Introducing: Foretold

Foretold

Los Angeles Times

Foretold, #Tarot, News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Romani, California

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2023

⏱️ 4 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At 12 years old, Paulina Stevens could predict the course of her entire life. Growing up in a traditional Romani family, Paulina was destined to become a wife, mother and fortuneteller. Married at 17 and a mother by 19, Paulina settled into a predetermined life... until she decided to change the course of fate. "Foretold" is a gripping journey of self-discovery as Paulina navigates the consequences of her decision to leave her community and redefine her identity. Taking listeners beyond stereotypes and myths, “Foretold” explores the history and context of Romani culture, and Paulina’s place in it. Follow and listen to “Foretold” at latimes.com/foretold. Coming April 11th.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Where I live in Southern California, psychic shops are practically as plentiful as coffee shops.
0:05.6	They're a part of the landscape. The neon sign outlining the palm of a hand promising to tell
0:11.1	your fortune. I know people who have regular appointments with their psychic. It's the kind of
0:16.3	thing you can drop in casual conversation and no one bats an eye. And I can understand why.
0:22.4	People want security. They want to know what the future will hold. And whether through
0:27.9	tarot cards or a crystal ball, the fortune teller will hint at how your story will play out.
0:34.8	Let me say up front that I don't know how this tale will play out or how this will end.
0:40.2	Because in this story, the fortune teller came to me.
0:44.4	We were told that outsiders will never understand us and to a certain extent faith like I do believe
0:51.9	that. My name is Faith Penu and I'm a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Back in October 2019,
1:00.0	I got a call from Paulina Stevens. She had a tip about a psychic shop in the city I covered.
1:06.6	A psychic shop, she said she'd escaped. I think around the time that I met you, I just kind of
1:11.6	woke up and I was like, whoa, I was being manipulated my whole entire life. Paulina told me she was a
1:18.1	fortune teller and that she came from a whole family of fortune tellers. I'd like kind of accepted
1:23.6	my fate like at 12. At 12 years old, Paulina was pulled from school to prepare for her fortune telling
1:29.7	career by 17 in a ranged marriage. And by 20, she had two daughters destined for a life of
1:36.0	fortune telling just like hers. I had this resentment towards fortune telling and towards my family
1:44.4	and towards my culture. And Paulina's culture is often known by a slur, you know, a gypsy.
1:54.7	When people hear about us, they think like, oh, we're a fairy tale, you know, it's a leprechaun.
1:58.9	Like, oh, it's a gypsy. We're real people with a real culture and language.
2:05.9	Over the next three and a half years, I'd learn there's an estimated one million Romani people in the
2:10.8	US with one of the largest populations where I live in Southern California. But unless you were one
	...

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