This week we decided to keep it chill. Jesus and Sammy killed a six pack of beer on a lovely afternoon while talking about drinking too much alcohol, working out, work-life balance, our favorite tv shows of the moment, the African-American renaissance in film & TV - and what kind of content we want to make next year for Desmadre.
#008: drinking beers with Chicana punk rockers FEA
FEA is a Chican@ punk band from San Antonio founded by Phanie Diaz (Drums) & Jen Alva (Bass) - from Girl In A Coma fame. Together with Lety Martinez (Vocals) and Aaron Magaña (Guitar), FEA is currently on tour promoting their debut self titled LP that is produced by Laura Jane Grace (Against Me), Lori Barber (Babes in Toyland) and Alice Bags (The Bags) - iconic women in punk. Mixing humor with abandon, and English with Spanish, FEA empowers listeners and inspires dissidence by exploring societal, cultural and gender related issues. The quartet stopped by Desmadre HQ a day before their San Jose show to have a couple of beers and shoot the breeze with Jesus.
FEA's tour is still going, with multiple stops on the west coast and Texas still to come through the end of the year. Check out their schedule and download their music at: http://fea210.com
#007: Chicana feminist CHERRÍE MORAGA on becoming an artist-activist and her 30 years en la lucha.
Cherríe Moraga is a Chicana writer, feminist activist, poet, essayist, playwright-director and educator. She has received an NEA Fellowship for Playwriting, Two Fund for New American Plays Awards, a Rockefeller Fellowship in Literature among many other honors. Cherrie is currently Artist in Residence in the Department of Drama at Stanford University and also shares a joint appointment with Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity. Cherrie is a legend, has seen it all, and she is still keeping it real as a G - evidenced by her willingness to stop by the Desmadre garage and shoot the breeze with Jesus. Join us in this conversation about her life growing up in LA and how she came to be an activist artist during the feminist movement.
#006: Undocumented immigrants and activist-attorneys Liz Mateo & Luis Angel in the new Trump era
Lizbeth Mateo and Luis Angel were both born in Mexico and brought to the US by their parents as children. They hustled like crazy in school, getting through college by washing dishes, working in a deli and grinding nonstop. They both also made it a point to keep going and pursued law school. Luis received his JD from NYU and Lizbeth hers from Santa Clara Law. To make these stories even more ridiculous, they were also both very actively involved in and leading the undocumented immigrant movement - pushing for the DREAM act and mobilizing to stop all the raids and deportations. They both put it on the line on many occasions. These two are special, and this episode is special. Please listen and share it with your friends and family. These are stories that need to be heard and this episode contains practical information that the community needs to know and be aware of given the potential impact of president-elect Trump's impending actions.
PLEASE VISIT THESE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Petition to GRANT DACA to LIZBETH: http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/portfolio/lizbeth/
Post Election DACA Talking Points: https://www.ilrc.org/daca-talking-points
IMMIGRANT YOUTH COALITION: http://theiyc.org/
ALTO TRUMP CAMPAIGN to protect ourselves and stop Trump: http://altotrump.com/
NATIONAL DAY LABORER ORGANIZING NETWORK: http://www.ndlon.org/en/
#005: Yosimar Reyes on how growing up undocumented & queer in the East Side San Jose hood fuels his storytelling
Author, activist, educator, poet and performing artist Yosimar Reyes was born in Guerrero, Mexico and was brought to the US when he was three years old. He was raised by his grandparents in East Side San Jose, a place that fuels his storytelling with unique and comical narratives that cut to the core of his immigrant and queer experience. He is currently an Arts Fellow at Define American, an organization founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas and is also developing a one-man show a'la Jon Leguizamo. Jesus sits down to talk to Yosimar about growing up ratchet, getting through college with a hood mentality, and finding one's place in the world as an artist but also trying to get paid - aka hustling.
#004: Samuel Tomsing-Martinez aka JUAN HIERBAS on filmmaking, comedy & Latinx digital content
Samuel Tomsing Martinez, aka JUAN HIERBAS, is Founder & Artistic Director of Desmadre. He's also a filmmaker, actor, comedian, musician, photographer, jaguar trainer, exotic dancer and man of mystery - until now. Join Jesus as he chats to Sammy about his background, artistic influences, developing as a filmmaker and actor and working in the digital Latinx space.
#003: Marco Castro-Bojorquez on being a Queer, Latinx immigrant-activist & filmmaker
Marco Castro-Bojorquez (@bojorquez) was born and raised in Sinaloa, Mexico. After being the target of a violent hate crime in Mexico, he fled to the US where he has spent the last twenty years of his life working as a community activist and educator in the LGBTQ and HIV+ immigrant community. Over the last few years, he has also emerged as a documentary filmmaker. His latest film, El Canto del Colibri, exploring the relationships between Latino immigrant fathers and their LGBTQ family members, has played at over fifteen film festivals including Frameline SF and Outfest LA. In this discussion, we dive into Marco's background and also try and tackle some of the misperceptions about the LGBTQ community by the Latinx community.
For more information or to reach out to Marco, find him on Twitter: @bojorquez
For more information on El Canto del Colibri: http://elcantodelcolibri.com
For information on the films Marco mentioned:
A Place in the Middle http://aplaceinthemiddle.org/
Kumu Hina http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/kumu-hina/
For resources on family acceptance and/or Latino LGBT issues:
Somos Familia: http://somosfamiliabay.org
DeColores Queer OC: http://decoloresqueeroc.org
Lambda Legal: http://lambdalegal.org
Familia Trans Queer Liberation Movement: http://familiatqlm.org
#002: Eutiquio "Tiq" Chapa on the importance of Latino owned businesses to the US economy
Eutiquio "Tiq" Chapa (@TiqChapa108) grew up in King City - a small farming town in Central California. His Mexican-American parents owned and ran a convenience store where he learned about the challenges and ups and downs of running a small family owned business. After high school, Tiq went to Stanford where he got a BA in Urban Studies/Affairs and now, at the young age of 28, he's program Manager for the Stanford Graduate School of Business Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. There, he's helping put together the largest and most thorough database of Latino-owned US businesses and publishing that information with the goal of stimulating more informed policy-making, business partnerships, and knowledge and skill development through its research findings. Tiq also helps run the Stanford Latino Entrepreneur Leaders Program, a nationally available six-week online education course for business leaders interested in building highly scalable companies. Our talk with Tiq ranges from his childhood, his time at Stanford, some big picture discussions regarding starting and growing a business as a Latino in the US, weightlifting, dating and many other things. Tiq is a funny dude with a great attitude and if you're at all interested in startups, small businesses, the Latinx tech movement and community building - he's someone you must get to know!
#001: Nathan Olivarez-Giles on why growing up in the hood led him to Journalism
Nathan Olivarez-Giles (@nateog) is assistant news editor for the Wall Street Journal covering technology. Nate grew up in South Phoenix, a predominantly African-American and Mexican-American low income neighborhood, and here he talks about how growing up in the hood led to his interest in becoming a reporter. We also dive into the importance and need for journalists of varying backgrounds, the current state of media, and how 'tech' is now so prevalent in our lives that everything can be considered 'tech'.
#000: Trailer - Jesus beltran breaks down what the desmadre podcast will be all about
#000 - Jesus Beltran introduces the Desmadre podcast. The Desmadre Podcast brings you misfits who were told they might not amount to much but said F you, I'm gonna make this happen. Jesus Beltran - first-generation Mexican-American, Stanford-trained engineer, independent filmmaker, and digital media entrepreneur - talks to artists, scientists, filmmakers, politicians, entrepreneurs, comedians, and underground notables about life and other deep stuff.
