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Episode: Introducing 'Foretold'

Author: Los Angeles Times | Wondery
Duration: 00:08:34

Episode Shownotes

"Foretold" is the newest podcast from the L.A. Times, and we're sharing a preview of the first episode with you here today.In the fall of 2019, reporter Faith E. Pinho received a tip from a woman named Paulina Stevens. Paulina claimed she had grown up in an insular Romani community

in California, where she was raised to be a wife, mother and fortuneteller — until she decided to break away. That first call unraveled a story spanning multiple continents, hundreds of years, and complex metaphysical realities. Follow "Foretold" to hear new episodes every Tuesday.

Summary

In the new podcast 'Foretold', Faith E. Pinho shares the story of Paulina Stevens, a Romani woman from a secluded community in California who seeks to break free from a life predetermined by cultural expectations. The narrative unfolds the complexities of Paulina’s identity as she navigates her past as a fortune teller and faces challenges such as isolation and societal stereotypes while striving for autonomy and the custody of her children. This journey highlights the deep-rooted cultural constraints and the personal sacrifices involved in redefining one's identity outside traditional norms.

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Full Transcript

00:00:01 Speaker_02
Where I live in Southern California, psychic shops are practically as plentiful as coffee shops. They're a part of the landscape. I know people who have regular appointments with their psychic.

00:00:12 Speaker_02
It's the kind of thing you can drop in casual conversation, and no one bats an eye. And I can understand why. People want security. They want to know what the future will hold.

00:00:25 Speaker_02
And whether through tarot cards or a crystal ball, the fortune teller will hint at how your story will play out. Let me say up front that I don't know how this tale will play out, or how it will end.

00:00:39 Speaker_02
Because in this story, the fortune teller came to me.

00:00:44 Speaker_04
At the very beginning of this podcast, I never thought in a million years it would turn into what it is now.

00:00:53 Speaker_02
My name is Faith Pinew, and I'm a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. But back in October 2019, I was working at a small community newspaper in Orange County called The Daily Pilot. And that's where I first got a call from Paulina Stevens.

00:01:08 Speaker_02
Paulina told me that from the time she was a child, she was told she would be a fortune teller, that she came from a whole family of fortune tellers. And then she mentioned something that made my ears perk up.

00:01:21 Speaker_02
It was a warning about a psychic shop in Orange County. She told me that this was the psychic shop that she had escaped. I suggested we meet up in person at a local cafe.

00:01:32 Speaker_04
I'm a little nervous. I'm sorry for like... That's OK. I don't know. I'm like kind of nervous, but I'm OK.

00:01:40 Speaker_02
— Listen, people call reporters all the time with salacious tips. But when Paulina started talking, I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose.

00:01:50 Speaker_04
— What do you do? You know what I'm saying? What do you do?

00:01:55 Speaker_02
— Paulina said she had an arranged marriage with a distant cousin.

00:01:59 Speaker_04
12 it's like you're supposed to know who you're getting married to you know that's like you're going through puberty like I was getting too old."

00:02:05 Speaker_02
That her parents shielded her from outsiders.

00:02:07 Speaker_04
And then she was pulled out of school entirely at 12 years old.

00:02:19 Speaker_02
At the time, I was used to writing stories on city council meetings and town art shows. So Paulina's story, it was totally out of my wheelhouse. It seemed too big. Because ultimately, Paulina kept blaming her culture, her culture, her culture.

00:02:34 Speaker_03
And if you disobey us, then you disobey your culture.

00:02:39 Speaker_02
But Paulina's culture is Romani. I don't think I had ever even heard the word Romani before. And that's because Romani people are often known by another name, you know, a gypsy.

00:02:50 Speaker_02
You're not going to hear me throwing around the G word on this podcast, because for many in the community, it's a slur, not for outsiders like me to use.

00:02:59 Speaker_02
But at the time, I had no idea, because even a pop star like Shakira casually throws around the G word. It's set against this catchy, poppy backdrop, like something you'd instinctively hum along to.

00:03:13 Speaker_02
If you weren't paying attention, you'd never notice the lyrics are actually overtly offensive. Once I started noticing it, I couldn't stop seeing the G word everywhere. Clothing brands and restaurant menus, surfboards and teabags.

00:03:37 Speaker_02
It's become a shorthand for something nomadic, wild, deceitful, romantic, something exotic, a style anyone could put on and wear like a costume. And there are two stereotypes that always come up, that Romany people are fortune tellers and thieves.

00:03:55 Speaker_02
But the thing was, Paulina and her family were actually fortune tellers. And while Paulina told me about her family and their history, she also seemed to be painting herself as those very stereotypes.

00:04:08 Speaker_02
She seemed to want to shock me, to get me to pay attention.

00:04:11 Speaker_04
Like, the rule is no stealing, only scamming. Because people give you stuff, so it's not considered stealing.

00:04:19 Speaker_02
Paulina seemed to be telling me, yes, fortune-telling is a scam.

00:04:24 Speaker_04
I am a scam artist, you know, born and bred. That's what I'm telling you.

00:04:29 Speaker_02
I just looked at her like, what? You know, you're sitting here with a reporter. Are you turning yourself in? I didn't know what to think. And honestly, it didn't seem like Paulina did either.

00:04:41 Speaker_04
Gypsies have a bad rep, and they should, I think. I don't know. Not all of them.

00:04:48 Speaker_02
And then, Polina said, she had decided to leave.

00:04:52 Speaker_04
— Because when I left, I had no education, I had two kids, no driver's license, no car. You know what I'm saying? I had nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

00:05:04 Speaker_02
The franticness in Paulina's voice suddenly made sense. The unfiltered panic and blurting out extreme claims. It was the sound of someone stepping out of one world and into another, questioning everything she's ever learned.

00:05:19 Speaker_02
And this was certainly part of why Paulina said she had come to me. But it wasn't just to tell her life story. The real reason Paulina reached out to me was she needed help.

00:05:31 Speaker_02
Paulina has two little girls, and when she left her community, she was at risk of losing them. To fight to keep her daughters, Paulina did the number one thing people in her culture were taught not to do. She turned to the outside world.

00:05:46 Speaker_02
She took her case to the American legal system, and her custody hearing was coming soon. By leaving her community, going to the courts, and talking to the press, Paulina was opening up her life to a world of scrutiny and doubt.

00:06:01 Speaker_06
Lots of things are said in the heat of a fight to protect and to not lose your children.

00:06:10 Speaker_00
It's hard for me to support you if I don't know what the f*** you're doing.

00:06:12 Speaker_06
Paulina was a diamond. Now she's just a stone.

00:06:17 Speaker_02
But Paulina and I kept talking, for years. As Paulina and I got to know each other, we peeled back layer after layer together, both of us trying to get to the actual truth beneath the surface, to the place beyond the resentment and the stereotypes.

00:06:35 Speaker_00
You have to be exclusionist in order to preserve identity. You have to close ranks to prevent infiltration from outside.

00:06:49 Speaker_01
One time during a session, she did a healing bowl and it put me in a complete trance. I opened my eyes and the whole room was like a white cloud and I could barely see her.

00:07:03 Speaker_05
What we offer is a spiritual practice. and a spiritual, dare I say it, business, right?

00:07:17 Speaker_02
Because it's true of any community, of any identity, that there are stereotypes and there are truths.

00:07:24 Speaker_02
And while sometimes they can overlap in superficial ways, the whole and deep story is so much richer and more complicated than we could have ever predicted.

00:07:34 Speaker_04
It's weird, actually, how I went from loving it to absolutely hating it and now missing it.

00:07:42 Speaker_02
I'm Faith Piniou from the Los Angeles Times. This is Foretold. Listen and follow Foretold at latimes.com slash foretold or wherever you get your podcasts. That's latimes.com slash foretold.

00:08:00 Speaker_02
Hi, I'm Faith Piniu, the host of Foretold, a new podcast from the LA Times. On Foretold, we'll introduce you to Paulina Stevens, a Romany American fortune teller who approached us with an incredible story.

00:08:13 Speaker_02
From preparing for marriage at age 12 to her controversial decision to leave the community, Paulina's story provides a unique glimpse into a culture that outsiders rarely get to see.

00:08:24 Speaker_02
Listen and follow Foretold at latimes.com slash foretold or wherever you get your podcasts. That's latimes.com slash foretold.