When the writer Roberto Carlos Cruz-Garcia was growing up, people called him a jerk.
Actually, they called him a lot worse than that — we just can’t say it on the radio. But he calls himself an unintentional offender.
That’s part of the inspiration for his new book, Sweet Boy: The Unintentional Offender.
Roberto has ADHD and he’s on the Autism spectrum. But as a kid, he was undiagnosed — and this made him the sweet boy who would sometimes say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Even dropping a four-letter word to his aunt in Puerto Rico.
Roberto learned to navigate his way through the world —and he put that struggle into words. His book is 10 essays of a boy learning to embrace that he was a little different — and that that was okay.
Also, it made for some cringy, hilarious moments worth writing down.
He’ll be reading from his book Saturday at Books and Books in Coral Gables.
On the Oct. 31 episode of Sundial, Roberto joined us to talk about turning his struggle into satire.
On Sundial’s previous episode, we spoke with Miami-Dade County's director of public housing and community development. He's a Miami native who's trying to find solutions to the housing affordability crisis.
Listen to Sundial Monday through Thursday on WLRN, 91.3 FM, live at 1 p.m., rebroadcast at 8 p.m. Missed a show? Find every episode of Sundial on your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.
