Being on T.V. is a weird adventure

Friday, October 16, 2009, 12:12 PM

Well. After several months and scheduling issues we now have a couple of wonderful interviews out in the Universe of Television about American Boricua. Before getting to what it was like to have cameras pointed at you, I have to admit two things:

One: My computer is so old that it doesn’t want to upload the DVDs (so when I figure this latest technological opportunity for growth I will post them both here on the blog)

Two: After asking many friends and colleagues about how to handle the experience, I was still scared out of my mind. (!) Which, when you really think about it, is helpful because isn’t it our minds that often scare us in the first place? Think about it.

Being first generation U. S. born, in a Spanish-only household until I was in the second grade, of course my Spanish wouldn’t sound like the Spanish my Papi speaks. (If one or both of your parents arrived from another land, you can relate. I am much too hard on myself with my Spanish. I am not perfect yet! Grrr!) He had the benefit of growing up on the island. I had the benefit of North Philadelphia. Hum. So after several humbling days of only speaking in Spanish to practice, I got my thoughts and my Spanish together.

Wow. Its a good thing that the kind interviewer from Univision neglected to tell me the 3-minute spot was LIVE or I would have had time to freak out. HA! Three minutes goes by very quickly and now whenever I see people speak on television I understand why they can sound rehearsed. They probably DID rehearse! You don’t get enough time to even say “um”, or form an original thought, in the Universe of Television. Who knows? Maybe with practice it’ll be less stressful.

One thing that kept me in good spirits during the whole experience is that I kept imagining the hulking studio camera as the Eye of Mordor, all knowing and all seeing. En serio, it cracked me up and I found myself laughing silently at what a trip this experience is.

Gracias to KCTS Channel 9 and KUNS Univision, both in Seattle, for turning their eye toward American Boricua. More to come! Yes.