damian trujillo: hello, and welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo, and today, "summer in the waiting room." it's an instant classic, and we have the author today on your "comunidad del valle." ♪♪♪ cc by aberdeen captioning 1-800-688-6621 aberdeen.io damian: we begin today with the monthly visit of the consulate of mexico, in san francisco. with me today, pinch-hitting is vicente sanchez ventura. he is the consul adscrito, the vice consul general of mexico in san francisco. he's on our show.g spani] it's a pleasure for me to be in contact with you and your audience but, well, with topics that everybody's interested in. damian: yeah, there's a lot of topics. let's start with your participation in the

and why that's important to your office. consul sanchez ventura: yeah, it's important because now in collaboration with the consul general of canada, both consulates representing a large community of both countries in north america, and we are working with the participation in the pride parade on june the 26th, and together we support the group of lgbtq, too, and through this organization the diversity in the community. last year, in celebration of this day, this is something very, very important. the mexican embassies and the consulates through the wold, we declare a safe zone for--against the discrimination.

this is very, very important because we support the diversity, and this is a way of how we can work against the discrimination. damsafe zones for thee, alllgbtq community.es consul sanchez ventura: because one thing happened. it's because we have agreements with international agreements against the discrimination and with diversity. these treaties means that all the embassies and consulates will support--and, of course, the government of mexico--it's against this way of discrimination. damian: all right, well, that's good. that's good that you're being pioneers in that effort. there's a lot of topics that we can talk about, but one of 'em is the continuing operation of the consulate through the two years of covid, and you're still busy even in that time.

consul sanchez ventura: yeah, yes, two years, very hard years for everybody in the world, but the consulate was working, yes, and mexican embassies in the world. we were working in very hard conditions because probably in another zones of the world was worse, but here, we opened the services slowly, but the thing is that, for example, in the last three months, we were in hawaii, serving the community, because they help--they need us after two years of no service, no consulate service. now we are restarting every program, every plan that we have, but the safety zone for us is something important because we call to everybody to everybody to come here and no sex discrimination,

religious--something--apparently it's easy, but when the people come here, it feels safety. you feel different. damian: yeah, no, it's great to see that and those strong efforts. i keep telling the consul general that we should send a reporter with you when you go to hawaii, but, you know, we're still working on it. any final thoughts? anything you wanna add, senor consul, before we let you go? consul sanchez ventura: yes, we made the community to see the effort that we are doing in our jurisdiction because we are serving one million of mexicans here, but these people are working in different kind of services in the fields, in different factories, and we support the human rights, yes, because they, the mexicans here are people who are working. we are--they are contributing within the economy of the united states, and there are people, with a lot of efforts, are

working and giving some help to the families in mexico, and this is a good effort, yes, and the consulate of mexico, well, we are a large representation in the united states, 50 offices in the united states, and most of them, we are serving the communities. it's one of the largest in the world in another country, and in san francisco, we are very happy to serve, restarting the service, i guess, with a lot of effort after two years. damian: yes, well, it's good that you're back, senor consul adscrito vicente sanchez ventura. thank you for being on the show today. consul sanchez ventura: thank you so much. damian: thank you, and for more information, they're on folsom street in san francisco. that's the consulate of mexico in san francisco. there is a web address for more information. up next here on "comunidad del valle," "summer in the waiting room." stay with us.

damian: well, his family spent one summer in the waiting room, not knowing if he would be able to come out or not, though

we're talkin' about my good friend eddie garcia, who's the author of that new book, "summer in the waiting room." eddie joins us on "comunidad del valle." eddie, welcome to the show. eddie garcia: hey, damian, how are you? damian: i'm good. well, you woke up this morning glad that you were able to take a breath, i would imagine. eddie: absolutely, the key phrase there is "i woke up this morning," and we take that for granted. we always do, but i've been around the block a few times with my health issues, and so it's an amazing feeling waking up every morning. damian: all right, we're gonna show the image of your book. it's gonna come out, and tell us about your inspiration to write it. i know that it was a touch-and-go there for a while with you after a massive heart attack. eddie: yeah, i started thinking about writing it at the beginning because i wanted to go through some self-therapy. here's the quick part of my story, on june 7, 2010, i had a

massive heart attack, and things went downhill from there. i ended up--my lungs ended up failing. i was induced into a coma to get my lungs back in place. i was on a ventilator--and we've heard a lot about ventilators during covid. i was on a ventilator for about three and a half weeks. they paralyzed--the doctors paralyzed my body to give my chance--to give my lungs a chance to rest, and so, when i woke up, literally, three, four weeks later, i couldn't move anything, so i had to learn how to walk, talk, swallow, stand up. i had to learn how to do everything all over again, and when i finally came home, it hit me that i went through a really crazy experience, and so i started writing a blog about the experience, and, again, it was a form of self-therapy, and ultimately, it turned into a book, and the book is called

"summer in the waiting room: faith, hope, and love," and it became a spiritual journey, and, you know, i was thinking the other day that the heart attack on june 7, 2010, might be the second-best thing that ever happened to me after meeting my wife, sandra, and having our daughters, marisa and erica. damian: you were on death's door, eddie, to put it bluntly. you were on death's door. you decided to write this book, again, to kind of tell your story, but you want us to take somethin' away from it as well. eddie: oh, absolutely. you know, we talk about a lot of problems we have in our community right now--not just in our community, in our world. it's things like the whole world is just upside down right now, and my story brings a sense of hope. there's hope even in the darkest of times. it's funny, you said i was at death's door. i'm a catholic, but i'm like a really good catholic now because

i've had every sacrament the catholic church offers other than being ordained as a priest, and that includes the last rites, a couple of times. so this summer, in 2010, we learned that faith, hope, and love can carry the day, and so my message to people while reading through this book is "no matter how dark your times are, no matter how difficult things are, there's always faith, hope, and love that can carry you over the top." damian: and family first and foremost, right? i mean, your wife, sandra, spent that summer in the waiting room. i mean, that's where she lived. eddie: you know, i can tell you, she actually lived in the icu with me, and she went out to visit the waiting room every once in a while to let people know what's goin' on, how i'm doing. there was a time in the summer where it was literally hour by hour whether i was gonna make it or not make it, and so she slept in a little cot right next to

my bed in the icu the entire summer. it was amazing, and i learned a lot about the word "love," and the most powerful type of love is what's called "agape." it's a greek word that's used in the bible for god's love, and what that means is that, when you give of yourself for the sake of others--and that summer and in our entire life, she absolutely gave of herself to make sure i was okay, and there's no stronger love than that. damian: and tell us about the book now. it's available? is it available? how can people get it and read it? eddie: yes, it was released last tuesday, june 7, which, by the way, if you remember the date, that's the 12th anniversary of the heart attack that started the "summer in the waiting room," so it was released june 7, on amazon.com. all you gotta do is type in "amazon" and "summer in the waiting room," and it'll pop up.

there it is. damian: there it is right there. we're showing it on the screen tambien. we see it on the screen there. but we're gonna have your daughter erica in our next segment 'cause she's the one who drew the caption or the image of the book cover there, and, boy, when it comes down to it, i mean, when you have your last rites read to you twice, you cheated death a couple of times. eddie: yeah, a couple of times. i like to joke with my family that there's that old rap song "y.o.l.o.," "you only live once," and, right now, i think we're up to "y.o.l.f.," for me, "you only live four times," because i've been shocked back to life. there was one time where my heart just couldn't stay in rhythm, and i was shocked many times, so maybe it's "y.o.l.m.," "you only live many times," i don't know, but it's an amazing story, and i'm just so grateful and happy to be here.

damian: all right, i'm glad you're tellin' it here with us. if you'd like more information, again, this is called "summer in the waiting room," by eddie garcia, and the author--is his daughter erica. we'll have erica on our show, up next, here on "comunidad del valle," so stay with us.

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damian: and there it is. it's called "summer in the waiting room." it's a book by eddie garcia, and the artwork is done by his daughter erica. erica joins us now here on "comunidad del valle," to talk to the world, now you know. about that, but before we talk about the art, erica, 'cause you're an artist by trade, boy, how was it? you heard our conversation with your dad in the previous segment. i can't imagine how it was for you and the family. erica garcia: i can't either. i was 12, so that was 12 years ago. i'm 24 now. well, 13. i was still in seventh, eighth grade. i had no idea what was happening and only because i was being

kind of protected by the harsh information that was happening. so, at the time, i just remember being in the waiting room, trying to entertain everybody and trying to make light of the situation as much as i knew. like my dad said, my mom was in his room most of the time, so it was just me and my sister out, in a way, kind of hosting, kind of like how we would do when we'd have people over. we would be hosting. and it was--as i would say, it was-- i mean, you can read the book, but it was a good time for us 'cause we really tried to distract ourselves from what was happening and-- damian: and there was, like, a potluck there in the waiting room, right? a couple of times i went, there was food. erica: yeah, we had burritos, carne asada, tacos, posole, chinese chicken salad. damian: well, talk about the book cover. that's your artwork, and talk about that, if you will.

erica: yeah, so this piece actually was thought about, i think, right after my dad came out of the hospital. he said that he wanted me to paint. well, actually, not right out because there's still a lot going on. like, about two, three years after he started writing his blog, and he was just, like, "i want you to draw something just in case i want a visual to the writing." so, at first, it started off, me doing logos for the website and for the blog, and then he, my dad, gave me, kind of, parameters on what he would like for me to do. he wanted a heart, a rosary, and some sort of sense of faith, hope, and love, and so i worked on this for a long time. i had a sketch five, six years ago, and i didn't start painting it until last year during the--before i came to otis for

my grad program, and i just wanted to incorporate all the colors that i feel exude faith, hope, love and also kind of reveal our culture and community and what we've come together to support, and that was my dad, and so the orange and the red and the really bold colors, i thought, were helpful in kind of giving more of the story. damian: that's beautiful. good work. dad, anything you wanna add to that? eddie: no, i mean, it was amazing. when we talked about the concept, you know, she said, "well, should i do this? should i do that?" and i said, "you got the concept. just go run with it," and when she actually showed it to me, i was just amazed. and erica didn't mention it's an actual painting, and so she transferred it into a book cover,

but the painting itself is spectacular. it's beautiful. damian: wow, we have about a minute and a half left, eddie. i'll let you have the final say here, anything you wanna get across. eddie: yeah, my biggest regret is that i wasn't in the waiting room. i heard they had a great time. damian: it was a party up there. eddie: they were eating tacos and burritos, and the way they described it, it sounded like it was a bunker. you know how they say that you should get an emergency bunker in case of earthquakes or whatever? and they had, you know, food stacked up and waters and sodas and doughnuts and blankets on the floor and laying around, kicking back, and i heard that, you know, there was sadness, there was fear, there was hope, and there was just a lot of fun, and, you know, i cherish my family because they were there, and i could feel them. even though i was in a coma, i could feel them two, three doors away while i was lying in the icu.

it was an amazing experience for them, and i'm just sorry i missed it, that's all. damian: it was a party 'cause i went there a couple of times, and that's what it was. well, thank you both so much. this is such a great venture. it's the next chapter and appreciate you both being on. eddie: all right, thank you, damian. erica: thank you. damian: thank you, eddie. thank you, erica, for that. again, it's called "summer in the waiting room." it's available now on amazon. you can log on and find out more information. there it is. it's "summer in the waiting room," by eddie garcia, again, available on amazon right now. up next here on "comunidad del valle," another special interview, so, please, stay with us. every search you make, every click you take, every move you make, every step you take, i'll be watching you.

the internet doesn't have to be duckduckgo is a free all in one privacy app with a built in search engine, web browser, one click data clearing and more stop companies like google from watching you, by downloading the app today. duckduckgo: privacy, simplified. damian: if you wanna get ahold of us on "comunidad del valle," you can follow me on-- let's see, that's twitter first, that's @newsdamian. you can also follow me on instagram, duckduckgo: it's @newsdamiantrujillo. find out all about "comunidad del valle." we thank you, once again, for being a part of our

sunday here on "comunidad del valle." we're gonna leave you now with a special interview with los tigres del norte. just, their message is so compelling like they've all been throughout the years on this show, so here they are. we're gonna leave you with that and maybe a little bit of music after that, so thank you for joining us. we'll see you again here next week. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ damian: boy, they are truly a legend. these are los tigres del norte, los idolos del pueblo. anything you wanna add to that, they've earned it, and we are so honored that they are here in our studio exclusively on "comunidad del valle." welcome to the show, boys. all: thank you. damian: i've waited 21 1/2 years for this, to have you on--what took you guys so long to be here? jorge hernandez: well, thank you. thank you for having us here. we are very proud to be here in this area and we--gonna be

performin' here in the sap arena next february 17. damian: what's it like to come home and sing in front of your home crowd here in san jose? jorge: oh, we love it. we are kind of nervous though because we haven't been for the last three and a half years--we haven't been here in the city, so kind of nervous, so i hope everything goes well. damian: all right, let me get serious on the topic, if i can, don hernan. you and i were watching the news earlier on nbc bay area, and you saw a lot of the immigration issues. how angry does it make you? because you're kind of considered a social activist. how angry does it make you when you see the attacks on immigrants? hernan hernandez: ah, seein' all these things that are happening right now, you know, it made me upset. it makes me--the frustration, you know, it gets bigger every day, you know, because, when you see the way that they're

segregating for the dreamers, especially all those young generation, those are the young kids that came here with their parent, without being their own decision. you know, that was the parents' decision, and now the way the president is doing these things, and the way he's using his way of thinking or his way of saying that things--or what he's gonna do, you know, it makes me so upset, and it made me--the frustration not only in the mexican community or latino community, i think most of the nationalities that live in the united states, you know, were confused, and we don't know what's gonna happen, you know? i hope, you know, that we can--like, god, you know, that

we lived here for so many years, and we have our kids here already, so i think we should make this kind of a union, you know, to make it strong, you know, and maybe artists and people that really have--that pull in of how get together, you know, to us, in a good way and a specific way, you know, to do something for the dreamers, you know, that are--can you imagine, if the dreamers go back to their own countries, and they became all their lives, you know, that's tough. i mean, that's a decision that i hope the president change his heart, i mean, touch his heart. damian: do you see a corrido about president trump in the future by los tigres del norte? jorge: probably. damian: probably, right? jorge: probably.

we have to do it in a good way for so many reasons. damian: how tough is it that--maybe one of you guys can answer it--to take a stand, to say that los tigres del norte are gonna stand up for immigrants? i mean, it's probably easy for you guys but--and you know that you might be criticized by some other people but--or the immigrants are gonna be cheering you. how tough of a balance is that? eduardo hernandez: well, yeah, you're right. we can be criticized, but, you know, we have to do it. it's somethin' that we have to stand up for and, you know, fight for our community, fight for our people, fight for our--not only, like hernan said, mexicans, but the whole latino people. we have to fight for them. we have to raise our voice to do something about it, you know? ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪

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. narrator: when you see this symbol, you know you're watching television that is educational and informational. the more you know on nbc. sheinelle: hey, i'm sheinelle jones, and we're about to spend the day with the cutest, cuddliest, and most curious baby animals on earth. this is "wild child". today, we'll take a look at some of our favorite furry, finned, and feathered friends, like this family of hungry, happy herbivores. then we'll discover what season puts the spring in the step of these tiger cubs. plus, these aquatic animals splash their way through a fun and sun-filled day. but first, we'll dive in with this pod of spinner dolphins,