Many Roads to Here

Things were going well for Jenny Munezero in Portland, Oregon. She was working in a rewarding career and engaged to a man she adored. But as the two families moved forward with wedding plans, and worked out the details of her dowry, Jenny found herself struggling to keep up with the details of the Burundi customs. Two months after she was born there, war broke out. Her parents, fearful for their lives in the genocide, fled, leaving Jenny behind. Much of how she survived still remains a mystery. There was a lot she didn’t know about herself -- until she came to the U.S.

This episode was written by Degen Larkin and Fran Silverman. Audio editing was done by Rick March. The music was composed by Corey Larkin. Julianna Robidoux conducted the original interview in 2019. Our executive producer is Sankar Raman.

The first time Denzel Mendoza came out as undocumented he was on stage in front of a crowd of strangers.  That night, he didn’t just play his trombone, he let out the raw emotions of doubts, fears and hardship that had followed him throughout his life, letting himself be truly seen, for the first time, at this random jazz house show in Portland. After that night, life began to move quickly. A few years later, Mendoza shared his undocumented identity publicly once again, but this time the crowd wasn’t filled with strangers, it was filled with celebrities, and it was no house show. It was the Grammys. 

This episode was edited by Caitlin Dwyer and Monica Salazar. Audio editing was done by Rick March and original music was provided by Denzel Mendoza. Our executive producer is Sankar Raman. This episode takes audio from an interview conducted in the winter of 2020 by Angelica Alarcon.