Episode 68: Chicago’s Puerto Rican Fest & Creating Community Events for Us, By Us
The Puerto Rican Festival begins today through September 26! It’s been going strong for 39 years, but was once at risk of not happening in 2019 due to the unethical stewardship of the committee in charge at the time that ended in the organization filing bankruptcy. The group of community leaders we have on today’s show actually stepped up during that time to organize the fest successfully within less than 2 months.
They had to be scrappy then and they needed to be scrappy this year, not just because of the pandemic, but because they are starting from square one. They're showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, so we're happy to welcome them to the show to talk about how they are elevating the experience for festival gowers compared to previous years, what you should keep in mind if you want to start a community event of your own for your neighborhood, and their thoughts on what it means to be Puerto Rican.
Episode 22: Jaiku Neoj + Somos Arte
Sabrina Alicea returns to talk about Somos Arte and the beginning of the road to the Puerto Rican Festival in Chicago. We also welcome Jaiku Neoj to the show. She is a Trans Afro-Taína poet and visual artist here in Chicago. We’re going to talk about her experience speaking at the Protagonistas series, what it’s like to share her story, self-love, Trans Chicago and a bunch more.
Episode 19: Creator of Shop La Maestra & CPS Teacher, Sabrina Alicea
On this week’s episode of the Paseo Podcast, I am joined by Sabrina Alicea. She is the creator of Shop La Maestra, is a 7th grade Chicago Public School Teacher, Member of the Chicago Teachers Union Local 1, and a Chicago Boricua with an Ivy League master's degree.
We are going to talk about Sabrina’s Shop La Maestra brand, life as a POC at Harvard University, the realities of being a Chicago Public School Teacher, the recent CTU strike and a whole lot more.