SANTES - a podcast for future trans and queer ancestors.

StormMiguel Florez, Luna Merbruja
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Arts
  • Monthly

Hosts Luna Merbruja and StormMiguel Florez canonize and chat with trans and queer BIPOC artists and activists about ancestor work, and how the living may conjure us when we become ancestors.

Episodes

  1. Nov 2

    Luna Merbruja - the Patron Saint of Love and Sl*ttery and StormMiguel Florez - the Patron Saint of Artistic Prosperity and Talking It Out

    Welcome back everyone to Season 2 of SANTES!   This season we're kicking it off for Dias de los Muertos with your hosts Luna Merbruja and StormMiguel Florez! In this episode we honor a few recent ancestors, share about our experience attending a sacred ceremony together, and explore how we want to be remembered as saints (spoiler: we're not holy about it!)   Check us out wherever you listen to podcasts!   🕯️   ​Luna Merbruja (they/them) is a Mexican & Athabaskan artist based in Seattle, originally from San Jose, California. They are the author of Trauma Queen, THE HEX, and were a Lambda Literary Finalist for Heal Your Love. They have been published in Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic, The Resilience Anthology, the 2nd edition of Colonize This!, and more. They are a playwright of DEVOTED (2022), Our Wish (2026), and co-wrote and co-directed Transmutation: A Ceremony with Mirror Memoirs (2021-2025).   ​StormMiguel Florez (he/him/elle) is a trans, queer Chicane filmmaker, whose work includes the documentaries and narrative films: The Whistle (Producer/Director), MAJOR! (Editor/Co-Producer 2015), Vulveeta (Producer, Co-Editor, Actor). He is also an event and media producer, actor, and life-long musician. He's originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, which he very much considers to be his homeland, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 30 years.   Photo of Luna and StormMiguel by Karen Santos of Altura Studio @karen__santos on Instagram   ♥️ Listen and subscribe! ♥️ Available wherever you listen to podcasts, or Check out our website and listen there: www.santesproject.com/podcast **Accessible Transcript available on our podcast webpage

  2. Jun 16

    Talia Estrada Holguin - The Patron Saint of Indigenous Childcare (and Giggling)

    Welcome to episode 7 of the SANTES Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Talia Estrada Holguin about the mystery in their family history, the importance of indigenous plants, and the native way of raising children. (It's also their birthday today, so join us in wishing them a happy birthday!!) Talia Estrada Holguin comes from a family of Tongva and Mexican medicine women, artists, inventors, and teachers. Born in Hayward, they have been teaching in Oakland for over 10 years, and are a huge child development nerd. Talia's currently a library school student, a lover of karaoke, and loves to learn languages while being fluent in nothing. They are a rogue California native plants planter and it's their mission to rebel against ambition while promoting you to visit your local library. You can follow them on IG at @mwaarlight. Listen and subscribe! ♥️ Available wherever you listen to podcasts, or Check out our website and listen there: www.santesproject.com/podcast

  3. Apr 13

    Lazarus Letcher - The Patron Saint of Fierce Protection and Respite

    Welcome to episode 6 of the SANTES Podcast! We are excited to share our conversation with Lazarus Letcher where they discuss the current erasure of trans history, how house decor turned out to be protective wards, and an ancestor story involving a horseback break for freedom.  Lazarus Nance Letcher is an artist and writer from the Midwest, now living on the ancestral and unceded Tiwa land in New Mexico. Lazarus is a string instrument player, primarily playing the viola, and a singer-songwriter. They are also a Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies with a focus on Black and Indigenous liberation and queer and trans studies. To learn more about their work check out their website at https://www.lazarusletcher.com/, follow their band Eileen and the In-Betweens on Instagram @eileenandtheinbetweens, and check out the exhibit Stages of Tectonic Blackness, "Return to Blackdom" playing at the Tacoma Art Museum through March 2027 - https://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/exhibit/blackness-is/ Listen and subscribe! ♥️ Available wherever you listen to podcasts, or Check out our website and listen there: www.santesproject.com/podcast

  4. Mar 9

    Tina Valentin Aguirre of Inspirational Spark

    Cheers to episode 5 of the SANTES Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Tina Valentin Aguirre about queer history in San Francisco in the Mission and Castro districts, as well as their deep love and adoration for Teresita La Campesina. Tina Valentin Aguirre is a pillar in the San Francisco Bay Area arts community. They moved to the Bay Area for college in 1986 where they found a vibrant queer Latinx community mobilizing against AIDS. Tina is also a published poet, arts curator, serves as the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District Director, and has also served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the GLBT Historical Society. You can follow Tina's work on Instagram @tinalatinasf or on Facebook at Tina V. Aguirre. Don't forget to check out their exhibit "Conjuring Power: Queer and Trans Movements Roots and Futures" at YBCA on display March 13 - August 23, 2026! Listen and subscribe! ♥️ Available wherever you listen to podcasts, or Check out our website and listen there: www.santesproject.com/podcast **Accessible Transcript available on our podcast webpage

  5. Feb 16

    Gerard Miller - The Patron Saint of Spiritual Reflection

    We hope you're ready for episode 4 of the SANTES Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Gerard Miller about recovering lineages of ancestry, when to call upon ancestors, and how to reconnect for folks who have had their ancestors taken from them. Gerard Miller is a Black, non-binary, queer community educator & aspiring Ancestor, as well as a co-founder and member of the Seattle Hoodoo Society. They are a child of Baltimore with deep roots in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and northern North Carolina, on a journey to reclaim their legacy as a Sacred Other. Working with plant medicine, birthwork, movement, and storykeeping/-telling; they hope to integrate the parts of the 7-pointed star: the World Above, the World Beneath, the World Around Us, and the World Within. You can follow their work on their website www.altaredroots.com or on social media on Facebook/Instagram @altared.roots **Accessible Transcript available on our podcast webpage

  6. Jan 19

    Joss Barton - The Patron Saint of Filthy Queer Joy

    Welcome to episode 3 of the SANTES Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Joss Barton about her ancestor Patrick Haggerty of Lavender Country, the divine dance floor, and how to invoke her when she becomes a future ancestor. *We recorded this episode in October of 2025. Joss Barton is a writer, journalist, and spoken word performance artist exploring and documenting queer and trans* life, love, and liberation. Her work blends femme-fever dreams over the soundtrack of the American nightmare. You can check out her work on IG @ganjacum_ Her next book of poetry Goodbye to a Dream Believed! will be published by FuturePoem by Fall of 2026. Listen and subscribe! ♥️ Spotify: bit.ly/SantesSpotify Apple Podcast: bit.ly/SantesApplePod Or just go to our website and listen there: www.santesproject.com/podcast (Accessible Transcript available on our podcast webpage)

  7. 12/08/2025

    Roberto Fatal: The Patron Saint of Spiritual Artistry

    In our second SANTES episode, we have a lively conversation with filmmaker Roberto Fatal talking about honoring our indigenous roots, reclaiming memory, and the power of dreaming and creativity. Roberto Fatal is a Meztize Chicana filmmaker and storyteller. Their Queer, gender fluid, Mestize/Mixed identity informs the sci-fi films they make and their work centers on humans who sit at the intersections of time, space, and culture. You can follow their work on IG @roberto_fatal, their writings on Substack @Roberto_Fatal, and check out their films on their website www.robertofatal.com.

  8. 10/29/2025

    KB Boyce: The Saint of Just Keep Going

    In this episode, we talk with KB Boyce about the team of ancestors who have been guiding and protecting KB and how this beautiful elder continues to pay it forward. KB Boyce is the Co-Founder, Co- Director of Queer Rebel Productions.   Transcript available at https://www.santesproject.com/podcast  Closed Captioned version available at https://www.youtube.com/@santesproject

  9. 10/22/2025

    Welcome to SANTES

    Hosts Luna Merbruja and StormMiguel Florez canonize and chat with trans and queer BIPOC artists and activists about ancestor work, and how the living may conjure us when we become ancestors.

  • 9 Episodes

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About

Hosts Luna Merbruja and StormMiguel Florez canonize and chat with trans and queer BIPOC artists and activists about ancestor work, and how the living may conjure us when we become ancestors.

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