Never The Empty Nest: Recent Episodes
Vanessa Garcia, Nicole Garcia, Jackie Rivases
This is a podcast about family, led by two sisters and their mom.
An experiment in generational nesting which is, in essence, the ways in which family holds together throughout the lives of its members, their joys, their hardships, their care, their living, breathing roots, and legacies in the making. It’s never too early or too late to add a twig to the nest and roost!
It’s here: the days are longer and the kids are out of school. Now: What do we do with them? How do we make sure they make the most of their time off, and also make the most of their boredom? Nicole and Vanessa explore these questions. Their answers aren’t always the same (are they ever?), but the convo is fun! Almost as fun as summer.
In this episode, we discuss nesting as a lifestyle, its ups, downs, and all its circles...and cycles. Meanwhile, Yoda-mom turns back the clock and teens-out, escaping through Vanessa's back door. Vanessa is accused of "storytelling" (though you should judge for yourself). Roles reverse and irony ensues, but the warmth is turned up, even as Jackie's apartment goes topsy-turvy. This one's a big laugh -- hope you'll laugh with us!
Sabina Murray is an award winning author born (and now living) in the States, raised in Australia and Manila. She’s won a Guggenheim, been a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe, received the PEN/Faulkner Award, a National Endowment for the arts, and the list goes on. In her new book, The Human Zoo, she takes on a particular political moment in Filipino History — Duterte’s presidency — and she wraps it in a suspense-filled, love story which meets a journey of self understanding. The nest is everywhere as we chat with Sabina and we find the places where Filipino culture and Cuban culture meet, diverge, and swing as part of the bigger human net.
This week we break bread! We talk about all things Guava Babka with Cristina Fernandez, founder and Head Baker of I Knead More. And we definitely need more of her. She talks to us about climbing the foodie/chef ladder as a woman, and what it was like in NYC, learning from the best of them, then coming back to Miami and how the pandemic helped her actually launch her business. And, of course, this all goes back to her nest. It was her dad, after all, that told her: bake bread, girl, bake bread!
This week we have all the cousins gathered to talk about what makes their nest special. Yeap folks, we ventured to bring the kids on (that’s why this week’s is so short)! There’s furniture involved, boogies on a mic, and a pulled plug. Yoda mom calls it a “fracass,” but we also call it family fun.
Wendy White, whose short film ROSES ARE BLIND, has won so many awards the laurels hardly fit on the poster, is now sharing her story with us. The film is based on her life, whose beginnings were founded on a bumpy nest. She was wrongly institutionalized at the age of 19. Now, Vanessa is working with Wendy on a feature length film of the short, and they’re both very excited. The girls (Vanessa, Wendy, and Nicole) revisit their past, trips to Amsterdam, Vanessa’s first play, Barnard, the Ann Frank Museum, Edinburgh, and even Shoes & a Show.
In an effort to help the elderly, the undocumented, and those facing food insecurity during the pandemic in 2020, Jessica Gutierrez co-founded Buddy System MIA bringing artists together to work with the community. In this episode, we talk about what it means for a community to really come together, the flow you follow to make that happen, and the perseverance it takes to keep it all budding.
A place called Casa Cuba is blooming in Miami. It’s a spot where the Cuban and Cuban-American story will be archived, where it can be studied, where it can root from. Maite Morales talks to us about what it’s like to build this nest. We meander through her visits to the Smithsonian, Celia Cruz, Maite’s dissertation about the emotions of the Cuban revolution, and archive fever.
Yoda Mom freaks out this week as we’re joined by Asha Walker, whose dad is the OG (Original Gardner), Dr. Marvin Dunn. Asha’s organization, Health in the Hood, brings abundance, education, nutrients and true greens to food deserts in Miami. And, she’s working on expanding beyond Florida! We talk about good-food, favorite veggies, and what it means to really spread the love in our communities.
As Vanessa welcomes a new pup into her nest, Maman falls hard, and Nicole goes brunching, we welcome Bad Papi! Amelia Leon, whose drag name is Bad Papi, and who shares their journey from abuse to self-discovery with us. They share what it meant to discover drag kings, and the nest that made them feel things they didn’t know they could. Journey with us!
In this episode, we discuss that ever-present, ever-frustrating, unbreakable, annoying, beautiful, one-of-a-kind bond between…hermanitas! Sisters, sisters! The fighting, the make-ups, the anecdotes of madness. It’s all in this episode. Also, one of the Rivera sisters (Christy) is actually the person responsible for making Richard Blanco (from Season 2) a poet! Oh, and there’s even a ladybug infestation in this episode. Fun and ….fortune?
Ruben Rabasa, who just played Uncle Walter in the 2022 remake of Father of the Bride, alongside Andy Garcia, is about to take the stage in his one person show, at 84-years-old. The show tells us the story of his spectacular life. Ruben has been in more movies to mention, sharing the screen with the likes of Adam Sandler and Colin Firth. Vanessa is the co-writer of his one-person show and Victoria Collado, who is also a guest in this episode, directs it. This is a beautiful work nest. A theatrical one. We talk about friendship, love, trust, birds, moms, and so much more.
Mom is still gone because she’s got some protruded discs. Ouch! Rest-up Yoda Mom. Niko turns into a massive Mamma bear who actually has to get bleeped. Oops. Let’s just say there’s trouble in the first grade (Niko’s daughter’s class). Vanessa, meanwhile, is a walking zombie because she’s lost a close friend. She’s heartbroken. Together, Nicole and Vanessa tackle what low-grade depression means right now for everyone. Like, for the whole world. For the collective. They explore what our collective post-pandemic depresion means and how to get out of it.
Nicole’s husband, Jonathan, broke his jaw! Vanessa’s releasing @theamparoexperience on Instagram. Mom is missing (don’t worry, she’ll be back), but their guest, Natalie Cabo, who has acted with the Garcia sisters is now on a reality show called Twenty Somethings: Austin (Netflix) and she’s sharing all. Nat opens up about what it means to move out of the family nest for the first time with a robo camera to boot. She talks about the blind faith she had to have, the lack of privacy, the tricky financials, the quarter life crisis, new friends (Kiki!!), and… well, reality.
Richard Blanco was President Obama’s Inaugural poet, but he also means a whole lot to the Nest Crew personally because his poetry resonates on so many levels. This week, Blanco joins the nest to talk about how smaller, character-filled nests in Maine can sing beautifully, how you can be a Turkey on the outside but picadillo on the inside, how to make a holiday out of spam and peanut butter, and how to find what we don’t come to the page with…how to find that extra layer. Let’s just say he gives Yoda Mom a cryball, and somehow, we all locate some lost marbles.
Work/Life balance, it’s a thing. Jackie, Vanessa, and Nicole take a work/life balance test on air. Follow along with them, or just laugh with (at?) them as yoda mom gets called out for her secret-tortilla-chip obsession, Vanessa finds herself bragging, and Nicole tries to keep it cool (she’s the jelly). But who's the most balanced? Find out on this episode of NTEN!
The nest processes a problem they are having “live” on the program: When to get a caretaker for Maman (Jackie’s mom; Vanessa and Nicole’s Grandma). Jackie is in denial, Vanessa wants to do a family vision board, and Nicole can, typically, see all sides of the problem. But what’s the solution? This is, of course, a problem many families and nests are having as people live longer and more and more families grapple with aging parents and grandparents. What’s your take?
Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Material, Spacial, and Sexual boundaries – the ladies hash all of them out in the hopes that breaking a few eggs will make an omelet and not a disaster. Meanwhile, Grandma is seeing kittens and blondes, which are making boundaries blurry, not to mention Covid-residue boundaries taking a toll on Jackie. Plus old anecdotes including one about teen-crossing-boundaries that ended in Vanessa jumping out of a moving car. And all that’s just the start…
Today’s nest-guest takes all of us on a journey from the divine feminine to the Black Madonna, who represents transformation through fire. In fact, the very core of this episode is about transformation itself; what it means to start again. The ladies talk about holy places – from Christchurch to Tinder and The Corner Bar; the airline industry and what it means to be a Swuban (Swiss-Cuban for those wondering). It all ends in a meditation for everyone, which will hopefully lead to yet another tiny moment of transformation.
While Vanessa is away at the Latin Grammys, the authors and creators of the book Designing Motherhood join the nest to talk about the framework of reproductive justice, about how their own nests have led them to who they are and what they believe about looking at motherhood through the lens of design. Nicole, Amber, Michelle and Jackie talk about the power of unconditional love, nursing, the ways in which we can be better here in the States, the choices mothers have had to make, and how to make those choices easier in the future. Vanessa will be very sorry she missed this!
Vanessa, Nicole, and Jackie, have had a conflictive couple of weeks. They talk about the how, the why, the what, and whether they were actually having conflicts or crises – there’s a difference (Yoda mom explains). They discover that conflict is essential, as in all story, but they also talk about how to get out of it once you’re in the stew too long. Plus, Vanessa gets the giggles (uncontrollable) and Yoda mom apparently has a “little text voice” (sorta like Jiminy Cricket).
Vanessa is still away, this time she’s on a biz trip with her husband, and let’s just say mom and sister do a little behind-her-back gossiping. What starts out as an episode about how the pandemic has changed the nest, ends up being a “chisme-fest.” They also go into Nicole’s baby-steps back into the actor’s life again, dog pee, and an old job at a nightclub Nicole used to have. Somehow, the boomerang catches all of this.
This week it’s just Jackie and Nicole talking about the decision to stay home with the kids, losing yourself, finding yourself, and making your way back into the workforce. Mostly, they talk about the respect that’s missing on both ends of the mom spectrum – the full-time (sometimes over-time) working mom, and the “stay-at-home” (whatever that means). They also do a little reflecting on Nancy Meyers, who according to Yoda mom, “knows life.”
So many theories throughout the years. Piaget, Maria Montessori, and, let’s not forget, good ‘ol Doctor Spock (not to be confused with Spock, Leonard Nimoy’s character on Star Trek, although child-rearing can sometimes feel like you’re drifting in space). In this episode, the Garcia sisters and their mom talk about nature, nurture, how all their kids are different, and the constant decision making that goes into your particular child’s development. There’s a whole Nicole-geek-out-session on Montessori…there’s also that.
In this episode the ladies discuss what it means to "go with the flow," and boy does flow meander across some tricky channels and pretty broad oceans. Also, Taika has the croup and we discover that Nicole is the "deli meat" of the group. Yoda-mom gets a little germ-phobic and we come to realize that even though we're trying to go with the flow, we might all be just a little traumatized by this pandemic. Nevertheless, the nest persists.
This is a special, unedited, bilingual bonus episode – and one wild ride of a story. We are releasing it just in time for the feast day of St. Lazaro, Dec. 17th!
It’s the story of Heriberto Canela, who left Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift. His arrival in the United States was epic, but to add to that, he promised to return for his parents. So, after arriving in the States, he threw himself to the sea again. The near-death odyssey that ensued is detailed here straight from Heriberto himself, joined by his wife, and his son, actor, Jason Canela, who carries his dad’s legacy forward. Pirates, puking, shots fired, betrayal, illness, being lost at sea, promise, hope, family – you name it, this story has it. Tune in for more!
For this episode, we welcome Zelmira Crespi, Vanessa’s sister-in-law, mother of five and co-author of Happy Mom, Happy Kid. She tells of her journey into motherhood and what it was like to learn, in your late twenties, that your first born would have Down Syndrome. We talk about the blessing, chaos, madness and method of big nests, and what it means to not lose yourself inside them. Meanwhile, our kids decide to mirror the subject of the episode and barge at our door, barnacle up against us, and challenge the quiet of the episode. We even have a little bit of an echo in this one. Alas! That’s… reality, as Yoda mom says.
Art is very much a part of our podcast—music specifically – a song is at the center of it. Just as there is a song at the center of the freedom fight for Cuba right as we record and release this podcast. These songs, the emotions they bring forth, are the history and the hope of our intimate and greater nest. We unpack all of this here, alongside a prophetic letter from our grandfather (and Jackie’s dad) and the plunge our grandmother (and Jackie’s mom) is taking into a kind of madness – which is also linked to the bigger nest of Cuba.
So, love can get noisy, with all the languages it speaks, right? In this episode we dissect them all – gift-giving (mamma bird is getting an eternity ring!), acts of service, PDA, words of affirmation and so much more. We also talk about how these love languages are maybe conditioned? How they evolve, and how they can expand to help us when we speak and interact with the rest of the world – social justice, baby! Shed a little love, shed a little light.
From Winnie the Pooh, to baking bread with our grandfather, to the beauty of bountiful meals and the horror of eating disorders. From popcorn cheats to learning Italian and dreaming of pasta. It’s all here as we dive into the moments that bring us together around the table, from the stove top of our hearts to yours. You’re going to get hungry, so bring a snack.
When Marta and Maria Irene couldn’t find a summer camp that felt right for their kids, they built their own. One that included cooking and food from around the world, music, and, most importantly, one that spoke Spanish. When they’re not building a summer camp, Maria Irene teaches Montessori and Marta helps victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse. Plus we get a gem of a love story – an impossible love, divided by a dictatorship, made possible through the support of family.
Katherine Vaz and Christopher Cerf married late in life (Katherine was 59; Chris was 73) – made their nests by the time they’d already flown around the world a few times. Katherine also happens to be the author of the first Portuguese-American novel published by a big house and Christopher is known for being one of the original members of the “street gang” that made Sesame Street and, potentially, the world’s most well known nest (Big Bird’s!). Together, we talk about thinking in color, the families that build us up, the games we play, and the deposits of love that make us who we are.
Jackie poses a question: Do we lose our intuition the older we get? The girls rebut with: Or do we just get smarter? What does instinct have to do with survival and love. What does analysis have to do with depression? All questions that arise in this episode, as the birds chirp about adoption, big moves, the discernment process, and Spain. Yoda mom leads the way.
It sounds idyllic: birds huddled around each other for warmth in a bed set up by a clever, loving mamma bird. But keeping that nest together is harder than it looks. Americans, it turns out, are more estranged than ever from family members, while, at the same time, they have more multi-generational households than ever. What’s going on? Vanessa, Nicole, and Jackie dig into what it means to hold the nest together, restructure it when you have to, boot people out, keep others in. Toxic tolerance, love, fuel, and the importance of: “I love you no matter what…” --- the ladies hash all this out in this episode.
In this episode Vanessa, Nicole, and Jackie perch themselves at the edge of their nest to chirp out and introduce themselves as well as what “Never the Empty Nest” means and where the idea comes from. They talk about generational nesting, which Jackie calls an experiment. One that reaches, at least for them, all the way back to a family bed in Lanaja, Spain, through to Cuba and now stretches across the United States from Miami to California.
An experiment in generational nesting which is, in essence, the ways in which family holds together throughout the lives of its members, their joys, their hardships, their care, their living, breathing roots, and legacies in the making. It’s never too early or too late to add a twig to the nest and roost!