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My godness, be Frank. Where the only way to be is Frank. Hello everyone, and welcome to being Frank. We're the only way to be is Frank. I'm your host, Frank Leborne, and I'd like to thank you for joining us on what we like to call the Intelligent Conversation Podcast or No Conversations out of bounds and all points
of view are welcome. We go live to tape, as I say, every week, and I give you the date so you have some context of when we are recording this, and it's the seventeenth of September, and it's just about the beginning of Latin Hispanic Heritage Month, and that will be our theme today. And with that mind, I want to read you something that According to Ford's magazine, Spanish is spoken by more than five hundred and fifty nine
million people globally. Of those, four hundred and sixty million are native speakers, making Spanish the language with the second largest population of native speakers in the world. Mandarin holds the top title in the US. Thirteen percent of this population speaks Spanish at home, earning it the title of the most common non English language spoken. The US has also the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world. Very interesting, Mexico has the largest and the way the
data is trending. By twenty fifty, one in three people in the US will speak Spanish. This data includes bilingual people who will also speak English. But Spanish speaking implies a monolith united by a common language. That would be like saying that everyone who speaks English must be from the same culture. While the Latin Hispanic diospa here is as diverse as the many countries they come from. Even the word Latin Hispanic has some meaning when we talk
about that with our guest. In other words, not all Latins are from Mexico. Like my guest, he arrived in Queens from Peru when he was seven years old. That was in nineteen sixty six. He lived there for a couple of years before he moved to Brentwood, Long Island. At the end of the eleventh grade, he moved with his family to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he graduated high
school and lived for another year. After graduating high school in nineteen eighty, he moved to New York City and attended Parsons School of Design with dreams of being a photojournalist. He did a lot of street photography and headshots during this time and it had a blast being the house photographer the Ritz in New York City for a couple of years. In nineteen eighty two, he met the love of his life, Gillaspi, and they married in nineteen eighty four.
They have two beautiful children, Nick and Nina, and three grandchildren, William, Jack and Nico. He's been in the prime mortgage business as a manager and loan officer for thirty five years, currently with Prime Lending. He continues to make photographs, largely for himself, and shoots events and portraits for local organizations. George Pajovi's my friend. Thank you for joining us here on being Frank.
Thank you, Frank, thanks for having me. I'm honored to be a guest.
You know, I mentioned in the intro and I want to get into your background also like growing up for the seven years, your memories, et cetera. Before that, I mentioned, you know, the whole idea of Hispanic and Latin. Now they use the term LATINX. It's very broad and people
don't understand there's connotation between all of those things. Like, it's often used as a broad term Hispanic for all Spanish speaking people, particularly in this country, but Hispanic has a particular meaning and location, if you will, that's specific to a particular group of Spanish speaking people. It's kind of the root of this, the idea that of making that Spanish speaking is multicultural, it's not a monolith. But your thoughts on that please.
Well, yeah, I often.
Have to.
Answer people ask what's the difference between Hispanic Latino and those two terms are actually called ethnonymes, and they used to refer to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States. That's that either are Spanish or Latin America. Now Hispanic directly means that you come from a Spanish speaking country or continent South America, with the exclusion of Brazil, Cuba, Central America, and particularly Spain, so that's Hispanic. Latin America
is includes Brazil and Portugal. So everything is Latin America, but Hispanic is everything but Brazil and Portugal.
That's another way of doing it, Yeah, clarifying, but it gets We tend to, I guess maybe for ease, tend to paint with a broader brush. But it's much more flex and diverse than that's our point, right.
Sure, you know somewhere somebody decided to make it a little bit more complicated. But and the term LATINX I love it because because Spanish, like French and all the romantic languages have a gender attached to words, Latino or Latina very often is misused. So someone along the line they said latinx. So that way you don't have to refer to someone who identifies as a man as a woman, or vice versa. So I think that that was a smart move by somebody's part.
So once again, words count. I mean, you know, people throw their hands up in the oh, we have to remember this. Well, it's not so hard and it makes sense.
Why not learn it exactly right? Words matter? Words matter, There's no doubt about it.
So George, let's get back to a little bit about your life. And you mentioned you you're from Peru. I'd like to know where and what it was like, what your memories are growing up there at the time that was I assumed the late fifties early sixties, and you lived there to you were seven. Tell us a little bit about your life there, where you were living how you were living well.
I was born in fifty eight, in December fifty eighth, and I was born into a very privileged family in Peru. At the time. My father, my grandfather, was the mayor of an area of Lima called Remac And it's sort of like comparable to let's say, in New York City, right, And my grandfather was like the mayor of Queen's.
Now the borough president if you will, in our town to be like, okay, it's sort of like an assemblyman or right, right, Okay, Yeah, he was an academy, a mayor, so to speak.
So we looved a very nice, nice life. My if you look, I look at pictures, I wish I would have pulled one. It's a kind of a family, you know. We always get together for dinner. The family is always it was. It was very If you look at an old photo, it looks like an Italian sort of like KOs and Austra family and sitting around and all the guys that were in suits looking a little a little dangerous and uh. But those were the created the heady
days for us. We lived in a beautiful home, had a couple of you know, servants if you will, or you know, people that took care of us, and I had avocado trees in the back. So but that was only that that was very short lived. Not long after that, my grandfather didn't get re elected, I guess, so he went back into his old insurance. And around that time, my when I was born, my my mother and my father didn't were separated when I was by one. They just didn't hit it off too well. So I lived
with my grandparents, uh and my three other aunts. So it was four women, my grandparents and myself.
Well extended family all in this all in this which is also very Latin, and I want to make clear I'm one of the original Latins Italian and you and you mentioned that the language is the similarities, et cetera, the family traditions even mentioned in the photographs, So I understand that Italian Latins often live in extended families as as yours did.
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's what's changed over the many years is that the the the the elders are no longer really as as revered as as they were I think in the old days. I mean, we all love our grandparents, our parents, but we all break up and separate, and unlike in Peru or other countries, they're still very hell very closely tight, very tight knit. So we live.
My mom separated, so I had to live with my my grandparents, and then when I was about three and a half, my mother came to the States by herself. So I stayed behind from the age of about three to seven, and I was raised by my three beautiful aunts and my grandmother and grandfather. So I really I was quite spoiled, to say the least, and so I came here later on three and a half years later. My mom had already kind of met someone and they had gotten married, and so they started creating a family.
I was obviously part of it. I have three other siblings that are from her husband's side. So I was there in Queens for We were there in Queens for another two years, and then we went to Long Island. But after the eleventh grade, I actually moved down to Florida by myself. Her husband and I did not hit it off too well, say the least, and so I actually moved to my aunt's aunts home down in Florida and Fort Lauderdale, and I graduated high school there.
So well, I want to bring you up to speed, but a couple of days before we go passage, So you were kind of living, it's fair to say, in almost an idyllic life in Peru. And again this is what I mean about people painting with such a broad brush in today's status with migrants, to all desperate people going through the jungle, you were far from a desperate person at that point. You were living well, so that
has to be made. But also as a young person, I'm going to say, young man, a boy of seven, it's been a shock to you, George, being pulled out. If you could, you because I wanted to share that this is part of the immigrant experience. It's it's too broad to just say it's this way, So I want to know a little bit about your way. So you're pulled out idyllic life in Peru to come to America, I wanted to I want to know what were your expectations?
Were you thinking? What were you what were you feeling to be It's hard for anyone to be pulled out of what they're familiar with. Now you've got a completely different country culture. If you can, what were you thinking at the time.
Well, it's it's hard to remember way back, but I remember you know I had experiences of having the shock of really because I didn't speak English, I got popped writing. It's a second grade, I believe, And I don't recall the any no trauma. I remember getting lost because I had to walk to school. Walk to school was only maybe four or five blocks away, and you have to put your name on your tag. And I got lost. And I remember that pretty much because I was pretty scared.
I was walking on I guess I made a wrong turn. I'm walking around and I actually got delivered to my house, to my honitor apartment by a mailman. He saw that I was lost. He came up to me and I showed him my address and he threw me in his truck and took me home.
And I was story, if you will, really.
That was his biggest delivery of the day. But I you know that, and just I don't know, you know, I I don't feel like I feel like I had a pretty easy transition. I ended up. Yeah. So I remember being playing with his friend, this this boy, I remember his name, his name was Benji and uh. We we used to go down to the local hotel and try to work for tips to helping people with their baggage, uh to from there, from the from their car to
the hotel, trying to hustle. So I became very industrious right away, you.
Know, so hustling away, Jo, you know, yeah again, And it's a very interesting perspective. And I'm so pleased that you've come on and just the idea. You're not not shy when comes to talking to one another. And I said, let's just just come on and just talk as we always do. And I think people have some relevance because we do have similar experiences, but again, we often have preconceived notions and the idea that everyone is dying to come to America because the streets are lined with gold.
I mean, that's a universal thing. My Sicilian grandparents leaving oppression, and it seems to be a rather typical experience for most. But it's again, it's not all as you were saying. It really wasn't that kind of situation. But did you have any thoughts of what America was at that point or it was far from your thinking.
As far from me. I was struggling with the language. And remember this was nineteen sixty six. There was a lot of migration coming from South America. Now we lived in Jackson Heights, Queens, where it was like mostly Columbians were living there at the time. Peruvians said tend tended to sort of spread out. There really wasn't a Peruvian neighborhood where sort of like we now there is in these areas and where we live in the Hudson Valley,
for instance, in Portchester is a big Peruvian population. Patterson, New Jersey white plains, you know. But it was a huge migration. Cubans were also coming over my my mother, my mother and her husband had very several Cuban friends, and I just remember having a lot of fun. I don't you know. We when we moved out to Long Island. I think that was more of a big change for me because suddenly we were out in the suburbs.
And basically even in in Peru. And you describe yourself mostly as a city kit.
Yes, the city. We were in the city, and it was you know, suddenly with wide open spaces and uh. But I think I I acclimated pretty quickly, you know. So it was it that was a nice experience, you know. My only my only conflict was I the family dynamic wasn't so great with with my mother's husband. So I ended up I just at sixteen. I was I had started working when I was fourteen years old at a restaurant.
I always wanted to make a buck, and so I ended up actually at seventeen, I ended up becoming getting a job at After I got my license, I got a job with Sears, and I got, believe it or not, into a business that I'm actually in right now, which is credit financials. I was a credit authorizer at the age of seventeen. I was approving people's refrigerators and washing machines.
And you come along the way. Now you get the whole package. If you go to George, you get all the stuff that surrounds the refrigerator.
That house to I e.
The house, you can have the house. Yeah, you know. Georgia Marden was a nice. God please continue, an I mean to cut you up.
So Florida was a nice I was also another shock because suddenly I was in the tropics again, which made me feel comfortable because I was really back into the temperature that I was used to.
So you know, let's talk about those adjustments. And that's fair enough. I mean, I always teach people as the secilia. I love the hot weather. It's genetic, whether it history it isn't. I tell people it is, I do. But there is often something to that. If you're you're born to it literally And one of the reasons you were successful in places it is because your genes allow you to be so so beyond that, what what what other things that were adjustments for you? You mentioned the language, you
didn't speak really any English till you got here. Climate. What else? Is there anything else in your mind that sticks out you really had to adjust.
To when we when we started talking about coming on. For me, coming on, I kind of thought about it is that there was a time and even sometimes now, I think probably from my late teens to my twenties thirties, is that I've sometimes felt like a man with no man's land because I I, obviously I don't have much of a Spanish accent. Some people claim they hear it in my voice. I don't think I've heard recordings of my voice. I don't hear it, but I I moving there.
Fluent. Your Spanish is still I'm still fluent.
I think I hear more of an English accent in my Spanish. But my my, my feeling has always been like you know, I never really I've always as far as racism is concerned, because I never really saw myself as It's not that I always identified as Latino or Peruvian.
You know.
You know, you don't see yourself when you're looking out your eyes, right, so I don't. I never saw the shade of my skin per se. But there are there are times that I felt the racism just basically from my looks throughout throughout my life because people kind of like when they meet me, they oh, well, you know, you don't have an accent at all. Well, I've been here since I was six seven years old, so.
I'm kind of anyway, thanks, thank you very much. Will you.
When you move somewhere before puberty? Uh, From what I understand is you you acclimate and assimilate much quicker, especially verbally editorial.
We always adapt better to languages when we're younger. There's no doubt about that exactly. Friends that came here, go ahead, please cut you off. But I have friends that came here, came here and there in their late teens, and they still have an accent.
So it's really that that very sensitive and tender period of puberty or you know, right in the middle of it, where you assimilate much faster.
It makes me to a question that it's why I was jumping in. I get so excited popped into my head. But anyway, that's what part of being frank is is, you know, screwing up and jumping on people. But be that, I want to talk a little bit about language. That one of the things that happened in our family as Sicilian Americans, my grandfather forbid them to speak Italian or Sicilian in the household to assimilate more quickly. Now I'm of the ilk, well, why couldn't have we done both?
It seems much more important these days, certainly amongst Latin X people, to to preserve the language. Your thoughts on that do you like? For example, have you passed it on to your children? Do your children speak Spanish at all?
My thoughts on that are yes, If if one of your one one person speaks Spanish or another language wherever it is, French, Russian, whatever it is is, they should definitely pas at all. Now I married an American woman who did not speak Spanish. Okay, so my tendency was obviously unfortunately not to speak Spanish to my kids. But as time went on and they were a little older. I did try to get that across to them, and my daughter, who had an interest in it, learned Spanish
and went on to speak at more. My son a little bit. My daughter's turning forty this year. My son's thirty three, and my daughter is a I would say like a non for profit human rights attorney. She's been doing a lot of stuff for organizations. She currently works for every Town, the gun safety organization. She's SILL one
of their chief attorneys. So prior to that, she was with NILAG, which helped helped a lot of immigrants, especially during times when they were it got really heated up politically. So she really her Spanish really picked up, and she's trying to pass that on to her kids. And so yeah, I'm I'm a big believer and definitely preserving the language. I understand where people were coming from where they say no, you know, don't speak, don't speak the language at home,
because they wanted the kids to assimilate and succeed. What they didn't think is that what they didn't think of is missing out on the that the language is a connection back to your country. Because when I go when I went back to Peru, and I've gotten back a lot since.
But when I went back, one of my questions, how often do you go back?
Perfect I didn't go back again. I went back when I was ten with my with my mom and her husband and I think at that time my sister. But then I didn't go back again until I was twenty three, and that was a shock to me because it was it was a culture shock because I hadn't been there really as an adult. So it since since I left, But I've been back many many times since, and I have reassimilated almost back to Peru that when I go back, it's kind of funny. My Spanish improves and then I
start dreaming in Spanish. It's kind of weird. So it's, uh, it's kind of a blast that way.
Well, good, good segue. What are some of the traditions that you've kept in your family? And I just said, you know, Joe will bring her own as a as an english woman, but you have yours. What have you kept any which ones do would you like to pass down to your children? Are there any traditions from the old country left say that you've that you've kept.
Well, frankly, there aren't too many, too many traditions. I mean, I the only tradition I do try to cook Peruvian food, which is very well thought of in in the culinary world.
Pressure here in Nayak that I know.
Mars is a very good place. The thing about Peru in the culinary world is that it it in its narrowness, you can grow and have ninety eight percent of what's grown in the world. It's very rich. It's got a coastline, it's got mountains, it's got the jungle, it's got rainforest, so there's every type of food available. So that's why it's that's why it's it's highly thought of culinary wise. It's high in minerals, gold, so it's a very rich country. Unfortunately,
politically it's always had some problems. But the tradition, the only tradition I think I've tried to keep is that Christmas when in Peru and some other South American countries, Uh, they wake up the kids at midnight, and which has its pros and cons. They open their present and say you pretend Santa Claus just left, and they wake up and they open their gifts. They stay up till like
three in the morning. Then they pass out and they probably sleep till noon, which I kind of like that versus having them wake up in the morning and causing all kinds of chaos. But no, so, but you know, I've given up on that and we do it in the mornings. We did it in the mornings with the kids. So tradition wise, other than that, there aren't too many traditions really. You know, we celebrate Independence Day when we can, and we go out for a Peruvian meal.
But what is typical Peruvian meal? I know there's a seafood, it's a big part. What would would one consider as a typical Peruvian dish?
Well, like I said, they have all types, so from seafood to meats. Sevice Is is very famous in Peru, which is, you know, typically a really good whitefish marinated in lime and and spices, and they make this thing called tiger's milk that it marinates in and that's delicious. Typically you have that in by the beach lomo, which is sort of a Peruvian stirfry if you will. They have all kinds of uh seafood chupe come own, which is a sort of a stew a buja base if
you will, with shrimp it's really nice. So, yeah, the food is amazing. If you ever go to Peru, the thing you'll come back with is, especially in the city, is it's it's it's vibrant, you know, restaurants, it's pretty pretty amazing.
Me one more question and take a quick break. Uh, but when you go back, what would you say to people if I wanted to visit Peru? One, two or three? Don't miss things? Should anyone go to Peru? In your mind? What you know? What are some of the things when you got to go here, you got you should see this, that or whatever? Give us two, three, four whatever.
You can go to Husco and then go to Matri Petru. Matri Petri is the city, the lost city of the Incas. I've been there three times. I've been there from when I was by myself at twenty three. Later with my son when he was in his early twenties, we went on a trip together. And then about four years ago with my wife and we did in Contrail with my son. We hiked from Pusco all the way down up up to you go up, you started about eight thousand feet, you go up to about fourteen and then you get
back down to around ten thousand feet. It's it's quite a nice trek and it took three three nights, four days and three nights. Uh, you've got to do that if you're in if you're in hiking mode. There's all kinds of there's the lines of Nasca, which are huge sort of drawings in the sand that are made that are made of they're carved into the side of the mountain that they claim it was it was really guided by extraterrestrials because back then in the fourteenth thirteenth century,
it was kind of thought of impossible to do. Matria Peata is amazing because you have walls that you just can't understand how they how they joined these giant, giant boulders and carved them to meet without you can't put up, you can't put a razor blade in between. And again, these these rocks were brought from many, many kilometers away, so they still don't understand that.
It's certainly it's certainly on my bucket list.
George, you know what, Yeah, you gotta go.
You know, it just sparked all of a sudden, you know, I thought, and it didn't come to the forefront of my thinking. I have to be fair ty Peru with batch of Pechu, the World Heritage Sites, it's just spectacular the Incas. To talk a little bit about the fact that you know, part of your lineage linkage is is dates back to this incredible civilization. What does that mean to a Peruvian to know that there is this dual connection. Obviously that the Spanish influence the language, there also ties
back to the indigenous people in Peru, the Incas. It's got to mean something, I would think.
Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's kind of a double led sword because there's still descendants from the Incas in Peru that speak Quichua. That's the language. It's an indigenous language and it unfortunately, they're seen as peasants there. There's a lot of Unfortunately, just like everyone in the.
World, there's a lot of strategy cast and strategies, races.
Poverty is the poverty, unfortunately is heartbreaking. So I May I did a trip with my cousin who had organized a trip one time or Christmas, and literally an hour outside of Lima. They're living in poor people which are people that sell stuff on the street. They live in what's called new towns. Honestly, Porblovites free towns where they've just taken a whole area hill and they've built shanty towns, shacks, and over time the government has helped out a little bit,
maybe put electricity or now delivers potable water. But we went out there and we fed about I think about two hundred kids a meal after Christmas, like a Christmas meal, and it's just totally totally heartbreaking. I've been meaning to post some of those shots. It's it's a long long time ago that we did, I think probably fifteen years ago, but there is there is still descendants from from that. But they live they really live near Cusco, outside outside
of the city and it's beautiful. They're they're very talented. They do a lot of things with tapestries and with wool you know, with the woolf from the alpaca and the lama and.
You know.
But yeah, it's it's it's it's a worthwhile trip. I tell anybody that that can go, definitely do it, you know. And they're the one thing that I want to point out to you there. The the Peruvian liquor is called pisco p i s c o. It's like there tequila, okay, which is made from actual grapes and raisins and uh and so if you go to Peru, you got to have an authentic pisco sour, which is like a whiskey sour, but made with piso, the only one.
George, Now between talking about the food and yeah and the booze, now I'm hungry the we better make the break here, George. All right, great, we're fresh ourselves. We're gonna, we're gonna, we will take a little break here. My guest is George Pejovi's. We're celebrating LATINX Heritage Month. Yeah, this is Being Frank. We're the only way to be is Frank. I'm your host, Frank Leborona. We're having so
much fun. Don't go away. Come right back. We've got a few more serious questions and we'll continue to have some more fun with my guest, George Pejovis. Don't go away. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back to Being Frank the Intelligent Conversation Podcast. Thanks for sticking with us. I'm your host, Frank Lebono and as always, our engineer is Neil Richter. You know, we bring our audience a fresh topic just about every week, and we stream from Hudson River Radio, which is located in beautiful and historic Stony Point, New York. But remember if you can catch Being Frank anywhere you get your favorite podcasts, that includes Apple, Spotify, your Heart Radio, all
the others. And because we're archived, you can listen to any program at any time. You can find the link to Being Frank on the Hudson River Radio Facebook page or at our website Hudson Riverradio dot com. And why don't you if you feel I could share our program. My very special guest tonight is George Pejovis and we're celebrating LATINX Heritage Month. George, let's get back into it.
Of the big things facing all of us, A huge election issue in a very divided nation, and an extremely important election is the border, Okay, and migration at the border, particularly as it applies to Spanish speaking people, although there is an influx of many different people at the border. Uh, what is? What are some of your thoughts on what's happening, particularly as a LATINX American.
All right, well, you know, my my impression on this is that the the fear mongering of the of people coming from trying to come to this country for a better life is is successive. It's it's too much of too much fear where and what what what what hurts me or bothers me is that people for get that we are all immigrants or sons of immigrants or daughters of immigrants unless you're a Native American, you know, and then the really the border cross stew you didn't cross the border.
We abuse them so so much for that, right George, But.
That's exactly exactly and what what and what it does
irk me? But I'm not sure. I know that people are trying to come here for a better life from without getting into too deep of a discussion about it, I mean, there are a lot of Central American countries, there's a lot of cartels and gang warfare that that sometimes has been created by certain policies that we had in the past and are and people are trying to get out of there and they're victims of sometimes of the policies that have were created in the United States.
So people did a little research realize that you know, very often people want to come here, not just because it's streets of paper gold, it's out of saving lives. And if you don't remember why your parents came here, whether it's legally or illegally, it doesn't really matter it really. You know, it does concern me that we do need better policies, better control, but I think things also get out of control, and there is no perfect situation. It
hasn't been perfect for many, many administrations. So I think that we have to tackle it. But obviously, recently a bill was put together and put in front of the House and it was turned down, and it is apparently one of the most conservative, you know, immigration bills, drafted primarily by a Republican and you know, Donald Trump called his boys and said, let's let's I don't want to knock it down because it's not going to help me if you if you do something good under the Biden administration.
So that's pretty sad that it's gotten that that contentious, and frankly, you could say.
Something to Donald Trump and you know, let's say he is the instigator. Certainly is the top of the pyramid, if you will he's he's got enough people supporting him from below and using this issue as a cudgel. I mean, as you mentioned, and I think most thinking, rational, reasonable people realize that there has to be some border control. Uh, there has to be some policy.
Uh.
But the idea of deporting these mass deportations and and all of these people coming or rapists and and feeding the flames of fear. If you had an opportunity to to speak to a man like that, directly to Donald Trump, what might you say.
Get a life, take go, take your go, take your billions, and go enjoy yourself. Because you're not a good administrator, you know. I just think that that he at this point is just running to stay out of jail. Let's face it. But I really think the man has serious emotional and psychological issues. And but in as far as really this is concerned, is that everybody needs the help
out here. If you if you deported eleven million people, no one would be able to take care of children after school, No one would be able to run the restaurants, No about be able to cut your grass, landscape, your property, you know, serve you, you know, just look around. Primarily that that labor force is immigrant population, undocumented or undocumented. Nobody is illegal. We're all legal human being. We're just either document or not documented. And those reasons are varied,
just like the people are. You know, there's all grays. What's happening in this country is would you black and white? It's this or that. We don't understand that there is there's nuance and there are people that are suffering. And if that was your family or your parents, would you would you do that to them? You know, they just people to have. The lack of empathy that has has been created for the last ten years is mind boggling. You know, we just don't work with that, with that
emotion anymore. That's my opinion about that.
Well, Georgie, And that's a good segue into my next question. You really are about service, and I'm just not feeding your enormous ego. You know, we have competing people can't see it, but you're laughing, and I'm glad.
That you A little bit of ego doesn't hurt.
It's a lot of I make no bones about it, George. But having a healthy ego.
Is about I noticed your name.
I noticed your name is in the title of your program, so it's yeh, little things like you notice that, George, it's just you notice it's done deliberately for what it's worth. But I do want to say and and it's the truth.
And when I when I put out a little promo about you appearing, and how many people say, oh, I love George, and I love because you're all about service in what you do for a living, uh, in your mortgage company, but also what you do with your passion, your photography, your involvement with organizations like people to people. You've organized a cornhole tournament up with the Redborne Sidary which raised a lot of money. You're always there for
people in so many ways. Talk a little bit about that, George. Why that's important to you, Well, you know.
It's it's doing to others type of thing.
You know.
I'm not, I'm not. I'm a religious person. I do believe in the Golden Rule, you know, and we're all. This is another thing I would tell Donald is that you didn't do it all. Pal. You're on somebody's shoulders. Everybody, everybody wherever they are are there because somebody helped them out, Somebody gave them a break, somebody gave them a job, Somebody lent them some money, somebody inherited some money, somebody
did something for them. So I you know the little bit listen, I'm my means are not limitless, but what I can do I try to do if I can fit it in you know, my schedule, or do whatever I can. I've been fortunate for the last thirty eight years to be in the home finance business. I diverted from becoming afforded journalists because suddenly I had a family and to support, and back in the eighties, becoming a photographer would have taken would have taken a big toll
on my relationship and in my family. So, you know, being a rock and roll photographer and a dad is it doesn't really blend too well for long periods of time,
not for long periods of time. But I I just believe in in helping out whenever I can, because if you know you have enough, you know, take what you need to leave the rest, you know, and create and create, try to create a little bit of happiness wherever you can, because it's so much easier to do that than the results of doing that is so much better than creating havoc. You know, you know, I can be a very grumpy guy. Don't get me wrong, but I uh, I try to I try to look at things have full and try
to help out whenever I can. And these organizations have been good to me. They've hired me for these a lot of their their events. You know, I obviously don't charge them well too much, but so I wanted to get them. I wanted to get something back to them. So these cornhole tournaments that we did, we did, We're doing it biannually, we're doing it again next year. It you know, trying to get back to the organizations that help help the community because they're they're small organizations that
do a lot of good. You know, people to people, Pride Center for Safety and Change in the Nayac Center, which is probably the smallest, really old community center that help children, families that are are not a bit of heavy means and help them out as much as possible.
So that really I'll see you. I'll see you at good Fest, which is coming up, the big Absolutely we're gonna be a fundraiser for People to people we'll be talking about that's a great event. Some final thoughts on so called LATINX Hispanic heritage. Any final thoughts.
Well, you know, there's a lot of a lot of Latinos and Hispanics that have contributed in every field and you know, politics and fashion and entertainment arts that have shaped the world. And I just think it's important, I think, in this kind of when they have these months of celebration, is to remember that everybody plays a part in this mosaic that we have in this world. And if you
demonize any one of them, you're demonizing everyone. You know, we can't live without immigrants, we can't live without you know, LGBTQ people. We cannot survive in this community because they are an integral part of our cultural survival. You know. It's like suddenly saying, hey, doctors are bad, let's get rid of doctors. No, They're an integral part of our community. You know, because you have one bad doctor who maybe committed crimes or whatever doesn't sweep the entire broad brush
of everybody. So I think it's important that everybody just takes a breath and says, you know, why am I being such a you know jerk, Let's let me think this is through. And I've had moments of that that I you know, everybody has sometimes a little bit of of of discrimination, you know, because they have an experience, and I think everybody's got to work it through and try to understand each other.
That's all it is, you know, like a family, you know, like one one great big thing. It's a very Latin thing, as I mentioned, you know, being exactly one of the original lives.
Well, we'll have our dysfunctional our dysfunctional relative and sometimes it's yourself.
I have to laugh a man of my partners, you know, you should do well, one of the ancestry, one of those ancestry things. And I said, I'm a Sicilian. The thing will be thirty six pages long. So we're all well, I guess we're all a little bit of everybody, George. I guess maybe that's my finnell.
We're all we're all one little piece of the puzzle. So let's take it easy on ourselves, you.
Know, George, I want to I really want to thank you for being frank with your with your intelligent conversation. I get all my little flights in there, but really, thanks George. Been a lot of fun and well.
I hope I I hope I made it under the bar of intelligence. But I really appreciate you having me on I appreciate what you do. You really you know, you have great conversations about about important things, so.
That means that means a lot to me. It really does. And of course we offer special thanks to our listeners who take time to give us a voice in their lives. You know, we offer fresh topic every week and you can catch us wherever and whenever you get your favorite podcasts. Check us out on the Hudson River Radio Facebook page. Leave us a comment and you can. We ask you
to consider sharing being frank with others. You know, always leave you with two last little nuggets I called them and George mentioned the great contributions that latinos Latin X people have made, including in the world of fashion. And this one is a good one. I think it's broad. It's a broad statement for everybody. It's from Oscar de la Rena and he said, your great strength is knowing who you are, simple, direct and important, and I like it.
We're going to have some music too from Bobby Deblasio with l Dento again a Latin language Italian also happens to be. As I said, all Latin romance based language is they share a lot for our engineer Neil Richter. I'm your host, Frank Lobono, and we hope to have you join us on the next being Frank, We're the only way to be is Frank. Thanks everyone.
I had to break my silence. I had to come clean without being facetious, trying not to sound me. I told her that I loved her. I told her that I love gone.
When I told her that I loved her, she told me that she loved me. And so you could have knocked me over with a feather.
She was going like a June briant, like a ship been stormy weather. I was terrified when I told.
Her that I loved her.
I told her that I had never gone. When I told her that I loved her.
She told me that she loved me. So, mother Lord, love can go.
Long word.
Where the ring good thing?
Saying there's rice way now of that Confetti's drinking, wondering what I've done. I should have kept my silence. Now I gotta run because I told her that I loved I told her that I love.
When I told her that I loved her, she told me.
That she loved me. So tell me where there's the time go away?
Does it go? Tell me where just the time.
Go ohway does it go? Tell me where.
That's the time?
Go oh way.
Does it go? Tell me where that's the time?
Go oh way.
Does it go?
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