Love Letter to Pilsen's Bittersweet Symphony

A guest letter by Veronica Montes

Hi!

Welcome to issue #6 of Audio Affairs: Love Letters to Sound #2. I will probably be somewhere on a beach in Thailand when you receive this. However, you’re never far from my mind so here what’s in store for you today:

• A love letter by my colleague, friend, and the whimsical mermaid 🧜🏻‍♀️ Veronica Montes this week.

• Adopt-a-Suspicious Skeptic: my take on the Adopt-A-Listener month.

It is a time of transition in my life. Some of you may have heard that I recently quit Inside Podcasting, a stable writing gig of nearly three years, last week. I did it to create space for some of my own endeavours that are going to be unveiled soon. I am also gearing up to leave Dubai, where I’ve been stationed for the past 10 months.

What can I say? The siren sound of vagabondism calls out to me, yet again.

In this period of my life, I found that this beautiful love letter by Vero grounded me, gave me perspective, and reminded me that community can be found even in the most unlikely places.

I hope it does the same for you.

This letter has not been edited for clarity or brevity. Because, who does that?

💛A love letter to Pilsen’s Bittersweet Symphony

💨 Exhale. We needed one for the walk down 18th Street. 

Let’s take the long stairs in the dim, narrow hallway with high Pilsen ceilings. It’s hard to fully light the entire hallway. But I’m walking out with my friend Iliana, and she’s a ray of light. The building is so old that the wood gossips all the secrets it has witnessed over the decades with its loud creeks. They complain about the ratchateo coming from Twisted on the weekend nights, but the creeks don’t know what buenas vibras mean.

This tunnel of stairs is a portal to mi ✨pueblo mágico. I no longer fear the darkness of the hallway I once feared as a kid. And it’s the best time of the year in Chicago. We go outside and feel the warmth of the sun we missed throughout the winter. Car tires driving on the main Blue Island Avenue hum and prelude Pilsen’s symphony of sounds. 

🎶“Cuando me muera, como yo te agradecería

Que pusieras en mi tumba 

Dos botellas de Mezcal. |

When I die, I would be most grateful 

If you laid next to my tomb

Two bottles of Mezcal.”🎶

A 🚘 car at the stoplight on Blue Island and 18th blasts 🔊“Dos Botellas de Mezcal” by La Santa Cecilia featuring Dos Rosas. It’s my favorite version too.

“Vamos al Penny real quick. Se me olvidó mis 🕶️sunglasses, says Iliana.

The beautiful sound of Spanglish makes me feel at home.💕

The 🔔bells of a paletero 🍭approaching down the street sing like the coyollis as we pass the Aztec Sun Stone on 18th Street’s sidewalk.

We walk into the bar, and there is Mikey. 

“Aw, mang. I was just about to text you. I’m finishing up. I’m about to go to my guy’s house if you all want to come.” 

“Yea, we’re down,” we say in unison. 🤗

“Want a shot for the road?”

The glassware clinks as he grabs it and pours us a smooth slurp 💋of mezcal shots as 🎧M-Dok and Syko hype the crowd around us.

It’s not even close to dark. 🌄The sky is pink and blue, but your 👂🏼ears can no longer ignore the commencement. 🧨The sounds of atomic fireworks are slowly growing louder and louder to announce that nightfall approaches. 

Tsssss. 

Mmmm! The sound of the carne asada on the grill is overpowered by the sounds of DJ Gonzo mixed with 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦family gathering, laughter, children playing, and 🍻beer bottles being distributed. We have no shame enjoying ourselves in public on the streets of Pilsen.

“Quieren comer,” said Mikey’s friend

“Ay me da pena,” I responded

“No cómo crees. Sírvanse,” he insisted.

Mmm. I love the crunch of a toasted tortilla fresh off the grill. Tacos 🌮caseros are the best. 

The night arrives. The swarm of 🎇fireworks 🎆across the Pilsen sky and streets lights up the many faces surrounding the neighborhood. Pilsen’s Fourth of July looks and feels like a 🌌galactic battle. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The smell of the aftermath smoke 💨creates a dome over the entire neighborhood. 

We keep walking until we stumble upon the sound of Mo Mami mixing with the endless sound of fireworks.

The can clicks as it opens, and the gas releases a sigh of joy from the Modelo 🍺 I received from another friend of Mikey’s. 

Clink. Salud!

Brace yourself for the climax of the symphony because el perreo is intenso and so loud, but the minute you hear J Santos you can’t help but to join the crowd…

“Ayyyy!”

Then, you see all the faces you saw throughout the day all in one place. There’s nothing like hearing the sound of your favorite people in person.

“Heyyyy, how are you?”

“Hey, what’s up?

“Hiii, babe.”

“Hola amiga cómo estás? 

🪧A note by Veronica:

This was loosely based on actual events and real people.

I moved away from my hometown, family, and friends in Chicago for the first time a year ago. I miss Chicago a lot. I like to feel that a part of me is still there across space and time. My love letter to the sounds of Pilsen is dedicated to so many people and experiences in this neighborhood that founded my fundamental understanding of the importance of community. There are so many diverse symphonies across Pilsen to enjoy, but this particular symphony is one of my favorites. It celebrates the intersection of the Mexican American identity many first-generation people in Pilsen have navigated. Most importantly, it shares how music, food, and nightlife create space and pause from the chaos of the world for a coming together with joy and celebration via the many festivities of the neighborhood that invites a diverse group of people across the Chicagoland area.

🎙️Adopt-a-Suspicious Skeptic

Tink Media, a magical podcast company, declared April (and here-on forth) as the Adopt-A-Listener month. As part of this, podcast listeners adopt (or try to) a non-listener hoping to introduce them to the podcast of their dreams.

The non-listener I have adopted is my very best friend in the whole world — you might know as her as SR, for the purpose of this she has chosen the pseudonym Suspicious Skeptic. She is not a big podcast listener, to say the least. It’s a challenge to get her to listen.

A challenge that I accept.

Going forward, I’ll recommend podcasts to her and share her reviews here. If you have ANY show to recommend that you think she might like (or if you just fancy taking a mickey out of her) recommend it.

I recommended Ologies: Sparklebuttology (Fireflies) with Sara Lewis. Here’s her review:

It's no secret that I've struggled to get on board with Podcasts.It's like someone's speaking RIGHT INTO MY EAR(which, despite what the general populace say, is creepy as hell). 

For Shreya to ask me to listen to a Podcast episode about Fireflies, is cheating really. She knows of my love  for all things flora and fauna. 

The content of the episode itself was quite interesting and I really enjoyed learning Firefly facts from an expert on the subject. I especially loved knowing that the _scientific_ name for a Firefly is "SparkleButt".(jk)

I still lost interest about halfway through when the actual Q&A portion of the Podcast started. It reinforced my dislike for Interviews in Podcasts. 

All in all, not bad for a "bare-attention" listen.

💜 Credits:

• Veronica Montes, for this letter, your vulnerability, and the playlist you made me.

• Lauren Passell, for being my fairy godmother Tinker Bell. Can I live in the world you decorate?

• All the wonderful people who have been so kind and present in this time of transition with me. Let’s all jump off this cliff and fly, shall we?