Ioften look back on my early days as a country and western disc jockey in Green River Wyoming with mixed emotions. As a kid who had lived his entire life in Cleveland and Omaha, I felt like a fish out of water in that rustic cowboy environment. To be honest I hated living there, but I loved my time on the radio and the friends I worked with who became my family.

One of those friends who became family was another struggling broadcaster named Marcos Ortiz. Marcos and I were roommates for a while. As you can probably tell from the name, Marcos was of Mexican descent.

Marcos was a lifelong resident of the Cowboy State, born in a small northern Wyoming town. He was a first generation American steeped in the traditions of his Hispanic heritage. Whenever he went back to visit his mother, he alw

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