Transcripts For CSPAN2 Maria Hinojosa Once I Was You 20240712

Hello, everybody. Im allison kiddie, artistic director of the chicago humanities festival and delighted to be here welcoming you to todays program, Maria Hinojosa, once i was you. This program and many more are free and open to the public. You can learn more at chicago humanities. Org, and i encourage you to lend your support, make a donation or become a member. You can also learn more about our commitment to accessibility there thanks to support from chf audiences. All of our Digital Events have closed captioning which can be controlled through youtube. Thank you to our captioner today. And, good news, this program will have both spanish and english subtitles. In my previous life in public radio, the voice of Maria Hinojosa was a constant presence, compassionate, Ground Breaking. Im delighted shes back at chf and in conversation with another essential voice, Jose Antonio Vargas. They are two of the most compelling and urgent thinkers on civil rights in america seen especially through the lens of their deep personal and as awardwinning journalists, intellectual connections to immigration. So please join me in giving a warm welcome to Jose Antonio Vargas and Maria Hinojosa. I hi, im the author of [inaudible] i am thrilled to have this conversation with one of my favorite human beings and one of my favorite journalists, Maria Hinojosa. Were going to talk about her book, and this book, once i was you, is wonderful for many reasons. But one of them is that the book, like all great memoirs, captures you with, maria, as a come plex, multilayered human being. The immigrant maria, the journalist maria, the activist maria, the Ground Breaking entrepreneur maria, the daughter maria, the mother and wife maria. All those identifiers make you, make maria a whole person, and she is. Ing and i have known maria for a while now. The first time i meter her was in 2008 at a Journalism Convention in chicago, but reading this book i felt like i was getting to know you so much more intimately. And in the chapter called embracing a new identity, leaving chicago to go to new york city for college. Maria writes i had looked up the definition of the word radical. It meant going to the root of things, and thats how i saw mousse. This book with, to me i saw myself. This book gets at the roots. Like maria, it is radical. So now i really want to bring in Maria Hinojosa. Oh [laughter] measure im sorry, the last time we did this was the opposite, right . I know. I made you cry, but you just made me cry. You know, to pull that out, jose, that very specific detail of me actually looking up, wait a second, what does the word radical really mean . And for me, it changed everything. Yes, im a radical, but thats because im going to the root or i want to go to the root. But honestly, though, after reading the book i felt like it was an emotional root a canal. [laughter] i felt like you did get to the roots of this, right . [laughter] and in as many ways as this conversation can go just given how we are with each other, ive clipped one of my accomplished one of my goals, which was to make her cry. [laughter] weve been friends for a while now, and we communicate with each other. When i finished my documentary, you were the first person i called. I want to talk about the process of this book. How was this book birthed . When did you realize that, okay, i have to do that . When did that happen . You may even remember, jose, because it just kind of happened. I was on prime time on msnbc with joy, a friend of ours. And at that time i actually was doing a lot more prime time msnbc, which was fun. Not so much this time around, which is a separate conversation. But anyway, i had a moment, and steve cortez, who is a trump supporter, used the term illegal to refer to human beings, immigrants. And i thought, i said, look, theres no such thing as an illegal human being. Illegal is not a noun. And i just kind of did what you and i do can all the time. It was i was just speaking my truth. Well, that went viral, and univision, you know, ended up making a little video of that. That went viral. 10 Million People saw it. And a very close friend of mine said thats the book that you have to write, illegal is not a noun. And i was like, yes, i do. And so, jose, actually, this book was going to be a little pocketbook. You know those little books that you have. Yeah, yeah. Its like a 10point gude why illegal is not a noun. Short, simple people at the airport will pick it up, oh, okay, why i should never use the term illegal to refer to a human being. Well, people were really interested in that book. When i actually went ahead and decided to get an agent and decided to dip back into the world of plushing because its very publishing because its very scary, its a lot of work, youve got to have a very thick skin yep. And you have to have people around you who really love you and believe in you. So there really wasnt that much love for that idea of, like, a small book. And so thats how this ended up coming, you know . And there were many iterationings. I thought it was going to be a book, a love letter to my daughter who deserves a book because my son got so ultimately, what ended up happening once thed editor, michelle, whos a phenomenal editor from Simon Schuster, once she got involved in the book and we talked about this not just being my story which, sure, its interesting, its fine, but it was much more about all of those different parts of my life that you mentioned so beautifully and also talking about history and policy and politics and what it looked like. I was just thinking, jose, actually that one of the communities i hope reads this book is the vietnamese community. Yes. Because i, for me the seat ma that please experience vietnamese experience marks me as a human being, as a child. And i end up kind of resolving that by then becoming a journalist and giving at least in one case a vietnamese woman who had ended up in Corpus Christi voice. Because so many vietnamese were just it was the first televiewed refugee crisis. And as you televised. And as you know, they were reduced to terminology, horrific terminology that journalists used to refer to people as boat people. So even in the reconstructing of that, its a way in which we can find each other in this book, hopefully. Well, actually, what i was going to say is i love how much history youve interwoven throughout the book, right . And kind of a lot of, like, zooming in ing zooming out and then zooming back in and how its so crocheted in your life, you know . Part of what i was speaking about is when you arrived here in 1961, when your father arrived here in 1961, right . It was four years before the immigration nationality act which to you outline in the booker right . And i actually want to talk about that. Tud you feel that part of your goal here as a journalist, as a mexicanamerican journalist is to provide a history . Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. But doing it, i felt like at one point like this was a love letter to my country, it was like a reckoning with this country, the United States, where i was kind of saying but how could you do this and how could you do this . And the sad truth, jose, that we realize that White Supremacy has been in this country from the moment that the pilgrims arrived, right . And so we have to as a country understand what that means. You know, one of the other things that happens is that finding connections with other community, one of the more Beautiful Moments in the writing of this book was when in the writing of the history part. You know, the first people who were excluded by law from the United States, excluded, were augusts asian women. Chinese women. Before the chinese exclusion act was law, they were saying the women cant come. And i began to think those women were my mom. And so now i feel, you know, when i see asian women, im like im tied to you, youre tied to me, and we dont even know these stories because so much of history doesnt talk about this per se. Honestly, for me, that was so jarring. Let me just read something from the book. I had to read it, and then i actually had to stop and realize what i had just read. This is from the book. Maria writes but kept coming on until 1964 when the apparent lie bar violations labor violations became untenable. Under the program 4. 6 million labor contracts were signed. Person they helped to keep the u. S. Economy afloat [inaudible] productivity during those years. Yet there is almost no record or acknowledgment of their contribution today. After i heard that, i was like, wait. What . Yeah. And thats what i talk about. Part of the work of this book, i think, is to correct that narrative. You know, to constantly just be saying, like, wait a second. And there were things that i found out in the writing of this book where i, too, was just like, you know, over and over again, oh mid god, oh, my god, how did this happen . Its actually an important part of history, because i think if both democrats and republicans had their drutherses, theyd be way a happier to just have a [inaudible] theyd be way happy to just bring it back. Oh, yeah. Just bring the laborers over, treat them however you want. As long as theyve got a little green card that means theyre not going to be forcibly deported or put into i. C. E. Detention facilities, just bring them all in. After theyre done, send them back. What benefits . What retirement . Oh, what health care . No, theyre just worker. There are so many of them. And thats, thats whats so painful about our experience as a immigrants in this country, is that sure there are some people who come to this country who have no interest in staying here. Okay, fine. But then there are many of us who do and want to stay and not only want to stay, but actually feel an ownership of this place. And the fact that we would be reduced to youre just labor is really well, an invisible, right . Well, that was one of the themes. And this is the other thing that i thought was so not only compelling, but i kept being haunted by the fact that the language around this, the fact that mexicans were only seen as, quoteunquote, workers, right . No wonder you cant look at them as people. All you think about is their labor, right . And as part of that history too as i was reading it, you reminded me the republicans role in kind of the modern immigration conversation and how, you know, president bush, the first president bush, was really more immigrantfriendly than what we remember. How was that when you were researching that part of the book . That, i have to say, that part of the work has been revealing to me but also just basically the long story, to make it short, is that both republicans and democrats have thrown, actively thrown immigrants under the bus. So people will read this book and theyll just be like, wait, george h. W. Bush was actually good on refugees . He was the only one in the recent 50 years who increased noticeably the number of refugees allowed. He was the one who signed temporary protected status for so many. Is so this is george h. W. Bush. And the Republican Party talked about immigrants in this kind of glowing way whereas the clinton was making auntimmigrant ads antiimmigrant ads and was busy actually beginning the building of the wall. So i think this is important because we cannot have the illusion, right, of, again, who controls the narrative. Who controls the narrative and then whats actually been happening, whats actually been the policies. The thing about reagan, who was the predecessor to george h. W. Bush, is that ronald reagan, as you know, created the Immigration Reform and control act which actually legalized, allowed about 3 million undocumented immigrants to actually become citizens. That was amazing. Problem was that he was actively and this is a big part of the book too actively bombing central america, sending military, sending soldiers down there, you know, participating in genocidal activities, you know, soldiers that were trained by american military. So it hasnt been good. But that was a part of the book that i really appreciated. Again, how you not only are living history, witnessing history, but youre reporting on history, right . And for me, by the way, who were talking to here the premier latina journalist in the United States of america. [laughter] right . So i keep reminding myself that. This is, like, diane sawyer, barbara walters. Right . As i was reading that i, i kept thinking to myself the whole chapter on obama, on kind of the obama part of this [inaudible] given that Rahm Emmanuel used to be the mayor of chicago, given that rahm i man well was the first chief of staff to president obama, that was one of the parts of the book that i was really savoring, i have to say. As a journalist and as an undocumented person who has yet to really see and read kind of the full reckoning that, for me, for the first time ive seen in writing in the book. Yeah. Can you talk about what that was like to, that event that you were emceeing in washington, d. C. With, you know, honoring sonia sotomayor, the First Latina Supreme Court justice and introducing president obama and knowing that, feeling in your stomach, wait a second, how is this really going to turn out . You totally described that as just such a good journalist. Yeah, you went right into the scene. Because the scene is, you know, after george w. Bush where i didnt have much access, you know, in the white house, you know, suddenly obamas elected, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is holding this big event, this big gala. Theres a vip tent, and now im in the vip tent, and im like, whoa, how did this happen . And im with sonia sotomayor. Theres kind of this beautiful moment, wow, things are really going to change. And youre right, i was on stage getting ready to introduce barack obama, who i had not met. And i was very excited, of course. And when he comes out on stage after i introduced him, he actually takes me and he whispers in my ear, he says i miss hearing your show. And i said you can listen to it anytime, but its nice that were both hyde parkers, because were both from chicago. He said, yes, we are, its so good to see you, off he went, and when i came back on stage to kind of wrap up is when i said, wait a second, this is a moment in history, what just happened here. And as journalists, we have to hold politicians accountable. I dont care if im at a gala and im all dressed up and i just introduced him and he gave me an amazing, big hug, it was beautiful. I have to hold him accountable. Is so i said remember, president barack obama, theres no such thing as an illegal human being. We do not refer to these terms, we are human beings. And it was kind of a political moment. And not everybody started because it was a moment of, hmm . It was a party. Yes. It was a huge party, and im just like and, by the way, can we talk about this . Because i think youre right, jose, i think part of what were getting at is that as journalists, and in many ways this is a journalists book in a lot of ways, were not, were not going to drink the koolaid anywhere. What i will never forget, and this is something that ive never really shared publicly are before, but when i was asked by the white house to fill in [inaudible] frontline documentary that maria hosted and produced, please check it out if you havent seen it, i was asked to moderate a conversation on youtube about immigration right after daca was announced. And that was the other thing, by the way, in this book is maria tells the story of really how daca happen, right . It wasnt obama that made daca happen, but its the work of activists, like many of whom are my friends who pushed for that. And maria calls me out of the blue i dont even know how you heard about this event, but of course you heard about it you said, ho sax say, you jose, you better not get used by this white house. Do you remember that . Oh, my god. You better not be used by this white house. And i just remember thinking to myself, this is great. Theres maria my friend, but then theres maria, you know, the journalist who ive always put on a pedestal in my head going, okay, jose, you better not be used this way. Youre right. In many ways the book is a memoir. I kept thinking about ben bradlees memoir, right . It covers so much ground in that way. I have to say though, i mean, i have to ask you this question. President obama is in the process of writing his memoirs now. How do you think president obama is going to justify and talk about the deportation of 4 Million People, human beings under his watch given that he would not have won president and gotten reelected without the latinx vote . How do you think hes going to talk about this . You know, heres the thing is that president barack obama barack, i mean, i was at parties where barack was at because i was at barnard, he was at columbia university. His kids went to the school where i went to for high school. I know the neighborhood, the local spots. That 31 flavors where he bought Michelle Obama their first date, i was going to that 31 flavors when i was 5 years old. So i feel a connection to barack obama so deeply, and to michelle as well. And yet there is this wound between us because i, like you and a few other journalists, have wanted to hold him accountable because he is a constitutional scholar. And so i is have to understand. And this is the question for him, is how is it that he puts together being a constitutional scholar but knowing that every single hour, every sing thing minute single minute people were being denied due process simply because they werent born in this country. And thats you, jose, and thats me, right . Yeah. Thats what it came down to. So i know this is painful. And, you know, im back in therapy. I just put it out on my twitter. Im like, okay, im back in painful. Right . You know, its painful to look at all these things that happened and so i would just make an offer to barack, president barack obama to say im here for that conversation. Because and i yeah. Because weve gone beyond the point where its like thats not what this is about. This is about our hearts and how we, hes my same age. I mean, were so equal in so many withdraws. We have to be able to so many ways. We have to be able to look at each other in the eyes because i know he cares about me. I know he cares about you x. We need to have a coming together. So thats e, like, a more public request. We can do this and we have to do it, but how hes going to resolve that, i think, is going the require actually some very deep, deep work. For me though, the difference between being a writer and being a politician, and barack obama is is an incredible writer, right . Writers are here to tell the truth which is what youve done in this book. Politicians sometimes cant tell the truth. So how that reasons out itself i hope, i hope he does, i hope he does and i say this with love yeah. But i hope that he does some therapy around this. I say it with love because we have to, we have to process. And owning Something Like i had to own my race in the book, you know . You have to do a lot of work, and its not fun, and youve got to see your therapy u. S. We wish that of barack with love. We do. Actually, that was the next part that i was going to go to because, again with, i thought i knew you, right . And i have known you for years and years and years now, but there were many parts of this book i didnt know, right . And so for me as your friend and as someone whos followed your career, you writing about that race and in many ways were living through right now a movement of movements, right we were at Depaul University teaching a class on Latinos Mental Health when your student said check out this series, 30 reasons why . Thats exactly what happened. I came in one morning. My class at 8 00 in the morning in chicago in the winter. We had to battle it. And i remember coming in, and they were all young women, mostly young women in that class, all young women, all latinas. Were talking, and i said around what are you guys talking about . What is it, whats the thing . Is it a dance, is it a song . Oh, were talking about this documentary or this drama, 13 reasons why. I have a teenage daughter i had a teenage daughter at that time who was battling anxiety. And so when they talked about what it had to do with mental health, high schoolers, i said, okay, and they said you should watch it. Yeah, jose. That was, that was not what i was expecting to have happen, watching 13 reasons why would be the thing. And, by the way, i think everybody got it wrong. It is not and i only saw season one, but it is not a show about suicide. Yeah. It is a show about sex shaming, slut shaming, Sexual Assault and teenage girls. It is the story of what we had to live through even in this country with the nomination of Supreme Court justice kavanaugh. Yeah. So what happens is, is that i watched that, i watched that show, and theres something that happened in the show which is that they do really capture rape in a way that you dont see it often. And it really did triggered. It triggered. Which, you know, i had not really i mean, i knew ptsd because of 9 11 triggers, but i had never experienced Something Like in this, and that was when i decided, okay, i really have to do the therapy. I really have to understand how this impacted me as a woman for decades. So im better now. I like about the fact that theres also things that i reveal about myself that are a little bit unexpected. You know, i enjoy i erotica now because i can, because i understand that that i was, to use that term, i was a victim of rape. You are a survivor. Yes. Your therapist said that, right . You were a survivor, and it was like, wait a second, im a radical, im all of these things, but you had not thought of yourself in that way. Ever. Ever and also as a journalist, you know, we like being a bohemian, okay. Like an activist when i was in high school, but a survivor . And i am, i have to acknowledge. I am. I am a survivor. Let me just say as a writer, the way the restraint in the writing of all of that, and i thought how it was, it was unexpected, but it was and then after i read it i looked back on previous chapters and think, oh, she was foreshadowing it. Structures really important [laughter] the way it was structured, its structured incredibly well, right . You write in some ways it is a book of a journalist. Lets talk about that, you know . The theme of this years chicago humanities festival is vision, and in some ways you, your career as a woman of color, as a latina, as a mexicanamerican, as an american is, that shapes your journalism career. And there are many parts of this book, you know . I was really struck, for example, by that exchange at cbs news when one of your colleagues said, maria, you have you have an agenda. [laughter] right. Could you talk a little bit about that . Right. So youre actually, the person who said that to me was from npr. Oh, npr. That was an npr editor who actually said he was my first, like, my first real editor as a new york reporter. He just said, oh, come on, maria, Everybody Knows about your agenda. I was like, wait, what . What agenda . Everybody knows, whats the agenda . We all know about your latino agenda. And i was like, what . I just remember feeling like thats really and i remember saying that means you must have a white male agenda because thats what you are. When was that again . Yeah, that would have been like 93 maybe . 94 maybe . I really circled when i was reading the book, and i thought about all those moments when i was at the Washington Post and somebody said i had an agenda. And as someone who many journalists, especially journalists of color, especially, you know, young female journalists look at you as, like, an icon and a role model, what do you say to them in terms of when an editor or a colleague says, hey, you have an agenda, what should they say . Well, one, heres the most important thing, i dont want them to give up. That is the, you know, i hope that is something that comes through the book. Absolutely. A lot of highs and lows, a lot of highs and lows and, you know, were all on a wave of this beautiful thing called life, and im very thankful to be alive, honestly, as a survivor of covid. I mostly want them to not give up. They have to find the person, the eller, the group of the elder, the group of friends who they can vent to to get this off their chest because we need them strong to be in those newsrooms. Now, the cool thing is, is that, you know, what ends up happening is that i end up creating my own newsroom, right . You create your own company, we create our own space. Yeah. So i feel like for a lot of these journalists there are spaces now that, like, my company is run by women of color, a majority of immigrants, you know . We empathize cultural competency, and we actually have a corporate culture, if you will yeah. That is about actually transparency and conversation. Deep ed editorial but, you know, were creating that. So i, i dont want them to give up. I dont know look, the truth is, is that im a working woman. I always like to say i dont know why it is that i didnt give up. I know why, because im a working woman. Im not independent lu wealthy. Is so this notion of im just going to stop doing this and do something else, im like, no, this is my job. I get a paycheck, i pay the bills, i have to do this. Its not like, oh, im just gonna no. The bug question would have been, jose, for me to leave and to take a corporate job just doing Corporate Communications or pr. Which you could have easily done. Which i could have easily done and gotten paid a lot of money and, you know, who knows . Money has never been what moves me, and i learned that from my father and his sense of mission and being a medical doctor. Money has never moved me. So what i say to these young journalists is understand and look, Jose Antonio Vargas, por favor, he is our teacher, he is the embodiment of our Frederick Douglass right here. I owe know you dont like it when i say that, but it is true. Because Jose Antonio Vargas is showing us, right, that no matter whatever restrictions you have or limitations, we have this thing as journalists that we have to do. We are journalists. Listen to that voice inside of you and hold on to that and dont give up. We need you so desperately. One last thing, one last thing. Oh, please. This is important. Besides reading my book and joses book, please read juan gonzalez, the book is news for all the people. Its a history are of journalists of color in the United States. Its this big, dont get afraid [laughter] but read segments of it is so that you can be fortified and understand that we need you. When i was reading it, i was hoping a lot of things. One of the details is the fistula tee that at first latina at npr, there were firsts. And then i ended up thinking to myself so you have, you have broken this ground so that people like us, you know, not only hopefully it would be easier, but that we know that somebody came before. But you keep breaking some ground. So i want to talk about your vision for the political media group. In the book, of course, you tell us why you ended up starting it, but here you are now, what, ten years into it, and it is a tremendous success. It is ad podcast. If you dont listen to it, please download are it now and listen to it. Talk to us about what is it you must be, to me, one of the few, if not the only latina head of a News Media Company thats independent, correct . As far as i know, im the only latina that runs a nonprofit newsroom in the United States. As far as i know. Hopefully, you know, maybe well find out more. More, yeah. But when i created futuro media, that wasnt what i was thinking. I, i mean, the story of the creation, there is a great story in the book. It involves 60 minutes but were not going to reveal, you should get it. Its very juicy, very, very juicy, what happens at that moment. But when i created futuru media, jose, somebody asked me what was your vision . I was, like, to make it to three years. That was the most important i was like can we just get as a small, nonprofit independent to make it to three years. Because what ive heard is the threeyear mark for nonprofits is where they either die or survive. And here we are, you know, well into our tenth year, and were growing. And the reason why i think were growing is because it was not about making money, that was not our intention, so we are a nonprofit, and i believe that we were lucky enough to have, well, i had decades of work under my belt. Uhhuh, yep. A reputation. Right, a reputation, credibility, authenticity. You know, that thing that often times cost me in moments of the main stream media where i would be told, oh, youre too close to the story, oh, you care too much, oh, youre too immigranty, too womany, all of those things, that those would be the things that actually end up really helping me to understand the kind of journalism that needs to be produced right now. And why do i think that the audience for futuros properties whether its latino rebels, latino usa, in the thick, why do i think theyre growing . Its actually because we approach it i know its a little crazy, Jose Antonio Vargas to hear journalists talk about love, but actually we do approach it with love. I dont know if i ever told you this, but i new one of the things that i loved about you when we met because i already knew your work was that i was, like, this guy is motivated by love. I mean, yes, hes really an aggressive journalist [laughter] and yes, hes ambitious in the sense that he understands the power of social media. But jose ann tone owe vargas Antonio Vargas loves this, loves this work and loves the power of his work. And so when youre motivated by love the way i believe Frederick Douglass was, the way i believe ida b. Wells was, the way i believe these are all my mentors, my journalistic mentors that keeps us going. We cannot give up though. We just cant give up. And again, what i found really astounding was the resilience, the resilience like she said, well make it to three years. Here you are at ten years, now im in charge of peoples paycheck. As somebody who has an organization myself, i know very well all of that. But i was really struck by the vulnerability of sharing all those highs and lows, that i thought any professional you dont have to be a journalist, but any professional would understand what it means to basically make something of yourself. Youve with created your op own institution, Maria Hinojosa. I mean, how incredible is that . Okay, heres one thing i have so many more questions, but were running out of time. The last thing i want to is ask you is going book to that place about radical getting at the root of things. What did you end up knowing about yourself . Wow. After the writing of this book. Wow. Thats e really deep. I mean, the first thing that came to mind is was my father. Because i feel like i made a lot of peace with my father. He he died before he could see this book, but i feel like i made a lot of peace with him. I put you through so much, or i was such a rebel, i was such a radical, and you kind of had to bear the brunt of it, and you never stopped loving me. There was that. There was my coming to terms being a survivor of rape and what that meant as a young woman. I think that there is, you know, the journalist in me that had to make a lot of peace with, you know, i dont work in the Mainstream Media anymore. I dont work in those companies. And it can be very loanly out here. And yet lonely out here. And yet feeling a tremendous amount of love for that commitment. To i so i feel like theres a really important lesson, i hope, in terms of i go. Thats why you reveal ego. Thats why you reveal these things. Look, one of the things i tell my students, and youve met my students, my class at Depaul University where i taught. Thank you, depaul, we love you. You know, i tell my students that they need to walk around in the room, strut their shoulders like i am all this and this is how i need you the walk, with a huge ego. I need them to walk with a huge i ego because we need to build up our egos. The thing is that, you know, also we have to understand our humility, and my family is the one who is very clear. My favorite thing my daughter says, i dont need Maria Hinojosa in my house, i need my mom. I need my mom. And so thats why i write about these things because i want people to understand its not, you know, oh, my god, youre famous, they use that word, icon. Im like what does that even mean . Im this fivefoot, you know, woman. So to me, it is about being able to see ourselves in each other, and thats why in the end because the last thing we came up with was the title. The last thing. It was scare true. We could not come up with a title. But in the end it was like there it is, once i was you, you know . Jose, you and i, we wouldnt be more different and yet i am you, i feel you. And thats something really that i hope we can take away from this book. Well, i mean, the beginning chapter and the end, all of that kind of comes together, which i love, i have to say. Now, let me say this, since this is the chicago humanities festival. The first time i heard of this festival was because im obsessed with everything toni morrison, as maria knows, and Toni Morrisons most amazing speeches is at a chicago humanities festival. And when i was preparing for this, i pulled up this speech in thinking thinking of your book, and this is what it said in the speech that she gave. She said, quote our priorities in the nation [inaudible] how to function, how to be alone, how to be competent in solitude, how to nurture friendship rather than how to network. How to approach and perceive beauty, not how to sell it [inaudible] how to inhabit the body, not how to reconstruct, decorate or simply medicate it. How to discriminate among various truths and their claims. How to their a rate the self narrate the self. How to articulate and inform ones own experience not of the [inaudible] but how it speaks to its own existence without erasing anothers. Most importantly, how to think about the quality of the quality of life. To me, reading this book which you must, must, must purchase tells me about the quality of life that Maria Hinojosa has led and continues to lead and how i feel really privileged to be a part of it in the way that i am. So thank you so much for the work, maria, and thank you for always laying the ground, and thank you for always keeping us honest. Love you, jose. Thank you so much. You made me cry again. Twice. That wasnt the plan thats twice. And thank you to the chicago humanities festival. Its such an honor to be a part of this conversation. And, oh, my god [speaking spanish] thank you so much. I cant wait to see you, cant wait to hug you. Congratulations on the book. Big hugs. And heres a looked at some Publishing Industry news. Fox news has entered the publishing world by announcing fox news books in coordination with harpercollins. The Partnership Includes an initial threebook deal and will launch with the release of pete leg st. s book, hegseths book, modern warriors. The poet laureate of the United States in 2003 and 2004. In other award news, the Macarthur Foundation announced their annual genius grant. 125,000 a year for five years without any ricks on the use of the grant restrictions on the use of the grant money. Christina rivera garza. Npd book scan reports book sales for up 6 , and Simon Schuster is remembering one of its long totime editors longtime editors. Ms. May highed admitted many bestsellers including with all the president s men and the late Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburgs my own words, to name just a few. Simon schuster released an ebook that can be downloaded at their web site. Booktv will continue to bring you new programs and publishing news. You can also watch all of our past programs at anytime at booktv. Org. Booktv on cspan2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Today at 5 p. M. Eastern law professor jen or if talp on her book bug, dirty money big, dirty money. In order to accumulate more wealth. Then at 11 55 p. M. In his book, the spy master, chris [inaudible] talks to former cia directors to provide an inside look at the operations. And on sunday at 9 p. M. Eastern on after words, political commentator Candace Owens with on why black americans should vote republican in her book blackout. Shes interviewed by matt schlapp, chairman of the american conservative union. Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. Good evening to the students in our audience and our viewers. Welcome to hillsdale college. I am matthew spaulding, Vice President of the college. The college, of course, is based in hills,