s3e3 From Olympic Gold Medalist to Children’s Author, Billy Mills’ Journey to Heal a Nation
BIlly MIlls, Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Alejandro Murguía, Makeda – Queen of Sheba
s3e3
February 6, 2025
1964 Olympics champion and children’s author, Billy Mills, speaks about his book, Wings of an Eagle, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Poet, Blagovesta Momchedjikova reads Tree and Dancers. From L&BH Open Mic, 2002, Alejandro Murguía reads his story, Rose Colored Dreams. Sacred poetry by Makeda Queen of Sheba.
“The war on drugs has been very successful in damaging our young men. So those footprints are etched into every fiber of our social way of life, our educational system, our political system, forever influencing our rule of law, and … we’re in a country today which wants to exclude diversity, equity, inclusion, when more than ever the need to understand it has to be accepted, and our men reading the Doctrine of Discovery, without anger, accepting it and saying: my voice is going to be heard, my dream can come true and we are stronger as one, we support one another. Indigenous people, people of color, the diversity of America can create and mature this incredible democratic experiment to the sacredness that we all seek.”
Billy Mills – Listen & Be Heard s3e3
We are honored to welcome Billy Mills to the audio garden today. He grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and won the gold medal in the 1964 Olympics in the 10K event, and now Billy Mills is the co-author of a children’s book called Wings of an Eagle, the Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills. We get started with a poem by Blagovesta Momchedjikova. In the second half we listen to a live recording from L&BH Open Mic, in Vallejo, CA in 2002, when we featured Alejandro Murguia, reading from This War Called Love. And Martha reads sacred poetry in the audio garden by Makeda, Queen of Sheba.
Lakota Elder, Olympic Champion, Children’s Book Author and National Spokesperson for Running Strong for American Indian Youth, BIlly Mills, did not have an easy childhood. Surrounded by poverty and orphaned at the age of 12, he started running to channel his energy into something positive. In Lakota culture, someone who achieves great success has a ‘giveaway’ to thank the support system of family and friends who helped him achieve his goal. As part of his effort to give back to his community, Billy helped found Running Strong for American Indian Youth and became the organization’s National Spokesperson. Today Billy travels over 300 days a year and speaks to youth about healthy lifestyles and taking pride in their heritage.
We dug up some more roots, and the tea we drink this week is a live recording from a Listen & Be Heard Open Mic in Vallejo, CA in 2002, when we featured Alejandro Murguia, just as his new book at the time was about to come out, The Medicine of Memory. He reads Rose Colored Dreams, which is from his book of short stories: This War Called Love.
Martha is caught reading in the audio garden, where she shares a sacred poem by Makeda, Queen of Sheba from the book Women in Praise of the Sacred, edited by Jane Hirschfield. Next week, we will welcome Brian Kimmel to the garden, who co-authored with his grandmother a book called Blue Skies, Troubled Waters.
CREDITS– HOSTS: Martha Cinader, Tony Robles. FEATURED SPOKEN WORD: Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Alejandro Murguía. GUESTS: Billy Mills. PRODUCERS: Martha Cindaer, Jay Rodriguez Sierra. ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: DJ Jeannie Hopper, Tony Robles. EDITING: Jeremiah Cothren, Jay Rodriguez Sierra. MUSIC, MIXING, MASTERING, Jay Rodriguez Sierra.
GUESTS
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Billy Mills – Athlete and Author
Read more: Billy Mills – Athlete and AuthorAt the 1964 Olympics, Billy Mills shocked the world and came from behind to win the gold medal in the 10,000 meters race. At the time, he set a world record of 28 minutes, 24.4 seconds and is still the only American to ever win a gold medal in the 10K event.
FEATURED SPEAKERS
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Alejandro Murguía – Author, Poet Laureate
Read more: Alejandro Murguía – Author, Poet LaureateAlejandro Murguía is the author of Southern Front and This War Called Love (both winners of the American Book Award). His non-fiction book The Medicine of Memory highlights the Mission District in the 1970s during the Nicaraguan Solidarity movement. He is a founding member and the first director of The Mission Cultural Center.
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Blagovesta Momchedjikova – Poet, Author, Professor
Read more: Blagovesta Momchedjikova – Poet, Author, ProfessorBlagovesta Momchedjikova, PhD, is a lover and writer of cities, who has been teaching at the Expository Writing Program at New York University since 1998. She is the editor of Captured By The City: Perspectives in Urban Culture Studies (2013) and Streetnotes: Urban Feel (2010); co-editor of Urban Habits (2025),
FEATURED BOOKS
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Billy Mills, Donna Janell Bowman – Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills
Read more: Billy Mills, Donna Janell Bowman – Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy MillsThis autobiographical retelling of Billy Mills’ journeys from being an orphan on Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation to his Gold Medal Win in the 10,000-meter race of the 1964 Toyoko Olympics. Inspired by this father’s words “the pursuit of a dream will heal you”, Billy was able to overcome poverty, racism, and severe health challenges to reach his goal and heal his heart.
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Alejandro Murguía – This War Called Love
Read more: Alejandro Murguía – This War Called LoveFrom Mexico City to San Francisco’s Mission District, nothing comes easy—in life or in love. Here is an unstereotypical view of a world as treacherous as it is tender, as hilarious as it is heartbreaking. Authentic and honest, these nine stories focus on today’s Latino men, their strength and vulnerability, their fears and deepest desires.
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Catholic Church, Papal Bulls – Doctrine of Discovery
Read more: Catholic Church, Papal Bulls – Doctrine of DiscoveryPapal Bulls issues in the 15th century provided Christian explorers the imagined right to assert that the lands they “discovered” were now under the authority of the Christian Monarchs of Europe. The Papal Bulls asserted that any land that was not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered”, claimed, and exploited.
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Alejandro Murguía – The Medicine of Memory: A Mexica Clan in California
Read more: Alejandro Murguía – The Medicine of Memory: A Mexica Clan in CaliforniaIn this work of creative nonfiction, Murguía draws on memories—his own and his family’s reaching back to the eighteenth century—to (re)construct the forgotten Chicano-indigenous history of California. He tells the story through significant moments in California history, including the birth of the mestizo in Mexico, destruction of Indian lifeways
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Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred
Read more: Jane Hirshfield, Women in Praise of the Sacred“Hirshfield’s current collection brings together . . . an astonishing array of women writers from the 22nd century BC poet Enheduanna to Nelly Sachs and Anna Akhmatova.”— Library Journal
VIDEOS
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