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This great story about right-wingers firing Raul Martinez from Miami radio really is a big deal - and I have a funny story (with a @JoeBiden cameo) that illustrates why. 1 https://twitter.com/Carrasquillo/status/1382085580205461507">https://twitter.com/Carrasqui...
One day in 2015, my wife realized that our nanny, a wonderful Honduran woman named Gloria who started working with us 2008, did not know that I had a job. 2
I was a bit hurt, because I love Gloria and chat with her all the time in my broken Spanish, but all she could see was that I spent a ton of time on my computer, a lot of time on my phone, and a fair amount of time away. I guess that didn& #39;t look like work. 3
My wife explained to Gloria that actually, all that screen time and yapping is work, Mike is a journalist, he goes away on reporting trips to interview people. And to prove it she showed Gloria a photo of me interviewing the vice president of the United States, @JoeBiden. 4
Gloria had no idea who @JoeBiden was. 5
My wife explained that he was a very important American politician. Blank stare. He& #39;s Obama& #39;s friend! Ah. Gloria had heard of Obama. But she kind of doubted he was close friends with the old guy in the picture. 6
Anyway, Gloria seemed to accept that I was gainfully employed, but she wasn& #39;t impressed. Until we threw a book party for @RoigFranzia, and we invited some of the sources for his Marco Rubio biography, including Hialeah-mayor-turned-local-media-star Raul Martinez. 7
Anyway, this big Cuban guy I had never met walks in the front door. Gloria screams: EL ALCALDE! The mayor. It& #39;s Martinez, and Gloria is hyperventilating. This is the greatest celebrity encounter of her life. She is in shock. 8
Martinez was very gracious - he gave Gloria a hug and chatted with her a bit. She still talks about it sometimes. And she decided that day that whatever it is I do on my computer and my phone, it must be super-important because El Alcalde came to my house. 9
Gloria does know who Joe Biden is now - he& #39;s the viejito who beat Trump - but I just asked her if she remembered the picture of me interviewing him and she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. 10
The point is, for at least some Spanish speakers in Miami, Martinez is not only a celebrity but the only prominent Democratic voice they hear on the radio. It& #39;s a big deal that they& #39;re going to replace him with a Latin Hannity. 11
I guess another point is, doing journalism is not as easy to distinguish from doing nothing as I would have hoped. END
