Luis Rodriguez: Cries from the Cages

Zeitgeist with Zack Geist

On this episode I am joined by Luis Rodriguez whom I met at a men's retreat in Mendocino in 2019 with Michael Meade. Luis' bio is far too long and varied to cover fully here, but includes healing from addiction, working to help prisoners cry through their words, becoming the poet laureate of Los Angeles twice, working with gang members and at risk youth, running for green party governor of California and for vice president for the justice party.

Hearing some of Luis' stories at the Michael Meade retreat told a tale that sounded more uncanny than fiction. His wounding was long and deep and the discovering of his gifts came with much suffering as soul gifts tend to do. I wasn't sure exactly where the conversation would go and I had imagined that we may go into more of his stories, however, speaking with Luis evoked a lot of my past to pour into our dialogue. I have been hesitant to post this episode as I don't speak about these things publicly or much at all and I feel a bit embarrassed that I spoke so much. Truth be told I have had a hard time integrating my youth into my story of self and I think that becomes apparent in this dialogue. When asked why I run a podcast, I have different answers that all point to truths, however the main reason is probably for my own healing.

I feel that the world could benefit from hearing the cries from the neighbor's cage, as tears don't often take the same shape. We are all familiar with the cliche "Hurt people hurt people," though in fact, this couldn't be a truer statement. Many hurt people have literally lost their ability to shed tears, have become hard and numb, and I know, for a time I was among those ranks and to some degree, still am. I hope you find this talk healing and that it can open you to a world that you may not be familiar, maybe you can hear some of your story weaved in here somewhere.