This a more playful chat about growing up on ranches in rural areas as Latinx/ Mexican Americans. The struggle of coming out without support. We discuss experiences with healers, witch doctors, medicine women, brujas, curanderas and how one was hired to help “cure” Jose of his Queerness. But, families are like that even though they have skeletons in their family closets. We ask why people don’t admit to themselves when they’re being cheated on.
We chat about Jose’s experience working with Pride Poets and the Gay Rodeo. And we look at the ethical questions of rodeos, Prison Rodeo, issues when teaching as a queer person.
We joke about animal behavior, what pets do when they’re angry, AI, Chat GBT, how going digital is changing our lives.. But also get philosophical about belonging, being in the right place, and knowing that we are not already in the right place but are this place. We are this place. We are the creators of this place.
Tune in to find out more.
We hope we leave people with more questions than answers, as we go into the New Year.
José Rios is a poet and educator living in the hills above the high desert of Palmdale, California. His poems can be found in Catamaran and the San Pedro River Review. He's been part of two exorcisms, is the longtime host of Southern California's only biweekly birdless cockfight, and is the last person to have seen the Taco Bell chihuahua alive.
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