Jamás se me ocurrió que Las Insoladas (Sunstrokes) es una película del 2014, ambientada como lo está en los años 90 durante el régimen de Carlos Menem en la Argentina. La película es tan boba que divierte. La fantasía sobre Cuba es extraña y fascinante. Claro, cuando la vi pensando que era una película de hace 20 años medio que la descarté. ¡Ahora que descubro que es una película reciente no sé ni qué pensar! Nostalgia por la Cuba de los años noventa, ¿pero antes o durante el Período Especial? Creo que la película está en las nubes, al igual que las seis pobres chicas. Nos habla más de la Argentina, por supuesto, que de Cuba. Es el sueño de estas seis chicas. ¿Y dónde la vi? Pues en un avión, por supuesto, en el vuelo de Delta de LAX a Detroit.
Sinister Wisdom 97: Out Latina Lesbians: Soy lesbiana y qué! Edited by Nívea Castro with Geny Cabral
Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary & Art Journal has just published issue 97 (Summer 2015), titled "Out Latina Lesbians" and edited by Nívea Castro with Geny Cabral. The issue includes pieces by Erika Abad, Janis Astor del Valle, Yoseli Castillo Fuertes, Alina Galliano, Alixa García, Marga Gomez, Osa Hildalgo de la Riva, Karen Jaime, Cherríe Moraga, Bessy Reyna as Deyanira García (Sargenta G), and others. Julie R. Enszer, the editor of Sinister Wisdom, offers her thoughts in a Huffington Post piece here. You may order issue for $12 + shipping or subscribe here. Congratulations to all of the authors! ¡Felicidades!
Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Detroit Exhibit, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2015
Source of image: Creative Voice: Highlights Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo in Detroit @ The DIA 3.14.15, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Dpf5MvfR8
Facebook, the new Puritan Inquisition, will ban you for 24 hours if someone reports you for violating community standards. Evidently, posting images by Mexican artists of nude women of African descent (for example, this preliminary drawing by Diego Rivera for the Detroit Industry murals at the Detroit Institute of Art, 1932-33) violates these standards. (I posted this image yesterday on my Facebook page as as part of an album on the current exhibit at the DIA.) I have been banned until tomorrow and will be posting exclusively on Twitter, Instagram, and Blogger.com.
As Facebook indicates every time I try to post an item, comment or like:
This Feature is Temporarily Blocked
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Facebook Censorship Notice
This is the video Facebook does not want you to see because it violates its Community Standards:
This is not the first time I have been reported for violating community standards. Last year (2014) it was for posting images of a performance in Old San Juan (Puerto Rico) involving public nudity. Three artists were arrested by the police. The event was covered in the local press; see TuNoticia, El Nuevo Día, NotiCel, Metro, Primera Hora.
NotiCel YouTube video of Artistic Drawing Performance in San Juan that Led to Arrests 2014
Congratulations to directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, to director of cinematography Adam Uhl and to the entire cast and crew of the Puerto Rican transgender documentary Mala Mala for the premiere today at the IFC Center in New York City! ¡Felicidades!
Sometimes you come across a new artist without fully grasping the full range of his or her work and the great affinity that exists between you and them! That happened to me in May when I met Ricardo Muñiz at the Loisaida Center during LoisaidaFest, where he was showing his fantastic HOMENAJE series. Little could I have imagined that he is also a major NYC gay scene photographer and video maker!
Ricardo's traveling exhibit HOMENAJE features a series of 17" by 11" horizontal posters celebrating outstanding Nuyorican figures, including legendary poet and founder of the Nuyorican Poet's Café Miguel Algarín, writers/poets Nicholasa Mohr, Dr. Nancy Mercado, Dr. Myrna Nieves and Jesús Papoleto Meléndez; opera singer Eva de la O; musicians Johnny Colón, Bobby Sanabria and Orlando Marín; artists Marcos Dimas and Nitza Tufiño; activists Teresa Santiago, Sery Colón and Jaime Estades; choreographers Merián Soto and Arthur Aviles; boxer Carlos Ortiz; and businesswoman and restauranteur Adela Fargas, owner of the legendary Casa Adela in NYC's Loisaida (Lower East Side).
Check out Ricardo's essay HOMENAJE: The Traveling Exhibit and a Tribute to Miguel Algarin in CENTRO Voices, where he tells a hilarious and sexy story about hanging out with our poet laureate Miguel Agarín! Ricardo's tale reminds us why all lovers of poetry with interests in gay and bisexual topics should go back and read Algarín!
Speaking about sexy, make sure to also see Ricardo's blog Coqui Chulo, which features a lot of his photography, including numerous images of models wearing CHULO underwear! You can even purchase CHULO Puerto Rican Flag Sport Boxers! Proceeds benefit community based organizations that help marginalized youth. Visit www.chulounderwear.nyc!
CHULO Underwear, Puerto Rican Flag Sport Boxer
Ricardo has also directed a video titled AMER I CAN, a fascinating counterpoint to Tato Laviera's AmeRícan. As the AMER I CAN's YouTube page indicates, "Puerto Rican poetic pride is celebrated in this work by Ricardo Muñiz. Come celebrate the real meaning of "I CAN" and the true diverse make up of our AMERICAN people as told poetically and rhythmically across the luscious landscape of skin. Edited by Joe Kavitski. Music by Jose Henriquez. Originally published in NEXT Magazine and originally performed by Sery Colon at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!). Featuring in order of appearance: Rico King, Omar Mohran, Joe Kavitski, Marcos Soto, Carlos Sotelo, Tamala DeJesus, Cinderella Marin, Roman Anthony, Mariah Acevedo, and Neftaly Tejada." Enjoy!
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.
