eyes of tlaloc

The eyes of Tlaloc 
Filled with water my sacred 
I love you dearly

Glitter Betch

They had thought I liked to party.
Because they met me at the bar.
An After party of a show, performance, concert, mitote.....
They assumed, there, was where the party was.
They arrived late.
Before my arrival, there was no party.
Before my arrival, it was just a bar.
So they partied with me, and we played in the moonlight.
Stardust a plenty, and I remained sober.
They assumed I was a party boy.
They assumed I needed that dust to survive.
My glitter is what they ate that night.
And it is mine, everlasting, endless, glitter.
My home was not there.
Glitter was not there.
I was there, the stardust was there because of me.
I taught them glitter.
So where do I belong? Where am I from?
An Ivory tower.
Solitude.
Vision, Creativity, Imagination.
A studio & study.
A Laboratory.
My home is not the bar--my home is an empty space.
What you tasted was the afterglow and afterbirth of my dance.
The uranium from the reservation of my mind.
You still glow my friend.
Radioactive glitter is hard to extinguish.

New Year

1) Be a Great Dancer, Choreographer, Artist.
2) Be a Great Teacher, Mentor, Instructor.
3) Follow the 4 Agreements of the Toltecs.
4) Release my Heart and Emotions for balance.
5) Gracefully Navigate the Topography of Society.

--These are my New Year's Resolutions....

dancer lion

"A dancer without a stage, is a lion free from the coliseum" --Haydehn Tuipulotu

Some boys...

Some boys turn into cholos, some turn into Queens, and others into glitter shamans.

I have all I want.

Why do I keep searching for something I know is not there?

Is it my dance training?

Is it something deeper, of dissatisfaction?

Is it fear or bravery?

Is it hunger? Cuz I have Tamales...

"if I have all the cheese I want, why am I still so unhappy"

If I am happy, what next....?

Distraction from Distraction by Distraction

Paris

Your eyes see me here
And I miss your skin and touch
My embrace patient

Angel Light : Toltec Iyolo

Aztec warrior
Two-spirit to be samurai
For a geisha's hand

Light spirit of air
Grant me courage for this task
Toltec iyolo

Toltec iyolo
Grant me courage for this task
Light spirit of air

For a geisha's hand
Two-spirit to be Samurai
Aztec warrior.

a love not to the Scene Queens

...a love note to the scene queens...

Dear Scene Queens,

I love you very much, but I have to say goodbye. I have been with you for so long, and I have neglected the other parts of my life that desperately need attention. I know most of you won’t understand, but it’s okay, you don’t tend to care to understand most things anyways. And with that shade, you have already probably stopped reading this note, and the ones who are reading, are friends or randos who are curious as to what I would say to you my scene queens.

I was drawn to you, because you were so pretty. You lived a fabulous life of glitter, spray on tan, metallic screen print clothing, ratchet statements, bien drama, and drugs. Jazz, Music, and Booze was your life. And, it—that life--was foreign to me, and therefore exciting. You, my party boys, my club kids, my go-go boys, my strippers, my porn stars, and drag queens, you are lovely people. You are people, valid and true. Perhaps that is why you liked me; perhaps that is why I was your friend. I never judged you, I saw you, loved you, and protected you—from the haters and from you, yourself.

I have to thank you, if it weren’t for you, I would have never created The Glitter Shaman. This, he, a spiritual leader of the crazy life of the gutter queens, bunnies, and scene babies. With the magic of the glitter you showed me, I created him. Through my compassion of seeing you as my friends, he came forth. This Glitter Bitch, Glitter Beast, Glitter Master, this Glitter Person, this loving memory, nexus, pool, focus for you to visit. I was a visitor in your world, and you in mine—but my visit has ended—yet not lost.

I require, dare I say it, challenge and substance. I know you all are great, good, people, making it in this world, as you can, but I must do something different, sideways. I used to envy your bodies, your relationships, your partying, and your clothes—but it was so un-genuine, so un-generous. It was true to you, but it lacked full appeal to me. It lacked peace. It seemed a bit too selfish—a sort of disidentification inside oneself which became self-consuming, rather than an act of resistance. Perhaps it started that way, as a way to survive and to resist oppression, but somewhere, it became capitalist, and you began to eat your feet, and could not walk strong or in beauty-- with the glitter of broken glass and aluminum cans, rather than stardust…

I have decided to chase the stardust. To promote sexy, happiness, and generosity. Moreover, I want to promote compassion and resistance to colonization again. I want to return to my feathers, beadwork, and tea. I want to return to my dance—not grinding in the club (though that is a valid dance form) – creative critical dance and choreography. I want to live an artist life now…and I know you don’t approve…it takes me too far away from you…but this is what I must do…

I realize that some of you scene queens hate your jobs. Hate the money. Yet you lust the money. No, you lust freedom. No, you lust yourself. Because you have forgotten how to love yourself, be present, and be silent. You need the noise of the club, you need the music, you need the alcohol, and the weed and the and the and the and the and the and the dick…—even though you say you don’t. Words and actions and dreams all the same, the glitter inside your soul speaks the truth I see and you cannot touch, embrace, trust. I am not that way…I love money—I have an honest love with it. And I let it go. And I let it flow. And I let it burn. And I let it save. I love my work—so I do not need to escape it….

Thank you my friends. I will always love you. But, I must leave and focus on my glitter studies and critical compassion studies now… I may never return, but you are always welcome in my circles of mitote.

With love

Leo Mitote, Prince Devin Lauren Van Cartier, Cuauhtemoc, Glitter Shaman.

Short Bio

Cuauhtémoc Mitote, MFA (Xicano/Aztec & Mescalero Apache) is a choreographer, performer, and dance teaching artist from Santa Cruz, CA. His artistry is rooted in Danza Azteca, Contemporary Dance, Vogue & Hip-hop, butoh and Performance Art. Since the age of 15, he has performed regularly as a freelance artist, and continues to teach dance to his communities. A graduate of Stanford University and Mills College, he now creates new artwork through his Cuauhtemoc Mitote Dance Company. He also loves Glitter.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!

NOVEMBER 13TH, 7:30pm, Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University

The internationally acclaimed French choreographer and conceptual artist Jérôme Bel, enjoys a reputation as one of the coolest conceptual dance-makers working today. His ironic, anti-theatrical productions question the nature of dance and the dividing line between audience and performer. The Show Must Go On features a mix of the finest Bay Area professional dancers with untrained Stanford “civilians” (students, faculty and staff) in what the New York Times calls "a dance version of a group sing-along."

The 25-person cast includes such notables as former San Francisco Ballet principal Muriel Maffre, well-known Bay Area dancer and teacher Erik Wagner, Alonzo King LINES Ballet Dance Center co-director Robin Anderson, San Francisco choreographer and Steamroller artistic director Jesselito Bie, and Stanford Dance faculty Diane Frank (a former teacher in the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio) and Robert Moses (founder and artistic director of Robert Moses' Kin Dance Company).

Need a ride from San Francisco to this performance? We have a limited number of seats available on a chartered bus leaving from Alonzo King LINES Ballet, at 26 Seventh Street, San Francisco, on Wednesday, November 13th at 5:30pm. The bus is free! To reserve a space you need to order your performance ticket by phone at the same time that you reserve a seat on the bus. Please call the Bing Ticket Office TU-FRI 12-5pm, 650.724.BING.

Part of Festival Jérôme Bel, running November 13-Dec 3 at Stanford University and presented in association with Stanford Dance Division - Department of Theater and Performance Studies

http://live.stanford.edu/event.php?code=SMGO

National Coming Out Day

My coming out story is really not that interesting….it was well calculated and precise. I thought to myself, I was not going to get bashed or spit on. I want power, and I will get it!

In high school…I joined the band, where queer and sexually active teens were amongst the populous—I wanted it all. I eventually became the leader of the band, the drum major, and kept my straightness role in life going as long as humanly possible…there were challenges, and hiccups, but I was pretty straight… I joined winter guard and wrestling to show the variety of skills I had, and to have fun—and not be challenged—for I was graceful yet powerful and fierce.  Waterpolo was a way to show masculinity and get girls—and I did.  I hung out with friends who were chill and smoked pot, so that I would learn to be a deviant without getting caught. Most of them were closeted homosexuals as well—I learned from their experiences—listened carefully. I practice gay-dar by reading books by gays, and I read  people left and right, and ensured I understood performativity—either if it was over-done  or underdone to explain actions and behavior. Psychoanalysis books taken from my mother’s study were very helpful.  I spent time with high intellectuals and joined various math and science clubs so that my learning disabilities could be hidden, and I could hide my deviant behavior behind my intellectualism. I planned to go to Stanford for its Chemistry Dept, Dance Program, Native Community, and Gay Centers….  And I did…. Through High school I came out to the “deviants” – because they could be trusted, they were true people trying to survive under oppression. I have always trusted the oppressed.

I got to college, and with all my research, I created a false history of gayness “coming out with I was 16” and going though it all. My false narrative gave me a traumatic experience without ever having one. I got respect, and being bisexual was “like not a big deal”…… I continued…  hiding my closet… and coming out to people as if I had always been out. “like duh, I’ve been out for like 5plus years”…. Giving others a sense of ignorance (the biggest fear anyone has is feeling stupid—it smothers homophobia)… moreover my size and presences saved me from most challenges… and now I am a gay scholar and vogue….

I do have to say, I did come from a place that loves its gays… there are a lot of gays in my communities…. Santa Cruz is a very liberal place, my Danza Aztec Group loves Gay people, my own familia has queer love for it is the love of our family… so struggle was not necessarily there…

The only bump in the road was bias and racism… “if you’re so gay, shouldn’t you look like this, act like this, and be like this….?” Pressure to look one way or be one way…in order to even participate in gay things….there I was in the center of the gay world, but not necessarily included… it was weird… so I my thirst for gay culture took me to research, and I experienced everything on my own... the gay culture consumed my being and mind…vogue, bathhouses, boyfriends, parties, underground, worlds beyond worlds became my home… creating an artist of sorts…

Dance set me free…

And so I dance…

Too many lives were created in this process of coming out…. And it took years…. Now, as a two-spirit, I devote my life to providing opportunities to the children, to not fall into cracks as they come out… I have lost too many friends to the pressures of “the gay being” ….

Dance will set us free… 

Gay Gang, a group little known

http://noticias.univision.com/estados-unidos/noticias/article/2013-10-03/pandilleros-gay-un-grupo-poco-conocido#axzz2giif11g5

By Enrique Acevedo

Sisco Romero and Sergio Rios were rival gang members in Los Angeles, California. However, neither imagined that this rivalry would become a unique partnership: love.

Both hid a secret which, if revealed, would have cost them life. In the world of gangs, "do not approve of homosexuality. There was so much emotional abuse, "says Romero.

Both Sergio and Sisco entered World l very young gangs.

Sergio says his mother rather see him in a gang rather than having to accept his homosexuality.

"The latest I heard from my mother who told me that I suck," he says with pain.

For Sisco, on the other hand, the criminal was his way of being accepted and appear to be heterosexual at the same time. "Hide it was very easy in this world," said Rivers.

Gang members face stereotypes gay culture from which they come, and the pressure to maintain posture of rude and violent men requiring social group they belong to.

"We had a bunch of women and other men with the same name. One of the girls and pretended to be a lesbian couple. She covered me and I her, "says Rios.

Dino Dinco is the director of Homeboy, a documentary that explores the lives of six Hispanic men who were part of gangs while living an internal struggle against his true identity.

The young filmmaker Sergio and Sisco believes are part of an underrepresented population and known, and wanted to bring their personal stories to the big screen.

"I think the documentary not only helps women and gay men, but also to heterosexuals, so that they can understand," said Dinco.

According to a report from the University of California, there are about nine million homosexuals in the country. However it is very difficult to know the exact number of gay gang, since most do not accept their sexual orientation. A report released today says that Hispanics are 1.4 million who acknowledge being gay.

Currently Sisco has a partner and says he feels relieved, away from gang life and also suffered discrimination. "I feel very good, because my family supports me, she loves me unconditionally and I love my partner. It feels great, "he says.

For Sergio Romero, things have also improved. He now has a steady job and going to college, though still unable to achieve that for years has been his greatest desire in life.

"The opportunity to have a family. But now that I'm openly gay and I know, I see the hope of having my parents back in my life, "he said.

Más en Univision.com: http://noticias.univision.com/estados-unidos/noticias/article/2013-10-03/pandilleros-gay-un-grupo-poco-conocido#ixzz2gm18hKAq

Laughter is Good Medicine

INDIAN HEALTH CENTER’S 7^TH ANNUAL COMEDY JAM

Laughter is Good Medicine

The Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley will be holding their 7^th Annual Comedy Jam fundraiser on Saturday, October 19, 2013, at the Campbell Community Center’s Heritage Theate in Campbell, CA.  Tickets for the Comedy Show are $20 and all seats are general admission.  Doors will open at 6:30 pm and the show will start at 7.

There will also be a Reception from 5 – 6:30 pm; for ticket information please contact Liz Hunt at lhunt@ihcscv.org.

The comedy line up for this event will include comedians Jason Love, Jeff Applebaum, and Dean Haglund.  The Master of Ceremonies is Bob Sarlatte, the Field Annoucer for the San Francisco 49ers football team.

Proceeds from this event will benefit the Indian Health Center’s Native American Youth Empowerment Program.  This program provides American Indian youth with cultural, educational and traditional activities that help them reconnect with their heritage.  According to a recent surveys, reconnecting Native youth with their cultural heritage helps them build self-esteem and prevents high-risk behavior like gang involvement and substance abuse.

For ticket, sponsorship or donation information, please:

1.      Contact Mr. Medicine Cloud at (408) 445-3400 ext. 208 or vmcloud@ihcscv.org;

2.      Email us at tickets@ihcscv.org; or

3.      Visit www.ihccomedyjam.com or the Center’s website at www.IndianHealthCenter.org

  The Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley is a 501(c)3, nonprofit, community health clinic located in San Jose, California.  IHC serves people from all walks of life regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability, and takes pride in serving our diverse patients and clients.  IHC’s services include Medical, Dental, Nutrition/WIC, Counseling and Wellness. IHC hosts a Comedy Jam because it supports health with laughter and celebration, which is a core belief  of the American Indian/Alaska Native community.

Stanford Report, September 5, 2013

Susan Cashion, Stanford Dance Division faculty member, artist and dance community leader, has died

Cashion, a specialist in Mexican, Caribbean and Latin American dance, put Stanford on the map as home to one of the first resident student Mexican folkloric dance troupes in the nation, the highly regarded Ballet Folklórico de Stanford, which she founded in 1972.

BY ROBIN WANDER

L.A. Cicero

Susan Cashion provided rich, rigorous instruction to several generations of Stanford dancers.

Susan V. Cashion, a Stanford University specialist in Mexican, Caribbean and Latin America dance, died unexpectedly Aug. 29. The loss of this remarkable scholar, colleague and artist, known to all affectionately as "Susie," is felt across campus and throughout the dance community. Cashion joined the Stanford Dance Division faculty in 1972 and remained an emeritus fixture at Roble Gym, the headquarters of dance at Stanford, after her retirement in 2007.

Cashion was the recipient of two Fulbright grants, one to Mexico and one to Chile, and an American Association of University Women Fellowship. She received recognition from the Mexican government for contributions to Mexican culture and folklore in the United States.

She was a former president of the California Dance Educators Association, a member of the board of directors for the Congress on Research in Dance, the dance coordinator of the Wenatchee Mariachi Festival in 2001 and artistic director of the Grupo Folklórico Los Decanos.

With Ramon Morones in 1969, she founded the Los Lupeños de San Jose Mexican Dance Company, where she was a board member at the time of her death.

Cashion was born in Pasadena, Calif., in 1943 and was a resident of Palo Alto. She earned a PhD in education ('83) and an MA in anthropology ('82) at Stanford, and an MA in dance at UCLA ('67). She taught dance anthropology, modern dance, Mexican dance and Latin American dance forms at Stanford.

Mi familia

Part of Cashion's legacy is the rich and rigorous instruction she provided to several generations of students who have gone on to form their own dance companies, promote Mexican dance in the region through performance and instruction, and advocate for the arts.

Both Gina Hernandez, the director of arts in undergraduate education at Stanford, and her sister are former students of Cashion's, and Hernandez recalls taking Cashion's classes and dancing with Ballet Folklórico in the mid-1980s.

"For me and my family, Susie was a local treasure who promoted and kept vibrant the cultural life we have become a part of and that has been a part of the Chicano Latino community at Stanford for generations," said Hernandez. "She re-introduced us to traditions that made Stanford feel more like home and allowed us to express that part of our lives while studying here."

Mi familia, or "my family," is what Cashion called her students and dancers.

Colleagues described Cashion as enthusiastic, warm and generous. She often remembered faculty with a gift of a single rose at the end of a concert, a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) altar in the fall and cards on Valentine's Day. "Susie believed dance was an essential facet of a full life and that gratitude was an equally important part of a good work climate," said Janice Ross, the director of the Dance Division.

"She was such a vibrant presence. Even after her retirement she often attended dance events in Roble Gym, the home of the Dance Division. It is unbearably sad for all of us to imagine she will no longer visit the building and the program she so loved," added Ross.

Dance pioneer

Ross called Cashion one of the leading pioneers in establishing Mexican folkloric dance as a subject of serious study in American higher education.

During her 35 years at Stanford, Cashion established a strong identity for social and folkloric dance forms, creating the performing ensembles Ballet Folklórico de Stanford and Los Decanos, in addition to hosting numerous summer workshops and guest artists.

She brought scholars and dance colleagues from Mexico and Latin America to expand the repertoire and bring new dance techniques to students.

Her teaching approach combined dance instruction in the studio with ethnographic training by importing folkloric dances, costumes and music from her frequent travels throughout Mexico and Latin America.

"Her driving desire was to give students a rich and authentic performing experience, which she believed was an essential part of learning any form of dance," said Ross.

Diane Frank, a friend and colleague of Cashion's in the Dance Division, echoed Ross' high opinion of Cashion's contribution to dance practice and performance, but also the connection to a larger cultural conversation. She said Cashion's work deepened the meaning of diversity and multiculturalism on campus.

"She paved the way for serious dance scholarship, for interest and respect for the richness and complexity of non-Western expressions of cultural identity. She showed, in her work, how those identities are vibrantly evolving in the present. This is especially important here in California, where intersections of race and ethnicity, past and present, are so dynamically changing," said Frank.

Artist scholar

Frank remembers Cashion the dancer: "My first glimpse of Susie dancing was a rowdy Mexican duet with Marco Romero, one that combined furious heel stamps with flirtation and jumps through a lariat. Years later, she danced the liquid ritual of a water goddess, a Caribbean spirit of the African diaspora.

"Susie was an artist scholar, driven by a passionate love for Mexican, Latin American and South American dance and culture. Her dance work always linked steps and patterns to an enlarged context of cultural legacy. Beginning with the body, she showed how movement illuminated language, religion, belief systems, architecture, history. Susie created community, and she lived to share it with her students."

A memorial to celebrate Cashion's life and legacy is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave., in San Jose. The memorial will include a performance by Los Lupeños Dance Company and other community members. For more information about the memorial, contact the dance company atloslupenos@gmail.com.

Media Contact

Robin Wander, University Communications: (650) 724-6184, robin.wander@stanford.edu

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/susan-cashion-obit-090513.html

Queerseañera

Queerseañera 

Friday September 6th!

7pm @ Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose, CA

You might ask, "What  is a Queerseañera?" Queerse "to queer oneself" and añera  "on a given year marking a milestone." This event is designed combine aspects of Latino culture and LGBTQ identity. 

Coming out in the Latino community does not have to be a negative experience; it should be celebrated! 

We have a rich legacy of Queer Latino leaders in multiple fields: artists, academics, actors, lawyers, elected officials and community workers.  Additionally, Latino values of orgullo(pride), comunidad (community), and familia (family) can create a strong foundation for embracing the full individual.

A Queerseañera is an identity affirming event. 

This event will be open to all ages.

*FOOD **Arts and Culture PERFORMANCES***MUSIC**COMMUNITY RESOURCES

{with new dance work by Cuauhtemoc Mitote}

7:00-8:00 pm OPEN RECEPTION and RESOURCES

8:00pm - Live Music and  PERFORMANCES, AND BAILE


PRE SALE TICKETS
children 0-10: FREE
Youth/Student w ID: $5
Adults over 18: $15

AT The DOOR:
GENERAl Admission $20 
YOUTH/Student: $10

Queerseañera Inagural

Evento para  Lesbíanas, Gays, Bisexuales, y Transgéneros Latinos.

Familias e amistades tambien bienvenidas. 

Una celebracion de herencia e identidad con arte y cultura  en la communidad.

Evento Abrierto a todas edades. Estudiantes reciden descuento en el costo de su boleto. 

El Programa es bilingue para Latinos de todos paises. 

***COMIDA ***PRESENTACIONES***MÚSICA y BAILE**RECURSOS COMUNITARIOS

7:00-8:00 pm Comida y Bebidad (disponisble a donacion) y Recurcusos Communitarios

8:00pm -Musica en Vivo, Presentaciones y Baile!

Compren sus boletos temprano para aprovechar de los descuentos.

http://queerseanera.eventbrite.com/

Queerseañera -- World Premier of New Work

What Will I Do?  (premier) 

Performed and Choreographed by Cuauhtemoc Mitote

Music by Anne Murry, & Juanes.

"What'll I do?" & "Fotografia" 

Dance Note: 

"When I was young, I watched a lot of The Golden Girls, and I learned how to speak Spanish on weekends by singing songs in Spanish I did not understand, while cleaning the house...."

21 Things You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About

21 Things You Shouldn't Feel Guilty About

AUG. 19, 2013 

By CHELSEA FAGAN

1. Moving to a new city for a job prospect that you really want to pursue, even if that means you’re going to have to leave a lot behind (and you might encounter the occasional “You think you’re too good for us?”).

2. Deleting people off of Facebook who are constantly spouting off political or social stuff that makes you extremely upset, or feel personally attacked.

3. Defending your positions against something that someone said on social media, even if people will tell you that it’s “not worth it” to get into a debate on the internet.

4. Spending what others might perceive to be “a lot” of money on something that you’ve been working hard and saving up for.

5. Leaving your job to work one that makes you happy. Just because not everyone can find a job right now does not mean that you are obligated to stay in one you hate.

6. Refusing to do unpaid internships if you cannot afford to do them, and accepting the repercussions that may have on your professional prospects.

7. Not calling someone back who has been trying over and over again to pursue a relationship and has just refused to get the point that you are not interested.

8. Telling someone off (harshly, if needed) who catcalls you in the street.

9. Someone that you care about doing things that hurt themselves, despite your efforts to help them and show them that you love them. Imagining that it’s your fault isn’t going to magically make them better, it will only ensure that both of you suffer.

10. Having a happy childhood with steady financial resources. Not everyone will have it, and you should be aware of that, but aimless guilt will do nothing. The only good you can do is work on opening more doors for the people who didn’t have such good fortune.

11. Feeling good about your body, and not feeling any desire to change the way it looks. It doesn’t meant that you’re narcissistic, it just means that you’ve managed to beat the system that depends financially on you not being satisfied with your appearance.

12. Deciding that you do want to make a change, and lose weight, or tone, or get some kind of surgery to fix something that you perceive as wrong. There is nothing shallow about wanting to feel better, and it’s no one’s business wht you can or cannot improve.

13. Having a healthy, fruitful relationship that leaves you feeling fulfilled and wanting to settle down at a time when other people may feel it is too soon.

14. Deciding that you don’t want to settle down with someone, even if you’ve been together for a long time and it would “make sense” to stay together.

15. Not giving a good god damn about fashion or trends or knowing different designers, and just wearing the things that make you feel good and which you believe look good on you.

16. Listening to music that everyone else makes fun of, or assumes you listen to “ironically” (as if that isn’t the most depressing concept in the whole wide world).

17. Eating some junk food that you were craving. (Don’t listen to those haters who ask if you if you’re “really going to eat that,” they are just petty and jealous of your luxurious jalapeño poppers.)

18. Deciding that you don’t want to drink, either for one night out or for the foreseeable future, because it isn’t right for you for whatever reason. Don’t let people pressure you into feeling like that makes you a bad or lame person.

19. Deciding you just wanna get white girl wasted and party all night, and shamelessly ordering Long Islands from 8 PM on.

20. Staying home from an event because you were really sick and needed to take care of yourself. Even if a thousand people text you about “COME ON DON’T BE A PUSSY WHO CARES ABOUT MONO,” don’t allow that to force you into going to the party anyway and infecting everyone with your quarantine-needing germs.

21. Cutting someone out of your life who was abusive, even if everyone else thought they were just “such a nice person,” because they never acted that way to them personally. You understand that someone can be abusive andalso great in their community, or to their family, or to their other friends. And your mental health or physical safety is infinitely more important than the confusion of the people who didn’t understand the dynamics of the situation.

Inner Peace -- Mindfulness

Good Evening

This is IMPORTANT information
Do you know the Signs and Symptoms of INNER PEACE? Symptoms can be highly contagious if exposed to for extended periods of time!
Please read the following information carefully as you may already be experiencing some sign of INNER PEACE.

"The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

-A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.
-An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
-A loss of interest in judging other people.
-A loss of interest in judging self.
-A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
-A loss of interest in conflict.
-A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
-Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
-Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
-Frequent attacks of smiling.
-An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
-An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING: If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as to not be curable. If you are exposed to anyone exhibiting any of these symptoms, remain exposed only at your own risk."
-1984 Saskia Davis

 

 

My visit to the Triton Museum, Salvatore Pecoraro and Santa Cruz: Form and Decomposition.

My visit to the Triton Museum, Salvatore Pecoraro and Santa Cruz: Form and Decomposition.

On a Sunday afternoon, I decided to make a stroll to the Triton Museum, which is located very close to my home in Santa Clara. In this warm summer weather, with a full belly of brunch, it seemed only proper and appropriate to visit the museum, and see what could be there. In the past, I have seen many great exhibitions and shows, and I have always been impressed—the curatorial skill of the art directors there is quite amazing. Yet, it was today that I was “blow away” and deeply inspired by the works of Salvatore Pecoraro hanging and standing on the white mounts.

Each piece had depth and color—in that, no painting was ever truly a flat canvas with paint, but was created with boards of wood layered on each other, with each board painted a deep color which harmonized with its other pieces in the work. It looked a little bit Mondrian in 3D. But the colors of the work were not black and white with a splash of color—no, they were textured and organic in nature. A blue section would have many tones of blue, and these tones would reflect and become more intense in other sections. And in some sections, the painting was cracking, decomposing, and seemed old and tattered. It was gorgeous!

As I walked more through the gallery, I found his earlier work, which had graphic design, and seemed to very much attract itself to geometric formations, and mathematical curvature and perfect basic shape. Half of a cone here, a block there, a square there, and a curve there, with graph paper like design etched in glass…some materials seemed used, some seemed new, and some seemed a little in between. It was as if natural organic substances and structures had reached their mathematical and geometric perfection. Again, it was gorgeous.

I learned later, in reading his book on display, that he was from Santa Cruz, California—and that he also made wine, and lived on one of the ranches in the hills that I so very much visited in my own youth. It was then that I realized my attachment to this gallery was because of the catharsis in aesthetics of the Santa Cruz-ean in us. It was about the waves of the pacific ocean, the natural bridges created by mother nature, the forest and greens, the wrecked ships, the old harbor and wharfs, beaches and shells, and sunrises and glorious sunsets. It was about Form and Decomposition.

When I say form, I intend to convey ideas, diversity, and differentiations of Geometric Form. Parabolas, Triangles, Squares, Vectors, Circles, Rectangles, Cubes, Cones, Wave Functions, and anything else most children learned in high school geometry through trigonometry classes. This is one of the main aspects of Santa Cruz Art, or, what I think of when I see art from Santa Cruz…. The other is Decomposition. I would say decomposition is similar to deconstruction, but I think deconstruction is active, while decomposition is a little more passive, organic. Decomposition allows for the human, natural spirit to exist, something that is random, “ugly” and chaotic. Like the cracking of the earth under the hot sun after it ha been soaked in water. Perhaps decomposition is a run down warehouse of over 50 years of abuse and lack of maintenance—its beauty is in its ugly. It is the shoreline filled with drift wood, and dead animals or seaweed, against the backdrop of sea-foam and sandstone carving by the waves of the ocean on a sunny low tide morning. And, it is the combination of these Form and Decomposition that make me sense the arts of home.

In Santa Cruz, because one is in such a lush landscape, one tends to let the spirit jump out and live—letting it Decompose. This is not to say, decompose and die—but degrade, molt, compost, and become soil, become nutrients, transform, transcend, and become something else, something more, recycling. Capturing this cycle is the art of decomposition. It is not still life, but an appreciation and recognition of life, its diversity, its messy, its ugly, its profound. This, all of it, all of this decomposition, is contained and focused using form. Lines, outlines, boarder, and weights are placed in space and on canvas, and from these structure, light, color, and asymmetry commence from the decomposition. This is the beauty of the sunset, the decomposition of the day, in a perfect waveform of the horizon, contained in the circular sight of our optic orbs, eyes.

Yes. I was inspired by this show because it showed to me my own dance work, and my own center. I love form, empty form, because I can fill it with all my crazy drama, fierceness, blood, flesh, emotion, thoughts, lines, and passion. I can showcase beauty, if there is a form to hold it. The balance of Form and Spirit in my work is key to my creativity.

It is from there that I realized, yes, Voguing, Ballet, Modern Dance, and Danza Azteca, are a means to an ends, to my decolonization, to my Mitote. Mitote, born out of me, is also born out of Santa Cruz, California. It has that natural feel, but hard geometric love. So to Salvatore Pecoraro, thank you for your work. It was exquisite! 

Dissociative Identity Disorder in Adolescence or Adulthood ( DSM IV), or an Artist?

Cuauhtemoc Peranda. The Performance Theorist. Born 1988 in San Jose,  California. Master of the Fine Arts of Dance. Leader in the Indigenous and Queer Communities. Expert on the history and development of Vogue/Voguing/Performace and Ballroom Subculture. Student of Modern Arts and Ideas. Professional Dancer and Choreographer of Aztec Dance, Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, and Vogue. Writer and teacher of life and love. Mentor and kind hearted soul.

Glitter Shaman. The mystical beast of Glitter. Sexual and Life Deviant. Wise looker of things. Speaker of truth. Objective. Often is in Hawaii meditating by the beach. Lives in San Francisco. Born of broken glass and foil. Present for blessings. Sacred Man of wind and earth.

Grandmother Azucar Aguilar . Born in 1491. Wise woman. Queer Woman. Mother. Teacher. Offers experience. Is filled with love and compassion. Always present for you. Woman as sweet as dew.

Muse Mitote. Born in San Francisco, California. Dancer and inspirational speaker. Eloquent and confused. Fighter. Warrior. Silly man. Liker of all things odd and absurd. Horny. Lustful. Imitative. Rude. Rambunctious. Free.  Affordable. Chisemosa.

Prince Devin Lauren Van Cartier. Fierce and Full of Sade. Born whatever year keeps him 22. Teacher, Voguer, Performer. Slut not promiscuous . Man of shadows. Giver. Rich. Expensive. Loud. Studious. From Chicago. Often is found in Los Angeles.

Antonio Mitote. The Learner. The Innocent. The Boy. Also know as ChuChu…

Temo De Anda. The friend. The Big teddy Bear. The novice. The hard worker. The tired. The silly.

Cuauhtemoc Mitote. The Artist.....

STORIES OF QUEER DIASPORA

 

 

 

Join us in celebrating how Queer im/migrant and 1st/2nd generation folks unapologetically navigate their bodies, gender, culture, sexuality, and history through a night of intergenerational performance art, dance, music, mixed media, and spoken word!

Stories of Queer Diaspora
Curated by Erika Vivianna Céspedes
Sunday June 9th, 2013
$8-$15 sliding scale
6pm

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
2868 Mission St San Francisco

Guest Artists include:

* La Chica Boom
* Taijhet Nyobi
* Yosimar Reyes
* Jean Melesaine
* Amir Rabiyah
* Kat Evasco
* Jamaesori
* Vai Fuatino Alefosio
* Tre Natro
* Enajite Loicy Pela
* Lindsey Adams
* Celeste Chan
* Cuahtemoc Mitote

With DJ Agana on the ones and twos!

Buy your tickets early, this event will sell out!

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/376281
Website: http://queerculturalcenter.org/NQAF/multidiscipline13/diaspora/
Follow us: www.facebook.com/sqd13

* This venue is wheelchair accessible *

Flyer Design: Lexx Valdez
http://lexxdigs.tumblr.com/

****Important Note to the Lovely Folks on Will Call****

If you have already purchased your tickets online through the Brown Paper Tickets website, please plan to arrive by 5:45pm next Sunday, June 9th! Doors open promptly at 6pm & because this event is going to sell out, we WILL have to sell unclaimed tickets. For that reason, *please* plan to arrive by 5:45pm so we can welcome you & get you seated without issue. Thank you for the ongoing support & you are always welcome to email callequmbia@gmail.com if you have any specific questions or concerns around ticketing. Thank you!
***************************************************

---
In 2012, this intergenerational series ran for the first time and successfully sold out The Mission Cultural Center to a crowd full of beautifully fierce jotatistas. Last year, SQD also launched a paid 8 week creative writing workshop for youth led by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, published an anthology, and showcased a total of 22 local artists of color. All resources raised through this grassroots organized series go directly to paying artist stipends and developing independent arts education spaces for Queer/Questioning youth of color.

Please check out our 2012 anthology here!
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6dRSzG_D--pXzdqdGotXzdGOG8/edit?usp=sharing

Glitter Shaman

Glitter Shaman 

Photo by Henry Lorca

Model, Cuauhtemoc Mitote