Luis J. Rodriguez

#02: Owning Your Life

Episode Summary

In Episode #02, Jef Szi welcomes poet, novelist, community activist, and admired friend Luis J. Rodriguez for a powerful look at fathers, society, and one man’s gradual yet epic arrival into healing the difficult legacies in his family.

Luis recounts his many migrations from gang-affiliated and homeless youth to how social justice, activism, literature, and black revolutionaries pulled him out of addiction and la vida loca, eventually finding a life rich with words, community, and meaning.

Listen in as Luis reflects on the currents of Black Lives Matter in light of his own experiences with social change in the 60’s. Luis also tells us the incredible story of how being honored as the poet laureate of his hometown of Los Angeles carried threads to his homeless years on the streets and the way he encourages gang-affiliated youth and prisoners he works with today to Own Their Lives. Along the way, Luis gets real about his own journey as a father and the rivers of pain and forgiveness he needed to cross in confronting his own father’s misdeeds.

Episode #02 will take your breath away because in it we find a man who is not only an important voice in the American Experience, but you will hear from the fierce heart of a man who knows pain, love, and something about the healing road. From Luis's stories as well as his courage to talk about them, he gently brings us all a little closer to home.

Links to connect more with Luis J. Rodriguez

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