Transcript for jenX: Dispatches from Life in the Middle, Episode 3

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Guest: Xelena González 

Host: Jen Hamilton Hernandez

Jen: Welcome to the jenX Show; this is Jen Hamilton Hernandez, your host on KBSR Black Sparrow Radio. How’s everyone doing on this Tuesday after Halloween? It is election day. Hope you all are voting. We’ll talk about that a little later on. But welcome and thank you for being here with me today. Before we get started I’m going to say the opinions expressed on jenX are the opinions of jenX and do not reflect the opinions of KBSR as a whole. 
So for today’s show, and this is Tuesday, November 2 if you’re relistening -- if you’re listening to the rerun of the show that’s Monday nights at 6pm, so that will be Monday, November 8. It won’t be this particular holiday anymore on Monday but you can still celebrate. For today’s show, in Mexico it’s Día de los Muertos, and in any communities in the US or anywhere around the world where there are people of Mexican descent this is being celebrated. And what I decided to do -- it was yesterday and today. So November 1 and November 2 is Día de los Muertos. It’s a two-day celebration and I asked for dedications from my listening audience for Día de los Muertos. And it’s a festive holiday. It’s not just somber. In English it’s Day of the Dead. 

I asked for dedications for songs for people that we are missing and wanting to celebrate. I also found and I linked on my Instagram on the stories -- actually I didn’t link it but I kind of screenshotted it -- there’s this article from NPR called Why Marigolds or Cempasúchil Are the Iconic Flower of Día de los Muertos. So you can Google that, even just look for “why are marigolds the iconic flower of Día de los Muertos NPR” and you’ll find it. But I said in the newsletter that I sent out -- I have a Substack newsletter that I send out every Monday, where I give a preview of what the show content will be the next day. And when I sent that out yesterday I said as a white lady I only heard about Día de los Muertos for the first time when I was in high school. I took high school Spanish classes and in college I minored in Spanish. So that was the first time that I heard of Día de los Muertos, that I remember. Now, maybe it had been introduced earlier but that’s the first time that I remember. So it’s not something that we celebrated in my family. And it is something that I’ve gotten appreciation for later in life. So I’m just going to read -- this is the basics of Día de los Muertos from this NPR article that I just mentioned. 

“It’s deeply rooted in pre-Hispanic Aztec rituals tied to the goddess Mictecacihuatl, or the Lady of the Dead, who allowed spirits to travel back to earth to commune with family members. That tradition was blended with the Roman Catholic observance of All Saints Day by the Spaniards when they conquered Mexico. The celebration involves the creation of an altar with offerings that include photos of the dead, candles, bottles of mezcal and tequila, and food, sugar skulls, and the cempasúchil -- the Aztec name of the marigold flower native to Mexico. 

The fragrance of the bright orange and yellow flowers is said to lead souls from their burial place to their family homes. The cheerful hues also add to the celebratory nature of the holiday, which, although it's wrapped up in death, is not somber but festive.”1 (Romo, 2021) 

So, not somber but festive. So we’re partying on the air today. We’re having a party for the folks who have passed before us. Their lives may range in length. Maybe they passed when they were much older -- 80s, 90s. Maybe some folks passed younger in life. But the point is that we miss them and we’re going to celebrate them in one of my favorite ways to celebrate, which is by sharing music. 

So I texted friends, I Instagram storied, I reached out to other KBSR DJs, and I asked for song dedications for the dead for today. And one of them that I got is Brent Fusco, college best friend of Julie Rydell, who is a KBSR DJ. She has this wonderful garden show on Sunday mornings. I’ve talked about it before. It will help you notice everything, even if you’re not an advanced gardener. It’s for you. So Julie Rydell, KBSR DJ -- her husband had a college best friend named Brent Fusco. She mentioned him in the group text, the KBSR DJ group text when I asked for song dedications, and me being nosy and part-time reporter, part-time journalist, very part-time, I started Googling and I found out that this friend of theirs had an Everclear -- the band Everclear -- fan site in the 90s. He managed the fan site. And not having known him I can’t say much, but it sounds like he lived a vibrant and impactful life. So the song that I have for him is by Everclear, so I’ll play that for you. 

Song: “Santa Monica” by Everclear. 

Jen: Okay. Again, that was for Brent Fusco, friend of Julie Rydell and her husband. She’s a DJ on KBSR. So today is a Día de los Muertos celebration, Day of the Dead in Mexico and like I said, parts of the US and all over. And one question that comes up with Día de los Muertos or any celebration from a culture that is not your own, and like I said, I’m a white lady, married into a Hispanic family, and my son is learning Spanish at his school, which is -- it’s a dual language school. All of the kids are learning about Día de los Muertos. And that started early, I remember in preschool. He was four. He started learning about it and I told you I started learning about this holiday when I was in high school. 

So I was reading -- I try to educate myself about where is the line on cultural appropriation. When are we celebrating a holiday or any custom from another culture and when are we crossing a line a little too much. And it’s hard to tell sometimes because like I said, the younger kids are learning about the holiday. The kids at my son’s school come from all different backgrounds, different parts of the world. There are white kids there. There are kids from Spanish-speaking countries. Kids from all over the place. 

So in that NPR article that I mentioned earlier, the one about marigolds, the flower that we think of to celebrate Día de los Muertos -- and there are different views on this by the way. I’m not going to try to be the final word on what is and what is not cultural appropriation vs. celebration. But there was a quote in this story from NPR where somebody said they were “concerned about the commercialization and the borderline or sometimes outright cultural appropriation of what was once an indigenous holiday.” But she also says in this NPR story that it’s becoming “easier for younger Latinx or brown people who are first or second generation to accept their heritage and be proud.” So while growing up she and “many of her peers reject more indigenous aspects of Latino culture in an attempt to assimilate, now, she says, they are embracing it.” So she’s getting more people wanting to buy marigolds and to celebrate. And she says, “People who are not Latinx walk a fine line of cultural appropriation. It is tempting for white people to paint their faces in the style of a calavera or dress up in a Catrina costume. But that tradition doesn't belong to them no matter how cool or commercialized it gets.” (Romo, 2021) 

So again, it becomes murky and I’m just opening up that line of questioning for all of us to think about. I don’t attempt to have the final say on that at all. However, I would just encourage you if you are curious about that question to talk to different friends. As we know, Latino or any type of people are not a monolith, and so where some may say -- I spoke with my husband this morning and his line is, hey, as long as they’re not mocking people of -- Latino people, then it’s okay. It’s okay to celebrate. And I said in my newsletter yesterday that it was a celebration that appealed to me because in my house we were a little bit buttoned up about death. There was a “stiff upper lip” kind of education around death, and around being tough at people’s funerals and not crying, and having sort of a stoicism. There was also though an idea that we don’t wear black to funerals and it should be a celebration of life. 

So I got kind of the mixed bag, and I loved this idea when I learned about Día de los Muertos that we’re celebrating our dead and we’re kind of inviting them back. And that we’re putting their favorite things on an altar and playing their favorite music. And since none of us get out of here alive, wouldn’t that be nice to think that after we’ve passed we’ve got people doing that for us. So that’s my sort of -- that’s how I embrace the holiday, and like I said, also raising a kid who’s learning about things much earlier than I did. And not always from me but from his school. So we’ll talk about that a little later on, but I think if you’re not dressing up to mock people, you know -- ask yourself if that feels right or if it doesn’t and you’ll kind of know whether you’re crossing a line. 

So after the next song we are going to have a guest. My friend Xelena González is a writer, a dancer, a storyteller from San Antonio. And I’ll talk to her a little later on and we’ll talk about some of these things as well. She’s also got some Día de los Muertos poems to read for us.

But getting back to the song requests, like I said, I asked friends, I asked other KBSR DJs, what are songs that you’d like to play to celebrate your deceased relatives or friends. And Rory Smith, he’s a DJ -- his show is Story Time, which I highly recommend because you’ll -- that was when I was -- I think some of you know when I first heard about KBSR I was so excited about it that I pitched an article for Austin Monthly and I wrote. And I was deeply immersed at that time in listening to a lot of KBSR, and I still am. But Rory’s show is where I got all kinds of new-to-me music and it’s a good feel on his show. So Rory Smith, Story Time. And what he recommended, or what he asked that we play is a Ray Charles song, because he said his dad sounded like Ray Charles and his mom loved Ray Charles, so his dad would sing this song to her. So this is for Rory and his family today on Día de los Muertos. 

Song: “Drown in My Own Tears” by Ray Charles 

 Jen: All right, welcome back to jenX. Today we’re celebrating the Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, with music. Playing music for our beloved deceased friends and family. So I’m going to call my friend Xelena now. She’s in San Antonio and was just here this weekend. I’ll ask her a couple of questions about Día de los Muertos, I’ll play a song that she requested, and she has some poetry to read for us as well. One moment. We’re going to work that out. So we’re going to go ahead and call Xelena, give her a call. And here we go. 

Xelena: Hello.

Jen: Hi. How are you today? 

Xelena: I’m good, how are you? 

Jen: Doing well. So y’all, this is Xelena González. She has written picture books for children, she’s a storyteller, and she was just in Austin over the weekend. Tell us, what were you doing in Austin this weekend? 

Xelena: Oh my goodness, so much. I had a school visit. Before that I was in San Marcos at the Tomás Rivera Children’s Book Awards, and I was at the Witches Market hosted by Yarrow & Sage, selling some of my Lotería Remedios. It’s a way to re-envision the deck of the traditional lotería cards with plant and animal medicine, some affirmations and higher thoughts. 

Jen: Great, and we have one of your candles in the studio today. 

Xelena: Awesome. 

Jen: Yes, I was showing everyone. And last night you were at a Día de los Muertos celebration, right? 

Xelena: Yes, they continue. They go on and on. And yeah, I was selling the candles as well but the candles are a mix -- they’re excerpts from the Lotería Remedios, so it’s a mix of la calavera, the skull. That’s one of the cards. La muerte, the death card, is also one of them. And yeah, just a little mix from there. So people have been buying those for Day of the Dead. They purchased them a lot during, you know, in these Covid times when people couldn’t gather for funerals. So it’s a nice way of honoring the departed. 

Jen: Earlier in the show I was giving just the textbook, quick encyclopedia background of Día de los Muertos and I know -- you know my husband Vic. He did not grow up celebrating this holiday, and he’s from a Hispanic family. Nor did I, from a white family. And I learned about Día de los Muertos in high school Spanish class. I was wondering, when did you -- what are your early memories of celebrating Día de los Muertos? 

Xelena: That’s a great question. So I’m here from the West Side in San Antonio, and it’s a very -- it’s an economically impoverished neighborhood but it’s culturally just super-rich and wealthy. And so because of the neighborhood I grew up in, I grew up seeing people in the cemetery with the cempasúchil -- the marigold flowers -- mariachis, the food, the candles. That was a big part of the tradition growing up here on the West Side. And it used to be that you could be in the cemetery all night for those couple of days and people would vend the flowers on the corner. It’s changed obviously, for all kinds of reasons. But my father was heavily involved in the cultural arts and he founded Centro Cultural Aztlan, which was our first cultural arts organization here in San Antonio, that started around the time of -- anyways, of Guadalupe. But point is, they had a Day of the Dead celebration. They had Día de los Muertos. 

And so I didn’t know until college that not everybody knew about this. You know what I mean? Because it was my favorite time of the year. Because you’ve got Halloween, and then it got really good. Then it was like two days of champurrado and tamales and pan de muerto and people reading these hilarious poems and dancing and wearing calavera, wearing skulls. And really having this playfulness about death and it was my favorite holiday, always. So it wasn’t until I got to college that I realized this wasn’t a known thing, and we were encouraged in the dorm that I lived in to give presentations about our culture. So I’ve always been really passionate about sharing that experience and sharing what I know of the custom and traditions with other people. 

And so I love that it’s -- of course there’s a downside to things being mainstream, but I think it’s a really beautiful contribution of the Mexican culture to the rest of the world to have this familiarity, this comfort, this playfulness with death. Because it’s the one thing that unites us. We’re all going to be there, you know what I mean? And it’s a very unhealthy thing that we try so hard to outrun it and avoid it, and you know -- like, fear it. So I love that people are getting in touch with the essence of that holiday and the spirit behind it, which is that connectedness. I write about it a lot, even in my books for kids. I think it’s important to connect with. 

Jen: What did you say over the weekend? You had a kid that asked a question at one of your school presentations. 

Xelena: Oh, yeah. So there’s this ongoing joke that I have with Adriana. Adriana Garcia is the woman who illustrated my first picture book and she’s illustrating our next two picture books. And so there’s a light reference to death in the first picture book, and then the third one is actually about Día de los Muertos. Anyway, so Adriana often jokes like, “Hi, my name is Xelena and I write about death.” [Laughs] And it’s true because we’ve toured the book all over the country, the picture book All Around Us. And some kids get it. Like if they’re older they catch the death reference and we’ll get that question. We’ve gotten it in various states where some kid will say, “Why do you write about death?” And it’s so interesting when they ask because the kids move in like the water onto the shore. They just sort of move in. Because before Covid they would pack these kids into the cafeteria and the library. And they were always so interested, Jen, like when somebody would inevitably ask that question they would peek over their shoulders, like at the parents or the teachers or whoever was in the back of the room standing, because they sort of knew their guardians, their whatever -- that they weren’t supposed to talk about death. But kids are very curious about it because they’re curious about anything that’s supposed to be taboo, right? But it’s around them. Their pets die. Their family dies. They’re going to die. So they want someone to talk to them about it, you know? 

And of course you have to be careful as a visiting guest but that’s why that work of art is now in their hands, so that they can connect with the visual art that Adriana has so stunningly shared with them and the words that I’ve shared with them, which I do believe is for any age even though it’s in a picture book. So, yeah. 

Jen: And you said you’re glad that this is more mainstream. The movie Coco came out a few years ago, the Disney Pixar film. And so it’s out. It’s more mainstream now. I was earlier talking about that line and I was talking to Vic, my husband, this morning about the line. Sometimes white people will take it too far and no one person is going to have the same opinion about this, but for you is there a line there? 

Xelena: You know, I tend to -- I feel like as people of color we’re sort of all expected to have the same uniform answer and you’re right, there’s not. There’s not one answer. As I expressed a little bit ago, I was very happy to share this with my friends who were from India and Turkey and Africa. It was a multicultural dorm, an international dorm. And I loved that. I loved sharing this piece of our culture. Again, I like that I can reference Coco more easily in my author visits because it’s just now a cultural reference point, right? So there’s an ease in that. 

I also like that -- and I know there was some back-and-forth, a lot of behind the scenes thing behind it -- but Disney made a very concerted effort to hire people of the culture, people of the background, as consultants. There were people who got paid of the culture to be involved in this film. I don’t know how well that went in the end, but I know some artists who were involved and who were able to benefit. And they were in turn able to benefit from their expertise. So that I feel is important. I don’t think -- to me cultural appropriation is like someone outside of the culture making all this money and hoopla off of something that’s not really theirs. People at Muertos Fest, something that happened in our city recently, of all different backgrounds celebrating, painting their -- I think it’s a beautiful thing. I think if it’s done respectfully there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s how I feel personally, because I do think that tradition is so important, right? The feeling behind it, the sentiment behind it. 

Jen: Well, I want to hear your Día de los Muertos poems and also play this song that you requested. Before we get to that, before I forget, how can listeners find you online? Where can they find you if they wanted to learn more about your books and appearances and things like that? 

Xelena: Thank you. Okay, well, I would love to give you my website but I don’t have -- [laughs] it’s not done yet. But for now I’m on Instagram at xfactor.live and I’m on Facebook -- Xelena González, González with a Z at the end. It’s an unusual name so it’s not hard to find. Xelena spelled with an X. So that’s the best way to find me for now. And the poem that I’m going to share with you is actually part of the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center. They have some Día de los Muertos programming happening online all week, so people can check that out as well. They have it on their YouTube channel. And they asked me to share some of my work, so I shared with them some of the remedios. That’s like part of the candle and the book. And also a calavera poem which is a little bit more humorous and biting. So you can tell me, Jen, what you think your listeners would like. 

Jen: I think humorous sounds -- humorous and biting. I like it. Let’s do that. 

Xelena: Okay, cool. Should I share that now then? 

Jen: Yes. 

Xelena: Okay. I will preface this by saying this is a big part of some Día de los Muertos celebrations as well. What a calavera is, is it’s in the tradition of José-Guadalupe Posada. So Posada was a printer. He’s lithograph. But with his poems, with his calavera poems and the pictures, he would -- they would poke fun at our leaders, especially the ones who weren’t serving the people, right? 

Jen: Love it. 

Xelena: So that’s the tradition. And you envision their death. You envision a funny way of them dying. And they’re supposed to be gacho. They’re supposed to be kind of effed up. So I’m just saying that so people don’t get mad at me, okay? [Laughs]

Jen: Yes, yes. I love it. 

Xelena: All right. So here’s my poem called Governor Abbott at the Rio Grande.

Xelena reads Governor Abbott at the Rio Grande.

Jen: [Snaps fingers]

Xelena: That’s the calavera. 

Jen: I’m snapping. 

Xelena: [Laughs] Good, I hope your readers -- your readers -- your listeners are too. 

Jen: Thank you so much for being here with me today. Y’all, this is Xelena González and I am going to let you go and we’ll talk sometime soon, I’m sure.
Xelena: I would love that. 

Jen: Yeah, I’ll let you go and I’m going to play -- did you want to say anything about this song that you requested? 

Xelena: “La Rama de Mezquite” is a fu -- ooh, I almost cussed. I almost dropped the F-bomb on your show. [Laughter]

Jen: It’s okay. 

Xelena: It’s a fantastic song from this particular region of our country, and it’s a little dedication to Manuel Diosdado, to Maria Ibarra, to Shimi, to a lot of the artists that we’ve lost here in our cultural art scene, especially this year. Thank you for playing it, Jen, and thanks for having me on your show. 

Jen: Yeah, thank you. We’ll talk soon. Bye, Xelena. 

Xelena: Bye. 

Song: “La Rama de Mezquite” by Ramón Ayala Y Sus Bravos Del Norte

Jen: All right, y’all -- welcome back to jenX: Dispatches from Life in the Middle on KBSR, Black Sparrow Radio, broadcasting live from Taylor, Texas. So just now before the song I had a guest, Xelena González -- Xelena with an X, González with a Z on the end -- and she mentioned where you can find -- if you Google her, if you look up All Around Us is the storybook -- the picture book that we were talking about earlier. And she was just in Austin last week doing a school presentation with that book. I happened to be there. It was awesome. And lots of other things. So if you liked what you heard there and how could you not, especially the Greg Abbott poem, go follow her. Go find her online and follow her. She’s got more. She’s not done. She’s got a whole lot more stuff coming out that she can’t talk about yet but it’s going to be good. 

Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, we are having a hopefully fun, festive celebration of our dearly departed. And I’ll play some more songs but first I just wanted to say, if you haven’t already I hope that you’re considering becoming a KBSR Patreon member. KBSR is an independent and free digital radio station funded by listener support on Patreon. You can become a member for as low as $5/month by visiting our Patreon page. That’s Black Sparrow Radio if you search on Patreon. Or you can find us at blacksparrowmusicparlor.com. With membership you get a newsletter each month, and a discount on cool KBSR merch -- t-shirts and whatnot. And you’ll also sometimes get little goodies in the mail. Shannon, our station founder, likes to send out little goodies. She was just telling me about a mailout she’s going to do soon, where it’s a good mail day. You get some surprise mail from your DJs here at KBSR. So I hope you can find us on Patreon and become a member for $5/month.

Now I’m going to do -- we’re a little past midway of the show. I’m going to do a t-shirt giveaway. Those of you who’ve gotten t-shirts on the past shows -- this is my third show -- we are ordering more. I will be sending them. It’s a real thing. You’re getting a t-shirt still. Scott and Rachel were our winners from weeks one -- Scott was a week one winner; Rachel was week two. For week three send me an email -- jenxkbsr@gmail.com. Let me know your t-shirt size. They’re very soft and snuggly. T-shirt size and also where can I send it to you, your physical address. And I’ll get a t-shirt in the mail to you once we get our shipment. 

Back to Día de los Muertos. So somebody I miss and I celebrate all the time, just basically anytime I have a margarita I’m celebrating my grandmother June Gueringer. I call her my fairy grandmother. She paid for my college education, a huge gift. Besides that she was just a baddie, as the kids say. She was so cool. There are people who were not her grandchild who love her, miss her. She was a lot of fun. When we were going through her room and getting her things and clearing all of that out after she passed -- actually October 27 is when she passed, so around this time. And when we were looking through her things, just more confirmation that she was a hip lady, I found an Arcade Fire EP album. I found UB40 in there. And I know she liked to jam out to “Red Red Wine” because she liked to have a nightly glass of wine and sometimes would try to get me to do it. “Would you like some wine? Are you sure?” So this is for June Gueringer. She was also an educator and just all around badass. I miss her and I want to celebrate her. I’ll celebrate at some point in this week with a margarita. That was one of her favorites. But we’ll do some UB40 for my grandma June. 

Song: “Red Red Wine” by UB40

Jen: All right, welcome back to jenX on KBSR. We’re celebrating the dead today. It’s Day of the Dead so we’re playing songs and having a party, and I don’t know what the rules are at your house on a Tuesday at noon, but I hope you’ve poured a mocktail, a cocktail, a glass of tea, mug of coffee -- whatever your schedule and lifestyle allows on a Tuesday I hope you’re doing it and celebrating with us. I’ve got one of Xelena González’s candles here in front of me, la calavera. It’s a skull. There’s a great reading on the back of it. And just getting us in the mood to celebrate and party on behalf of our dead. We don’t get out of here alive, so hopefully one day somebody will be throwing a party for all of us. That was “Red Red Wine” for my grandma, June Gueringer. 

And I have another request. I don’t know if y’all are familiar with Yolanda Nagy. She is Eatin’ & Sippin’ Locally, is her handle on Instagram (@eatin_and_sippin_locally). I found her because I love farmers markets. And I know the one that’s close to my neighborhood but I don’t know the other ones. So her Instagram page is sort of -- it’s like a newsletter all about farmers markets all over Central Texas. She interviews farmers. She is basically a journalist but on Instagram telling these stories of farmers and makers that sell their things at the farmers markets. And she also has the page on Instagram called Austin Lady Pods. It’s for Austin women podcasters and people who identify as women podcasters in Austin. So Yolanda asked me to play “Missing You” for her best friend, Charlie. 

Song: “Missing You” by John Waite

Jen: Was anybody else singing that super-loud? I had to make sure, double and triple-check my mic to make sure you couldn’t hear me singing. So y’all, this is Jen of the jenX: Dispatches from Life in the Middle show on KBSR. We are celebrating Day of the Dead today. It’s a two-day celebration, November 1st and November 2nd. If you’re hearing this on November 8, the rerun that runs on Monday nights at 6pm, hey guys -- we’re still celebrating. Which I think -- I celebrate the dead just right on in -- all year round but right on into the holiday season. I know I miss my folks as well who have passed. So we still have time. We’ve got 12 minutes left in the show. You can email me -- jenxkbsr@gmail.com. I still don’t have a t-shirt winner. I haven’t seen an email if there was one. Send me your t-shirt size and where I should send that t-shirt to. Also we have time for a couple more dedications if you’d like to send those in. Right now I’ve got one from Lawrence Welk. This is for my friend Jeff in New Mexico who requested this for his grandmother. 

Song: “The Moon Is a Silver Dollar” by Lawrence Welk

Jen: All right, welcome back y’all. It’s Day of the Dead here at KBSR and we’re celebrating people who have passed -- friends, family members, long lives, short lives. Celebration of life today on this show. So I asked there at the break for other requests and I got one from Rachel. She would like for us to play “Box of Rain” by the Grateful Dead “for my college room dog, Nick.” So let’s get that going for Nick. And we may have time for one more if y’all want to send one more my way. This is for Nick. 

Song: “Box of Rain” by The Grateful Dead. 

Jen: All right, welcome back y’all. This is jenX: Dispatches from Life in the Middle on KBSR. Today we’ve been celebrating our deceased friends and family members in the spirit of Día de los Muertos, inviting them back to party with us. So I read a bit from that NPR article, kind of like the textbook encyclopedia entry on Día de los Muertos, and it reminds me of what my Spanish teacher taught me in high school when I first heard of this holiday, that there’s mezcal, there’s tequila, there’s candy and sweets and food. So I hope that you all celebrate whoever you are missing, whether they’ve passed in the last year or much earlier than that. I hope that you’ve got some snacks and drinks and good music, and let’s kind of keep the party going all day long, just as we want people to party on our behalf after we pass. 

So I wanted to thank my guest by phone. Xelena González was on the air with me for a while today. Read a fantastic poem. I almost started busting out laughing on air. Greg Abbott death envision -- envisioning his death poem. Anyway, thank you all for being here. Up next we have at 2pm Central time Shannon and Ryan on the Mind of Dale. Then at dinner-making time Billy Gartner, The Weekly Playlist. He’s 5-7 Central time. So plenty of fantastic programming lined up for the rest of your Tuesday. I appreciate y’all being here with me. We’ll be talking about life in the middle Tuesday -- every Tuesday here at noon, with reruns Mondays at 6pm Central time. Enjoy the rest of your Día de los Muertos or if it’s November 8, the rest of your Monday, and the rest of our programming here on KBSR, where Tuesdays rock. Thanks, y’all. 

1Romo, V. (2021, October 30). Why marigolds or cempasúchil are the iconic flower of Día de los Muertos. Npr.org. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/30/1050726374/why-marigolds-or-cempasuchil-are-the-iconic-flower-of-dia-de-los-muertos