Vidough, WILLI and I decided 36 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 4: to take a walk through his old neighborhood to hear 37 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 4: some of his work from his newest book and reflect 38 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 4: on his teenage years growing up in Harlem, even the 39 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 4: not so memorable spots. Does this block have a particular significance? 40 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 2: Rightly? Not really? 41 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: I mean all these neighborhoods look different to me. Like 42 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: this building right here is just you know, I would 43 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: have never imagined the building like that would just go up, 44 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: and this thing look like right now, it looks like 45 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 1: a stencil. 46 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 4: Since the nineties, many people have left the neighborhood because 47 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 4: of rapidly rising rents. Willie himself moved out to New 48 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 4: Hampshire in twenty thirteen, and over the last several years, 49 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 4: East Harlem has seen, like many parts of New York, 50 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 4: an influx of developers, as evidenced by the shining new 51 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 4: condo we're standing in front of. 52 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 2: It's way out of place. 53 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: It seems like a h an enamely almost, you know, 54 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: but it seems like it's trying too hard too, you know. 55 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,639 Speaker 2: So so we're going this way. 56 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: So this is where I grew up on fifteen East 57 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: one twenty second Street. 58 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 2: The whole world really existed on this street. This is 59 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 2: where I learned how to play cars. This is where 60 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 2: I saw my first gun. 61 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: This was everything. This is where I started thinking about 62 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: becoming a poet. And this is where I wrote some 63 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 1: of where Nickel krossa dime on my good old fashioned 64 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 1: Olympia electric typewriter that I was my only Christmas gift 65 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: for nineteen eighty five, and you can hear me here 66 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: like two or three o'clock in the morning. 67 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 2: All you here like I thing like like that. That's 68 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:37,840 Speaker 2: all you hear. That's all you hear. You know. 69 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: So in the back we played stickball, and then this 70 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: building came up and it had a nice basketball court. 71 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: They called this nineteen ninety. Now they call it the Smiley. 72 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: I think they call it like it has a whole new, fancy, 73 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: gentrified name now, the Smiley. 74 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 75 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: So now eventually, what happens in the young brother's life, 76 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: really you grew up here, if. 77 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 2: You know, if that's your trajectory. We're not gonna say 78 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 2: for all young brothers, is that. 79 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: Basically you make your way from the stoop and you 80 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: make your way to the corner, and in the corner 81 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: is where you start letting all your lessons you know 82 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: about man, I'm not sure if it's the same now, 83 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:17,720 Speaker 1: but it was like that back then. 84 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 2: You know, we can go left here and. 85 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 4: Then come back up and this is the corner. 86 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 2: No, I'll tell you the corner. Well, we're about to 87 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 2: walk up in the corner. This is one of the 88 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 2: hottest corners. 89 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: In fact, you know that lou Reid's song where he says, 90 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: when he's going looking for the man, this is where 91 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: he ends up one hund twenty thirty lectus in around there, 92 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: looking for his man, for his. 93 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 2: Connect, waiting for my man. So this is where everything 94 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 2: was everything. 95 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: There was a Cuban man named Julio who had a 96 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: video game shop in this little store coming up here. 97 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: But you know this would be filled with people who 98 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: just lived in the neighborhood and kids and all that. 99 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 2: You know, there was there was commerce, there was traffic, 100 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 2: there was. 101 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:07,919 Speaker 1: Music, there were babies being born, and it seemed like 102 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: such an electric place, so electric that I could see 103 00:05:10,320 --> 00:05:12,720 Speaker 1: it coming out of the train station on the summer night. 104 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 2: I could see this block shimmering. Basically, That's what the 105 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 2: way it felt like. But maybe because I was so excited. 106 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: To come back. You know why is that? Well, because 107 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 1: the closest thing you knew to family what's here. 108 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 4: The Crazy Bunch is the story of one tragic and 109 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 4: life changing summer weekend, told through the eyes of a 110 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 4: crew of friends, and it's modeled off of the memories 111 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 4: and stories Will he grew up with. His work is 112 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 4: reflective of Harlem culture and the figures and places that 113 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 4: made it what it is, an attempt in some ways 114 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 4: to preserve a place and time that no longer exists. 115 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,279 Speaker 4: I read that you said that even though the buildings 116 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 4: are the same when you come here, the faces are 117 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 4: completely different. 118 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 2: Completely. 119 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's something ghostly to that, right, Like 120 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: you're used to seeing certain folks on certain corners, or 121 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: sitting on a stoop, or being in front of a 122 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 1: store in the store, walking down the avenue, and those 123 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: kind of moments now are few and far between. But 124 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: it's attention, you know, it's attention of kind of being 125 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: a native son and coming back and feeling like a stranger, 126 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: but yet feeling like this is still your you know, 127 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,279 Speaker 1: your body, or this is still your your neighborhood, this 128 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: is still your your blocking and if someone were to 129 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,400 Speaker 1: doubt that you would have enough stories to tell me. 130 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 4: Actually, can we read the first poem? 131 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:49,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, so this is the It's called in the Face 132 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: of What You Remember, And the title is taken from 133 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: a Lanxon Hughe poem And the first stanza in the 134 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,479 Speaker 1: poem was the first that came to me when the 135 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: books started. You remember that was a summer of up 136 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: Rock quarter water speed, notch pillow bags two for five 137 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: Jesus pieces in bamboo. The Willie Bobo was turned up 138 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:12,800 Speaker 1: to ten, and some would have said that the science 139 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: was dropped on our summer. The summer that was lit 140 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: with whispers of wild style rock steady battles and white 141 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: party plates made all kinds of moons on the playground foam. 142 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 2: The sum of the burner was used to eat and mandate. 143 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: Inspired Sunday sermons became a literary influence with humming climaxes. 144 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 2: A bribeable tale a dove tied to a. 145 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: String, and squashing beef wasn't an option to some of 146 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: fresh shrills in a future somerssaulting off a monkey bar 147 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: a future placing bets that all us old heads desperate 148 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: to find a new cool could not flip pure. That 149 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: was the summer that our grills dropped to below freezing. 150 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: Back then, baloyejo was thermal and therapy bones were smoked 151 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: in the cut, and you had to expect jungle gym 152 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: giggle to be accompanied by a puck shot. That was 153 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,160 Speaker 1: the summer Charlie Chase hijacked Mega Watch from Rose his 154 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: kitchenette found gems in a milk crate spent as one 155 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: in twos below rims that still vibrated with. 156 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 2: Undocumented double dunks. 157 00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: The same summer we became pundits and philosophers, poets and 158 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: pushers that we all tried to fly. 159 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 2: But only one of us succeeded to some of that. 160 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: Babu turned up to extra status, the only one in 161 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: the crew who had reduced fames window by fifth. 162 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 2: When the camera panned. 163 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: His kazal laced up rock in the rocky scene of 164 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,800 Speaker 1: Beech Street, one could say we gave the black gasp 165 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:34,599 Speaker 1: and gossip body and bag of folk tale worth its morphology. 166 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: That was the season we had reason to rock. Capes 167 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: and wings, chains and rings. Some of us flew higher 168 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: than most, and tricks will hardly ever pull from a hat. 169 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: All that and a bag of barbecue bontons was enough 170 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: for at least one of us to say, I'm straight. 171 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 4: Did you always know that you were gonna to be 172 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 4: the storyteller of your group of friends? Uh? 173 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: No, I think that happened as a result of first listening, 174 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: you know, and it's just kind of being an observer 175 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: and then trying to relay what I had just seen 176 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: to on paper. 177 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,559 Speaker 2: You know, I think the. 178 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: The storytelling really came from my mother and just kind 179 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: of in the living room, and she loved telling stories 180 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: about things she saw seeing on TV, the old. 181 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:25,319 Speaker 2: Days at the palladium, hanging out to the break of 182 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,439 Speaker 2: dawn and then even after. So she was always full 183 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:29,880 Speaker 2: of stories. 184 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: But I think, you know, I grew up around some 185 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: really great storytellers, I think, and the storytelling process was 186 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: a part of their bodies, you know. 187 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 2: So people were always talking. 188 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: That's why I like to walk and talk, you know, 189 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: and so that that was part of it. 190 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 2: I think storytelling kind of also gave me. 191 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: A way to access my imagination and a place was 192 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,280 Speaker 1: that was sometimes a little bit too real, you know, 193 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: in a way that I could not process well. 194 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 4: One thing's interesting about this poem is is I get 195 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,520 Speaker 4: the sentence that sort of the different pece ball in 196 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 4: your in your crew kind of like played roles. And 197 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 4: I'm wondering, like, even when this happened to the setting 198 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 4: of of I mean, what year would you say this book? 199 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 2: This book? It would be like in the nineties for sure. 200 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: And something that really needs to be emphasized is that 201 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: the book is kind of a work of fiction. 202 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 2: For anything else, you know. 203 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: And while it's based on some images and uh and 204 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: and the language and the vernacular of its time, you 205 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,920 Speaker 1: know that that should. 206 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 2: Be emphasized, I think. But the idea. 207 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: Of living in a tribe, and then this particular instance, 208 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: the tribe was for the most part, a male tribe. 209 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: And so what I started noticing is that everyone had 210 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 1: a strength. There was kids could run fast, there were 211 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: kids who were like Romeos, Romeos to the max. There 212 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:58,199 Speaker 1: were kids who could fight. And it's weird to find 213 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: yourself in that kind of dying amate and not have 214 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: a single strength that you can point to, you know, 215 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: except that you were like a bookish kid, right so 216 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:08,559 Speaker 1: that you were, by the fault, considered the smart kid. 217 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 2: You know. 218 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 1: Well, that's definitely a strength, I think so, but it 219 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: wasn't considered one in that domain, you know. So when 220 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: I became a poet, the beautiful thing about becoming a 221 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: poet is that I wasn't shamed as a result of 222 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 1: being a poet, you know, And so everyone that I 223 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,200 Speaker 1: was hanging out with at the time really celebrated the 224 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:30,719 Speaker 1: fact that I was a poet. 225 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 2: You know. 226 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: That's the kind of role that started to develop and 227 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: you know, and also being in that space where you're 228 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 1: seeing things that someone else. 229 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 2: Might not be seen. 230 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 4: Right when you ask that question, do you have an 231 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 4: example that comes to your mind. 232 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:48,480 Speaker 1: So there's one time and the image comes up and 233 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: I was standing on a corner and this man walks 234 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: into the bowl that gat with a with a cactus 235 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: on his head, you know, and I'm standing on the corner. 236 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,240 Speaker 1: I look and we just kind of scurries right into it, 237 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,079 Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is kind of an odd image. 238 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 4: Willie's poetry is thick with vivid imagery and confronts some 239 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 4: of the harder aspects of growing up in East Harlem 240 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 4: in the early nineteen nineties, including the violence he witnessed 241 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,200 Speaker 4: growing up. In a poem from his book called How 242 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 4: It Went Down, Willy alludes to a shooting from his 243 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:24,600 Speaker 4: teenage years. 244 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:26,319 Speaker 2: This is how it went down. 245 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:30,839 Speaker 1: A man walks into Kadaffi's with a cactus on his head. 246 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's not. 247 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,400 Speaker 1: We called them Kadaffi, but his name was Domingo. 248 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 2: We called him Kadaffi because he looked like Kadafi. 249 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: The cactus wanted three for ten when you take shorts, 250 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: you can only. 251 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 2: Take as much as been took. 252 00:12:45,559 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: But when you're taken, then you need to start thinking 253 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: about what they call in theirs and what. 254 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 2: You're calling yours. 255 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: The car that suddenly pulls up is more delivery than package, 256 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: more end stopped than ellipsis the dred sit there and 257 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: perched there and chilled there and lamped in and chill 258 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: there and rest there, still there were They don't move 259 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: next to let the dreads know that nothing was happening, 260 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:08,679 Speaker 1: even though he just opened up. 261 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,240 Speaker 2: Pete says, I heard those cactuses never die. 262 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: They say that getting shot is a scene study where 263 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 1: all your reward circuits go blank. You only remember the blast, 264 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: the smoke after the blast, the nano second after the smoke, 265 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: and then you remember the cactus, untouched, sitting on the stoop, 266 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: still there. 267 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 4: This is a book that deals with death and with trauma. 268 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 4: Why write about these particular instances of violence and trauma? 269 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, because there were a signature I think in my 270 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: own coming of age. I think I've always wondered what 271 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:58,000 Speaker 1: the effect of seeing that kind of violence had on 272 00:13:58,120 --> 00:13:58,840 Speaker 1: my generation. 273 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 2: Now that we all turn fifty, you know, and how 274 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 2: is that showing up and our approach to living. 275 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: You know, there are a generation of black and Puerto 276 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,439 Speaker 1: Rican men who are the age of fifty and over 277 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: who are probably suffering from some sort of post trauma 278 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: based on all the ravages of the drug war. 279 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 4: You know, when you say post trauma, stress or how 280 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 4: did that manifest for. 281 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 1: You, I think some of it was that, you know, 282 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: it manifested as a part of my silences. I think 283 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: it manifested and my need to dream a little bit more, 284 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: my need to escape a little bit more. It manifested 285 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: clearly as a younger person. There's a level of self 286 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,560 Speaker 1: destructive behavior that's not the most healthiest. It could be 287 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: anything from eating a big mac to drinking too much run. 288 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 2: It shows up in your body. 289 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: It shows up in your sugar, It shows up in 290 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: your cholesterol. It shows up in the way you perceive things. 291 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: It shows up in the way you have arguments with folks. 292 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: It shows up on the way you might get angry 293 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: for no reason. So I think the manifestation is a 294 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: multitude of the way you know and how it shows up. 295 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: And sometimes if you're lucky, you can kind of use 296 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: your art to think about it. So the conflicts that 297 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: maybe you could not play out in your existent life 298 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: are conflicts that you might be able to play in. 299 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 2: Your creative. 300 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,360 Speaker 4: Willie continues to write about Harlem and visits when he can. 301 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 4: He's the recipient of a pen me on the Margins 302 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 4: Award and the author of several books of poetry, including 303 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 4: his most recent, The Crazy Bunch. 304 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 3: This episode originally aired in July of twenty nineteen. It 305 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 3: was produced by Seer Quevedo and edited by Sophia Palisaka. 306 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 3: The Latino USA team includes Niel Masis, Luis Trees, Antonia Serejuidro, 307 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 3: Gianne Jamoca, Gini Montalbo, Alisa Scarce, and Alejandra Seleasa, with 308 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 3: help from Raul Prees. Our engineers are Stephanie Lobo and 309 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 3: Julia Caruso. Additional engineering this week by Lea Shaw. Our 310 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 3: director of Programming and Operations is Natalia Fidelhotz. Our digital 311 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 3: editor is Amandel Cantra. Our New York Women's Foundation Nick 312 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 3: night Fellow is Julia Rocha. Our theme music was composed 313 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,120 Speaker 3: by Zeia Rubinos. If you like the music you heard 314 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 3: on this episode, stop by Latinousa dot org and check 315 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:59,240 Speaker 3: out our weekly Spotify playlist. I'm your host and executive 316 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 3: producer Maria. Join us again on our next episode, and 317 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 3: in the meantime find us on all of your social media. 318 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:06,439 Speaker 3: Stay safe. 319 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 5: Shoe Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment, 320 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:18,240 Speaker 5: building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians, 321 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 5: the wind Coat Foundation, and the Heising Simons Foundation Unlocking knowledge, opportunity, 322 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 5: and possibilities. More at hsfoundation dot org. 323 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 4: Hello Darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk to you. 324 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: Logon b