Upcoming Event at Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia:
Saturday, October 1st, 2011/ 24th Annual Feria del Libro y las Artesanías.
An all afternoon event this year featuring guest writer, Dr. Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes to present Uñas Pintadas de Azul/Blue Fingernails.
These 14 short stories represent a Latin American poetic journey, a
sensory pilgrimage through the pains and pleasures of Diasporic,
cosmopolitan gay and lesbian Puerto Rican identities in a postmodern,
ever-shifting world. Artisans from Puerto Rico, local artisans, music,
storytelling for children, workshops for the whole family and more./Una
tarde de literatura y artesanías con talleres y cuentos para niños,
música y bailes. 1 - 5 p.m. Books and Crafts Store /Tienda.* *Sponsorship opportunities available! *This is a Free Event *Free parking at the Municipal Parking Lot at the corner of 5th & Huntingdon
So by now we have a girl who is actually a Mexican boy making out with Cazwell in a scene of grand domesticity and then running madly through New York City after they have this horrible fight, and Cazwell tells us "I'm gonna write you a love song", and that "you're gonna fall in love with me," all with his white boy banjee realness, meanwhile Karis keeps running (conjuring images of homeless, runaway trans youth), Shannon's song keeps playing, the camera keeps going crazy, the editing has us looking everywhere in its Run, Karis, Run sequences, running through the space of relationships and emotions, through masculinity and femininity, through musical styles and genres, historical periods and influences, and through the upside-down cityscape of construction scaffolding, train platforms (Grand Central Station) and other sites. The juxtaposition of Latin freestyle--which came about as an electronic dance music alternative to 70s disco--to Cazwell's mellow pop rap draws us in, the frenzy of the imagery is reproduced in the music and then exploded with the rapper's all-out jump into more straighforward hip hop rhyming: Cazwell as a queer homothug Massachusetts-born channeling of Detroit's own Eminem. Puerto Rican freestyle meets queer rap (also known as homo hop) in NY. All of this graced with the surreal presence of trans celebrity extraordinaire Amanda Lepore, who suddenly appears in the video as if a Playboy bunny stepping out of a cake. Cazwell's rap shifts the romantic tone of the song to a frustrated account of failed exchanges. But Shannon's backup chorus lyrics always overlay, rescuing the possibility of love. THIS VIDEO'S JUST TOO MUCH! I LOVE IT! Hope you like it too.
Listen to this fab Feast of Fun podcast in which Larry La Fountain chats away with the fabulous Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion about national and international lesbian and gay migration to large cities and about the uber-controversial Puerto Rican politician Roberto Arango (of recent sex-scandal infamy) and the cross-dressing Mexican-American boxer Oscar de la Hoya! (FOF #1433, posted September 2, 2011)
Curious about what Miss Lola von Miramar has been upto lately? Listen to this fabulous interview on the Feast of Fun podcast! Sure to make you smile and laugh. With Larry La Fountain, Fausto Fernós, and Marc Felion, recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan! (FOF #1431, posted August 25, 2011)
Soy un escritor, académico, y performancero puertorriqueño. He publicado: Uñas pintadas de azul (2009), Queer Ricans (2009) y Abolición del pato (2013).
Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes (also known as Lola von Miramar) is a Puerto Rican writer, performer, and scholar. He received his AB from Harvard (1991) & PhD from Columbia (1999). He teaches at the Univ. of Michigan, where he specializes in LGBT Latina/o studies. He is author of Queer Ricans: Cultures and Sexualities in the Diaspora (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2009), & of two books of short stories: Uñas pintadas de azul/Blue Fingernails (Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, Arizona, 2009) and Abolición del pato (Terranova Editores, 2013). He co-edited a special issue of CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies on Puerto Rican Queer Sexualities (2007). He performs as Lola von Miramar since 2010, when he first appeared in the Feast of Fun's "Cooking With Drag Queens: How to Make Tostones" video.
