Episode 434
with Jose Antonio Vargas, Danez Smith, and Angelica Garcia
Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share their most effective coping mechanisms during stressful times; journalist and activist Jose Antonio Vargas recounts coming out as an undocumented immigrant with the publication of his memoir "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen;" poet Danez Smith praises personal heroes in their poem “My President;” and singer-songwriter Angelica Garcia performs the one-woman version of her song "It Don't Hinder Me."
Jose Antonio Vargas
Immigration activist, journalist & author
Jose Antonio Vargas is making waves as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, and human rights activist. Born in the Philippines, Vargas moved to the US at the age of 12 and revealed his status as an undocumented immigrant in The New York Times Magazine in 2011. That experience and essay is the foundation of his new book, “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen.” In addition, Vargas somehow has time to be the founder and CEO of Define America, the nation’s leading non-profit media organization that fights anti-immigrant hate through storytelling. Get on board, because we want to ride the waves of change that Vargas is pushing to create. Website • Twitter
Danez Smith
Poet and Performer
Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of "Don’t Call Us Dead", winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award, and "[insert] boy", winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. They are a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness. Danez’s third collection, “Homie”, was published by Graywolf in Spring 2020. Website • Twitter
Angelica Garcia
Indie Pop Singer-Songwriter
Angelica Garcia is proud to show off her roots. With Mexican and Salvadoran connections outside of Los Angeles, Garcia has spent the last several years creating a second family for herself within the welcoming community of Richmond, VA. She’s released two new songs with Richmond-based label Spacebomb Records: “It Doesn’t Hinder Me,” a song about pride in her background that combines pop and Southern rock, and “Karma the Knife,” a Reaggeaton-meets-dance hall anthem. Garcia’s indie pop music creates her own version of cool by weaving her personal experiences into her infectious sound. With new music coming in 2020, Angelica Garcia is an artist who knows who she is and where she came from – and we’re excited to go wherever she takes us next. Website • Twitter • Spotify
