Random Thoughts! with a GenMeXer.

The RTWLOP crew discusses life under quarantine: including really bad family movie picks, attending (online) classes at TAMIU, our anxieties and our coping methods, and how much social media is helping us stay human. Laredo's artistic scene steps up. Marc asks, "Will our relationship to smartphones change after Covid-19?" Then, categories. With Janessa Berlanga, Francisco Flores, Rosina Silva, and Marc Moore.

Marc is joined by Beatrice Ceja – president of Laredo BorderSlam slam poetry group, Lin Gonzalez, Jesus Guzman, stand-up comedian Francisco Flores, and Dexter the Pug guest stars. Marc reveals he has ‘ship rankings of his friends. Searching for the perfect dog online is quite like online dating. The sad tale of Franny F's beard morphing into a “dad ‘stache" leads to the ages old question of “Who’s Down with Beards.” Marc thinks he has a “woke" moment, but the Random Thoughts crew tells him he’s just old. We discuss the possibility that either Lin G. or Dexter the Pug may be a killer. Marc actually has a Random Thought during the podcast and the Random Thoughts Drinking Game is born. Then the crew discusses smart phones, sanchos and sanchas. Lin and Jesus try the Facebook Dating app. And Dexter the pug puts his two cents in.

In the second part of the Comedy is Misery podcast: Luis Garza finally joins Franny and Orly for a complete podcast. Marc, Franny, and Orly marvel at the fact that Luis Garza is simply one good looking dude. Franny, Orly, and Luis discuss the art, science, and work that goes into crafting good comedy. Using comedy as a means of dealing with depression and the catharsis it creates. The perils and pleasures of dating a comedian. Marc learns what a weeb and a weeaboo is. Franny and Orly discuss the comedians who influenced them. Hamlet, obviously, and giving a proper shout out to the bard, Billy Shakes, also known as, The Speare. And Orly has an art show coming up.

Warning: this podcast contains explicit language and adult situations not suitable for all listeners. This episode I'm joined by local stand up comedians Francisco Flores and Orlando Valdez to discuss the burgeoning stand up comedy scene here in Laredo, the inspiration and work it takes to craft comedy, using comedy as a way to counter depression, and the perils of entering the exit ramp unannounced. Then first time actor and comedian Luis Garza shows up late during the podcast and basically ruins everything.

Joined by Will and Isabel Shrout, along with Al Rubio and Lin Gonzalez, I interview Laredo BorderSlam Poetry member Uziel Araiza about being detained as an illegal immigrant and his two month stint at the detention center in Persall, TX.

A mutual friend from the Laredo BorderSlam slam poetry organization, Uziel Araiza Delgado - a young man with no previous criminal record, who's lived on the Laredo side of the border since he was five, who graduated as a member of The English Honors Society of TAMIU from Texas A&M International University with a degree in English with honors - gets pulled over during a routine traffic stop by the police, who call in the Border Patrol to detain him. He's currently in a detention center in Pearsall, TX, and has been for the past month.  On this podcast I'm joined by Will Shrout and Isabel Ramirez-Shrout, as well as Lin Gonzalez, members of the Laredo BorderSlam Spoken Word Nonprofit organization - friends who are spearheading the campaign to legally release him. They give me the rundown of what happened. How it happened. And what Uziel's current status is. I think I laughed much more than I should have on this podcast, but what else can you do? And with this bunch as my panel???

I sit down with my friends, Joanna Christine, Joe Edward Molina, and Al Rubio, and discuss The Creative Process: From Inception to Birth, the Difficulties of Processing Mental Illness Through Art, Puppets, and the Satisfaction of Putting the Genie in the Bottle.

A few weeks back one Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, TX, my cousin Gabriela Nunez and I went ahead and interviewed our mothers - Minerva Nunez and Diana Moore - in what was once our grandmother's house that has stood since the earl 1900's. What emerged was a conversation that ranged from such topics as eating dirt; 1950's social clubs; high school pranks; history; art; education; religion; machismo; our fathers' pick-up lines; children; gender and gender-fluidity; to the fierce, primal power, strength, and grace of the Mexican American Mother. 

Mark Moore hosts a round table discussion with some of his friends: writer and poet Rebekah Rodriguez, financial consultant and indie music promoter Fernando Montemayor Jr., indie rock guitarist and graphic designer Sergio Puente, and Rudy Murillo Jr., graphic designer and founder and head of video production company, Sledge TV.

I have a conversation with two local icons from the worlds of music and drama: legendary bass player and mainstay of the Laredo music scene, Al Rubio and award winning actor, director, and high school drama instructor, Jose Flores, about their craft, their experiences, and life in the Border City.