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.

The free event is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

The event sponsored by Minority Student Services and the Office of Gay and Lesbian Programs is for those interested in knowing about life in Gomez’s eyes as the only brown girl in a white high school, what it means to be Latino and can’t speak Spanish and everything in between.

MSS Interim Assistant Director Lester Booker said MSS selected Gomez to speak at Central Michigan University because of her comedic personality and life experience.

“She brings comedy and a non-traditional format of education,” Booker said. “I wanted to change up the traditional format and incorporate some education plus entertainment. That is how true thought and social change will take place.”

Shannon Jolliff, director of the Office of Gay and Lesbian Programs, said Gomez will bring excitement and humor to Plachta.

“Marga Gomez is a talented comedian and speaker and Minority Student Services made an excellent choice for a speaker for Hispanic Heritage month,” Jolliff said.

This would be Gomez’s first time at CMU, but she is not new to the stage or spotlight. Gomez’s new play “Long Island Iced Latina” was presented to full houses at Miami’s South Beach Comedy Festival, New York’s Teatro Stage fest and The National Hispanic Cultural Center in New Mexico, Booker said.

Muskegon sophomore Lisa Townsel said she would like to go to this event because she can relate to some of Gomez’s challenges.

“I feel like I can relate to her simply for being a brown girl in a white school, and I want to learn how a minority should cope with being the only minority in those situations,” she said.

Townsel would also invite her friends because they would like to have a good time and laugh.

Booker hopes students leave from this event with a new insight on the personal struggles of the Latina community.

“(Students should leave) understanding that it’s everyone’s responsibility to promote diversity, empathy and acceptance on campus,” he said.