Long Island Iced Latina Marga Gomez pours out humor, substance

The lights dimmed. The crowd hushed. One red spotlight shone on Marga Gomez as her body twisted and crawled in front of about 700 audience members in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium Wednesday evening.

This was part of her “Long Island Iced Latina” performance as Gomez was the keynote speaker for Hispanic Heritage Month.

“To be able to perform at Hispanic Heritage month is something I didn’t get to do 10 years ago,” Gomez said. “People decided whether or not you got a gig, and you never knew if you weren’t chosen because of your ethnicity, gender or sexual preference.”

During Gomez’s performance, she theatrically presented topics from trimming her leg hair with scissors and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s historic position.

“We will never look at Latinas the same way, because any shades of brown there are in the world, the government is looking for all of us,” Gomez said.

Gomez spoke of not understanding Spanish.

“I know a few hundred Spanish words but it would take me all day to put together a coherent sentence,” she said. “Stop practicing your Spanish on me, don’t salsa me and don’t spin me.”

Gomez mentioned how everyone points differently.

“When I get excited I talk with my hands, and people are looking at my hands like they are scared I am going to pull out a knife and cut them,” she said. “We (also) point with our lips,” she said.
Detroit senior Selina Banks said she liked Gomez’s performance.

“The jokes were funny and it was kind of slow at first. My favorite part was the lip pointing,” she said. “I studied abroad in Costa Rica an everybody pretty much points with their lips.”

Gomez spoke of her personal life growing up in Washington Heights and moving to Massapequa Long Island.

“We went from the city, to no crime, a place that was rich and white, and I was the most suspicious person lurking about,” she said. “I was trapped in a house in Long Island from 14 to 18, a time where I could have been experimenting with sex and drugs,” Gomez joked.

She said this show doesn’t have as much gay content as usual.

“An artist is an artist, and what I want to do is represent people who aren’t represented,” she said. “There are gay Latinos out there, and people feel more safe saying that when they know it is a part of the world.”

Minority Student Services Interim Assistant Director Lester Booker said this performance discussed issues everyone faces.

“I think everybody deals with issues, identity issues, GLBT issues, issues with the Latina community, and I really was an advocate for the way she did her performance (by) having the comedy and still having very good substance,” Booker said.