June 27, 2024 • 49 mins
Dramos dives into trending stories from the week including the gun crisis in the U.S., Puerto Rico going after corrupt politicians, work/life balance, a Latina legend getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Let me talk about talk. There we go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He said, you live in life as a gringo, where
you question where you fit in every time you mingle.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
They say you do this with not yes. Hello and
welcome to another episode of Life as a Gringo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I am dramas, of course, and it's Thursday, so it
means it's time for our Thursday Trends episode, Flying solo
on today's show. I think on Monday or Tuesday show,
I should say I was a hot mess who was dying.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So today I feel a lot better. I am.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I still feel a little nazily, but I'm back to
my my normal self as far as like energy goes
and my ability to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So gonna fly solo on today's show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm gonna get into a few different things that I
haven't been trending as of late. We're gonna talk about
a new warning about a public health crisis here in
the United States, and it is guns, dark, sad stuff,
but things we need to hear. Will also talk a
(01:12):
bit about I guess on a well, I'll get to
this after I We'll also talk about perto Rico again,
because I had just been mentioning this in.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
The last episode.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Like, where are the lawyers, you know, suing people in
the Department of Justice and all these things. Well, it
was announced this week that Puerto Rico's actually be suing
former officials who are accused of corruption, So we will
talk a bit about that. I think that's an amazing
precedent to be set. Also kind of random, but I
(01:40):
think it's an interesting conversation. The show The Bear on Hulu,
which had become a recent obsession of mine, a really
interesting conversation about the idea of work life balance and
the difficulty in finding it, particularly when you are doing
work that you love doing right, when you are passionate
(02:00):
about the things that you do. And I want to
touch on that because it's so much I think of
what I struggle with, and I think of what a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of people aren't maybe keen to when they think about, oh,
you know, do what you love for a living.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There is, as with anything else, they are two sides,
so cooins, So I want to make sure we talk
about it about that, and now the positive side of things.
A legend from the Latin world is going to be
getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so
we'll touch on that. But first, as we always do,
let's just dive into the nonsense. The bs in a segment,
(02:37):
we call for the people in the back, say a
lot for.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The people in the say a lot for the people
in the say a lot of the people of all right,
so let's start with guns. Never fun thing to talk about, but.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Sadly it's something we discuss a lot, and there's no
getting away from it. I think I talked about this
on last week's Thursday Trends talking about a lawsuit that
was happening.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There was also another.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Shooting, I believe at a grocery store in Michigan that happened,
amongst other worlds. It's like we're so like numb and
like normalizing the idea of these mass shootings that's barely
even like a headline news story anymore, or something we've
even talked about, which is incredibly sad. But it came
out of this last week. On Tuesday, doctor Vveck Murphy,
(03:37):
the US Surgeon General, issuing a stark warning that firearm
violence is a public health crisis that the country must
address immediately. I'm saying this is the first time that
America's leading public health body has focused on gun violence
and the effects that the surge in debts has taken
on the nation's physical and mental health. Now, ironically, well
(04:01):
before I even touch touch on that, this is from
MSNBC dot com. By the way, let's touch on this
for a second. The effects of gun violence, the obvious
ones where there are all of these shootings that happen,
so many lives lost at the hands of gun violence.
If I'm not mistaken, it is the leading killer of
(04:21):
children in this country, but also the mental health aspect
of it, right, the idea. And I don't know about y'all,
but like you know, every time I read one of
these things or hear about it or something, I'm just
out in public and I'm like, man, what if something
were to happen here?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right? Even as like a DJ, I think about this.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You know, I DJ at a a an LGBTQ club,
you know oftentimes, and you know they've been targets, not
that club in particular, but we've seen it in Orlando
happened recently where they were the target of a mass shooting.
(05:04):
And I'm belying to you if I said I didn't
sort of like eyeball, where my escape route would be, right.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
These are things that are on my mind. Or I DJ'd
the Pride.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Festival in in Jersey City, New Jersey, and there were
anti LGBTQ protesters and I was on stage, and I'd
be lying to you if I said there wasn't a
party that was a bit wasn't a bit nervous of
like what if one of these people have a gun
that is out here protesting? Right?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Or when I hear about a supermarket.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Shooting in a place like Michigan, I think about my parents,
what if my you know, God forbid, my parents are
out food shopping and something like this were to happen.
And on the flip side of it, I don't think
it's healthy that we're becoming numb to it either, right,
that it's sort of becoming a normal part of our
society that we can come across a story on like
(05:59):
social media of a mass shooting happening and we're like, oh, man,
that's said, and then just kind of move on with
the rest of our day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I don't think that that's probably healthy for us either, right.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think it says a lot about what we're sort
of compartmentalizing as human beings, you know, And.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
It's just sad because this is really the product of.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Like big powerful gun manufacturers and the NRA, and then
they flip it as gun sort of being the American
way and it's a form of patriotism and freedom and
rights and all these things, right, and they galvanize people
(06:47):
behind the idea of like, oh, they're trying to make
it harder for you to have a gun. Therefore they're
trying to take away your freedoms as an American. It's
anti American for them to make get harder for you
to have a gun. And that becomes, you know, an
attack on people's identity, right, those who are like, you know,
(07:11):
we're Americans and we love America.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Freedom, freedom, freedom, you know, the.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
American propaganda machine happens, and really, you you know, these
are people who are just being pawns of the big
gun corporations and the politicians who are pawns themselves, who
are collecting kickbacks to their campaigns and whatever else is
going on, right, And while they're allowing their greed and
(07:43):
their idolization of money to lead the way, people's lives
are literally at stake. And it's sad and another perfect
example of this literally ironically, as this issue is sort
(08:06):
of being spoken about as a public health crisis. You
actually had Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee releasing texts
from a proposed bill that, among other things, they're looking
to cut the funding allocated to the Justice Department, right
(08:29):
and this would include the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms and severely restrict how the money it does
receive can be used. It would basically, and by the way,
this is the ATF and they're the ones who are
cracking down on things like guns, you know, and trying
(08:50):
to really keep guns off the streets and all these
different things. And what they're saying is that this would
ban the ATF from using its appropriations to quote, implement, administer, apply,
and force or carry out any ATF regulation that has
been issued or finalized since President Joe Biden's first full
day in office. And that would include the rule that
(09:11):
Biden announced in April that would finally close to so
called gun show loophole that allows the private purchase of
firearms without a background check.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Now think about this right now.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Not saying this is going to getass because it would
have to be to the Senate and all that, but
these people are proposing a bill and this is all
you know, performance are for their base. But these are
people proposing a bill that would take away logical protection.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Why would you.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Not want a background check for someone buying a firearm?
Why would we want just any Joe Schmoe to be
able to walk into a gun show and just buy
a gun with nobody asking any questions. It's it's logic, right,
(10:10):
these are our logical things, or the idea of like
unregistered firearms that are assembled from kids at home, that
like the bill would would stop them from being able
to implement these things.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Like it's just.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's crazy, Like the things that are what they call
common sense programs that are meant to bring down gun
violence would be defunded. They say, zero dollars would be
able to go towards funding any state or local quote
red flag or Extreme Risk Protection Order laws, which allows
courts to have law enforcement remove guns from the homes
(10:47):
of people who are dangerous to themselves or others.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Why would you.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Be opposed to the idea that people who are a
danger to themselves their others have their guns taken away
Other than the fact that this is a money thing.
At the end of the day for you, which it is.
That's what they're telling us, right, They're painting the picture.
This is patriotism, this is our freedom as Americans are roots.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But it's not. And their whole thing is.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
You know, well, guns don't kill people. Irresponsible gun owners
kill people. If that's your argument, why then are you
constantly opposed to making it harder for irresponsible people to
gain access to weapons. It's bullshit, That's.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Really what it is. At the end of the day. Again,
this is all this is all performance art. At the
end of the day. This is.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Saying one thing, but in reality, your actions making it
very clear you really just bound down to the almighty dollar.
You value that over human lives at the end of
the day. And it's incredibly said, and a large part
of this population is being played like a fool. And
(12:11):
it's the American propaganda machine. By the way, I think
I was reading something first time. In twenty years, America
doesn't rank in top twenty of quality of life. It
actually might be not twenty years, it might be just
(12:31):
doesn't rank in in top twenty. In a newly released
twenty twenty four World Happiness Report, the US dropped out
of the top twenty on the list for the first
time in the report's twelve year history. The US now
ranks number twenty three as happiest place to live, basically
the happiest countries in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And yeah, that might see like a.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Stupid, a stupid little, uh, you know, statistic, but it
speaks to because there are other statistics where we're not
number one in health care, we're not number one in
quality of life of you know, whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
There are education.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It speaks to the idea that we're being sold the
propaganda of American greatness without actually doing anything to achieve
said greatness. It's all smoking mirrors that the politicians are
selling us on to keep themselves in power and to
keep collecting checks, to keep their fan bases, you know,
riled up and excited about being American, and that way
(13:37):
they can pull the strings and things like this where
oh it's an American to make it harder for Americans
to get guns, right, they want to take away your
American rights patriots as a patriotism, and while doing so,
they're not ever trying to actually address any issues. Right,
even if you look around you and you're like, man,
things are not great here or could be a lot better.
(14:01):
They're lying to you and saying how bad it is
everywhere else. Basically, that's the greatest like illusion that people
pulls like It's like as if the rest of the
world is fucking on fire right now and America is
the only civilized place in the world, and that's just
not true. But again, it's America, the American propaganda machine
and American elitism that allows us to be blind and
(14:25):
played like puppets by those in power, and it allows
them to pull the old smoking mirrors, you know, and
the wool over our eyes around the issues that actually matter,
and this being one of them right here.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's just sad and frustrating stuff. Man.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So we'll take a quick break. I got a couple
of things want to get into. We'll take a quick
break and then we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Are we are back?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I want to touch on this story because I
talked a bit about I mean I talked about it
a lot, but on my social media I talked about it,
I think in last week's episode as well.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And you know, where are the powers that be in
holding the corruption or I mean just corruption in in
order or accountable? I guess I should say, right, like,
there are you know, systems in place where people could
be held accountable. And I was very pleasantly surprised to
(15:28):
see this story pop up from AP News.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And I'll put the Lincoln the show notes for the
full article.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
But it's Puerto Rico sues former officials accused of corruption
to recover more than thirty million dollars in public funds. Now,
thirty million dollars is not a ton of money in
the grand scheme of like you know what the island needs,
but this is a start, right, they say, Puerto Rico's
Justice Department. Now it's Tuesday, it is suing at least
(15:54):
thirty former government officials accused of corruption to cover more
than thirty million dollars in public funds. Among those sued
our three former legislators, including Maria Milagros Chaoniere, who is
sentenced in May to eight years in federal prison after
being found guilty of theft, bribery and a kickback scheme.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Quote, we are going to recover the Puerto Rican people's
money and claim in amount that totals three times the
damage caused by those who have illegally appropriated.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Public funds, said Domingo. EMMANUELI, the US Territory's Justice secretary.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
So Puerto Rico's justice secretary.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Also sued our eight former mayors and one was are
you their names a public?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
A shame them?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Also sued our eight former mayors, including Felix Delgado of
Catano and Angel Perez of Guainabo. Dolgato was sentenced to
one year in federal prison in March after pleading guilty
to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions of dollars
worth of municipal contracts. Perez was sentenced to more than
five years in federal prison in February after being found
guilty of bribery and extortion quote for the first time
(17:00):
in the island of the Puerto Rican Justice Department sued
more than thirty convicts for corruption with the purpose of
recovering public funds and demanding reparation for the damages they
caused to the Puerto Rican people.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
This was said by MANUELI, Right, this is beautiful, and
I hope that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
This is just a start, right, Like, let's start fucking
turning over these stones, and let's start going after these people,
start investigating the people of Luma.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
The power company right, investigate every single one of these
people and start creating a precedent that says, if you
are going to steal from the people, if you are
going to be corrupt, we are going to hold you accountable.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
This no longer will be tolerated. And shit like this
gets me really excited, right because this is the people
of Puerto Rico, right, because this is their justice department
taking it upon themselves to hold former politicians and former
(18:01):
leaders accountable for what they've done.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right, And this is.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
The type of self serving that we need if we
want to move towards independence.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I believe in Puerto Rican independence, but I also don't
believe in the sort of shiny, you know dream that's
also being sold to us by a lot of people
who are pro independent.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I believe that Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Has more than enough resources and just capability in general
to be a high functioning independent country.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
With that said, we have to get our house in
order before that. Right. There's a lot of conversation happening
right now around Puerto Rican independence.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I believe there was a well, I know, there was
a hearing at the UN in New York. I went
to a rally afterwards, and the UN basically gave its
like professional recommendation that the US allowed the people to
decide their status. Right now, that's not like binding or anything.
That's just like a suggestion from a powerful body, the
(19:07):
U N Right. But what fell short for me in
a lot of the conversations that are happening around Puerto
Rican independence.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I hear the independence movement, I love it, I'm energized
by it. But there's a lot of conversation around what
the US is doing wrong, which I agree with, but
not enough conversation around what do we need to do
to get our house in order so that we can
be self sustaining, right, so that we can be in
(19:41):
a prospering independent nation, because I believe we can be.
But we also have to hold ourselves accountable. Yes, a
lot of shit is because of the US and all
that that happens from being a colonized territory, right, the
difffficulties that happen, the lack of representation, you know, things
(20:03):
like the Jones Act and making it more difficult and
expense to get goods on the island. Right, all of
those different things are very real and very true. But
also we have to hold ourselves accountable, start voting the
right people in office, start going after those who are
obviously participating in major corruption. Right, we have to get
(20:26):
our house in order before we can become an independent
nation again. I believe we can get there, but let's
also hold ourselves accountable. I hear a lot of conversation
around the idea that Puerto Ricans are being pushed out
with gentrification and rising you know, cost of housing from
(20:48):
outsiders coming in looking for tax breaks.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And I agree it's a problem that needs to be solved,
but who caused that issue?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
You are putting all your anger and energy towards the
gringos that are moving out to the island for a
tax break, when in reality, it was your local government
that made this an option in the first place.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
That was under Hikyjos Sayo.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That that happened, right, he was voting and he's somebody
who's voted in by the people.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So you have to elect the right people. And Hikitos Hill,
by the way, was ousted as governor, but then one
on an election soon after that for a lower level position.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
He's still involved in the government. So you have to
hold yourselves accountable, get your house in order, then you
can start attacking those who are also holding you back.
But it starts first with us as Puerto Ricans to
hold ourselves accountable and get ourselves on the right track
so we can then address the bigger issues. But that
(21:47):
that's what's so frustrating to me. They're attacking. Oh I
hate these people coming in all this, I get it,
But it was that was a law, a system created
by your local government. People you elected implemented things like
Act sixty. They implemented the idea of tax breaks for
(22:07):
the wealthy outsiders. So you getting mad at the wealthy
outsiders for taking advantage of that doesn't really help the cause.
Get mad at your local government who thought that the
solution was bringing outsiders in right vote people in office
who are going to repeal that, who are going to
create tax breaks or create benefits for those on the island.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That's where you should be focusing your energy.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And I think a lot of times we are shortsighted
and we go after the easy target.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It's easy to go after the Jake Pauls.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Of the world than the Logan Paws of the world,
because they're this glaring example of everything that's wrong with
Puerto Rico's current status and current situation.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I get that, but they're just a bunch.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Of random people who are rich and trying to take
advantage of tax breaks that happens all over the world.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah it's annoying. Yeah we don't want them there, but
they're not the root of your issue. The root of
your issue is.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Your local government and the people that you are electing.
Hold yourselves accountable and hold them accountable, show up and vote,
vote for the right people. And when they do have
on the docket that you get to vote on, you know,
the status of the island. Everybody needs to show up
because what's happening now is barely anybody shows up to
(23:34):
vote for that. The only ones who do vote for
it are the statehooders. And then the outside world looks
at that and says, well, you know what, the majority
of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood or voted for status quo.
So because you're not showing up to vote and have
your voice heard, the rest of the world is confused
as to what you actually want and then holds that
(23:55):
against you.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So we need to start showing up as Puerto Ricans.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
And holding our selves accountable and clean our house up,
get our house in order, before we then attack the
bigger issue of American colonialism.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
That's my take. Who I feel like, I just like,
I just embody.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I just took over like the voice of my father
right there. It was a little bit scary. I just
became my dad for a second. Uh, that's my take
on that. Now let's talk a bit about something a
little lighter. I think I'm literally like out of breath.
I just stream of consciousness there. That's my like, maybe
future governor dramas speaking there. One of these days, maybe
(24:42):
I'll just flip the script and become a politician.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's just no win anyway.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Let's talk about The Bear, a TV show on Hulu,
right And I probably like, again, you don't when I
talk about these pop culture things, you don't actually have
to know what the he I'm talking about. I'm just
referencing it as a starting point, right.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
But The Bear is a show about a.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Chef who moves back home, takes over his family's restaurant
after his brother passes away, and wants to basically flip
the restaurant from a sort of just local towny divy
restaurant into like this high end restaurant. You know that
that is like of legend in Chicago, basically, right. And
(25:26):
I saw this really interesting article on MSNBC and they
talk about how the show is beyond just a show
about a family, beyond just a show about a chef.
It's a, as they say, a series that distills how
work life balance is rarely an option for people consumed
(25:48):
with passion for their craft. And I thought this was
really interesting point of view that's not spoken about enough.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They say, it's an ode to the psychic struggles of
people thoroughly, hopelessly and self destructively committed to their professions.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
And they go on to quote ao ed Ebery, who.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Plays Sydney on the show, and she wants commenting on
the downside of actors devotion to their vocation, saying quote,
if you're so consumed with making things, making things, making things,
there's no reserve in the well, there's no real life
in you. And the article goes on to say that
the Bear is short on solutions to the paradox of
loving the labor that destroys you mercifully. It does not
(26:37):
suggest that you achieve work life balance. For artisans, at least,
that's a dumb idea, a non starter and impossible to
achieve anyhow, Rather, the series reminds us that within the paradox,
within the chaos, there exists a sort of evenness, a
predictable up and down.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I'm gonna break all that down for a little bit
for a second here.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I think a lot of people, and you know this
if you're already somebody who's an artist and you're trying
to make something happen or you are successful in it, right,
And this is something I struggle with constantly. I think,
even if you're somebody who's like man, one day, I
want to make a living off of the things that
I love, right, my passions, the things that I really
enjoy in this life, and we glamorize it, I think,
(27:16):
as we should, right, I think it is an incredibly
fulfilling life.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
But on the flip side.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Of it, as I always say, a yes to one
thing is a note of something else. And as an artist,
as a creative, as somebody passionate about their craft, your hobby,
if you're lucky, becomes your profession, right, the thing that
(27:43):
you used to do to alleviate stress in your free.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Time, whatever it might be.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
This now becomes the thing that is all consuming because
you're getting paid for it, you have to show up
to do it right. And I think what I've recognized
for me and what I've been struggling with over the
last few years, and well, i think I'm getting better
at put like what always seems to be impossible is
(28:08):
just how there's no clear line anymore between my personal
life and what I do for a living basically, right,
because what I do for a living is what I
would have done in my free time in my personal life, right,
And instinctually or instinctively, what happens to me is like,
(28:32):
on the weekends, I'm getting better at this. But on
the weekends, if I'm like off, like from like djaning
or whatever, I'm like, oh, man, awesome, I get to
go work on this other creative project that I've been
putting off. Not oh awesome, I'm gonna go rest, I'm
gonna go hang out with friends, I'm gonna go you
know whatever, sleep all day.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
No, my instinct is always like, great, this gives me
an extra day to work, basically right. And the problem is,
and I a part of me almost feels bad saying this,
and maybe I don't listen, I don't have kids, I'm
not married, so you know, take this for what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
But truth is, there's not much on this earth that
I enjoyed doing more than like the creative things I
like doing.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I hate like and that's the fucked up paradox of this. Right.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I hate to say it, but even when I was
in a relationship, going on a dinner date was great, awesome,
loved it. I would have much rather been home on
my computer, designing a T shirt or doing something else.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And that's not a you know, like.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
A dig at the person I was with or what
we were doing, but really it's like, nothing fire me
up more than the creative projects that I work on.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I'm obsessed. And that's why I get to do it
for a living. Is because I've been obsessed with this
since I was sixteen seventeen years old. I mean prior
to that, but really, you know, like saying hey, I'm
gonna make a career out of music to start was
sixteen seventeen years old. I have prioritized it over everything
(30:29):
else in my life from then till basically now, and
that obsession has yielded me the ability to make a
living doing things that I enjoy doing, but also on
the flip side of it, a life that is oftentimes
incredibly out of balance and sort of to what they
(30:49):
even talk about amidst the chaos, there's like joy, right,
I love the chaos.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
A little bit, the ups and downs, like and not
to say I don't experience the heartbreak or get angry
or get frustrated, But in the moments where everything is
going smoothly, I get kind of bored. It's not as
exciting to me. And I struggle with this when it
(31:27):
comes to motivation all these different things where it's like
I'm constantly like having to like I'm at a point
where I'm struggling to find the balance of like, you know,
my motivation coming from being light and fluffy almost right, Oh,
I'm just getting lost.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In my creativity.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I love it, you know, whatever happens happens. But the
other part of me is like, how do we fire
ourselves up right now?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
How do we create this internal dialogue of a battle
that we have to win, because that's what's fucking exciting
to me, right what's exciting to me is getting my
heart broken, getting shit on career wise by somebody, and
then waking up the next stage fucking fired up and
(32:17):
like oh, I'm gonna prove you motherfuckers wrong, right, or
somebody bailing on me, Like I remember the pandemic when
everything was sort of falling apart, and it was like
I had, you know, a few people around me that
were helping me out with stuff, and then it was
just kind of boom. Everybody was moving on and doing
their own thing, and then it was my motivation was like, oh,
I'll show you guys. All of a sudden, I fucking
(32:37):
pick up graphic design, you know, I start going hard
on photoshop, I go hard.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
On video editing.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I taught myself all this shit, right, it was like
this fire I fucking lit up inside of me, and
I became a creative and an aspect that I never
even knew I had, basically, right, And I struggle with
the idea of like, how do I be a normal
person who enjoyed is normal shit and isn't working from
(33:01):
the time he wakes up to the time he goes
to bed, but still being fired up to fucking just
you know, like have that fuel inside of me, right,
And I think that's what it speaks about. I'm just
like I just blacked out for less ten minutes of
whatever the hell was just saying. But back to the bear,
it's the idea that I think work life balance isn't
a real thing. I guess right, that's what they're saying.
(33:23):
And I struggle with this. That's not necessarily my opinion,
per se, but I get what they are talking about.
I think what really strikes me right now is uh.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Is.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I was listening an interview with the person who produced
I can't remember what song it was. It was for
Jake Cole, right, and he was a producer, and he
was talking about and like his big breakthrough beat. I
don't know if it was workout or like the song
will work out for me from Jake Cole, or of
(34:00):
like Jake Hoole's big singles that he had, right, and
the dude was talking about like I don't know if
he was in the back of an uber on the
way to dinner with his girl or if they were
at dinner. I think he was in the back of
an uber and in the car, the uber driver was
(34:20):
playing a song and I guess it was like some
old song and all of a sudden it hit the
producer the producer, like an idea just hit him, and
he basically had to tell his girl, like, listen, I
have this idea. I need to get it out of
my head and basically like bring it into the world.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna make it up to you, but
(34:43):
I have to. I have to go to the studio
instead of going to dinner right now.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
And he did that.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And ended up producing the biggest record of his entire career.
Basically like kickstarted his career into what it is now.
And I think.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That is like a great example of sort of what
it takes to be successful as a creative, but also
the type of people you need to have around you, right,
I think more than trying to be like work life balance,
I'm gonna work from eight to six and then from
six PM's family time. I think the hard part about
that is and I try to do that, but the
hard part about that is when your creative inspiration strikes
(35:27):
you at any time, and creativity or that spark is
fleeting at the end of the day, so you have
to kind of ride the wave as it comes, right
and if you miss the wave, you potentially just missed
out on your next great idea, right, like, hypothetically, if
that producer didn't go to the studio, he may have
never produced that be or at least not produced it
to the way that it was, because it would have
(35:47):
been as inspired, and he might have missed out on
the biggest opportunity of his entire career.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
And that's a shit that sticks with me, and I
think a lot of creatives. Is when I get that spark,
that idea a for my soul, I have to just
I have to like vomit it out of my out
of my system in order to feel like a normal person,
because if not, I'm fucking anxious and it's all that
I could think about. And on the flip side of it,
it's like, what if this is the idea I've been
waiting on, right, I've been obsessed with the idea of
(36:12):
like clarity to get the download from God essentially right,
the universe, whatever you want to replace that with. But
in the moments where I don't know what's next, I'm like,
all right, just keep creating clarity your mind, Keep creating
clarity in your mind. Eventually you will receive the download
from the universe or from God. And when you receive it,
you got to fucking go one hundred miles an hour
at it, right, because that's your moment. And that's why
(36:35):
I think work life bounce in traditional sense is really difficult.
And when I was sort of getting at with like
that producer and his girl, he's lucky that he has
a partner who understands that and is and you know,
I'm sure she wasn't the happiest about it, but was like,
you know what, I get it, Go do your thing.
I know you're gonna make it up to me, and
I'm sure he did when them checks started rolling in.
But I think it's like, instead of trying to eliminate
(37:00):
the chaos from your life as a creative, as an entrepreneur,
as somebody who wants something outside of the norm, the
cast is a way of life and you have to
embrace it. And in fact, if you're honest with yourself,
a part of you probably thrives off of it a bit. Right,
control chaos, not complete chasts, but controlled chaos. And as
it's sort of saying, it's like it's within the chaos
(37:23):
there exists a sort of evenness, a predictable up and down, right,
So it's almost saying the up and down accepting it
as a part of life, as a way of life,
rather than trying to like, you know, control it too
much and to sort of make it a nine to five,
because it's not a nine to five. Nine to five,
you cantroll up to the office and just fucking like
(37:45):
blank stare your way to the end of the day. Right,
everything's on the back burner and you just basically fucking
do whatever you have to do.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
To get get it done.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
When it comes to a creative project that requires a
flow state, that requires you getting lost in it, that
requires you just tapping into something of worldly, it's a
download that you're receiving from something that is not of
this world. And for us to dream of something outside
of the norm creativity, entrepreneur wise, whatever it might be,
that idea of work life balance may not be a
(38:13):
real thing.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Now.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Can you find balance within the chaos, Absolutely, but it
has to be like a flexible sort of balance, I think.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I just wanted to share that I just found this
article interesting for me selfishly, but be I think it
would probably resonate for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Who are.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Maybe trying to build something or have built something and
you're just trying to make sense of it all and
like organize it right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And I think I want.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
To let you know that it's okay to sort of
feel like it's never gonna be organized or it's always
gonna be slightly chaotic.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I just think that's.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
The the norm of being a creative, of doing something
outside of the norm of not just having your standard nine.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
To five job. It's going to be a bit of chaos.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
And until you're probably ridiculously successful to the point where
if you want to, you to stop working completely. Until
you're at that point, it's probably gonna be incredibly difficult
to have a very rigid structure to your day and
(39:25):
your life. It's gonna have to sort of be go
with the flow, be like water type of thing, right,
and everybody around you is gonna have to kind of
understand that's part of your process, your lifestyle, what gets
you going and what makes you you. And I just
think that that's an interesting conversation that maybe it's not
spoken about enough. We talk about the idea of chasing
(39:45):
your dream, so I wanted to share that. Now, with
that said, let's get into some positivity in Army Head
the segments. But first we'll take a quick break and
then we'll be right back, all right. So I want
(40:07):
to pick this touch on somebody from our community, a
legend that is finally being honored. Unfortunately they're no longer
with us, but the legend that is Jenny Hiveda will
actually be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The unfortunate man. I was just reading this, I didn't
realize how young she was. So she's a Mexican American singer.
Some people know her as La Viva de Labanda, and
(40:31):
she died in twenty twelve at the age of forty three.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
She was so young on a plane crash.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
And she is somebody who's known for sort of changing
the game as far as like regional Mexican music goes
the genre, being a woman in it, and really being
an inspiration I think for a lot of a lot
of people in the community. And she's now going to
be getting her her Walk of Fame star in Hollywood,
(41:01):
which is absoutly amazing. So it's happening on June twenty
seventh in front of Capitol Records on Bayn Streets and.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Were Children Cheeky's who actually has a show here.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
On the Michael Didda podcast network, and there are other
kids Jackie, Michael, Johnny and Jennico will accept the star
on their mother's behalf. I don't know, man, I think listen,
I think I'm as the person who's like, I don't know,
I don't need this, doesn't even need this explanation. But like,
(41:36):
I'MO is the person who's like, who cares about these
accolades and things like that. But again, in our community,
our culture, traditionally, we haven't been the ones being presented
with these sort of accolades, right, these mainstream accolades. So
I think whenever it happens, you have to stop and
pause for a second and recognize how important that that
(41:56):
moment is, right, that representation that's happening. Know, I think
to myself, what happens when a young Mexican girl or
Latina in general, or somebody of color walks by that
star and sees the last name Riveta on there?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Right? To me, that's an inspiration of somebody who shares
in a similar lineage to me was able to make
it to this point. Why can't that also be me?
And for me in my times of doubt and just.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Struggles, often that's sort of been what I've needed to
keep on going, to keep on pushing it to it
would just look to somebody and see their journey, relate
to them in some sort of way, and recognize that
if it could happen for them, it could definitely happen
for me. So I think that's why moments like this
are so incredibly important and beautiful to see, and people
(42:55):
like her need to be celebrated, and it's just a
beautiful thing. And that's why I wanted to kind of
just stop for a moment and honor that, honor her
legacy and the inspiration that she continues to be uh
man more than ten.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Years after her passing. So just amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
So big congrats to the legend that is Jenny Hiveda
and her entire family who are going to be able
to honor their their mother. And I didn't even realize
doing twenty seventh is today so really just beautiful to see. Now,
with that said, this type of thing we talked about
today in a neat little bow in a segment we
call conclusion. Stew time for conclusion, all right, I'll keep
(43:42):
it short and sweet. Guns being recognized as a public
health issue in this country. No shocker there mental and
physical health related right, and as that's happening, ironically, but
also just like another day in America, another perfect, like
almost dark, humorous day in America. On the other side
(44:05):
of that, Republicans basically trying to make it easier for
people to get guns and to not have background checks,
and to not fund the proper agencies who are trying
to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
And it just sort of speaks again to how fucked
up the ideology is in this country and why it's
so important for us to vote come November. The debate
(44:27):
is happening tonight between Trump and Biden, the first one,
I mean, just these are real, you know, things that
are on the line here are our safety, our quality
of life here in this country. And I know somebody
like Biden has been perfect, but his party also isn't
trying to put weapons in the hands of people who
potentially could take the life of somebody that you know,
just saying now Puerto Rico is suing former officials.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
A beautiful maybe starting.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Point is what I'm hoping for us to get our
house in order so that we can progress. The beautiful
island of Puerto Rico into becoming the independent country that
deserves to be and providing an amazing quality of life.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
For everybody that lives there.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
But these are the you know, starting places that we
need to happen, where we hold people accountable, where we
create a precedent and say this will no longer be tolerated.
Corruption will no longer be tolerated. You will be held
accountable to the full extend the law, jail time, all
the money that you possibly have, We will go after
it if you decide to take advantage of the people.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
And this needs to be the standard that happens.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
And I hope we see more and more lawsuits like
this one, you know, protecting the people and holding those
accountable who think they are above you know, doing right
by those who put them in office. The show The Bear,
which is not hoblu now highly recommend season three. I
haven't started watching it yet. That might be my weekend thing.
But I just think interestant conversation about work life balance,
(45:51):
the difficulty of it, the elusiveness of it, especially if
you are somebody who's trying to do something outside the norm.
I think also maybe hopefully recognizing how difficult that is
and maybe impossible it is, and how there's not something
wrong with you that you like, are so passionate about
wanting to do something and you sacrifice a lot to
do it. You know, this is the struggle of being
(46:12):
a creative and you're not alone in it, you know,
And you just have to do your best to mold
life in a way that makes sense and maybe gives
you the best opportunity to express your creative needs, right,
because it really is a need for us. This isn't
just like look at me type of stuff. If you're
a real creative, you have to It's like something inside
of you. It's like you have to just get it
(46:34):
out of your system, get it out of your mind, right,
And if you don't, you're not yourself right, You're like
a shell of yourself. So hopefully that conversation maybe puts
some people at ease around not bidding.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yourself up so much if you're devoting a lot.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Of time to a particular project, or maybe opening yourself
up to having conversations with those around you about how
you can create a lifestyle that makes you know them
happy and feel like they're engaged and you're being a
part of of your relationship, your family, whatever it might be,
but also still serving you know, your inherent need to
(47:06):
create and to do the things that you're passionate about.
And then also lastly, big shots of the legend that
is Jenny Veda getting her Hollywood the star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, obviously much deserved, just a legend
in our community and an inspiration to let people know,
you know, no matter where you came from, matter what
your last name is, your background, you two can achieve
(47:28):
great things and make your dreams come true. So congrats
to her and her family for this moment of celebrating
her life and her career, and it just, you know,
is a testament to the inspiration that we all can
be via the work that we leave behind even after
we're gana. I think that's a beautiful thing. Now, that said,
thank y'all so much for tuning in. No shows next week.
(47:52):
I'm taking off next week for July fourth, so no podcast,
but we will be returning the second week of a Lie,
which will be the tenth, So man, the tenth, no
the eighth. Sorry I'm looking at June's calendar, but yeah,
im gonna take off next week for July fourth, and
just allow myself to relax a little bit and just
(48:13):
catch up on some stuff and maybe enjoy some barbecuing
in my backyard. That's the goal. So we'll be back
on July eighth. Everybody, have an amazing weekend, have an
amazing July fourth holiday. I know all the conversations in
our country makes it kind of tough to be super
patriotic these days.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
For many of us. But still, you know, a beautiful
place that has a lot of potential and hopefully you
get to spend some time with your loved ones and
you know, just break up the monotony of everyday life
with the holiday.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
But they said, I will catch you next time. Until
then a week and a half. Basically, be safe and
I will talk to you soon. Life as a Grego
is a production of the micro Thura podcast network and
I Heart Radio.
Let me talk about talk. There we go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
He said, you live in life as a gringo, where
you question where you fit in every time you mingle.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
They say you do this with not yes. Hello and
welcome to another episode of Life as a Gringo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I am dramas, of course, and it's Thursday, so it
means it's time for our Thursday Trends episode, Flying solo
on today's show. I think on Monday or Tuesday show,
I should say I was a hot mess who was dying.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
So today I feel a lot better. I am.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I still feel a little nazily, but I'm back to
my my normal self as far as like energy goes
and my ability to talk.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So gonna fly solo on today's show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I'm gonna get into a few different things that I
haven't been trending as of late. We're gonna talk about
a new warning about a public health crisis here in
the United States, and it is guns, dark, sad stuff,
but things we need to hear. Will also talk a
(01:12):
bit about I guess on a well, I'll get to
this after I We'll also talk about perto Rico again,
because I had just been mentioning this in.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
The last episode.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Like, where are the lawyers, you know, suing people in
the Department of Justice and all these things. Well, it
was announced this week that Puerto Rico's actually be suing
former officials who are accused of corruption, So we will
talk a bit about that. I think that's an amazing
precedent to be set. Also kind of random, but I
(01:40):
think it's an interesting conversation. The show The Bear on Hulu,
which had become a recent obsession of mine, a really
interesting conversation about the idea of work life balance and
the difficulty in finding it, particularly when you are doing
work that you love doing right, when you are passionate
(02:00):
about the things that you do. And I want to
touch on that because it's so much I think of
what I struggle with, and I think of what a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of people aren't maybe keen to when they think about, oh,
you know, do what you love for a living.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
There is, as with anything else, they are two sides,
so cooins, So I want to make sure we talk
about it about that, and now the positive side of things.
A legend from the Latin world is going to be
getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so
we'll touch on that. But first, as we always do,
let's just dive into the nonsense. The bs in a segment,
(02:37):
we call for the people in the back, say a
lot for.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The people in the say a lot for the people
in the say a lot of the people of all right,
so let's start with guns. Never fun thing to talk about, but.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Sadly it's something we discuss a lot, and there's no
getting away from it. I think I talked about this
on last week's Thursday Trends talking about a lawsuit that
was happening.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
There was also another.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Shooting, I believe at a grocery store in Michigan that happened,
amongst other worlds. It's like we're so like numb and
like normalizing the idea of these mass shootings that's barely
even like a headline news story anymore, or something we've
even talked about, which is incredibly sad. But it came
out of this last week. On Tuesday, doctor Vveck Murphy,
(03:37):
the US Surgeon General, issuing a stark warning that firearm
violence is a public health crisis that the country must
address immediately. I'm saying this is the first time that
America's leading public health body has focused on gun violence
and the effects that the surge in debts has taken
on the nation's physical and mental health. Now, ironically, well
(04:01):
before I even touch touch on that, this is from
MSNBC dot com. By the way, let's touch on this
for a second. The effects of gun violence, the obvious
ones where there are all of these shootings that happen,
so many lives lost at the hands of gun violence.
If I'm not mistaken, it is the leading killer of
(04:21):
children in this country, but also the mental health aspect
of it, right, the idea. And I don't know about y'all,
but like you know, every time I read one of
these things or hear about it or something, I'm just
out in public and I'm like, man, what if something
were to happen here?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right? Even as like a DJ, I think about this.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You know, I DJ at a a an LGBTQ club,
you know oftentimes, and you know they've been targets, not
that club in particular, but we've seen it in Orlando
happened recently where they were the target of a mass shooting.
(05:04):
And I'm belying to you if I said I didn't
sort of like eyeball, where my escape route would be, right.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
These are things that are on my mind. Or I DJ'd
the Pride.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Festival in in Jersey City, New Jersey, and there were
anti LGBTQ protesters and I was on stage, and I'd
be lying to you if I said there wasn't a
party that was a bit wasn't a bit nervous of
like what if one of these people have a gun
that is out here protesting? Right?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Or when I hear about a supermarket.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Shooting in a place like Michigan, I think about my parents,
what if my you know, God forbid, my parents are
out food shopping and something like this were to happen.
And on the flip side of it, I don't think
it's healthy that we're becoming numb to it either, right,
that it's sort of becoming a normal part of our
society that we can come across a story on like
(05:59):
social media of a mass shooting happening and we're like, oh, man,
that's said, and then just kind of move on with
the rest of our day.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I don't think that that's probably healthy for us either, right.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I think it says a lot about what we're sort
of compartmentalizing as human beings, you know, And.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
It's just sad because this is really the product of.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Like big powerful gun manufacturers and the NRA, and then
they flip it as gun sort of being the American
way and it's a form of patriotism and freedom and
rights and all these things, right, and they galvanize people
(06:47):
behind the idea of like, oh, they're trying to make
it harder for you to have a gun. Therefore they're
trying to take away your freedoms as an American. It's
anti American for them to make get harder for you
to have a gun. And that becomes, you know, an
attack on people's identity, right, those who are like, you know,
(07:11):
we're Americans and we love America.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Freedom, freedom, freedom, you know, the.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
American propaganda machine happens, and really, you you know, these
are people who are just being pawns of the big
gun corporations and the politicians who are pawns themselves, who
are collecting kickbacks to their campaigns and whatever else is
going on, right, And while they're allowing their greed and
(07:43):
their idolization of money to lead the way, people's lives
are literally at stake. And it's sad and another perfect
example of this literally ironically, as this issue is sort
(08:06):
of being spoken about as a public health crisis. You
actually had Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee releasing texts
from a proposed bill that, among other things, they're looking
to cut the funding allocated to the Justice Department, right
(08:29):
and this would include the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms and severely restrict how the money it does
receive can be used. It would basically, and by the way,
this is the ATF and they're the ones who are
cracking down on things like guns, you know, and trying
(08:50):
to really keep guns off the streets and all these
different things. And what they're saying is that this would
ban the ATF from using its appropriations to quote, implement, administer, apply,
and force or carry out any ATF regulation that has
been issued or finalized since President Joe Biden's first full
day in office. And that would include the rule that
(09:11):
Biden announced in April that would finally close to so
called gun show loophole that allows the private purchase of
firearms without a background check.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Now think about this right now.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Not saying this is going to getass because it would
have to be to the Senate and all that, but
these people are proposing a bill and this is all
you know, performance are for their base. But these are
people proposing a bill that would take away logical protection.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Why would you.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Not want a background check for someone buying a firearm?
Why would we want just any Joe Schmoe to be
able to walk into a gun show and just buy
a gun with nobody asking any questions. It's it's logic, right,
(10:10):
these are our logical things, or the idea of like
unregistered firearms that are assembled from kids at home, that
like the bill would would stop them from being able
to implement these things.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Like it's just.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's crazy, Like the things that are what they call
common sense programs that are meant to bring down gun
violence would be defunded. They say, zero dollars would be
able to go towards funding any state or local quote
red flag or Extreme Risk Protection Order laws, which allows
courts to have law enforcement remove guns from the homes
(10:47):
of people who are dangerous to themselves or others.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Why would you.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Be opposed to the idea that people who are a
danger to themselves their others have their guns taken away
Other than the fact that this is a money thing.
At the end of the day for you, which it is.
That's what they're telling us, right, They're painting the picture.
This is patriotism, this is our freedom as Americans are roots.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
But it's not. And their whole thing is.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
You know, well, guns don't kill people. Irresponsible gun owners
kill people. If that's your argument, why then are you
constantly opposed to making it harder for irresponsible people to
gain access to weapons. It's bullshit, That's.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Really what it is. At the end of the day. Again,
this is all this is all performance art. At the
end of the day. This is.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Saying one thing, but in reality, your actions making it
very clear you really just bound down to the almighty dollar.
You value that over human lives at the end of
the day. And it's incredibly said, and a large part
of this population is being played like a fool. And
(12:11):
it's the American propaganda machine. By the way, I think
I was reading something first time. In twenty years, America
doesn't rank in top twenty of quality of life. It
actually might be not twenty years, it might be just
(12:31):
doesn't rank in in top twenty. In a newly released
twenty twenty four World Happiness Report, the US dropped out
of the top twenty on the list for the first
time in the report's twelve year history. The US now
ranks number twenty three as happiest place to live, basically
the happiest countries in the world.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And yeah, that might see like a.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Stupid, a stupid little, uh, you know, statistic, but it
speaks to because there are other statistics where we're not
number one in health care, we're not number one in
quality of life of you know, whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
There are education.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
It speaks to the idea that we're being sold the
propaganda of American greatness without actually doing anything to achieve
said greatness. It's all smoking mirrors that the politicians are
selling us on to keep themselves in power and to
keep collecting checks, to keep their fan bases, you know,
riled up and excited about being American, and that way
(13:37):
they can pull the strings and things like this where
oh it's an American to make it harder for Americans
to get guns, right, they want to take away your
American rights patriots as a patriotism, and while doing so,
they're not ever trying to actually address any issues. Right,
even if you look around you and you're like, man,
things are not great here or could be a lot better.
(14:01):
They're lying to you and saying how bad it is
everywhere else. Basically, that's the greatest like illusion that people
pulls like It's like as if the rest of the
world is fucking on fire right now and America is
the only civilized place in the world, and that's just
not true. But again, it's America, the American propaganda machine
and American elitism that allows us to be blind and
(14:25):
played like puppets by those in power, and it allows
them to pull the old smoking mirrors, you know, and
the wool over our eyes around the issues that actually matter,
and this being one of them right here.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It's just sad and frustrating stuff. Man.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
So we'll take a quick break. I got a couple
of things want to get into. We'll take a quick
break and then we'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Are we are back?
Speaker 2 (14:55):
And I want to touch on this story because I
talked a bit about I mean I talked about it
a lot, but on my social media I talked about it,
I think in last week's episode as well.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
And you know, where are the powers that be in
holding the corruption or I mean just corruption in in
order or accountable? I guess I should say, right, like,
there are you know, systems in place where people could
be held accountable. And I was very pleasantly surprised to
(15:28):
see this story pop up from AP News.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And I'll put the Lincoln the show notes for the
full article.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
But it's Puerto Rico sues former officials accused of corruption
to recover more than thirty million dollars in public funds. Now,
thirty million dollars is not a ton of money in
the grand scheme of like you know what the island needs,
but this is a start, right, they say, Puerto Rico's
Justice Department. Now it's Tuesday, it is suing at least
(15:54):
thirty former government officials accused of corruption to cover more
than thirty million dollars in public funds. Among those sued
our three former legislators, including Maria Milagros Chaoniere, who is
sentenced in May to eight years in federal prison after
being found guilty of theft, bribery and a kickback scheme.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Quote, we are going to recover the Puerto Rican people's
money and claim in amount that totals three times the
damage caused by those who have illegally appropriated.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Public funds, said Domingo. EMMANUELI, the US Territory's Justice secretary.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
So Puerto Rico's justice secretary.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Also sued our eight former mayors and one was are
you their names a public?
Speaker 1 (16:37):
A shame them?
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Also sued our eight former mayors, including Felix Delgado of
Catano and Angel Perez of Guainabo. Dolgato was sentenced to
one year in federal prison in March after pleading guilty
to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions of dollars
worth of municipal contracts. Perez was sentenced to more than
five years in federal prison in February after being found
guilty of bribery and extortion quote for the first time
(17:00):
in the island of the Puerto Rican Justice Department sued
more than thirty convicts for corruption with the purpose of
recovering public funds and demanding reparation for the damages they
caused to the Puerto Rican people.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
This was said by MANUELI, Right, this is beautiful, and
I hope that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
This is just a start, right, Like, let's start fucking
turning over these stones, and let's start going after these people,
start investigating the people of Luma.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
The power company right, investigate every single one of these
people and start creating a precedent that says, if you
are going to steal from the people, if you are
going to be corrupt, we are going to hold you accountable.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
This no longer will be tolerated. And shit like this
gets me really excited, right because this is the people
of Puerto Rico, right, because this is their justice department
taking it upon themselves to hold former politicians and former
(18:01):
leaders accountable for what they've done.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right, And this is.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
The type of self serving that we need if we
want to move towards independence.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Right.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I believe in Puerto Rican independence, but I also don't
believe in the sort of shiny, you know dream that's
also being sold to us by a lot of people
who are pro independent.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I believe that Puerto Rico.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Has more than enough resources and just capability in general
to be a high functioning independent country.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
With that said, we have to get our house in
order before that. Right. There's a lot of conversation happening
right now around Puerto Rican independence.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I believe there was a well, I know, there was
a hearing at the UN in New York. I went
to a rally afterwards, and the UN basically gave its
like professional recommendation that the US allowed the people to
decide their status. Right now, that's not like binding or anything.
That's just like a suggestion from a powerful body, the
(19:07):
U N Right. But what fell short for me in
a lot of the conversations that are happening around Puerto
Rican independence.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I hear the independence movement, I love it, I'm energized
by it. But there's a lot of conversation around what
the US is doing wrong, which I agree with, but
not enough conversation around what do we need to do
to get our house in order so that we can
be self sustaining, right, so that we can be in
(19:41):
a prospering independent nation, because I believe we can be.
But we also have to hold ourselves accountable. Yes, a
lot of shit is because of the US and all
that that happens from being a colonized territory, right, the
difffficulties that happen, the lack of representation, you know, things
(20:03):
like the Jones Act and making it more difficult and
expense to get goods on the island. Right, all of
those different things are very real and very true. But
also we have to hold ourselves accountable, start voting the
right people in office, start going after those who are
obviously participating in major corruption. Right, we have to get
(20:26):
our house in order before we can become an independent
nation again. I believe we can get there, but let's
also hold ourselves accountable. I hear a lot of conversation
around the idea that Puerto Ricans are being pushed out
with gentrification and rising you know, cost of housing from
(20:48):
outsiders coming in looking for tax breaks.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
And I agree it's a problem that needs to be solved,
but who caused that issue?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
You are putting all your anger and energy towards the
gringos that are moving out to the island for a
tax break, when in reality, it was your local government
that made this an option in the first place.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
That was under Hikyjos Sayo.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That that happened, right, he was voting and he's somebody
who's voted in by the people.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So you have to elect the right people. And Hikitos Hill,
by the way, was ousted as governor, but then one
on an election soon after that for a lower level position.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
He's still involved in the government. So you have to
hold yourselves accountable, get your house in order, then you
can start attacking those who are also holding you back.
But it starts first with us as Puerto Ricans to
hold ourselves accountable and get ourselves on the right track
so we can then address the bigger issues. But that
(21:47):
that's what's so frustrating to me. They're attacking. Oh I
hate these people coming in all this, I get it,
But it was that was a law, a system created
by your local government. People you elected implemented things like
Act sixty. They implemented the idea of tax breaks for
(22:07):
the wealthy outsiders. So you getting mad at the wealthy
outsiders for taking advantage of that doesn't really help the cause.
Get mad at your local government who thought that the
solution was bringing outsiders in right vote people in office
who are going to repeal that, who are going to
create tax breaks or create benefits for those on the island.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
That's where you should be focusing your energy.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
And I think a lot of times we are shortsighted
and we go after the easy target.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It's easy to go after the Jake Pauls.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Of the world than the Logan Paws of the world,
because they're this glaring example of everything that's wrong with
Puerto Rico's current status and current situation.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
I get that, but they're just a bunch.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Of random people who are rich and trying to take
advantage of tax breaks that happens all over the world.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah it's annoying. Yeah we don't want them there, but
they're not the root of your issue. The root of
your issue is.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Your local government and the people that you are electing.
Hold yourselves accountable and hold them accountable, show up and vote,
vote for the right people. And when they do have
on the docket that you get to vote on, you know,
the status of the island. Everybody needs to show up
because what's happening now is barely anybody shows up to
(23:34):
vote for that. The only ones who do vote for
it are the statehooders. And then the outside world looks
at that and says, well, you know what, the majority
of Puerto Ricans voted for statehood or voted for status quo.
So because you're not showing up to vote and have
your voice heard, the rest of the world is confused
as to what you actually want and then holds that
(23:55):
against you.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
So we need to start showing up as Puerto Ricans.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
And holding our selves accountable and clean our house up,
get our house in order, before we then attack the
bigger issue of American colonialism.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
That's my take. Who I feel like, I just like,
I just embody.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I just took over like the voice of my father
right there. It was a little bit scary. I just
became my dad for a second. Uh, that's my take
on that. Now let's talk a bit about something a
little lighter. I think I'm literally like out of breath.
I just stream of consciousness there. That's my like, maybe
future governor dramas speaking there. One of these days, maybe
(24:42):
I'll just flip the script and become a politician.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
It's just no win anyway.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Let's talk about The Bear, a TV show on Hulu,
right And I probably like, again, you don't when I
talk about these pop culture things, you don't actually have
to know what the he I'm talking about. I'm just
referencing it as a starting point, right.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
But The Bear is a show about a.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Chef who moves back home, takes over his family's restaurant
after his brother passes away, and wants to basically flip
the restaurant from a sort of just local towny divy
restaurant into like this high end restaurant. You know that
that is like of legend in Chicago, basically, right. And
(25:26):
I saw this really interesting article on MSNBC and they
talk about how the show is beyond just a show
about a family, beyond just a show about a chef.
It's a, as they say, a series that distills how
work life balance is rarely an option for people consumed
(25:48):
with passion for their craft. And I thought this was
really interesting point of view that's not spoken about enough.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They say, it's an ode to the psychic struggles of
people thoroughly, hopelessly and self destructively committed to their professions.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
And they go on to quote ao ed Ebery, who.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Plays Sydney on the show, and she wants commenting on
the downside of actors devotion to their vocation, saying quote,
if you're so consumed with making things, making things, making things,
there's no reserve in the well, there's no real life
in you. And the article goes on to say that
the Bear is short on solutions to the paradox of
loving the labor that destroys you mercifully. It does not
(26:37):
suggest that you achieve work life balance. For artisans, at least,
that's a dumb idea, a non starter and impossible to
achieve anyhow, Rather, the series reminds us that within the paradox,
within the chaos, there exists a sort of evenness, a
predictable up and down.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I'm gonna break all that down for a little bit
for a second here.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
I think a lot of people, and you know this
if you're already somebody who's an artist and you're trying
to make something happen or you are successful in it, right,
And this is something I struggle with constantly. I think,
even if you're somebody who's like man, one day, I
want to make a living off of the things that
I love, right, my passions, the things that I really
enjoy in this life, and we glamorize it, I think,
(27:16):
as we should, right, I think it is an incredibly
fulfilling life.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
But on the flip side.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Of it, as I always say, a yes to one
thing is a note of something else. And as an artist,
as a creative, as somebody passionate about their craft, your hobby,
if you're lucky, becomes your profession, right, the thing that
(27:43):
you used to do to alleviate stress in your free.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Time, whatever it might be.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
This now becomes the thing that is all consuming because
you're getting paid for it, you have to show up
to do it right. And I think what I've recognized
for me and what I've been struggling with over the
last few years, and well, i think I'm getting better
at put like what always seems to be impossible is
(28:08):
just how there's no clear line anymore between my personal
life and what I do for a living basically, right,
because what I do for a living is what I
would have done in my free time in my personal life, right,
And instinctually or instinctively, what happens to me is like,
(28:32):
on the weekends, I'm getting better at this. But on
the weekends, if I'm like off, like from like djaning
or whatever, I'm like, oh, man, awesome, I get to
go work on this other creative project that I've been
putting off. Not oh awesome, I'm gonna go rest, I'm
gonna go hang out with friends, I'm gonna go you
know whatever, sleep all day.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
No, my instinct is always like, great, this gives me
an extra day to work, basically right. And the problem is,
and I a part of me almost feels bad saying this,
and maybe I don't listen, I don't have kids, I'm
not married, so you know, take this for what it's worth.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
But truth is, there's not much on this earth that
I enjoyed doing more than like the creative things I
like doing.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
I hate like and that's the fucked up paradox of this. Right.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I hate to say it, but even when I was
in a relationship, going on a dinner date was great, awesome,
loved it. I would have much rather been home on
my computer, designing a T shirt or doing something else.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
And that's not a you know, like.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
A dig at the person I was with or what
we were doing, but really it's like, nothing fire me
up more than the creative projects that I work on.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I'm obsessed. And that's why I get to do it
for a living. Is because I've been obsessed with this
since I was sixteen seventeen years old. I mean prior
to that, but really, you know, like saying hey, I'm
gonna make a career out of music to start was
sixteen seventeen years old. I have prioritized it over everything
(30:29):
else in my life from then till basically now, and
that obsession has yielded me the ability to make a
living doing things that I enjoy doing, but also on
the flip side of it, a life that is oftentimes
incredibly out of balance and sort of to what they
(30:49):
even talk about amidst the chaos, there's like joy, right,
I love the chaos.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
A little bit, the ups and downs, like and not
to say I don't experience the heartbreak or get angry
or get frustrated, But in the moments where everything is
going smoothly, I get kind of bored. It's not as
exciting to me. And I struggle with this when it
(31:27):
comes to motivation all these different things where it's like
I'm constantly like having to like I'm at a point
where I'm struggling to find the balance of like, you know,
my motivation coming from being light and fluffy almost right, Oh,
I'm just getting lost.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In my creativity.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
I love it, you know, whatever happens happens. But the
other part of me is like, how do we fire
ourselves up right now?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Right?
Speaker 2 (31:55):
How do we create this internal dialogue of a battle
that we have to win, because that's what's fucking exciting
to me, right what's exciting to me is getting my
heart broken, getting shit on career wise by somebody, and
then waking up the next stage fucking fired up and
(32:17):
like oh, I'm gonna prove you motherfuckers wrong, right, or
somebody bailing on me, Like I remember the pandemic when
everything was sort of falling apart, and it was like
I had, you know, a few people around me that
were helping me out with stuff, and then it was
just kind of boom. Everybody was moving on and doing
their own thing, and then it was my motivation was like, oh,
I'll show you guys. All of a sudden, I fucking
(32:37):
pick up graphic design, you know, I start going hard
on photoshop, I go hard.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
On video editing.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
I taught myself all this shit, right, it was like
this fire I fucking lit up inside of me, and
I became a creative and an aspect that I never
even knew I had, basically, right, And I struggle with
the idea of like, how do I be a normal
person who enjoyed is normal shit and isn't working from
(33:01):
the time he wakes up to the time he goes
to bed, but still being fired up to fucking just
you know, like have that fuel inside of me, right,
And I think that's what it speaks about. I'm just
like I just blacked out for less ten minutes of
whatever the hell was just saying. But back to the bear,
it's the idea that I think work life balance isn't
a real thing. I guess right, that's what they're saying.
(33:23):
And I struggle with this. That's not necessarily my opinion,
per se, but I get what they are talking about.
I think what really strikes me right now is uh.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Is.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
I was listening an interview with the person who produced
I can't remember what song it was. It was for
Jake Cole, right, and he was a producer, and he
was talking about and like his big breakthrough beat. I
don't know if it was workout or like the song
will work out for me from Jake Cole, or of
(34:00):
like Jake Hoole's big singles that he had, right, and
the dude was talking about like I don't know if
he was in the back of an uber on the
way to dinner with his girl or if they were
at dinner. I think he was in the back of
an uber and in the car, the uber driver was
(34:20):
playing a song and I guess it was like some
old song and all of a sudden it hit the
producer the producer, like an idea just hit him, and
he basically had to tell his girl, like, listen, I
have this idea. I need to get it out of
my head and basically like bring it into the world.
I'm sorry, I'm gonna make it up to you, but
(34:43):
I have to. I have to go to the studio
instead of going to dinner right now.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
And he did that.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
And ended up producing the biggest record of his entire career.
Basically like kickstarted his career into what it is now.
And I think.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
That is like a great example of sort of what
it takes to be successful as a creative, but also
the type of people you need to have around you, right,
I think more than trying to be like work life balance,
I'm gonna work from eight to six and then from
six PM's family time. I think the hard part about
that is and I try to do that, but the
hard part about that is when your creative inspiration strikes
(35:27):
you at any time, and creativity or that spark is
fleeting at the end of the day, so you have
to kind of ride the wave as it comes, right
and if you miss the wave, you potentially just missed
out on your next great idea, right, like, hypothetically, if
that producer didn't go to the studio, he may have
never produced that be or at least not produced it
to the way that it was, because it would have
(35:47):
been as inspired, and he might have missed out on
the biggest opportunity of his entire career.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
And that's a shit that sticks with me, and I
think a lot of creatives. Is when I get that spark,
that idea a for my soul, I have to just
I have to like vomit it out of my out
of my system in order to feel like a normal person,
because if not, I'm fucking anxious and it's all that
I could think about. And on the flip side of it,
it's like, what if this is the idea I've been
waiting on, right, I've been obsessed with the idea of
(36:12):
like clarity to get the download from God essentially right,
the universe, whatever you want to replace that with. But
in the moments where I don't know what's next, I'm like,
all right, just keep creating clarity your mind, Keep creating
clarity in your mind. Eventually you will receive the download
from the universe or from God. And when you receive it,
you got to fucking go one hundred miles an hour
at it, right, because that's your moment. And that's why
(36:35):
I think work life bounce in traditional sense is really difficult.
And when I was sort of getting at with like
that producer and his girl, he's lucky that he has
a partner who understands that and is and you know,
I'm sure she wasn't the happiest about it, but was like,
you know what, I get it, Go do your thing.
I know you're gonna make it up to me, and
I'm sure he did when them checks started rolling in.
But I think it's like, instead of trying to eliminate
(37:00):
the chaos from your life as a creative, as an entrepreneur,
as somebody who wants something outside of the norm, the
cast is a way of life and you have to
embrace it. And in fact, if you're honest with yourself,
a part of you probably thrives off of it a bit. Right,
control chaos, not complete chasts, but controlled chaos. And as
it's sort of saying, it's like it's within the chaos
(37:23):
there exists a sort of evenness, a predictable up and down, right,
So it's almost saying the up and down accepting it
as a part of life, as a way of life,
rather than trying to like, you know, control it too
much and to sort of make it a nine to five,
because it's not a nine to five. Nine to five,
you cantroll up to the office and just fucking like
(37:45):
blank stare your way to the end of the day. Right,
everything's on the back burner and you just basically fucking
do whatever you have to do.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
To get get it done.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
When it comes to a creative project that requires a
flow state, that requires you getting lost in it, that
requires you just tapping into something of worldly, it's a
download that you're receiving from something that is not of
this world. And for us to dream of something outside
of the norm creativity, entrepreneur wise, whatever it might be,
that idea of work life balance may not be a
(38:13):
real thing.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Now.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Can you find balance within the chaos, Absolutely, but it
has to be like a flexible sort of balance, I think.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I just wanted to share that I just found this
article interesting for me selfishly, but be I think it
would probably resonate for a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
Who are.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Maybe trying to build something or have built something and
you're just trying to make sense of it all and
like organize it right.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
And I think I want.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
To let you know that it's okay to sort of
feel like it's never gonna be organized or it's always
gonna be slightly chaotic.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
I just think that's.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
The the norm of being a creative, of doing something
outside of the norm of not just having your standard nine.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
To five job. It's going to be a bit of chaos.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
And until you're probably ridiculously successful to the point where
if you want to, you to stop working completely. Until
you're at that point, it's probably gonna be incredibly difficult
to have a very rigid structure to your day and
(39:25):
your life. It's gonna have to sort of be go
with the flow, be like water type of thing, right,
and everybody around you is gonna have to kind of
understand that's part of your process, your lifestyle, what gets
you going and what makes you you. And I just
think that that's an interesting conversation that maybe it's not
spoken about enough. We talk about the idea of chasing
(39:45):
your dream, so I wanted to share that. Now, with
that said, let's get into some positivity in Army Head
the segments. But first we'll take a quick break and
then we'll be right back, all right. So I want
(40:07):
to pick this touch on somebody from our community, a
legend that is finally being honored. Unfortunately they're no longer
with us, but the legend that is Jenny Hiveda will
actually be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The unfortunate man. I was just reading this, I didn't
realize how young she was. So she's a Mexican American singer.
Some people know her as La Viva de Labanda, and
(40:31):
she died in twenty twelve at the age of forty three.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
She was so young on a plane crash.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
And she is somebody who's known for sort of changing
the game as far as like regional Mexican music goes
the genre, being a woman in it, and really being
an inspiration I think for a lot of a lot
of people in the community. And she's now going to
be getting her her Walk of Fame star in Hollywood,
(41:01):
which is absoutly amazing. So it's happening on June twenty
seventh in front of Capitol Records on Bayn Streets and.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Were Children Cheeky's who actually has a show here.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
On the Michael Didda podcast network, and there are other
kids Jackie, Michael, Johnny and Jennico will accept the star
on their mother's behalf. I don't know, man, I think listen,
I think I'm as the person who's like, I don't know,
I don't need this, doesn't even need this explanation. But like,
(41:36):
I'MO is the person who's like, who cares about these
accolades and things like that. But again, in our community,
our culture, traditionally, we haven't been the ones being presented
with these sort of accolades, right, these mainstream accolades. So
I think whenever it happens, you have to stop and
pause for a second and recognize how important that that
(41:56):
moment is, right, that representation that's happening. Know, I think
to myself, what happens when a young Mexican girl or
Latina in general, or somebody of color walks by that
star and sees the last name Riveta on there?
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Right? To me, that's an inspiration of somebody who shares
in a similar lineage to me was able to make
it to this point. Why can't that also be me?
And for me in my times of doubt and just.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
Struggles, often that's sort of been what I've needed to
keep on going, to keep on pushing it to it
would just look to somebody and see their journey, relate
to them in some sort of way, and recognize that
if it could happen for them, it could definitely happen
for me. So I think that's why moments like this
are so incredibly important and beautiful to see, and people
(42:55):
like her need to be celebrated, and it's just a
beautiful thing. And that's why I wanted to kind of
just stop for a moment and honor that, honor her
legacy and the inspiration that she continues to be uh
man more than ten.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Years after her passing. So just amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
So big congrats to the legend that is Jenny Hiveda
and her entire family who are going to be able
to honor their their mother. And I didn't even realize
doing twenty seventh is today so really just beautiful to see. Now,
with that said, this type of thing we talked about
today in a neat little bow in a segment we
call conclusion. Stew time for conclusion, all right, I'll keep
(43:42):
it short and sweet. Guns being recognized as a public
health issue in this country. No shocker there mental and
physical health related right, and as that's happening, ironically, but
also just like another day in America, another perfect, like
almost dark, humorous day in America. On the other side
(44:05):
of that, Republicans basically trying to make it easier for
people to get guns and to not have background checks,
and to not fund the proper agencies who are trying
to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
And it just sort of speaks again to how fucked
up the ideology is in this country and why it's
so important for us to vote come November. The debate
(44:27):
is happening tonight between Trump and Biden, the first one,
I mean, just these are real, you know, things that
are on the line here are our safety, our quality
of life here in this country. And I know somebody
like Biden has been perfect, but his party also isn't
trying to put weapons in the hands of people who
potentially could take the life of somebody that you know,
just saying now Puerto Rico is suing former officials.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
A beautiful maybe starting.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
Point is what I'm hoping for us to get our
house in order so that we can progress. The beautiful
island of Puerto Rico into becoming the independent country that
deserves to be and providing an amazing quality of life.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
For everybody that lives there.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
But these are the you know, starting places that we
need to happen, where we hold people accountable, where we
create a precedent and say this will no longer be tolerated.
Corruption will no longer be tolerated. You will be held
accountable to the full extend the law, jail time, all
the money that you possibly have, We will go after
it if you decide to take advantage of the people.
Speaker 1 (45:26):
And this needs to be the standard that happens.
Speaker 2 (45:28):
And I hope we see more and more lawsuits like
this one, you know, protecting the people and holding those
accountable who think they are above you know, doing right
by those who put them in office. The show The Bear,
which is not hoblu now highly recommend season three. I
haven't started watching it yet. That might be my weekend thing.
But I just think interestant conversation about work life balance,
(45:51):
the difficulty of it, the elusiveness of it, especially if
you are somebody who's trying to do something outside the norm.
I think also maybe hopefully recognizing how difficult that is
and maybe impossible it is, and how there's not something
wrong with you that you like, are so passionate about
wanting to do something and you sacrifice a lot to
do it. You know, this is the struggle of being
(46:12):
a creative and you're not alone in it, you know,
And you just have to do your best to mold
life in a way that makes sense and maybe gives
you the best opportunity to express your creative needs, right,
because it really is a need for us. This isn't
just like look at me type of stuff. If you're
a real creative, you have to It's like something inside
of you. It's like you have to just get it
(46:34):
out of your system, get it out of your mind, right,
And if you don't, you're not yourself right, You're like
a shell of yourself. So hopefully that conversation maybe puts
some people at ease around not bidding.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yourself up so much if you're devoting a lot.
Speaker 2 (46:46):
Of time to a particular project, or maybe opening yourself
up to having conversations with those around you about how
you can create a lifestyle that makes you know them
happy and feel like they're engaged and you're being a
part of of your relationship, your family, whatever it might be,
but also still serving you know, your inherent need to
(47:06):
create and to do the things that you're passionate about.
And then also lastly, big shots of the legend that
is Jenny Veda getting her Hollywood the star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, obviously much deserved, just a legend
in our community and an inspiration to let people know,
you know, no matter where you came from, matter what
your last name is, your background, you two can achieve
(47:28):
great things and make your dreams come true. So congrats
to her and her family for this moment of celebrating
her life and her career, and it just, you know,
is a testament to the inspiration that we all can
be via the work that we leave behind even after
we're gana. I think that's a beautiful thing. Now, that said,
thank y'all so much for tuning in. No shows next week.
(47:52):
I'm taking off next week for July fourth, so no podcast,
but we will be returning the second week of a Lie,
which will be the tenth, So man, the tenth, no
the eighth. Sorry I'm looking at June's calendar, but yeah,
im gonna take off next week for July fourth, and
just allow myself to relax a little bit and just
(48:13):
catch up on some stuff and maybe enjoy some barbecuing
in my backyard. That's the goal. So we'll be back
on July eighth. Everybody, have an amazing weekend, have an
amazing July fourth holiday. I know all the conversations in
our country makes it kind of tough to be super
patriotic these days.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
For many of us. But still, you know, a beautiful
place that has a lot of potential and hopefully you
get to spend some time with your loved ones and
you know, just break up the monotony of everyday life
with the holiday.
Speaker 2 (48:44):
But they said, I will catch you next time. Until
then a week and a half. Basically, be safe and
I will talk to you soon. Life as a Grego
is a production of the micro Thura podcast network and
I Heart Radio.
Host
DJ Dramos
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