0:00

LAist and Show and Tell present

0:02

an evening with David Sedaris. The

0:05

writer, humorist, and radio contributor will

0:07

take the stage Saturday, November 16th

0:09

at the United Theatre on Broadway.

0:12

Tickets and information at las.com/events. On

0:16

Inheriting. Growing up on

0:18

Guam, Leilani Wihangi Santos was taught

0:20

the US saved the island, but the

0:22

truth is much more complicated. What

0:25

her family's tomorrow history and stories

0:27

reveal. Listen to Inheriting

0:29

from LAist Studios and The In-Para Network

0:32

wherever you get your podcasts. This

0:35

is Imperfect Paradise, the show about

0:37

hidden worlds and messy realities. I'm

0:39

Antonia Serrígido. Last

0:43

episode, Danyen Samora had to get used to

0:45

life in Mexico. Get a call

0:47

center job, get his own apartment, all

0:50

while keeping up his cross-border relationship and

0:52

waiting for news of his deportation appeal.

0:55

Only to learn that the appeal was denied and

0:58

for his relationship with his boyfriend in the

1:00

US to fizzle into a breakup. I

1:03

feel like we both lost something on

1:05

that date. That I still think a

1:08

lot about, you know, probably spend the

1:10

rest of my life thinking about him from time

1:12

to time. This

1:14

episode of Imperfect Paradise returned to Mexico,

1:16

part three. Danyen is

1:19

caught between fighting to go back to the

1:21

US or opening up to his life in

1:23

Mexico. And I started

1:25

having this weird struggle within myself of what

1:27

part of me do I keep? The

1:30

Mexican part that has this beautiful

1:32

freedom that can go anywhere or

1:34

the American one that's always wanting

1:36

and longing for something that he

1:39

no longer has. And

1:41

Danyen reckons with the trade-offs inherent

1:43

to migration. I do wonder

1:46

in that multiverse scenario what Dany

1:48

is doing and how Dany is

1:50

doing. Here's

1:53

lead reporter, Lorna Arios. looking

8:00

up at the light filtering through the

8:02

stained glass windows. And

8:04

at the side altar, he saw

8:06

a familiar figure. La

8:09

Virgen de Guadalupe, the image

8:11

of the Virgin Mary as

8:13

a dark-skinned woman, which has

8:15

become iconic, a symbol of

8:17

Mexico. I remember

8:19

how it moved me to see her

8:21

in a church in Texas when I

8:23

was a teenager. It

8:26

felt like a recognition of my

8:28

heritage. A gesture

8:30

saying, you are welcome

8:32

here. And I went to

8:34

the altar of La Virgen de Guadalupe, and I

8:36

was seeing her in this cathedral outside of Mexico.

8:39

And one of the things that I've always been

8:42

amazed is at how Mexican you can

8:44

feel when you're outside of Mexico and

8:46

you see something from Mexico.

8:50

That's the first time that

8:52

I actually felt like I

8:54

was proud to be Mexican.

8:57

Daniel stayed in Paris for

8:59

almost three weeks and settled

9:01

into a routine. Every

9:05

morning, he'd drop by a cafe where

9:08

he could get a small coffee and

9:10

chocolate croissant for €1.50. And

9:13

then he'd go to museums to see

9:15

paintings he'd studied in his college textbooks.

9:19

The one sound that whenever I hear it, and it

9:21

sounds like Paris to me when I

9:23

got there, it's La

9:26

Noye from Amelie Soundtrack. I

9:29

just remember riding the metro. The city

9:31

was grey because it was winter. But

9:34

the color that I was perceiving

9:36

was silver, that shiny shimmering, rich

9:39

silver color. And

9:41

that almost reflects light. And

9:44

it almost felt like the city was reflecting

9:46

to me what I was giving it. And

9:49

I felt so alive. I

9:51

felt that I could do anything, that I could

9:53

go anywhere. I could finally see that

9:55

I could leave. Having this

9:57

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12:55

What price would you pay to speak your

12:57

mind? Lethal Dissent

12:59

is a nine-part podcast about Iran's

13:01

hunt for dissidents abroad. Two

13:04

Iranian officials resist the government and

13:06

escape to Turkey. Now, one is

13:08

alive and one is dead. To

13:10

find out what happened, reporter Fariba

13:12

Nawa immerses herself in a world

13:14

of secret operatives and organized crime.

13:17

A series from the world and

13:19

the On Spec podcast, Lethal Dissent.

13:21

Find it wherever you get your

13:23

podcasts. This

13:28

is Imperfect Paradise, returned to

13:30

Mexico. I'm Lorena Rios. When

13:34

Daniel returned from Paris to Juarez,

13:36

he decided it was time to

13:38

change his life. I

13:40

knew that staying at the call center

13:42

wasn't going to allow me to visit

13:44

Paris ever again. So

13:46

as soon as I had come

13:48

back, I started lining up interviews

13:51

to teach English at different

13:53

private schools. Daniel

13:55

says putting his bilingual skills to

13:57

use felt like a natural necklace.

14:00

step and he had

14:02

the advantage of a U.S. college degree.

14:05

In 2013, two years after his deportation, Daniel

14:09

got a job at a private high school.

14:11

OK. When

14:14

I came to Mexico, I realized that

14:16

the educational system was very different from

14:19

the states. And they were very career-oriented

14:21

instead of being oriented towards the

14:24

mental, emotional, and holistic

14:26

health of a

14:28

person. Teachers had always

14:30

played a big role in Daniel's life.

14:33

And he wanted to be that

14:35

teacher who cares about his students

14:37

beyond the classroom. In

14:40

2018, he landed a job

14:43

at a teacher's college, training

14:45

aspiring English teachers. That

14:47

model tells us, right, that children are all the same. But

14:50

we know for a fact that people

14:52

are not the same. Why

14:54

do we need to do this holistic view

14:57

of the student? He's

15:02

been teaching now for more than

15:04

10 years. And

15:07

in 2019, Daniel

15:09

finally moved out of his

15:12

cold, empty apartment. Can

15:14

you tell me a little bit about

15:17

this tremendous milestone

15:19

of being a house owner?

15:21

My parents achieved their

15:24

goal of going to

15:26

the United States to live and ensure

15:28

that we have the brightest future possible,

15:30

to give us something. And

15:33

they helped us with the down payment

15:36

of things like our cars and

15:38

our houses. So I have

15:40

this tiny little house, two-bedroom,

15:42

one-bathroom house with lots

15:45

of patio for my dogs to run around

15:47

in the front and the back. And

15:50

not once in my life living in the United

15:52

States I thought that I would be a homeowner.

15:56

That seemed like so far-fetched. Not

16:04

long after, Danielle, ever the

16:06

romantic, found himself back in

16:09

love. And

16:11

Danny, where does… Chris

16:15

come in? In this whole thing? Yes.

16:21

Okay, so, 2019? I

16:25

matched the Montana. Danielle

16:27

remembers seeing Chris's profile

16:29

and liking that he

16:31

seemed well-traveled. In each

16:34

photo, he was in a different

16:36

location, swimming in the hot springs

16:38

of Tolantongo or sipping wine at

16:40

a picnic. And they

16:42

started messaging. And they

16:44

found out that they were both

16:46

teachers and they realized that they

16:49

were about to start the exact

16:51

same graduate program in education. They

16:54

decided that they would meet on that

16:56

first day of class. Danielle

16:59

made sure to dress to impress.

17:02

He wore his guayabera with

17:04

the traditional embroidery of tenango.

17:07

So on February 1st,

17:09

2020, we went for

17:12

our first class. I was

17:14

stepping out of the office and

17:16

I saw this guy pull

17:18

up in his car. It

17:22

waved at me. And

17:24

this gorgeous man came down. He's

17:27

really tall. 6'3". He

17:30

has long hair, beautiful

17:32

dark eyes. Chris

17:34

says that he was immediately drawn

17:36

to Danielle's smile and just couldn't

17:38

stop looking at it. It

17:47

seemed to Chris that Danielle was

17:49

always laughing and smiling and he

17:52

was smitten. They

20:00

have four cats, two dogs, and

20:05

their two nieces who are in their 20s

20:07

live with them as well. At

20:16

times, they call those parents. They

20:21

have built a home together. One

20:24

of the things of being part of the

20:26

gay community is that you choose your own

20:28

family. We have

20:30

made a nice little family where he and

20:32

I are the center. But

20:38

there are still obstacles in Dania's

20:41

life, lasting consequences

20:43

of the deportation. The

20:46

biggest one? He's in Mexico and

20:48

his parents are in the States,

20:51

and they haven't been able to see each

20:54

other for over a decade. That's

20:59

after the break, but in

21:01

perfect paradise, returned to Mexico.

21:06

After their loss, she and her husband helped push for a

21:08

new category of leave. The

21:10

journalists of LAist work for you. I'm

21:13

LA's senior education reporter, LEU. I

21:16

focus on early childhood, the critical years that shaped

21:18

the rest of a child's life. And

21:21

I help parents and caregivers grappling with the

21:23

challenging and often inequitable childcare landscape. LAist.

21:26

Independent journalism. Fact-based

21:29

journalism. I'm

21:37

LAist science reporter Jacob Margolis, and I want you to

21:39

join me for We Are Where We Eat, LAist

21:42

live event series with the James Beard Foundation. We're

21:44

going to take a look at how the climate emergency has...

21:47

Truth is far more complicated. You

21:50

are the people of that land. Have you learned

21:52

that land's history? What her

21:54

own family stories reveal about Guam and

21:56

Chamorro history. Listen to Inheriting from LAist

21:58

Studios.