Hypothetical Interview with Tato Laviera
by: Diana Torres and Erick Soto
Last week we had a lot luck and could interview Tato Laviera for this website in his apartment at The Taino Towers in Spanish Harlem. He welcomed us with a smile and a warm attitude, assuring us that even though he couldn’t see us, he was sure that we were great “muchachas y muchachos”. We sat down in his living room which had a great view of Harlem and talked about his work, his life and what inspires him to this day.
Diana Torres: So, Mr. Laviera, we and a lot of your fans would like to know, when exactly did you realize you wanted to become a writer?
Tato Laviera: Well I started writing when I was still chiquito. I would take songs and change the lyrics because I didn’t like them and I wanted to put them my own details. But that wasn’t exactly when I started writing. The story goes; I was really sick and was in the curandera’s house, I had been watching this homeless man on the street 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. No one did anything to help him, so without thinking I picked up a sandwich and juice, and went down the stairs. But when I reached the block, he was gone, desapareció. Then I wrote a few verses in the sandwich’s bag… La curandera, Pura, told me he was a spirit and that I could not see the spirit again because se me quitaba la suerte. The next day she gave me an accounting book, and I filled it with verses and all the words that would come to mind.
DT: After that, what did you do?
TL: I kept on writing for myself, claro, I kept on changing the lyrics of songs. I also helped boys and girls to study when I was 16. I was their teacher; they came to me after school and I would teach them how to write their homework. This went on to the point where I still had not graduated from college and the University of Livington College in Newark offered me a job.
DT: That was an opportunity of a lifetime.
TL: It sure was, and I have never regretted it, mija.
Erick Soto: Tato, tell me, what inspired you to start writing poetry about the Nuyorican culture?
TL: I think it inspired me my love for the Puerto Rican culture, the language, everything about mi amada patria. And to see how boricuas reject other boricuas for not being raised or born on the island? Estúpido, really really estúpido. I decided to write about it. I realized that there are also Nuyoricans, that take the best of two cultures and mix it into one- a mixturao culture. Is also important for mi gente (boricuas, nuyoricans, ameRícans, everyone) to remember who they are and where they come from; that is a reason why I sometimes write in Spanglish, because boricuas like to do this.
ES: So, what writing is important to you and why?
Honestly, all of my writings are important to me because they send a crucial message to my people but, tambien I like making people laugh, and sometimes write about love and beauty; not just politics and serious issues. I also write for myself, I write every day at least 7 pages. Now it is harder than before because a typist must help me, but I can get it done, todavia tengo jugo.
ES: Well, all a poet needs is their soul to write sincerely from.
TL: Gracias a Dios, that is true.
ES: How do you feel about being one of the most important representatives of the Nuyoricans movement?
I feel very honored that people have supported me this much. I love mi gente. It is lattering, gratifying that people identify with my poetry and want to hear more about what I have to say. People like that I don’t have pelos en la lengua sometimes (laughs). With all that said, I think that I still have a lot to write, I need to work harder to try to get rid of the racism and cultural differences of mi gente, and other gente everywhere. I need to write more so I can make my people know what we really are and what we can really do.
Diana Torres: So, Mr. Laviera, we and a lot of your fans would like to know, when exactly did you realize you wanted to become a writer?
Tato Laviera: Well I started writing when I was still chiquito. I would take songs and change the lyrics because I didn’t like them and I wanted to put them my own details. But that wasn’t exactly when I started writing. The story goes; I was really sick and was in the curandera’s house, I had been watching this homeless man on the street 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours. No one did anything to help him, so without thinking I picked up a sandwich and juice, and went down the stairs. But when I reached the block, he was gone, desapareció. Then I wrote a few verses in the sandwich’s bag… La curandera, Pura, told me he was a spirit and that I could not see the spirit again because se me quitaba la suerte. The next day she gave me an accounting book, and I filled it with verses and all the words that would come to mind.
DT: After that, what did you do?
TL: I kept on writing for myself, claro, I kept on changing the lyrics of songs. I also helped boys and girls to study when I was 16. I was their teacher; they came to me after school and I would teach them how to write their homework. This went on to the point where I still had not graduated from college and the University of Livington College in Newark offered me a job.
DT: That was an opportunity of a lifetime.
TL: It sure was, and I have never regretted it, mija.
Erick Soto: Tato, tell me, what inspired you to start writing poetry about the Nuyorican culture?
TL: I think it inspired me my love for the Puerto Rican culture, the language, everything about mi amada patria. And to see how boricuas reject other boricuas for not being raised or born on the island? Estúpido, really really estúpido. I decided to write about it. I realized that there are also Nuyoricans, that take the best of two cultures and mix it into one- a mixturao culture. Is also important for mi gente (boricuas, nuyoricans, ameRícans, everyone) to remember who they are and where they come from; that is a reason why I sometimes write in Spanglish, because boricuas like to do this.
ES: So, what writing is important to you and why?
Honestly, all of my writings are important to me because they send a crucial message to my people but, tambien I like making people laugh, and sometimes write about love and beauty; not just politics and serious issues. I also write for myself, I write every day at least 7 pages. Now it is harder than before because a typist must help me, but I can get it done, todavia tengo jugo.
ES: Well, all a poet needs is their soul to write sincerely from.
TL: Gracias a Dios, that is true.
ES: How do you feel about being one of the most important representatives of the Nuyoricans movement?
I feel very honored that people have supported me this much. I love mi gente. It is lattering, gratifying that people identify with my poetry and want to hear more about what I have to say. People like that I don’t have pelos en la lengua sometimes (laughs). With all that said, I think that I still have a lot to write, I need to work harder to try to get rid of the racism and cultural differences of mi gente, and other gente everywhere. I need to write more so I can make my people know what we really are and what we can really do.