Welcome to 9th episode and Season One Finale of the Streets Dept Podcast!

Today I’m thrilled to be joined by Raquel Salas Rivera, who was just named as the next Poet Laureate of Philadelphia! Raquel is a bilingual poet, writer, and translator based in Philadelphia, who grew up around the U.S. and spent 11 years living and going to school in Puerto Rico with their family.

Raquel’s work has appeared in countless journals, and their 3rd full-length book will be released this year. And I’m excited to tell you that we hear a poem from that coming book in this episode!

Today I talk with Raquel about what it means to be the Poet Laureate and how they plan to use this influential position to advocate for Puerto Rico and address issues around community and gentrification in both Philly and PR, about raising money to evacuate LGBTQ citizens from Puerto Rico in the continued wake of Hurricane Maria, and what they might say to President Trump if they had him in a room for five minutes.

Listen to the episode here:

 
The Streets Dept Podcast is a bi-monthly (that’s twice a month) interview podcast. I’m interviewing artists and creatives from around the world. From street artists to poets, activists to politicians, small business owners to community organizers. The podcast features one-on-one interviews with the creative minds who are shaping the world around us!

In today’s episode Raquel offers a few links, so here those are: 1) MariaFund.org, for those looking for ways to donate to help Puerto Rico in the continued wake of Hurricane Maria. 2) WRTU.pr, for Spanish speakers looking for news and updates from Puerto Rico. And, 3) SmallAxe.net, for those interested in reading from one of Raquel’s favorite poets right now, Marigloria Palma!

Subscribe to the Streets Dept Podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Google Play to receive episodes as soon as they’re published, and please feel free to rate and write a review of the podcast on those platforms to help others find it. (It really, REALLY helps when y’all rate and review, so it’d mean the world to me if you could do that!)

Listen to past episodes here:
The Introduction Episode!
Episode 1, R. Eric Thomas
Episode 2, Philadelphia Councilwoman Helen Gym
Episode 3, Marisa Williamson
Episode 4, Swoon
Episode 5, eL Seed
Episode 6, Alex Hillman
Episode 7, Antoinette Marie Johnson
Episode 8, Chill Moody

Season One of the Streets Dept Podcast is brought to you by our sponsors at The Navy Yard and Indy Hall! Each episode is mixed and edited by our Producer Mike Mehalick.

THANK YOU all so damn much for listening and sharing this first season. The podcast will be taking a break for the next few months as a plan and start production on a second season to hopefully be released in the spring! <3