GenX Gon Give It To Ya is ultimately about spreading love and bridging generations. I’m broadening connections while scoopin up some old friends along the way. We’ll reminisce on tv, movies, music, entertainment and events that helped form our culture cause the bond is deep!
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Welcome to another episode of Gen X Go and Give it to you. I am so excited y'all. On this episode, as promised, I have former classmate, Truman High School alum, Bronx native, Cynthia Fuentes is here to reminisce and catch us up on what she's been up to throughout the years. For those returning, I appreciate you. And if you're new, welcome to the show, please hit that subscribe button.
Deshanta:Yay. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the 3rd episode of gen X. Don't give it to you.
Deshanta:And this is the first episode that I have a live guest with me today. She's a very important person to many of us. What's up, girl? How are you?
Cynthia:Good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm doing great, great, actually. It's the holidays.
Cynthia:I'm gonna see my grandbaby soon. I'm doing great.
Deshanta:And how old is she? What's her name? Can we ask her name? Maybe initial.
Cynthia:Her name is Gizelle. She just turned 1 year old. She's fabulous.
Deshanta:Congratulations. Oh my gosh. So thank you so much for being here, Cynthia. I appreciate your patience. I thank you for bearing with me and just ready to make moves when we could make them happen.
Deshanta:So thank you. Thank you.
Cynthia:Thank you. My holiday was great so far. I was in New York for Thanksgiving, and I'm headed back there tomorrow. And I'll be there until Christmas Eve, and then I'll be on the first flight out of New York Christmas Eve to come back to Florida.
Deshanta:Yay. But you're coming to New York. I love it.
Cynthia:Yeah. I hear too.
Deshanta:I'm gonna have to meet up with you at 1 on one of your excursions back here.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:I do better when it's warmer. Right. Right. I hibernate. I don't like the cold.
Cynthia:You know, you're you're so you're upstate?
Deshanta:Yeah. Yeah.
Cynthia:Okay.
Deshanta:So let's get right into it. For everyone that does not know, this is the Cynthia Fuentes, and I have her as my first guest on Gen X. Gonna give it to you. And these Gen X's are gonna give it to you. Hi.
Deshanta:Hi. Welcome. Thank you. So let's just jump right into it. What do you what are some of your memories that you remember about co op?
Cynthia:My goodness. We were just talking about this yesterday because I was hanging out with 2 former co op residents that I grew up with that live nearby me. We were talking about, like, the milk machine in the basement hanging out on the the dryer vents for warmth. Yeah.
Deshanta:I did forget that one, but it's true.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:Fast.
Cynthia:You know, just the randomest things like, you know, we, so I lived in co op for my, like, teen years, but we actually before that, we lived in Boston CCORE, which are the projects
Deshanta:across the country. Lived in Boston Secor. Yeah.
Cynthia:Yeah. We lived in Boston Secor, and, I lived there from, like, an infant till about, I wanna say, like, 10. And then we moved to co op. And, co op was awesome. Like, I I have only good memories about growing up in co op.
Deshanta:And for y'all that don't know, co op is located in the Bronx. You feel me? The Bronx. Shout out to the Bronx.
Cynthia:So I so I always talk about it and I'm like, you know, people think, like, it's not they don't consider co op the Bronx because it's so north. Like, you're literally at the end of the Bronx at that point. The next stop on the highway is New Rochelle. So people like to kind of make fun of that. And I'm like, no, that's still the Bronx.
Cynthia:No.
Deshanta:That's the Bronx all day, every day.
Cynthia:Exactly. Yep.
Deshanta:What are some of your fondest memories during school? Did you have a sport or did you play an instrument?
Cynthia:So, yeah. So I went to all the co op schools, even though, like I said, I grew up partially in, Secor, which is, the projects across the highway from Co op City. But I went to 153 and 180 and then Truman, so I was solidly in the Coop City school system. What I loved about it or one of the things that I loved about it in middle school was, band. I was in band with mister Dixon.
Cynthia:May he rest in peace.
Deshanta:You had mister Dixon. I'm so
Cynthia:sorry. Yes.
Deshanta:Yeah. That's
Cynthia:beautiful. That's wonderful. So again, talking with some friends from CO OP yesterday, we were talking about mister Dixon and how he showed up to our reunion along with another teacher, mister Silveira. They were, I think, the 2 lone teachers that I remember showing up to the reunion we had in 2009.
Deshanta:And I am so sorry that I missed that. I so it was it was a good turnout.
Cynthia:It was amazing. There were about 400 people, maybe more that turned out. We were only allowed 300, 300 officially that paid and were in the, you know, the ballroom at the Radisson Hotel. A few people were sneaking in though, but a lot of people were hanging out in the lobby and the bar up upstairs, and in the parking lot. It was a turnout.
Deshanta:That's what's up. Did you get to speak to mister Dixon?
Cynthia:I did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
Deshanta:did. I had to speak,
Cynthia:but I was at the check-in table because I was kind of the one who ran a good portion of the process. Gloria was involved in it as well. It was a lot. Like, it was a lot of prep and work, but it was really one of the memorable moments of my life.
Deshanta:Wow. And when you say Gloria, who are you referring to?
Cynthia:Gloria Marrero. She is one of my best e's, and, she she really she's really actually the reason why it happened because I remember initially posting a reunion group on Myspace, so we're going way back.
Deshanta:Oh, wow.
Cynthia:Yeah. And, I posted the group and I was like, yeah, I want to do this. But when I realized how much work it was, I backed off from it. And on she sent me a message on MySpace. She's like, this is what I do.
Deshanta:I do parties.
Cynthia:Yeah. She's like, this is what I do. I do parties. This is my thing. I can make this happen.
Cynthia:And I was like, okay, that'd be great. And then from there it transitioned to Facebook and and then that's when everyone kinda reconnected, and and it just grew and grew and grew. And she was the one that kinda really facilitated making it happen because of her party experience because that's what she does for a living.
Deshanta:See see how the universe conspires to get you what you want?
Cynthia:Yeah. Yeah. She was the one. She was like, come on. We can do this.
Cynthia:We can make it happen. And I was just, like, realizing what a big thing it could become. You know? And we planned it originally to be, like, maybe a 100 people. You know, it was gonna be a multiyear reunion.
Cynthia:Yeah. And we talked about it. We were like, well, if we get 20 people from each year, that'll be great. Like, we thought it'd just be that kinda like the people we connect with, you know, and we're in touch with. And, so we didn't think it was gonna grow the way it did, but forget about it.
Cynthia:I created a PayPal, and I also was getting checks, and it just grew. Like, I had the small room at the Radisson for a 100 people, and I was like, hey. I need more space. And they were like, okay. We can break down the 2nd wall.
Cynthia:We can do 200 people. And I was like, hey. I need more. More space. And they were like, okay.
Cynthia:You can have the whole ballroom, and that's like 300 people max. It was crazy.
Deshanta:The party ain't no party.
Cynthia:Yeah. It was insane.
Deshanta:But, you know, we joke
Cynthia:about it. We joke about it because there were so many people, and you don't only just know the people that you graduated with. You're always gonna know the people a little bit older than you and the people a little bit younger than you. And so it was like a friend of mine refers to it as speed dating because you would see someone and talk to them and be like, hey. How are you?
Cynthia:Which one because at that point, we hadn't connected in a long time. Mhmm. Most people, you know, because, you know, Facebook wasn't the the thing at that point that people were kinda really connecting with the way they do now. And, you know, so it'd be like, hey. How are you?
Cynthia:What you doing? How you been?
Deshanta:You know,
Cynthia:you're married. You have kids. Great. And then you keep someone behind them and be like, hey. How are you?
Cynthia:You know? And you did that over and over again, you know, every every, like, 5 to 10 minutes. And then the music started and people started jamming and dancing. So that was great.
Deshanta:Any plans on doing another one?
Cynthia:We were talking about that yesterday. It's it's a lot of work. You know, to get that party done. I put my own personal money on the line to, you know, rent the room. So it's a lot of work, but we were talking about it.
Cynthia:And we're like, man, it would have been great if it was, like, in the Truman gym.
Deshanta:Like,
Cynthia:you know, instead of, you know, this party room because we could have had it done in the gym, and it would have probably been just as great.
Deshanta:I wonder if that could be a possibility.
Cynthia:It could be. You know, back then when that reunion was done, I was connected with the principal at the time. I don't I don't know if she's the principal any any longer. And I couldn't see why they wouldn't facilitate something like that.
Deshanta:Well, I'll just throw it out there that if you decide to do it, I will be more than happy to help and be around this time.
Cynthia:It is.
Deshanta:Alright. Yeah. That sounded wonderful for everybody that I spoke with. Like, that was just the real deal right there. And that's kind of what I wanna do with this podcast.
Deshanta:Just bring everybody together. And by the time it's over, everyone's feeling good and a little lighter with themselves.
Cynthia:Right. That would be amazing because I feel like like our co op family and our Truman family, like the people we grew up with, that's like a bubble that I just I really love. Like, there's just such great memories there.
Deshanta:And it's rare that you go to your page and you have, like, a 175 mutual friends. How dope is that? Right.
Cynthia:You know what I mean? Exactly.
Deshanta:That's love right there.
Cynthia:Exactly.
Deshanta:Yes. I love it all. So let me get to asking you some questions because that's really why we're here to break down some old school stuff and bring it back home. What would you say some of your favorite TV shows were?
Cynthia:I was so corny. Let let me tell you why. A Little House on the Prairie was probably one of my favorite TV shows growing up.
Deshanta:I caught on later, but it was a good show.
Cynthia:Yeah. And then when I got older, probably A Different World was my favorite one of my favorite shows.
Deshanta:I'm singing the theme in my head. I don't wanna sing it out loud because I don't think I can. I'm singing Aretha right now.
Cynthia:Yeah. Like, that show really, yeah. I love that show.
Deshanta:And what about any, favorite celebrities in general?
Cynthia:Celebrities. So, yeah, my had what I call my movie macho, who's someone I loved, James Garner.
Deshanta:You
Cynthia:know, he's no longer with us. He passed away. But I would watch, like, you know, movies that he was in. There was just something about who he was as a person, you know, politically speaking also, like he, he I just admired him.
Deshanta:And that's the guy from Rockford Files, I think?
Cynthia:Yeah. Rockford Files. He is the older man in, what's that movie where they're they're, the 2 characters are Ryan and Rachel McAdams, and then he's the older Ryan.
Deshanta:Sure is. Oh my god. The Notebook.
Cynthia:The Notebook. Yeah. That movie. He's also in a movie, Murphy's Romance that I love Mhmm. With Sally Field.
Deshanta:Yes. Yes. I remember him now. Thank you. I forgot about the notebook.
Deshanta:I love the notebook.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:So what would you say one of your favorite movies are?
Cynthia:Okay. Again, let's me let me start this by I'm super corny. The Sound of Music is one of my favorite, like, in my mind. I feel like I'm gonna travel in Austria one day and visit, like, all The Sound of of music sites.
Deshanta:So is it because it's a musical or just because of the story?
Cynthia:The story.
Deshanta:What is the story?
Cynthia:So the story, it's it's based on a real family, and it's the the father of the family is widowed, and he has, like, a 1000 kids, and he needs a governess to watch them. And he's also it's during the time of, I believe, World War 2 when Hitler is, like, basically marching across Europe. And it's before he comes into Austria, and they he's a he's a navy general, I think, or something like that. And he's gonna be commissioned by Hitler, and he does not want to be. But he's a man of wealth, and he has a woman come from the abbey who's destined to be a nun.
Cynthia:She comes into his home to take care of his kids, and they fall in love.
Deshanta:What's the abbey? The abbey is
Cynthia:like the local church, church, I guess. So she's gonna be potentially a nun, but she comes into the home to help take care of his children and they fall in love and get married. But at the same time, they have to leave Austria because Hitler has come in and taken over.
Deshanta:I wonder why I've never seen it. This sounds I think
Cynthia:I think they play it, like, during the holidays all the time too.
Deshanta:I know. It was on all the time.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:But I don't remember. I know it, but I don't know it. Right. Because it came on like the Wizard of Oz came on.
Cynthia:Exactly. And I don't know why I like it. Like, I I'm the only person in my family that
Deshanta:likes it. Fair enough. I'm gonna Yeah.
Cynthia:But sound
Deshanta:the music. I'll have to check that out. So do you remember the Geo movies that we used to see? The general organization movies?
Cynthia:You mentioned that, and I really don't remember that.
Deshanta:We paid, like it was like a a club that they collected a fee for, like, a dollar. And every year, they would get this movie and we would sneak in tons of food. I don't I would pay that.
Cynthia:So they played it in, like, the Truman Auditorium?
Deshanta:You might not have. Yes. Yes. And all the grades were in there.
Cynthia:Interesting. I don't remember that at all. And probably because if it wasn't during school time, my mom never let me out the house. So
Deshanta:that's not right. It had to be during school time because I didn't get to go out the house either. Mhmm. Yeah. They let us do it anyway.
Deshanta:Okay. I hope somebody out there remembers some of my elementary peeps. I hope y'all could back me up. Actually, it was junior high, Junior high school. Because on 5th grade, they showed The Empire Strikes Back, and that was phenomenal.
Deshanta:That was so epic. It was just so
Cynthia:Interesting. Yeah. I don't remember that at all.
Deshanta:Can you tell me what a couple of your favorite jingles are? Christmas jingles? Jingles like commercial jingles.
Cynthia:Wow. So do you remember the little it was like a commercial jingle of a little girl who had to, like, remember to go to the store and get, like, milk A buck butter? Do you remember?
Deshanta:Yes. I'm trying to get the words out because
Cynthia:these Yeah. Like a
Deshanta:A stick of butter?
Cynthia:A stick.
Deshanta:A quart a quart of milk or a pint of milk?
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:Yes. I did.
Cynthia:She was
Deshanta:so cute. That's somewhere on somewhere on social media. When I find it, I'll let you know. Because I saw it recently.
Cynthia:Right. I might have posted it. That's why.
Deshanta:Well, thank you if it was you. Because I was like, I remember that. Oh my god. Yeah.
Cynthia:A loaf of bread, a, thing of milk, a stick of butter, something like that. Yeah. Mhmm. A container of milk. It's a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter.
Deshanta:Yes. And her mom gave her the money.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:And she's counting it on the way to the store.
Cynthia:That was so cute. There was this other thing too. It was like, like, during the Saturday morning cartoons. This is when I was younger. I wanna say middle school, not high school, but there was this thing where, do you remember the Spanish boy band, Menudo?
Deshanta:Girl, you know you ain't gotta ask me.
Cynthia:Yeah. Right. So they did. So Menudo did very briefly, they had, like, a Saturday morning thing too where they sang, and it was like an a learn Spanish kind of thing.
Deshanta:Highlight of my childhood. They're they're only gonna be in an episode. Maybe I'll invite you to that episode.
Cynthia:Oh my god.
Deshanta:Gonna do a Menudo episode.
Cynthia:I would love that.
Deshanta:Oh, yes. But what were you gonna say about them?
Cynthia:So they had this Saturday morning thing during the cartoons where they did a Spanish English song, like teaching their fans Spanish.
Deshanta:Yes. That's how I remember some of the stuff I remember, to be honest.
Cynthia:Yeah. Well, there was one where it was like, I think vegetables or something where they would be like, And then they'd say it in English, pass the carrots.
Deshanta:Like Yes. Super corny. But it worked.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:Who is your favorite? You probably have more than 1, but
Cynthia:I used to love yeah. I loved Ricky. He had, like, really curly curly hair.
Deshanta:Curly hair. Yeah?
Cynthia:Yeah. I liked, Javier.
Deshanta:With the red hair?
Cynthia:Javier was the one he was, like, I think, like, a dirty blonde hair.
Deshanta:Oh, I think I'm thinking of Renee. I like Menudo a lot.
Cynthia:Yeah. Charlie. It was called Menudo on ABC. That was the series.
Deshanta:Do you know if you could find that online?
Cynthia:Yeah. I was just looking at it, actually. It was from 1983 to 1985. So it cross I guess it crossed over finishing middle school, getting into high school. Charlie, he was one of my favorites too.
Deshanta:Charlie was a cutie.
Cynthia:Yeah. He was a cutie.
Deshanta:Charlie and Johnny.
Cynthia:Yeah. Johnny too. I like Johnny. Look at you. I'm
Deshanta:a fan. For sure. What about sneaker brands? Did you rock any type of sneakers?
Cynthia:Oh, I did. Probably Adidas. Ma. Yeah. Exactly.
Deshanta:Do you remember what color you had?
Cynthia:No idea. No idea.
Deshanta:I know. And I should know. I keep forgetting. Like, to me, it seems like yesterday, but obviously is not. And I've forgotten a lot too.
Deshanta:But
Cynthia:Seriously. And as you get older, it's like it it, like, fades a little bit more too.
Deshanta:Yes. And my I feel like my age doesn't match the time frame. I'm like, no way. It's been 40 something years.
Cynthia:Like Right.
Deshanta:Crazy.
Cynthia:And think about it like those times. Like, do you remember what you were doing when you were in Truman? Like, I remember shopping on Fordham Road.
Deshanta:Those are good times. Yeah. I saw the thriller for the first time on Fordham Road. You know how they had the TVs in the screens of the show the stores?
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:They played thriller, and it was, like, 50 of us out there walking in.
Cynthia:If you go to Fordham now, it's, like, so different. Like, we were driving down because we were just there. And James used to work, my my significant other, my fiance. He used to work on Fordham Road at McDonald's, and it's not even there anymore.
Deshanta:Get out of here.
Cynthia:Yeah. And it was there for, like, ever. Like, I think the last time we went on Fordham Road, which was not too long ago, it was there. And, like, all of a sudden, it's gone. But, yeah, you know, going to Fordham Road, shopping, you know, getting your gold your gold jewelry on Fordham
Deshanta:Emote. I miss those days. But you touched upon something that I can't let slip by. You mentioned the fiance. Congratulations.
Cynthia:Thank you. Yeah. James, who is my high school sweetheart, we went to prom together. And and I have and I have prom swag too, by the way. I have they gave us a cup during prom.
Cynthia:I I don't know why I have all this stuff. I guess my mom looks a little bit of a hoarder, but we're not gonna shout her out like that.
Deshanta:But in a good way. In a good way. In a good way. She saved everything.
Cynthia:I have the there was, like, a little fold that they gave us at prom, which was just basically, like, the menu and, like, a a little, like, tribute. It was just like this little thing they gave out. I have that as well. But he was my prom date, and, and then we were together for about three and a half years after that. We were actually engaged when we were kids.
Cynthia:We were, like, 19 and but we didn't stay together and we kinda grew apart, because my family moved out of co op. So, you know, back then, if you lived somewhere else, it was, like, harder to connect. Not that we were far away, but my parents bought a house in Queens. And, I mean, we tried to manage to see each other for a little bit still and then we just went our separate ways. And then we reconnected, in late 2020.
Cynthia:And, yeah, we've been together ever since. So we got engaged since September, went on a cruise, like a little mini cruise for my birthday, and we got engaged.
Deshanta:Nice. You're always on the go. I always see your pictures, both
Cynthia:of you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. You know, we try we try and get out.
Cynthia:I like to my jam is traveling, but, you know, I've been a little homebound since last year because I'm helping take care of my parents. My mom has dementia, so that's what's been going on in my life. But I do like to get out a little bit. Like, if you say you're up, I'm in. Right.
Cynthia:Europe, let's do it.
Deshanta:I wanna say I'm sorry about your mom. So many people these days are having issues with dementia. So I'm glad that research is really trying to step it up, or from my perspective, trying to step it up
Cynthia:in Yeah.
Deshanta:The way that they're trying to catch it sooner and making the public aware of the potential causes of it and just yeah. So
Cynthia:Same. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Deshanta:And yeah. Of course.
Cynthia:You know, they call it the sandwich generation is what we are right now, which is where that generation that is seeing, like, you know, our parents are aging. And and then we also have, like, the gen you know, our younger generation, our kids are having kids. Right. And it's a it's a weird time because, you know, my generation of, you know, when I was having my daughter and growing up, our parents were kinda a little bit more available. But my daughter's generation is not seeing that so much where the parents are kind of available to help out.
Cynthia:So, yeah, we're the sandwich generation right now.
Deshanta:I feel like I should ask this.
Cynthia:Mhmm.
Deshanta:Tell me about a time you realized life wasn't easy. And how did you react?
Cynthia:Yeah. When I had my daughter, like, I I was a single parent pretty much out the gate, and, I realized, man, it really does take a village. It was hard, but I did have I did have I was able to tap into that village a bit. Had my my parents lived in Florida, so it was hard to tap into that because I was living in New York. But they then relocated for a handful of years to help me take care of my daughter.
Cynthia:They came back to New York, and I had an aunt that was very helpful. But, yeah, that's it really does take a village.
Deshanta:Kudos to you, sis.
Cynthia:Thanks.
Deshanta:I know she's probably just a great individual. And now you got 2 great individuals. Yeah. That's awesome.
Cynthia:Yeah. How my grandbaby created? Mhmm. My grandbaby, she's amazing.
Deshanta:And what is your chosen profession? What did you end up doing as a career?
Cynthia:So thanks to the community I grew up in that I will give kudos to all the time, the Bronx school system. I ended up working in finance. I was part of the co op program. So when I was in middle school, the co op program was something they talked about. Someone came from Truman to our middle school to talk about it.
Cynthia:And so I went into Truman and was a part of the co op program out the gate because I was under the business program, which was a big thing in Truman. I remember it. Yeah. So I took typing and what something they call data entry and all these other business related programs. And so, by the time I got to my senior year, what I did was, the co op program was a program that you in your senior year would go to school 1 week and then work 1 week.
Cynthia:And it was wonderful because I was placed in a finance firm, Citibank. Kids in the program were placed at all different kinds of jobs. Like, I know someone who works for the city of New York, and I was placed at Citibank. So I was able to have a finance firm on my resume, and it helped me out for the rest of my career. I stayed in that, so I moved up.
Cynthia:I was like an admin, and then I moved into, like, a secretarial job and, like, senior secretary. And then from that, I ended up working in, like, on a trading floor and operations. And it kinda just kinda grew from there.
Deshanta:The trading floor like you see in that Eddie Murphy movie with Dan Aykroyd?
Cynthia:Yeah. I was just laughing at the other day.
Deshanta:Places. Yo. That's dope. Do they be screaming like that? They do.
Deshanta:Crazy like that?
Cynthia:They do. It's a little bit different because I think in the movie, he was in a different trading floor environment. Mhmm. It was oh, gosh. I forget what it's called, but his was more like I think they were trading like pork bellies and things like that.
Cynthia:So but I was more in, like, the socks and bonds.
Deshanta:Okay. Okay.
Cynthia:But, yeah, very much like that. It was it was the wild wild west back then. Like, people was smoking on the trading floor. My boss was sitting next to me. He had his ashtray and his cigarettes.
Cynthia:And when you came onto the trading floor, you saw, like, a layer of smoke on the ceiling. Yeah. Because people were, like, smoking and doing whatever. You know, people were doing, yeah, drugs in the bathroom. That is legit.
Cynthia:Like, what you see in those movies, how the trading floor was in in the eighties, that is legit. Strippers were coming on to the trading floor. All the guys would go into a conference room and, you know, watch the stripper. Like, that's exactly how it was.
Deshanta:Wow. Yeah. I'm a laugh about that for a while.
Cynthia:A lot. It changed a lot. You know, there was regulation and things like that didn't happen as much. And, you know, you couldn't smoke, you know, smoking rules. So people had to leave and go outside to smoke.
Cynthia:But it was the wild, wild west for a minute.
Deshanta:Wow. Can you think of any experiences from school that stayed with you till now?
Cynthia:Not so much the experiences, but the people and being close to to people beyond school. Going to the baseball games because my brother was on the baseball team. Taking that yearbook picture in the bleachers. Yeah. That was probably one fun memory, you know, getting all everyone together to be, like, organized to take a group picture like that with, you know, a couple hundred people.
Deshanta:Right. Wasn't there, like, 5 100 over 500 of us, I think.
Cynthia:In our graduating class yeah. I don't know if all those people showed up for that pic. I'd like to do a count of that picture one day. But yeah. Yeah.
Cynthia:We had a big graduating class.
Deshanta:Did your profession make you happy? Absolutely.
Cynthia:It was what I was meant to do. This is kind of funny. My mom said when I was little, I used to play with paper and make money. And I had like a little cash here. And, she said I was always, like, just making money with paper and putting it in envelopes and, like, being organized.
Cynthia:And that is that tracks with where I went with my life. The thing part is growing up, I was not about math. In school, middle school, high school, math was not my jam. And then because of my work, math became my jam. You know, I'm a numbers person.
Deshanta:That's impressive.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:Because a lot of people aren't numbers people speaking from experience.
Cynthia:Right. Right.
Deshanta:And did those traits rub off onto your daughter?
Cynthia:No. Not at all. She is not a numbers person. She's a money person, but she's not a numbers person. I don't know how those 2, coexist.
Cynthia:But she yeah. Not her thing. I and I remember when she was growing up, I'd try and be like, hey. Do you wanna do what mommy does? And she'd be like, no.
Cynthia:Absolutely not. When she was in middle school, I was living in Greenwich, Connecticut, and I worked at a hedge fund in Greenwich. So it was great because I really didn't have to commute. My job was, you know, right there close to my home, and she was going to a really great school in in Greenwich. And she would go to the boys and girls club after school, which was near to where my office was.
Cynthia:And the boys and girls club that she went to was the same boys and girls club that LeBron did his, like, reveal of his team that he was gonna go to. And she actually didn't go that day. She could have met him. But so, yeah, she went to the boys and girls club nearby. And one time here's a great story that will encapsulate the fact that what I did in my job meant nothing to her.
Cynthia:Like, it did not track for her. One day, she was sick, and she had to come from the boys and girls club to my job and wait for me at the reception desk. And so she was there waiting for me, and, I heard her, like, coughing, and she was sick. And then the receptionist called me, and they were like, yeah. We think you need to take her home.
Cynthia:Like she threw up in a garbage can right there at the receptionist desk.
Deshanta:Oh, wow.
Cynthia:And I was like, yeah, this, this is not for you. But yeah, she was not a fan of like, she was not a fan nor was she impressed by what I did. So
Deshanta:What is something from your childhood you keep on your radar? And that could be anything, a person, a social movement.
Cynthia:Always people. Always. I try to connect and stay connected with my friends. I think it's important that, I mean, I try and connect with all my relationships, but my childhood and my friends that I've known for a long time, that is, like, the glue for me.
Deshanta:And what about socially? Is there a cause that you resonate with, that you might donate to? Or there's somebody in the community that's just doing a great job, a good service
Cynthia:for the community? So I when I was living in New York, and I haven't been able to get in touch with that same energy here. But when I was living in New York, I was on the board for a soup kitchen in the South Bronx called Manna of Life Ministry. Oh, nice. Yeah.
Cynthia:And I was on the board, but I was also a volunteer. So we would get in our car on Saturdays with, like, these big pots of soup, and we would go to different spots. And we'd have, like, little packed meals as well of, like, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apple juice, or some sort of fruit and a juice. But we would do that on Saturdays, and we'd go to different places in the Bronx where there was an element of not housed people. And, you know, give them a meal.
Cynthia:And then we'd have, like, at the home base area, we'd have, like, a food pantry to give out groceries. And that, from when I started doing it till now, has grown like, ridiculously. There's still there's still a big presence in the South Bronx, and they have pantry services for, you know, like food for people that are food insecure.
Deshanta:That's very encouraging to hear. And because there's so many people out there right now that just needs to help. So
Cynthia:Mhmm.
Deshanta:Would you ever consider starting a soup kitchen?
Cynthia:I don't know if I have it in me. It's it's a lot of work.
Deshanta:But Oh, right. Because you got a reunion the plan. Yeah. Exactly. Hint.
Deshanta:Hint.
Cynthia:That I have in me, actually, to try and plan that.
Deshanta:Yay. Okay. So anything else on your radar that you might wanna share?
Cynthia:Okay. So I, you know, I'm on a lot of platforms. Not not that I do anything on them. But because I'm on TikTok and I'm, and I hear a lot of what's going on now, it's supposed to be going away. And you know, that means that people who use it for a job, like they are monetized on these platforms, they're basically gonna lose their livelihood.
Cynthia:Lots of people.
Deshanta:Now I heard that they were banning it in the US in January. So that is a real thing. It wasn't just somebody saying it.
Cynthia:It's a real thing. Yeah. From what I hear about, you know, all the creators talking, they, their belief is that January 19th 20th, it's going to go away. That there's no saving it. You know, they've already voted on it.
Cynthia:Yeah. So that's wild to me. That these people make money. They're saying goodbyes on TikTok. They're saying, hey, I'm on a platform.
Cynthia:See me on YouTube. Yeah.
Deshanta:And do you know what the reason is for the ban?
Cynthia:Yeah. So there's a ban because they believe that so just to backtrack a little bit. The ownership or the parent company, I guess, is a Chinese organization or an organization based in China, and the belief is that they're able to get information they're not supposed to, which is weird to me based on through your phone, I guess. And they don't want that. They don't want that ability, even though the company has already stated that the things necessary to operate are based in the US.
Cynthia:It's not spyware of any kind. Like, it's yeah. So So that's what's happening, apparently.
Deshanta:And you might not know the answer, but how is that different from all the other platforms?
Cynthia:Because they are their parent company is a Chinese based company.
Deshanta:And the others are US based?
Cynthia:I believe so. Yeah. So people are talking about moving other platforms. One of them, I think, they're talking about is Fanbase, which is a TikTok esque platform. It's also a black owned platform, which is great.
Cynthia:It's owned by Isaac Hayes junior, the son of Isaac Hayes.
Deshanta:Look at you go. I didn't know about this.
Cynthia:Yeah. So that's one of the platforms. I've I've kinda toyed around there, but I don't really know my way around. So I'm not on there really.
Deshanta:And you said for everybody that's listening, it's called fan base?
Cynthia:Fan
Deshanta:base. Correct. So we gotta look into that people. Thank you so much for that, Cynthia.
Cynthia:You're welcome. Anytime. Yeah. Here's a great memory that, that might resonate with you. Going to the store in Truman and getting, like, snacks and stuff, like the the Linden's cookies.
Deshanta:Those Linden cookies were so good. The toffee ones and the chocolate chip ones. Crunch. Yes. Oh my god.
Deshanta:I think I did forget all about that. So thank you. Holy shit.
Cynthia:Did I unlock that memory? Unlock. She gets
Deshanta:it. I can taste those cookies. Oh, my God. Thank you for that, Cynthia.
Cynthia:Yeah. You can order them. I actually ordered them a few years back on Amazon. You can order them on Amazon.
Deshanta:I've had them since. I just forgot the connection with school. They have them here at the stores, the corner stores.
Cynthia:Oh, they do? Okay. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah.
Cynthia:I love me some blenders. I I don't even care if it's a dry, crunchy cookie. I love that cookie.
Deshanta:Yeah. That cookie is good. So let's talk about music for a little bit. Yeah. What are some of your favorite genres, if you have one?
Cynthia:Well, you already know hip hop.
Deshanta:Hip hop. Hip hop.
Cynthia:Hip hop is my love language. I yeah. I'm weird, actually. I like a lot of different music. I mean, but hip hop is my core.
Cynthia:I love, like, world music. Like, I like artists. I I like this random artist, English artist, who I don't know how I would even label that genre. His name's David Gray. I love that musician.
Cynthia:Yeah. David Gray. And then I like, you know, Spanish music, salsa. I love reggaeton. I didn't let me tell you.
Cynthia:For years, I was like reggaeton is corny. Like, I couldn't wrap my head around it because I love hip hop and I love reggae. Right?
Deshanta:Mhmm.
Cynthia:And reggaeton, I was like, come on, please. And now all of a sudden, like, Spanish regeton is, like, probably the biggest or one of the biggest they were saying, music plays on Spotify. That's impressive. Some artists have crossed over, so they get a lot of, like, they they get a lot of play from, like, English listeners of music. Not like Latin, like, not like me, like a Latin listener, but like American listeners.
Cynthia:Bad Bunny, Carol G, Daddy Yankee.
Deshanta:It's sad that I know who Bad Bunny is because of Kendall Jenner. But I don't I don't I I know and I know he's a musician, but I wouldn't know a song if I heard it. Well, you do you do
Cynthia:you know his collabo from I don't know how many years back with Drake Mia.
Deshanta:I don't know.
Cynthia:It's called Mia.
Deshanta:I'll look it up when we hang up. Okay, But that's Bad Bunny. Okay.
Cynthia:That's Bad Bunny. I mean, they're they're getting a lot of radio play now. Bad Bunny and Carol g. Yeah.
Deshanta:Mhmm. Yeah.
Cynthia:But I guess long as getting a lot of play now. But my growing up, it was all about hip hop and and reggae. That was my jam. But, like and then not like the the, like, more popular hip hop. Like, I liked the not so popular or I didn't think was so popular back then.
Cynthia:But Like who? Like Fushnikins, Far Side, Onyx. Onyx was really popular. MX. I mean, I loved it all, though.
Cynthia:But also, like I said, the random hip hop, like, Arrested Development.
Deshanta:Okay. They were here recently, this past summer.
Cynthia:Were they? Mhmm. Wow.
Deshanta:A lot of artists was here. KRS came, Shelly E. Maxie Priest. Wow. The time CL smooth came, he was his dope.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:He just exuded this energy that just had the crowd just mesmerized.
Cynthia:Right?
Deshanta:What celebrity passing haven't you gotten over
Cynthia:James Garner?
Deshanta:You really
Cynthia:like to see just my movie macho.
Deshanta:Hugs to you then.
Cynthia:Thank you. Also, you know, I was talking about this yesterday with my friends that I I told you live nearby that are from co op in Truman also. I was talking about how we lost all of our like, our generation major musical artists are all gone. So, like, Whitney Houston, Prince, Michael Jackson.
Deshanta:It makes me really sad. Yeah. Even George Michael.
Cynthia:George Michael. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Deshanta:Yeah. It's weird. Mhmm.
Cynthia:It's sad. You know, that's like our youth, people we were supposed to still be listening to. I know. Like Luther Vandross too.
Deshanta:Luther.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:It took me a while. Like, back in the day with Luther, I was like, but now that I understand, like, Luther, yes, he is the king of R and B, in my opinion.
Cynthia:Small world connection. I used to work with his sister. Her name was Anne Sanders. She passed away as well. His mother, I believe, lost all her children before she passed off.
Deshanta:That's tragic.
Cynthia:Very. Very. So let's not bring it down. Let's come back up.
Deshanta:You got me with the Michael and Whitney. I was like Let's bring
Cynthia:it back. But speaking of Luther, I was listening to one of his songs yesterday or it was a remake, but House is Not a
Deshanta:Home. Really?
Cynthia:And his voice is just butter. Like, just butter.
Deshanta:Yes.
Cynthia:I don't think he ever made a mistake.
Deshanta:I don't think he thought that either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Deshanta:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cynthia:Did I
Deshanta:research him one day? So that resonate. What creative artist or group do you think is slept on?
Cynthia:Creative artists or group? No. I feel like they all kinda get the kudos they deserve. I actually kinda like, Lady Gaga. Like, I feel like after she got out of her really crazy performative era, like, you know, wearing the meat dress and all that, I think she slept on, but I love that she gives flowers to all the people that are before her.
Cynthia:She has a very like, she is very respectful of the people that came before her.
Deshanta:I like her and Tony Bennett.
Cynthia:Yeah. Me too. And if you see her when she would interact with him, I believe she was fully aware that maybe he was already I'm sure he was already in his dementia.
Deshanta:Mhmm.
Cynthia:Fully performing though, because the thing about dementia is that the routine if you're in a routine, you still do that routine. And I know that because of my mom. My mom, she worked in her early stages of dementia. Yeah. She still worked.
Cynthia:And before she retired and and then when she retired, she was again in her dementia. She was still like, oh, I gotta go to work. I gotta work. Work, work, work, work. And then that eventually stopped, obviously.
Cynthia:But I do believe that Tony Bennett was fully in some sort of level of dementia while he was performing still.
Deshanta:I can't remember. And I mean this respectfully, but did he pass?
Cynthia:Yeah. He did. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Deshanta:I knew it was coming, but I wasn't sure.
Cynthia:COVID because he was still fully performing up until COVID and and the thing with, dementia, not to beat a dead horse. But when you stop a routine, it's a trigger. And because he stopped that routine, he was performing, performing, performing. He he once he stopped performing during COVID, that was it. It was a trigger to basically, you know, the rest of, you know, working out his dementia.
Cynthia:But, yeah, I think she fully was aware, And but she's just phenomenal. She is a, you know, phenomenal, respectful, kind human being. That's what I see. I don't know her Yeah. Personally, but that's what she gives off.
Deshanta:I get that vibe. I could see that. Yeah. What are some of your favorite quotes?
Cynthia:Probably the, like, old school corny ones. Like, it ain't over till it's over. What else?
Deshanta:That's a good one, though.
Cynthia:Yeah. That's the only one I could really remember right now.
Deshanta:And then I heard Lenny Kravitz, like, it ain't over till it's over. Right. But
Cynthia:That's such a great song. It is. It's probably underappreciated. There
Deshanta:you go.
Cynthia:Yeah.
Deshanta:Lenny, I appreciate you. His mama said album is bomb, though. Like, that whole album, I could just listen straight to. Really? Yeah.
Deshanta:It's really good.
Cynthia:I don't even know what album that is. I'm gonna have to listen to it.
Deshanta:It's dedicated. Well, it's about Lisa. I don't know if it's dedicated to her, but their relationship, that album is fine.
Cynthia:Oh, wow. Okay.
Deshanta:Mhmm. Is there anybody you wanna shout out, show love to?
Cynthia:Yeah. I just wanted to say, you know, I love that you're doing this. I think it's really cool that you're reconnecting with people. I I don't know how much you're gonna be doing, like, throwback like that, like, reconnecting with people, but I think it's cool.
Deshanta:Thank you. At some point, I'm gonna run out of old school people. So everybody else out there, I got you, and I'm gonna invite you, and I wanna hear perspective from across the country, across the world.
Cynthia:So I
Deshanta:don't want anybody to feel like they're limited to just hearing about people from Harry S Truman or the Bronx. I'm expanding because I'm so. We are. So I have to give the props where they are due and that's due everywhere. Yeah.
Deshanta:So
Cynthia:I did wanna give one quick shout out. When I was growing up in co op, my my and you probably experienced this too, that some of your besties were the people like right there in your building or people that you were closest to. Exactly. Proximity. And for me, those two people were Lisa Hibbert and Susan Chandler.
Deshanta:My god. I definitely remember Lisa Hibbert. I have her face in my mind. Yeah. Susan Chandler, I'm not sure.
Cynthia:Yeah. She's right down the hallway from me, Susan. My brother Larry and her sister Karen, they were literally our door was we lived in a Chevron building and we were the f apartment, so we were at the end of the hallway. Mhmm. And they were, I think, a b apartment at the other end of the hallway, so we could see them straight across the hallway.
Cynthia:And Lisa was I was on the 18th floor, and Lisa was on 13, I think.
Deshanta:Do you keep in touch with her?
Cynthia:I do. Yeah.
Deshanta:Oh, hey, Lisa. What up, girl? You're welcome to the show. You know what I'm saying?
Cynthia:Right.
Deshanta:There's a there's a spot with your name on it.
Cynthia:She's lived a life. Yeah. Very interesting. Yeah.
Deshanta:See, I'll have to try to find her too. Or y'all could find me. Just go to Gen X. Go and give it to you on Facebook and TikTok, which we will probably not be on there soon. But we're also on Instagram.
Deshanta:I'd love to have you on the show that goes for any of the gen x's that's across the world. I love y'all. Cynthia, I will be keeping in touch with you and definitely wanna have you on the show for that Menudo episode. You can add some perspective to that. I hope the rest of your holiday season is phenomenal, and we will touch base soon.
Deshanta:Safe travels. Tell James there's an episode with his name on it, and I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be a great time, and I just appreciate everybody who's listening, you coming on, who will be coming on. Bear with me, but we will come out triumphant and just have a great experience with this whole thing reuniting with everybody. I love you.
Deshanta:I appreciate
Cynthia:you. Thanks. Love you. Take care.
Deshanta:It is such a blessing to have reconnected with my old friend. I'm looking forward to making new ones. So as you can see, gen x do shit different over here. Connection is important. Community is important.
Deshanta:Helping people feel seen is important. Walk down memory lane with me as I continue to revisit fond memories, sometimes with the help of fellow gen x's. Coming up on the next episode of gen x, gonna give it to you. I went back and forth about who should be the next episode. I was in the supermarket one day, and as soon as I heard her voice, I knew she had to be my next spotlight.
Deshanta:The emotion and excitement bubbled up inside of me. She's inspired millions with her vocal and acting ability. So much so, many of us begged our parents to enroll us in performing arts school. If you said Irene Cara, you would be correct. Tell your friends to subscribe and be ready to get hyped because this gen x don't give it to you.