Even when other fighters ruled the heavyweight division in the early 1970s, Muhammad Ali was, by his own estimation and that of his fans, the People's Champion.
By the same token, even before Eddie Vega recently received the honor of being named San Antonio's poet laureate, he was unquestionably the People's Poet.
His witty and incisive examinations of food, family and the cultural complexities that come with growing up Mexican American have appeared on city buses and downtown San Antonio buildings, been performed at poetry slams and open-mic nights, and been printed in two collections by a small, South Texas publishing house.
On this episode, Vega talks about his upbringing, his fascination with theology and what inspires him to write.
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Catch a new episode of "Texas Talk with Gilbert Garcia" at 7:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month. To watch all previous episodes, visit: klrn.org/texastalk.
Texas Talk is produced in partnership with the San Antonio Express-News.