EPISODE · Jan 23, 2021 · 31 MIN
Go Down to Miami
from ¡Ay, Jorge! · host Jorge Navarro
My mom moved to Miami in 1962. She had landed at NYC's LaGuardia Airport 3 years prior and lived in NYC and then Naples, FL, before settling and living in Miami for the next 34 years. Who knew how much would or could change in that time; how many waves of immigrants -- Cuban, Nicaraguan, Colombian, Haitian, et al - how much cocaine and power and blood would flow through the streets of a city now poised to become a haven for Wall Streeters and fintech start-ups (joining the Trumps and their ilk). Listen as Rita recounts her journey, my father- and godfather's start as merchant marines, and some CIA black ops alongside Miami's transformation from sleepy snow bird town to full-blown tropical metropolis. AND, of course, as she makes a difficult choice between young John F. Kennedy (who may or may not have an STD) or a young, beardless Fidel Castro (insistent upon wearing a baseball uniform while engaging in, um, 'the act') in this week's "Who would you make a baby with?" segment. Enjoy! Featured Cuban Cowboys' Song: Rococo People "Miami came of age along with me. City of my birth shaken from its sleep by my loud-ass Cuban family; by waves of exiliados and refugees whose flotillas bloodied the vanilla of a place so close to my mami's island home that Havana got itself a front row seat to a wannabe version of The Fall of Rome, OUR wannabe version of The Fall of Rome."
What this episode covers
My mom moved to Miami in 1962. She had landed at NYC's LaGuardia Airport 3 years prior and lived in NYC and then Naples, FL, before settling and living in Miami for the next 34 years. Who knew how much would or could change in that time; how many waves of immigrants -- Cuban, Nicaraguan, Colombian, Haitian, et al - how much cocaine and power and blood would flow through the streets of a city now poised to become a haven for Wall Streeters and fintech start-ups (joining the Trumps and their ilk). Listen as Rita recounts her journey, my father- and godfather's start as merchant marines, and some CIA black ops alongside Miami's transformation from sleepy snow bird town to full-blown tropical metropolis. AND, of course, as she makes a difficult choice between young John F. Kennedy (who may or may not have an STD) or a young, beardless Fidel Castro (insistent upon wearing a baseball uniform while engaging in, um, 'the act') in this week's "Who would you make a baby with?" segment. Enjoy! Featured Cuban Cowboys' Song: Rococo People "Miami came of age along with me. City of my birth shaken from its sleep by my loud-ass Cuban family; by waves of exiliados and refugees whose flotillas bloodied the vanilla of a place so close to my mami's island home that Havana got itself a front row seat to a wannabe version of The Fall of Rome, OUR wannabe version of The Fall of Rome."
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Go Down to Miami
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