Storyteller Nikki Powerhouse recounts a particularly dirty sex story.
Sex Files Story Slam w/ Dixie De La Tour First Person Arts World Cafe Live Sept. 10, 2024
“When I lost my virginity freshman year of high school, the last thing on my mind was sex,” Che Guerrero told a curious crowd convened for “bawdy” storytelling night.
“The first thing on my mind was that my family was undocumented. I didn’t want people to know about me.”
Over seven minutes and 42 seconds, Guerrero revealed how his first sexual experience helped him learn how to live an honest life. His performance was part of a monthly sex-themed story slam put forward in different venues around town by the nonprofit First Person Arts, which convened this time at World Cafe Live Tuesday night. The mission: utilize a revealing topic to speak truth to power.
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Brittany Menjivar
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Aug 28, 2024 10:41 am
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LABYRINTHMASQUERADE Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles Aug. 16 – 17, 2024
Last Thursday night, I posted an urgent inquiry to my Insta story: “Where can I buy a masquerade mask?” Almost immediately, my inbox flooded with the same question: “Are you going to an Eyes Wide Shut party?” If such an affair exists in Los Angeles, I’m (blissfully?) unaware. I was prepping for the Labyrinth Masquerade—a massive ball inspired by the 1986 cult film of the same name, a collaboration between George Lucas and Jim Henson.
Otakon Walter E. Washington Convention Center Washington, D.C. Aug 3, 2024
In his latest summer vacation nerd excursion, Deadline Poet Lindo Yes visits Otakon, a celebration of Asian pop culture held in Washington D.C. Watch his video review above and check out Otakon’s website here to learn more about the annual convention.
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Brittany Menjivar
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Aug 6, 2024 2:02 pm
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Brittany Menjivar
ECCOMICSLAUNCHPARTY Revenge Of Los Angeles July 23, 2024
It was a dark and stormy night when I discovered EC Comics. Perusing my college library’s bookstacks during a moment of procrastination, I came upon the graphic novels section and was struck by a series of spine-tingling spines: Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, Shock SuspenStories, they screamed. This was around 2018, when the term “elevated horror” was on the rise — and with it, the idea that horror was historically a backwards, brutish genre that needed to be redirected. The comics I read in those volumes proved that this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
BlerDCon Hyatt Regency Crystal City Arlington, Virginia July 12 – 14, 2024
Deadline Poet LindoYes took a break from Philly last week to attend BlerDCon — a convention celebrating and selling Black nerd culture — in Arlington, Virginia. Watch the video above to get his rave review on the event while hearing critiques from vendors and cosplayers about how the gathering was organized.
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Madeline Connors
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Jul 19, 2024 10:42 am
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Like Las Vegas and housewife-based reality television, it’s impossible to stroll through a zoo without a pang of moral discomfort — the slow, swelling realization that beneath this spectacle throbs genuine suffering. It’s perhaps what makes Los Angeles — a city that becomes grimier the longer you look at it — the ideal setting for one. Here, hundreds of neon-clad partygoers line up to attend Roaring Nights at the L.A. Zoo, a semiregular event that promises 1980s-themed cover bands, alcohol, and even a silent disco.
This particular Saturday night in July, the ethical disaster of zoos feels too thorny a subject to contemplate. So here I am, waiting in line with two friends who agree that observing animals is one of life’s purest joys.
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Madeline Connors
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Jul 15, 2024 10:31 am
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LOSANGELESSPARKS versus WASHINGTONMYSTICS Crypto.com Arena Los Angeles July 2, 2024
It’s early summer, and the girls are down bad. The Los Angeles Sparks are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak; Cameron Brink, the star rookie who is arguably the team’s best player, is out for the season after tearing her ACL. I’m approaching the stupidly named Crypto.com Arena with three male friends (the worst way to attend a women’s basketball game, I know). We do not have high hopes for tonight’s game, but we’re here for the fanfare as much as the jump shots. After all, I like basketball because of its inherent drama — and girls have always done that better.
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Jamil Ragland
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Jun 9, 2024 12:48 pm
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Trezir Johnson, Raheem Barclay and Jazlin Wilson with State Sen. Doug McCrory.
Shark Tank Pitch Competition Bloomfield High School Bloomfield June 6, 2024
I hadn’t been back to Bloomfield High School, my alma mater, in at least a decade. What better reason to return to my old stomping grounds than to see the brilliance of the next generation of Warhawks on full display?
Three finalists were competing in a Shark Tank competition, where they pitted their business ideas against each other for a shot at some serious money.
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Madeline Connors
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Jun 5, 2024 12:14 pm
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Atiba Jefferson Photo
SUKEBAN: JAPANESEFEMALEPRO-WRESTLINGCHAMPIONSHIP Trinity Auditorium Los Angeles May 30
“Call her babyface,” proclaims an announcer in a black velvet suit and Ray-Bans. He looks slick, like a Japanese Elvis Costello impersonator you might find stumbling around Hollywood Boulevard, down on his luck. Instead, he’s bathed in pink light in a wrestling ring, trumpeting the names of competitors into a microphone. After much fanfare, the herculean Babyface emerges in a powder blue latex dress. She’s so elegant that she seems plucked from a Tokyo runway. Tonight, though, she’s here — to get punched. Pouting, she throws herself onto the mat. “Babyface! Babyface!” chants the crowd.
My friend Dorothy was stuck in the slide at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her voice.
“I’m stuck in the slide!” she cried out.
We were at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, joining other adults eager to frolic at the normally kids-only park at Lake Merritt for a “Mad Tea Party.”
The event seemed made for kids at heart, like me. So, on a chilly Saturday evening at the park, we donned our finest tea party attire, sipped some wine and cocktails, and milled about the event as a DJ played dance floor tunes and vendors sold scones and food truck fare, loving the vintage vibes and children’s fairytale theme,. Since no actual children were allowed at this event, we were finally given free reign to play to our heart’s content.
Patrons at Weed Is A Plant order cocktails at the Hella Bees bar
Weed Is A Plant Hella Bees Bar 2340 Harrison St. Oakland April 20, 2024
The sun showed out as hundreds of people gathered around Lake Merritt, grilling and playing music in celebration of the iconic 420. Legend has it that this ubiquitous day celebrated by cannabis enthusiasts around the world became a thing when high school kids in The Bay met up after school to “puff puff pass” the stress of the day away. 4:20 was the code and time to hook up under the bleachers, behind the gym, or wherever they wouldn’t get caught.
Away from the crowds at the lake and other venues around town, Hella Bees and Hella Plants Market co-hosted “Weed Is A Plant,” a unique and more laid-back way to spend the day. Hella Bees, located in the old Rose Mary Jane dispensary location on Harrison, is a spacious, light-filled haven with a bar and backyard, perfect for a relaxed day party and an ideal setting for a 420 event.
Games on: Competitors at the Nutmeg State Games ESports Tournament.
Nutmeg State Games ESports Tournament 2024 Alumni Hall Complex Central Connecticut State University New Britain April 7, 2024
Many children dream of becoming professional athletes. Some want to play on the gridiron. Others want to drain baskets. I had the most impossible dream: I wanted to be a professional videogame player.
“What does it say about a city where its children make visualizations to stop gun violence?”
Oakland is known for its Blackness. A drive through downtown will yield scores of colorful and vivid murals of Black folks. The legacy and philosophy of the Black Panther Party is felt, studied, and highly regarded worldwide. That is why Oakland’s anti-Blackness is deeply infuriating, and why a free presentation and discussion on just that at OMCA last week was so critical.
Tunes from DJ Oracle Selassie filled the theater, and we were ready when educator, chief innovation officer of Edutainment 4 Equity, and host for the night Hodari Bayano Davis took the stage and introduced us to Exhibit A. I had an idea of what the content would be, but was not prepared for the experience.
