Episode 2- Conversations That Build

In this episode of Casa Del Viento, I take you from the steep hills of Portland’s Terwilliger Boulevard to the quieter but equally powerful landscapes of memory, story, and vision for the future. We start with the Portland Front Runners—a welcoming LGBTQ running crew I stumbled into three years ago, right when my life was coming apart at the seams. What began as a workout became a lesson in belonging, openness, and showing up for one another.

From there, I share a sneak peek of my latest fiction, The Sunday Before—a noir-tinged night of jazz clubs, rain-slick streets, and small decisions that change everything. You’ll meet Pedro and Jenna, two people on the edge of reinvention, caught between comfort and the pull of something unknown.

In the Q&A segment, I talk about moments of being truly seen, snow-day magic from my childhood, and what I’d say to my younger self at his lowest point. And to close, I shift into a conversation about universal healthcare—what it could look like if we treated it less like a political cage match and more like a shared project worth building together.

Whether you’re here for the running stories, the fiction, the personal reflections, or the policy talk, it all comes back to the same thread: finding your pace, showing up for your people, and building a future worth living in—one step at a time.