22d • General Discussion
Why I Need to Do the Living Strong Radio Show
It started with a simple quest: to get 100 subscribers to the Living Strong Radio Show channel.
I thought it would just be about numbers. A milestone to reach. A marker of progress.
But it became something much deeper.
People supported. People shared. People asked questions. And many reached out — calls, texts, messages — to tell me how much the show resonated with them.
Some said the music spoke to their soul.
Some said the words carried them through a dark week.
Some simply said it reminded them they weren’t alone.
That’s when I realized: this show isn’t just content. It isn’t just music and stories.
It’s connection. It’s resonance. It’s purpose.
But if I go back to the very beginning, to the initial spark, the answer is simple:
I needed to give spirit to the words of my book.
Living Strong: The Power of Defining Moments was born in ink and paper — but I wanted it to breathe in rhythm, melody, and sound. To give the words not just voice, but musical spirit.
And that spirit couldn’t be confined to one style. It had to carry the full tapestry of my soul: hip hop, salsa, gospel, merengue, jazz, Latin hustle, rock, theater, standards. All the genres that shaped me, that live in my bloodstream, that make me me.
The show began as the sound of my book. But it grew into something larger — the sound of all of us.
Scene One: The Invitation
Yes, the show is for lovers of music — hip hop, jazz, gospel, country, rock, musical theater.
Yes, it’s for mental health and fitness buffs, word nerds, lovers of family and community.
But it’s also born of something deeper in me: my Latin spirit.
I grew up Puerto Rican in the Bronx. Salsa, merengue, the Latin hustle of the 70s — they weren’t just sounds, they were survival. They were movement, rhythm, soul. The pulse of the street and the beat of my people. Dance taught me discipline. Rhythm taught me resilience. Latin soul gave me joy when life felt too heavy.
So yes — the show is for us. Parents, grandparents, great-grandparents — the ones who carry the weight of raising the next generation. The ones who “get the job done.” The ones who know the struggle of life and still keep showing up, equipping our youth to handle the hard of life.
Because life is hard. And yet, somehow, with rhythm in our bones and hope in our hearts, we make it happen.
Scene Two: The Struggle
Every defining moment in my life has been born in that hard.
I think of the Bronx streets — where hip hop, rhyme, and word play became my lifeline. Where the rhythm of salsa and the heartbeat of congas carried me through nights that could have broken me. Writing was how I survived. Dance was how I expressed. Music was how I breathed.
I think of my Grandpa John, who lived with multiple pacemakers yet lived on his own terms. His lesson was simple: life may break your body, but you still get to choose how you live it.
I think of my wife Renee, my daughter Alex, my son CJ, my grandson Seraph — my family — each one teaching me that love is both the battle and the blessing. That this human experience is not abstract, but flesh, blood, diapers, heartbreak, dreams, and hope.
Parents and grandparents know this better than anyone: the human experience is intimate. It is personal. And it is universal.
Scene Three: The Journey
The Living Strong Radio Show is how I tell that story.
Each week, it follows the arc of the human experience:
It begins like a party — fun, exciting, alive. (Just like the block parties of my Bronx childhood.)
It dives into the fire — the struggles, the scars, the questions in the dark.
And it rises into wisdom — the light of living, the strength to thrive.
It’s Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey set to rhythm and sound.
It’s salsa meeting hip hop. Gospel meeting jazz. Rock colliding with spoken word.
It’s the arc of humanity, the pulse of life itself.
Because the genre doesn’t matter. The rhythm does. The story does.
And here’s the truth I hold: everyone’s story is worth telling.
Scene Four: The Moment
Each show might be someone’s first.
Each show might be someone’s last.
That’s why I give everything I have in that moment — every word, every rhythm, every ounce of recognition. To say:
You are seen. You are heard. You are not alone.
Lin-Manuel Miranda asked in Hamilton: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”
This is my answer.
I need to do this show because it is where I feel most useful.
Because it’s how I honor my Bronx roots, my Puerto Rican spirit, my family, my community, and the struggles of every listener.
Because it is empathy, compassion, and usefulness wrapped in rhythm and word.
This is my Living Strong Radio Show.
And I need to do it.
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Why I Need to Do the Living Strong Radio Show
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