Queer Latino Testimonio, Keith Haring, and Juanito Xtravaganza: Hard Tails (New Directions in Latino American Culture)

In the tradition of the Latin American testimonio, this is the story of Juan Rivera, a.k.a. Juanito Xtravaganza, a Latino runaway youth who ends up homeless in the streets of New York in the late 70s and becomes partner of the internationally famous 1980s Pop artist Keith Haring during some of the most frenetically productive years of his brief life, as told to the author and retold by him. A hybrid text - part testimonio, part linguistic and cultural analysis, and part art criticism - this is also a history of New York Latino neighborhoods during this period of devastating disinvestment and gentrification, as well as a personal, heart-felt meditation on the art of listening and the ethical limits of representing queer Latino lives. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Figures......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 12 1 Listening Speaks (I): An Introduction......Page 16 Fly, Robin, Fly......Page 26 Just Telling Stories.........Page 35 One of These Days!......Page 41 Paradise......Page 51 "I'm Juanito Xtravaganza": An Epilogue......Page 70 3 A Radiated Radiant Baby: KEITH HARING and an Aesthetics of Identification......Page 74 Beginning with the End......Page 75 Art Is Life......Page 76 An Energy Called Hip-Hop......Page 78 Clones Go Home!......Page 80 A Radiated Radiant Baby......Page 84 A Love Interlude: The Paradise Garage......Page 96 Pop and the Limits of Universalism: Shibuya, Japan......Page 101 4 Listening Speaks (II): Testimonio, Queer Latino Representation, and Shame......Page 110 A Reticent Genre......Page 112 Foreign in a Domestic Sense......Page 114 La Vida, or The Return of the Primitive......Page 116 "But These P.R.s Are Different—They Multiply!"......Page 118 That Senseless Sense of Shame......Page 125 Identification and Queer Shame: The Cautionary Tale of Mario Montez......Page 127 Art and Engagement......Page 134 The Places......Page 136 The People......Page 163 The Terms......Page 181 6 Spanglish Glosses......Page 198 Fly, Robin, Fly......Page 200 Just Telling Stories.........Page 205 One of These Days!......Page 209 Paradise......Page 213 "I'm Juanito Xtravaganza": An Epilogue......Page 218 References......Page 220 B......Page 230 D......Page 231 G......Page 232 H......Page 233 J......Page 234 L......Page 235 M......Page 236 P......Page 237 R......Page 238 S......Page 239 T......Page 240 V......Page 241 Z......Page 242 Listening speaks : an introduction The life & times of Juanito Xtravaganza / as told by Juan Rivera and retold by Arnaldo Cruz-Malave. Fly, robin, fly. Just telling stories . One of these days! Paradise. "I'm Juanito Xtravaganza" : an epilogue A radiated radiant baby : Keith Haring & an aesthetics of identification. Beginning with the end. Art is life. An energy called hip-hop. Clones go home! A radiated radiant baby. A love interlude : the paradise garage. Pop and the limits of universalism : Shibuya, Japan Listening speaks : testimonio, queer Latino representation, and shame What's in a name. The places: bathhouses, Coney Island. East Rock, New Haven. El Barrio/East Harlem. Loisaida, East Village, Times Square and the sex trade. The people: Florence Alexander, Yves and Debby Arman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Caroline of Monaco, Juan Dubose, John Gruen, Julia Gruen, David Hampton, Grace Jones, LA II, Larry Levan, Madonna, Kenny Scharf, Gil Vazquez. The terms: Arc, Cristal, dominant/passive, ecstasy, graffiti, Keith Haring Foundation, Page Six. Outlaw parties, spooking, timido (jibaro), wasting, Xtravaganza, the house of Spanglish glosses.

In the tradition of the Latin American testimonio, this is the story of Juan Rivera, a.k.a. Juanito Xtravaganza, a Latino runaway youth who ends up homeless in the streets of New York in the late 70s and becomes partner of the internationally famous 1980s Pop artist Keith Haring during some of the most frenetically productive years of his brief life, as told to the author and retold by him. A hybrid text--part testimonio, part linguistic and cultural analysis, and part art criticism--this is also a history of New York Latino neighborhoods during this period of devastating disinvestment and gentrification, as well as a personal, heart-felt meditation on the art of listening and the ethical limits of representing queer Latino lives.

"In the tradition of the Latin American testimonio, this is the story of Juan Rivera, a.k.a. Juanito Xtravaganza, a Latino runaway youth who ends up homeless in the streets of New York in the late 1970s and becomes partner of the intentionally famous 1980s Pop artist Keith Haring, as told to the author and retold by him. A hybrid text - part testimonio, part linguistic and cultural analysis, and part art criticism - this is also a history of New York Latino neighborhoods during this period of devastating disinvestment and gentrification, as well as a personal, heart-left meditation on the art of listening and the ethical limits of representing queer Latino lives."--Jacket