"To me, it's not about age, it's not about race, it's not about ideology...I don't know that we have ever confronted such a dangerous time to democracy in our country. What it does say to me is that we fundamentally have to fight for democracy. And that means many different things."
Maya is a nationally renowned racial justice and equity activist and advocate. And she is no longer an optimist. But she hasn’t given up hope. She has “a passion for the possible” combined with a laser focus on fighting for our democracy. If you watch TV news, you've likely seen her share her sharp analysis on the assault against our country’s values and heard her wise counsel on priorities for collective action, including activism on the upcoming census. At 54, she has litigated, lobbied the U.S. Congress, and developed programs to transform structural racism in the U.S. and in South Africa. Maya recently served as Counsel to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, chaired the New York City Police Department’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, founded and led the Center for Social Inclusion, and is now Senior Vice President for Social Justice at the New School. Maya's guidance, struggle and compassion in these perilous times are enough to turn these Two Old Bitches into possibilists as well. And you?
"I’d be struggling to make the fabric do what I wanted and she’d say, ‘no, you have to listen to the fabric, the fabric will tell you where it wants to go.’"
Idelisse’s mom -- Emma Delfina Carattini Padro de Malavé – died at 99 on December 10, 2017. And we wanted to record this podcast as a tribute to her life, a life that spanned nearly a century. She grew up in the hills of Puerto Rico, thwarting gender stereotypes and asserting her love of freedom and beauty, and then immigrated to New York in her early 20s for work and family. Both fierce and (as Idelisse says) ‘demure’, Emma’s story is about love of family and homeland, the strategies that smart women developed to survive and thrive, and channeling talent and imagination into creating every day beauty. That creativity lives on in Ide and Emma's granddaughter, Esti. As does the determination that Ide and her daughter Esti inherited from Emma: to live life fully and with appreciation for the indescribable feeling of the morning sun, the comfort of that first cup of coffee with steamed milk, and the memory of Emma’s music-filled laughter.