Cosmic Cheeto Podstack 7: Brando Skyhorse, "Take This Man"

When it's too strange for fiction, you know it's got to be memoir

I’ve been quite keen to talk to Brando Skyhorse about his memoir, Take This Man, and was delighted when we finally found the time last week. Let me tell you, subscriber, our conversation did not disappoint. In fact, this may be one of my favorite podstacks yet!

Take This Man tells an incredible true story of identity, deception and writing to understand. It’s the kind of book one tears through in a single sitting.

Brando was born Brando Ulloa to Mexican parents, but his mother decided she didn’t want to be “just another Mexican girl in Echo Park.” So she remade herself as Running Deer Skyhorse, and told her son that his father was Paul Skyhorse, an imprisoned Native man. For much of his childhood, Brando believed these lies about his racial identity. Take This Man tells the story of living with the fallout of these falsehoods, as well as searching for a father among the emotional wreckage of a very Bukowskian 80s LA.

If you have any interest in the ideas of passing v. being passed, identity and the concept of “authenticity,” strange applications of the American Dream, and how writing a memoir can be a source of healing, I highly recommend checking out this interview and buying Brando’s book(s)! (And if you’re lucky enough to live near Indiana University-Bloomington, maybe Brando will let you sit in on his memoir class.)