Episode #268: Welcome Hilda Pacheco-Taylor of Corazon de Vida – A Positive View of Orphanages
https://archive.org/download/podcast-268/Podcast%20268.mp3
This week, I’m pleased to welcome Hilda Pacheco-Taylor of the organization Corazon de Vida, which helps to raise funds for a number of orphanages in Baja, Mexico (which are 100% reliant on donations to stay open). We met in a very serendipitous way, but I thought it would be really interesting to speak to someone who knew more about what life was like in orphanages given that Logan and Aurora from The Thirteenth Hour both grew up in one.
When writing the initial draft of the story, I wanted to create a better home for them in the Aquarian Orphanage than movies and fairy tales often give their protagonists. In a lot of stories, childhood trauma is used to fuel later motivations, and the lack of parents gives the writer free reign to have the characters do things that most parents in their right minds would never allow their kids to do.
Instead of the usual dark and oppressive views of orphanages and other public institutions, I remember wondering – what would happen if the kids at the Aquarian Orphanage basically just lived there, kind of like an extended summer camp? What would happen if the staff that worked there actually cared about the kids and tried to raise them as their own children? What would happen if they went to school there, grew their own food, and were responsible for the upkeep of the orphanage as if it were their own home – since that’s essentially what it was? What would happen if the orphanage environment were designed to build the kids up rather than just exacerbate the bad things that had already happened to them?
I had no idea when I was teen writing the story if such a place existed. I figured it could and have seen such places as an adult that gave me hope that such places did, in fact, exist. And today’s conversation is further evidence of that. Kids are our future, yet for some reason, when there are funding cuts to be made, often the first things to go are organizations and supports that help children. Thanks, Hilda, for coming on the show to share your story and talk about the work that your organization does to make a positive difference in the lives of the children in your area.
Proceeds from the next Thirteenth Hour LP, Once Upon a Dream, will also be donated to Corazon de Vida. If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved.
Join me and others at the virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST by clicking on the picture below or here.
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
As always, thanks for listening!
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In the latter part of the podcast, I talk about the idea of trying to create some kind of online community to showcase the creative process. I touch on that in many of these podcasts, and I’ve been thinking about trying to help people showcase the creative things they do in their own lives. In may ways, that’s one of the messages of The Thirteenth Hour – creating the world you want to inhabit. You may have noticed that on my Instagram posts, I have little emoticons before the post, kind of like these: 👾🎤📖🎸🍓🎨🕹🏹🙋🏽♀️🤸🏼♂️🌈🎭🎬
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