Episode 71: The Honeycomb Network Creates a BIPOC Collective Care Sanctuary + PC1003 Becomes Law - What That Means For Puerto Rico’s Pensions, Education & Public Services
Small Business Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Small Business Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 71: The Honeycomb Network Creates a BIPOC Collective Care Sanctuary + PC1003 Becomes Law - What That Means For Puerto Rico’s Pensions, Education & Public Services

It's a packed episode today! First, we welcome Denise Ruiz and Cristina Guitirrez to the show. They are the founders of The Honeycomb Network - a holistic co-working and co-creating collective care sanctuary centered and focused on the BIPOC community. We learn more about their organization, and we cover a lot of ground on things like knowing your worth, opening their space during the pandemic, creating spaces for people to address their generational trauma and personal healing. They also share a story of dealing with people in the neighborhood, who don’t take too kindly to what they do and their mission, which has led to the repeated vandalization of their space. 

Then we welcome returning guest, freelance journalist from Puerto Rico, Carlos Berrios Polanco, to discuss the controversial bill known as PC1003 that recently became law in Puerto Rico. It’s basically a law that takes care of La Junta and vulture capitalists and takes away from pensions, education, and public services that working people benefit from so deeply.

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Episode 70: An Offshore Dilemma: Puerto Rico & The Pandora Papers
Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 70: An Offshore Dilemma: Puerto Rico & The Pandora Papers

In a historic leak, the Pandora Papers revealed that wealthy people have billions of dollars hidden beyond reach in tax havens around the world - AND Puerto Rico banks, celebrities & more are involved. Journalist Luis Valentín has been doing some great reporting on this story for Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, so we invited him on the show to help us make sense of it all.

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Episode 60: Why Go Mainstream When You Can Breakthrough?
Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 60: Why Go Mainstream When You Can Breakthrough?

We welcome Monica Cruz. She's a labor reporter with BreakThrough News and host of the weekly podcast, On the Picket Line. She's a 3rd generation Afro-Boricua raised in New Jersey and an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. We discuss the PRO Act, a major labor legislation that could transform the lives of working class people and labor organizing, and what that means for Puerto Ricans, the wider BIPOC community and the working class as a whole.

We also talk about why it’s so hard to make a good Mofongo, where mainstream media is lacking in their reporting on labor and her labor reporting for BreakThrough news, especially what she experienced during the Amazon Warehouse unionization efforts in Alabama.

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Episode 52: Reporting on Puerto Rico w/ Nicole Acevedo from NBC News & NBC Latino
Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 52: Reporting on Puerto Rico w/ Nicole Acevedo from NBC News & NBC Latino

We welcome NBC News and NBC Latino reporter, Nicole Acevedo, to the show. In the past, Nicole has published stories for MSNBC, Telemundo 47 and NPR’s Latino USA. She’s done a lot of reporting on Puerto Rico, so we’re going to talk about her recent reporting on two opposing bills in congress that are trying to address the issue of Puerto Rico’s status, and we’ll also talk about her personal journey navigating the journalism field.

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Episode 48: Chicago’s Looming Eviction Crisis & Its Impact on the BIPOC Community
Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 48: Chicago’s Looming Eviction Crisis & Its Impact on the BIPOC Community

We welcome back to the show, City Bureau journalist, Justin Agrelo. Justin reports on housing for City Bureau and he and their housing team published a report on Chicago’s looming housing crisis. They spoke with Chicago residents facing eviction to better understand the impacts the pandemic is having on their ability to keep a roof over their heads. We’re going to talk about Chicago’s eviction crisis, who was highlighted in this piece and their testimonials and Justin will share some solutions that can help you or anyone you know who is facing eviction.

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Episode 46: Latino Rebels & Representation in Media w/ Julio Ricardo Varela
Joshua Smyser-DeLeon Joshua Smyser-DeLeon

Episode 46: Latino Rebels & Representation in Media w/ Julio Ricardo Varela

Julio Ricardo Varela joins the podcast this week. He's the founder of the independent media outlet, Latino Rebels, Co-host of the show, In The Thick, and Vice-President of New Business for Futuro Media, which produces the nationally syndicated public radio program, Latino USA. We’re going to talk about how why he founded Latino Rebels, how Latino Rebels became a part of Futuro Media, speaking truth to power as an independent journalist, the relationship between media in the Puerto Rican diaspora and media on la Isla, what both Democrats and Republicans can actually agree on when it comes to Puerto Rico, and a whole lot more.

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