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.Then he grabbed the boom box and the CDsCarlos had given him and headed to the roof.He tucked the piece of wood they used to keep the doorjammed shut and sealed himself on the rooftop.To the south hecould see Manhattan in a distant haze.To the north he could seethe Whitestone and the Throggs Neck bridges, where Carloswould be crossing any minoss the southute on his way to LongIsland.On the street below the fellas were on the corner andBrenda pushing Joselito in his baby carriage while Martha talkedon her cell phone walking alongside them.On the north side, downon the street, Chulito could see the red awning of Julio s agency,and Gil, the liquor store owner, talking to Brick, who had Crystal onhis shoulders, and across the street from them was SpringGarden.Back over on Garrison Avenue, the auto glass guys ranaround chasing cars and Kamikaze was coming up the block inhis royal blue Lexus with the silver trim.It was as if they had allassembled on cue.Chulito hit  play on the boom box and the first chords of apiano accompanied by percussion filled the air.The chorusbegan singing  It s alright.I feel it. They repeated it several timesas percussion tumbled into the song.Chulito moved his hips a littleand then let his shoulders join in.Next, his head wiggled from sideto side and he closed his eyes and let the music travel into hislimbs. Dance for me, he could hear Carlos saying. Dance for me,Chulito.Then he started to softly strut around while continuing to moveas much of his body as he could.Chulito bent his knees andbounced to the music. Can you feel it? The woman in the songasked. Stand up.It s alright.Chulito remembered how Carlos and Kenny and all the guyson the pier went crazy when this song came on. Dance with me,Chulito, Carlos would scream out to him.Chulito continued to dance on his rooftop.He spun aroundand felt the gravel roll under his Timberland boots.The muscles inhis back loosened.He had the freedom, so he let go.He leapedand turned and kicked up the dust under the gravel.He shook hisshoulders, kicked his feet and even jumped around.His armsreached out as if he could embrace Carlos.And Chulito danced.He danced for Carlos.He danced for Puti.He danced for Lee.Hedanced for Julio and Brick.He danced for Kamikaze.He dancedfor Kenny and all his friends on the pier.He danced for Davey andthe fellas.He danced for his mother and Maria.Chulito danced because it was alright and he felt it.Thanks&To my literary madrina, Marcela Landres.To Don Weise for being a caring editor and for making itpossible for it to be in the hands of readers.To Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, and Jaime Manrique fortheir generosity and blurbs.For the opportunity to develop portions of the book in variousworkshops: David Mura at VONA Voices of Our Nation WritersConference, Percival Everette at Bread Loaf Writers Conference,and David Leavitt and Brian Leung at the Indiana UniversityWriters Conference.To Erasmo Guerra for giving me honest and caring feedbackfor a stronger edit.Thanks to Fernando Ramirez for his legal guidance andconcern.To The Saints and Sinners Writers Conference (where I firstmet Don Weise) and where I was embraced as a writer before I dcompleted a book, and the Lambda Literary Foundation, where Ihave found a queer community of support.To Katherine Berger and the Byrdcliffe Guild Artists Colony inWoodstock for providing the environment to write the first draft ofthis book.To Paul Adams of the Emerging Artists Theater for giving memy own writers retreat in his beautiful home up in the Catskills.To the Macondo Foundation s Casa Azul, where I got to workon a section and vibe off the energy of writers.Sarah Schulman for being a literary guide and force in my life,and Rigoberto Gonzàlez for his caring support.To the dynamic movers and shakers who were a part of mysocial therapy group who live between the lines of text and in myheart, including but not limited to Kelly McGowan, Tia Lessin, CarlDeal, Hamid Razik, Majora Carter, Beth Tilson, Maria Petulla,Frankie Fuentes, Alice O Malley, Isaac Butler, Anne Love, JamalBrown, Fran Vogel, Emily Choi, Mary Pratt, and Jack Kupferman.To my sisters Denise and Lisa, my nieces Miranda andJocelyn, and my stepdad, Salomon, for their encouragement andsupport.To editors Steven Berman, Moises Agosto, and to GoddardCollege s Pitkin Review for publishing sections of the book in theiranthologies.A special thanks to Charlie Vazquez, who publishedin the anthology Best of Panic!: En Vivo from the East Village asection that I loved but had to edit out called  Hallelujah Pow. I mglad that the section lives in print.To Matt Brim for including an excerpt in his curriculum andinviting me out to the College of Staten Island for an unforgettableafternoon with his students and for reading a portion of the bookand giving me feedback.To my soulmate writers Ru Freeman and Donnelle McGee,who endlessly inspire me and support me  no matter what.To my BAAD! family for being with me through every word:the amazing Elizabeth  Macha Marrero, Damon White, RichardRivera, Carlo Quispe, Ruben Thomas, Shizu Homma, MonicaFigueroa, Mike Diana, Cándida Carrasquillo, Bryan Glover, MiliBonilla, and Edgar Rivera Colón.To photographer Ricardo Muñiz for a gorgeous cover and tomodel/dancer Noel Rodriguez, who danced at BAAD! with VioletaGalagarza s KR3T dance group.To many people who encouraged me along the way includingJane Gabriels from Pepatian; Bill Aguado, former ExecutiveDirector of the Bronx Council on the Arts; Charlie Vázquez (fellowscribe) from the PANIC reading series and his beautiful partner,John Williams, manager of the Nowhere Bar and the Phoenix; RonKavanaugh from Mosaic; Sofia Quintero and Elisha Miranda (alsofellow scribes) from Sister Outsider Entertainment; Jorge Mercedand Arnaldo López from Pregones Theatre; Jenn DeLeon(another fellow scribe); dancers Rokafella and Kwikstep; Bronxpoet and artists Caridad De La Luz (La Bruja); Mildred Ruiz andSteven Sapp from Universes; my life partners in the  unholy trinity,Bianca López and Diana Sándigo-Cabrera; Nicholas Boggs fromQueer Readings at Dixon Place; and the dynamic duo ofinspiration, Bill T.Jones and Bjorn Amelan.And last, but certainly not least, to the amazing community ofpeople in Hunts Point who inspire me endlessly, including CybealeRoss, Cynthia and Rupert Phillips, Sidney Boone, Alfonso Hammer Ramirez, Ruben Morales, Puni, TATS CRU Nicer,BIO, BG-183, How, Nozm and Sandro, the Auto Glass guys, andthe late Martin from Rivera s bodega.It s often thought that writers create alone.All mentioned hereand more contributed to the creation of this book. [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]