In this wonderful episode, Nancy and Jose are joined by Ruben Navarrette, a Washington Post syndicated journalist for the last 21 years, with columns appearing weekly in 150 newspapers reaching nearly 90 million Americans. Ruben is also the host of the podcast "Ruben In The Center." Having started in the middle of the State of California in small town Sanger, we learn of Ruben's journey to Harvard and ending at the center of the road in discussing American politics, culture, and society. Having written over 3,000 columns, 1500 editorials and over three millions words, Ruben has become an iconic storyteller.

His passion for a career in writing started with the nudge and confidence provide by his 9th Grade teacher, Miss Janet Mayberry. While he loved English and English Literature, it was her words that provided the spark. And this spark was further fanned by a book which Ruben says changed his life - "Hunger of Memory" - by Richard Rodriquez. Ruben even wrote his own book "A Darker Shade of Crimson" to reflect on his time at Harvard as a latino.

Some amazing takeaways from the interview with Ruben Navarrette:

- Storytelling is about capturing imagination, not feeding information
- Great writing should come from deep thinking and Ruben spends 20% of his time reading
and listening to podcasts before pen goes to paper; time to think is essential and great
thought should be informed by diversity of mediums
- This great observer of America is deeply concerned about Americans "seceding from
each other"
- The answers to the Rapid Fire questions!

A truly fascinating interview from a phenomenal gap minder. Thank you, Ruben Navarrette, for your contributions to America, culture, society, the community, literacy, books, and for joining us on The Gap Minders.

Enjoy this episode and be sure to subscribe to the show.

If you have any questions or want to contact Nancy or Jose, please send an email to podcast@uwsd.org. Thank you for listening.

To learn more about the two social impact organizations making The Gap Minders possible, please visit www.TheGapMinders.org.