This Monday, local writer, performer, and activist Artemisa Tellez will be performing poems from her new collection Cuerpo de mi Soledad. Her previous published works include an earlier poetry collection Versos Cautivos (2001), and a collection of short stories, Un Encuentro y Otros (2005), as well as essays and short stories published in various anthologies. Although she [...]
Posts under ‘culture’
Chavela Vargas, age 91, still breaking hearts with her voice
As a new commuter, I’ve listened to more NPR this month than I have the total of the rest of my life. This weekend, I was thrilled to catch this segment on All Things Considered on hot contemporary, but traditional Mexican music. “World music” reviewer and Veracruz native Betto Arcos recommends four albums in honor [...]
Carlos Monsiváis and the chronicle we will never read
Like many in Mexico City I long admired Monsiváis, but–like few–I had the privilege of becoming his best friend for three long, amazing and wonderful days. This was the third time I organized a conference where he was the key note speaker. And the first time that despite canceling last minute, I convinced him to [...]
“Lo que se ve no se pregunta”: Carlos Monsiváis, 1938-2010
Last Saturday, during Carlos Monsiváis’ wake at Museo de la Ciudad de México, a group of young people unfolded a gay flag and put it on the writer’s coffin. Someone tried to take it away, but the group insisted and placed it right between Mexico and UNAM flags. So far, only one journalist has talked [...]
Authentic Frida?
Frida Kahlo could be a scandalous woman during her life, and it seems that now, even decades after her death, a new scandal swirls around a collection of objects that may have been hers. The objects are interesting–or innocuous–enough: sketches, private letters, and clothing, but the question is whether this collection of over 1200 objects, [...]
Chasing Frida in Mexico City
A couple of years ago the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City opened a major exhibition of Frida Kahlo’s works, photographs, and personal letters to celebrate her 100th birthday. Hordes of people lined up outside the building, waiting more than an hour to see Kahlo’s works, which were gathered together in Mexican territory for the first [...]
Interview with Artemisa Téllez
Macha Mexico caught up with Artemisa Téllez, self-described fiction writer, lesbian, literature student, professional agitator, amateur journalist, and low-budget diva. She has published a collection of poetry, Versos Cautivos (2001), and a collection of short stories, Un Encuentro y Otros (2005), and has been published in several anthologies, including the bilingual lesbian short story anthology [...]
Festival Lésbico schedule is up
The hour-by-hour schedule of Mexico City’s Fourth Annual Festival Lésbico, which starts this Thursday at the Centro Cultural Contempo, is up at www.eventoslesbicos.com.mx, along with photos and (Spanish-language) bios of the performers. According to the website, the schedule is still subject to change. Macha Mexico’s (English-language) write-up of the invited performers, panelists, and presenters can [...]
Macha Mexico: Conversation with the Kumbia Queers
Here at Macha Mexico, we’ve been busy interviewing some amazing queers and feminists working on interesting projects in Mexico City. By translating and publishing this series of conversations, our hope is to introduce their voices and ideas to new audiences. It is with great pleasure, then, that we inaugurate this series with Mexican/Argentine tropical-punk band [...]