We kick off season 2 by sipping on our cafecito and connecting with a couple that exemplify resiliency. So grab your cafecito and learn more about Luis Rodriguez and Trini Rodriguez, co-founders and former Executive Director of Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore (www.tiachucha.org), a cultural center/bookstore in L.A's San Fernando Valley that transforms community through ancestral knowledge, the arts, literacy and creative engagement. Luis rodriguez is the author of 16 multi-genre books, including the bestselling memoir "Always Running, La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A." He is also founding editor of Tia Chucha Press. For more than 40 years, he's taught creative writing, read poetry, lectured, and facilitated healing circles in prisons, jails, and juvenile lockups in the United States., Mexico, Central America, South America, and Europe. He's been active in Indigenous spiritual practices and teachings for around 30 years, including among the Lakota, Mexica, Dine (Navajo), Akimel O'odham. Raramuri (Tarahumara). Maya (Mexico and Guatemala). Pibil (El Salvador),.and Quechua (Peru). He's been published widely. including in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Jose Mercury. L.A. Weekly, The Nation, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine. Grand Street. American Poetry Review. Brooklyn Rail. and the Huffington Post. among others. From 2014 to 2016, he served as Los Angeles' official Poet Laureate. Trini Rodriguez (AKA Tlazohteotl) is a former bilingual educator, court interpreter, and newspaper editor, she writes, speaks and strives for personal and collective healing and systemic social change. Trini facilitates women's healing sweat lodge and healing circles in Native American and Native Mexican traditions. To connect further with this amazing couple go to their podcast "Hummingbird Cricket Hour"!
