Encuentros Latinx Podcast

Today's guest is musician La Muna. Those of you who were at General Synod may remember her song Rooted In Your Love. I got a chance to catch up with her and she shares wonderful experiences of her family’s coffee farm in Colombia, the trinitarian nature of her relationship with God, and how her activism has shaped her music. La Muna's music: https://lamuna.bandcamp.com/album/coraz-n-norte https://www.corazonnorte.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/lamunamusica Email the podcast at [email protected]. Facebook: UCC Encuentros Latinx This episode was recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.

Today's longer tostones episode is all about General Synod! Get a snapshot of our presence there and the shenanigans I got myself into.

I am very excited to bring you today’s guest, Amparo Ortiz. Amparo is the author of a young adult fantasy book called Blazewrath Games about a Puerto Rican girl who aims to play in an international competition with dragons and she ends up embroiled in an international conspiracy. The sequel, Dragonblood Ring is coming out in October, so look forward to that. In true Puerto Rican fashion, we had a very long conversation starting with memories of Old San Juan and the fanfiction she wrote about the nuns in her Catholic school, then going into how much of the real world artists should use for inspiration. If “Cat Person” means anything to you, that’s what we get into. If not, you’ll just have to find out. We also had a great discussion about religious iconography and grace and forgiveness in the age of social media. And then we brought it all home with a discussion about her current and upcoming work, and Latinx identity in Blazewrath Games. Find the most comfortable couch at your titi’s house because we are not leaving this party for a long, long while. Follow Amparo Ortiz: Twitter: @amparo_ortiz Instagram: @amparo_ortiz TikTok: @amparo_ortiz_author Buy Blazewrath Games: https://bookshop.org/books/blazewrath-games-9781662036941/9781645670797 Pre-order Dragonblood Ring: https://bookshop.org/books/dragonblood-ring/9781645673163 Email the podcast at [email protected]. Facebook: UCC Encuentros Latinx This episode was recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.

Today's guest is Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi. We have such a great conversation about biracial and biethnic experience, her work with the Colectivo de UCC Latinx Ministries, which is the umbrella collecting all Latinx ministries in the church, and toward the end we grapple with this question of what does it mean for UCC churches to be inclusive of Latinx people? It’s a nice, long episode for you this month! Attention General Synod attendees! Be sure to check out BOTH Encuentros Latinx workshops: When Privilege Enters the Room and Decolonizing Faith. Correction to one of the books mentioned: Aftershocks of Disaster: Puerto Rico Before and After the Storm Edited by Yarimar Bonilla and Marisol LeBrón Email the podcast at [email protected]. Facebook: UCC Encuentros Latinx This episode was recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.

Today’s mini-cast is pretty serious and heavy because it is the 5 year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, a tragedy at the intersection of Latinx and queer. The UCC observed this with a virtual webinar service, which you can find on their YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/lr-oGr4Qw_E

General Synod is fast approaching and Encuentros Latinx will be there! We’ll be running a couple of workshops, one of which is working through our racism toolkit and that will be facilitated by yours truly and my guest for today’s episode: Rhina Ramos! Rhina is the current president, leader, la jefa of Encuentros Latinx, the one who keeps us all organized and moving forward on all of the work this ministry does. In this episode, she shares how she has always lived into her proud immigrant identity, and details her winding faith journey. We talk about the origin and vision of Encuentros Latinx, the impact it’s had so far, and share more details about our upcoming workshops! How many UCC acronyms can we fit into a single episode? Episode recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Flores.

My guest today is Kira Ming, business owner, author, and entrepreneur. We chat about reggaeton, our different experiences not being immediately seen as Latina, and being your best self with law of attraction. Keep up with Kira here! Instagram: @therealkiraming Website: www.therealkiraming.com Kira's book Small Business, Big Success is available through Barnes and Noble and Amazon! Email the podcast at [email protected]. This episode was recorded by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.

Introducing a new, occasional segment to the Encuentros Latinx podcast! Tostones con Taylor is a brief time where I share about my own experience or provide more details about other work Encuentros Latinx is doing. So grab your tostones (literal or metaphorical) and settle in for a story! A new, regular episode of Encuentros Latinx will be posted next week. Email: [email protected] Facebook: UCC Encuentros Latinx

My guest today is one of my old critique partners from my senior seminar creative writing class in college. Poet and educator Angeley Crawford shares the rich tapestry of her Blackness rooted in Costa Rica, the Caribbean, the West Indies, and other African diaspora communities that shaped her. She also shares her experiences as an educator, what formed her as a creative writer, and other amazing projects she’s a part of. Listen to the end for some spoken word, but for now, let’s get right into this encuentro. Follow Angely on Instagram @lanegraspeaks Follow @defineblackus on Instagram "The X in Latinx is a Wound, Not a Trend" by Alan Peleaz Lopez Encuentros Latinx Podcast is hosted by Taylor Ramage and edited by Storm Miguel Florez.

My guest today is Pastor Nelson Rabell and he lays out for us the richness of what it is to be Puerto Rican, the breadth of traditions Latinx people bring to the church, and the journey of his work as an LGBTQ+ ally and anti-racist activist. Let’s get right into this encuentro. Nelson Rabell's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nelson.rabell