“I am 54. I don’t know what that means anymore. In my 20s and 30, when I thought about what 50 would feel like, I thought it was going to be old and cranky. And I’m coming together really nicely in my 50s. It feels wonderful to set boundaries, to know that I prefer banana pancakes.”
On the other side of 50, journalist, author and filmmaker Sandra Guzman still listens to her elders. Most notably, she spent two days listening to Nobel Laureate and literary giant Toni Morrison when she interviewed her for the wonderful documentary, the Pieces I Am. (Imagine the joys of sitting with Morrison for two days asking questions to elicit the story of her life? And then, your heightened sorrow at her passing this August?) Sandra listens to learn, share and, in her words, “amplify the voices and stories of marginalized people and communities.” She was the Editor-in-Chief of Latina, the country’s largest magazine for Latinx women; won an Emmy for her public affairs work at Telemundo, just one of the television stations she worked with over the years; was a reporter at El Diario/La Prensa and the New York Post; and is the author of The Latina’s Bible, a feminist go-to-guide for two generations of Latinx women. Sandra is a powerful and captivating storyteller evolving into an elder in her own right. We hope you enjoy sitting at her metaphoric feet as much as we did! (And to learn much more about Sandra and her work, visit her website at http://www.sandraguzman.com/films/)
Note to our listeners: For this episode, we used music from Nina Simone (one of Toni Morrison’s favorites), Princess Nokia’s Bruja (In honor of Puerto Rican grandma ‘brujas’), and Margaret Garner (Toni Morrison’s opera to commemorate Garner, a runaway slave and the inspiration for Beloved).