Navani Knows Her Inner Young Adult

I am telling you November 4th was a magical day. Not only did my vote count and Barack Obama took over as president, I got to interview every girl’s dream man:

Edward Cullen.

Ok, so maybe that is only a big deal for teenage girls and gay men, but lately I’ve gotten reacquainted with my young adult side. With the wide spread popularity of Stephenie Meyer’s book Series “Twilight” getting passed around my peers and the comeback of 90210 (yes I watch it, sigh) I have def been embracing young adult entertainment. It’s hard not to. It’s a great escape to go back to those tender teenage years, when everything was so simple and so new. Having crushes, first kisses and falling in love were all so intense. It’s just plain fun to relive actually. So, when I kept hearing all the hub-bub about this book Twilight from my 30-year-old friends, I figured I should check it out.

It’s a fantasy story obviously – a high school girl falls in love with an extremely hot vampire, who essentially could kill her. Talk about going for the bad guys huh? This book gives that ideology a whole new meaning. As far-fetched as the whole storyline sounds you can’t help but fall in love with it, because it takes you through all the motions of just that – falling in love. As you see Bella and Edward interact it brings you butterflies. Turns out Edward Cullen is every girl’s dream man and dream experience. For anyone who forgot what it feels like to have that feeling, Edward will bring it back and that my amigos, is what the big deal is.

When I got the opportunity to interview Mr. Dreamy Robert Pattinson (AKA Edward Cullen in the movie adaptation) I was as giddy as a school girl (as were my friends). I mean seriously, who can resist a cute foreigner with a British accent??? Check out what the man behind the phenomena had to say here on Blogamole.

Navani Knows Pedro

And I don’t mean the “Vote for Pedro” guy in Napoleon Dynamite either.

I mean Pedro Zamora. You may remember him from “MTV’s The Real World: San Francisco” which aired in 1994. I myself watched that season religiously. I thought Puck was gross and was relieved when he was thrown out. And I instantly fell in love with Pedro. He was Latino, so I was glad to see him on mainstream TV. Aside from that, he was living with HIV and used his time left to spread knowledge about the disease. All in all, he was just an utterly beautiful person. So, it was only natural that when his death was announced on the season finale I cried hysterically as if I knew him.

While Pedro Zamora left us in 1994, his message still lives on today today. I was lucky enough to go to the screening of MTV’s movie Pedro. The movie inspired by the real life Pedro tells his whole life story including his family’s bittersweet departure from Cuba (half his siblings were left behind), his culture (his mother was a Santera), coming out in a Latin family and of course his battle with AIDS on national TV.

I feared that the movie wouldn’t do it his story justice, that it would just be a corny reenactment of The Real World that year. When I saw it open with that theme I was skeptical. But as the storyline took off I was pleasantly surprised. The casting people did a great job finding an authentic Pedro in newcomer Alex Loynaz as well as casting Justina Machado (“Six Feet Under”) as his sister Mily. It is a beyond inspiring and touching story/ cry-fest. I am telling you, men and women alike, be prepared to shed tears. With that being said maybe it’s best you don’t see it at 9 am on a Monday like I did.

Pedro will be released in April of 2009 in conjunction with National STD Awareness Month. I really want this project to do well because sadly, Pedro’s message is still as timely as ever.

For more info check out www.pedrothemovie.com.

Navani Knows: Calle 13

Calle 13 mania is taking over and all I can say is it’s about time…

I got to see them perform live last night for the first time at Nokia Theater and it was pretty amazing. Though I don’t know who really made the show more: Residente or his lil sis Ileana (aka PG-13) with her parasol antics on stage. Who needs an official hype man when you can have your lil sis on stage dancing around with an open parasol? She is just too darn cute! I wanna be like her when I grow up. One thing is for sure, this family loves what they do, it was written all over their faces the entire show. They live to perform and engage crowds and engage they did – leaving everyone screaming for an encore.

Navani Knows: The Latino Vote

Who are Latinos voting for this election?? That seems to be the question of the hour. I mean both Democrats and Republicans are desperately trying to sway us because of our growing numbers. We do make the difference this year. So who will have us in their back pocket? Que se yo! There is no easy answer to that.

The problem is politicians like to group people of color in one neat little box. It makes their lives easier. But that isn’t very accurate. What I do know about Latinos is that we all do NOT fit into one box, nor do we care to! That’s the sorpresa we have for both Washington and advertisers alike. Anyone trying to market to us has their work cut out for them. People like to assume things about us too often. For instance, they assume we gather all our info in Spanish, so they spend all their time and money pushing out messages in Spanish, yet 70 percent of take in our information in English! Whoopsie Daisy.

When it comes to politics we are just as scattered. While many assume that we are full-fledged democrats with immigration at the top of our list or worries, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many of us are republicans who are concerned about our tax breaks, others democrats that worry about healthcare. How about all of us are worrying about the economy right about now! But it goes even deeper than that, just because we check off a box on our ballot, doesn’t mean we want to be labeled that either. We just don’t like to be categorized in ANY way. I know many Latino republicans who are not voting republican this year, a ha. There just are no rules to the game of being Latino and maybe that is what McCain and Obama need to learn.  Stop using research reports dated from 2006 as your guide because we have changed drastically since that time!

I Think Rosario Dawson said it best when she spoke at “The 2008 Latino Vote: Challenges, Opportunities, and Influence” panel this week:

Latinos think of themselves as Americans. They don’t want to be excluded from the American dream in any way. Therefore, American issues need to be the ones to triumph in this election, not politics. The population of this country should be represented in the politics….  The “Latino mainstream” is never going to be summed up on one block. We don’t fit into any box. Our issues change as we evolve.

That’s right Washington, we actually think like “Americans,” what a concept! See you at the polls…

Navani Knows: The Cleanse Day 9

I am soo excited to be writing this post right now because it means I am one post away from being completely done with this cleanse! I cannot wait! I was not this excited this morning though I must admit. I forced myself up completely exhausted despite the fact I slept all day Sunday. I was just not looking forward to the long day ahead of me. I think the regimen is finally taking a toll on me and in fear of getting sick like everyone around me; I cheated and took a vitamin today.

I drudged along and made my second-to-last bottle of stuff and headed out the door. I got to work early and couldn’t help feeling anxious, about eating! About returning to my normal life. I started dreaming about cookies and cupcakes and cuchifritos – thanks to my co-worker (the latest episode of Sucker Free Latino was filmed in a cuchifrito spot). Luckily, my thoughts and dismal mood were interrupted by a Michael Kors sample sale. This served as a nice distraction and let on for some official office girl bonding minus the food. It was soo nice to actually leave my desk for a long period of time; I forgot what that alone felt like. So an hour and $50 later I came back feeling triumphant after finding five items for such a low price. WOOT!

By now I was ready for more self-loathing about missing my old life when I was distracted yet again by an engaging political forum being filmed downstairs in our building.  Voto Latino put together a panel of Latinos to discuss our role in this year’s election and to encourage more people to get involved and vote. Amongst the panelists were Rosario Dawson and Fat Joe. It was a great discussion (that will be a separate blog in itself) and I am happy to report that Rosario is as smart and eloquent as she is pretty. She is my newest Puerto Rican hero.

Lucky for me by the time that was over, it was time to go home. I opted out of going to a free concert to of course, run home and cuddle up with a book. I needed to warm up! It was freezing in the room that panel took place. And I need to conserve all my energy at this point.

I did realize along the way though, that while this experience might not change my weight (fine by me) or my eating habits for the long term, it did teach me about breaking habits in general. It gave me the strength to see what actions I do just out of habit, because it’s what I am used to, not because it is aligned with what I really want. This goes for food and in other areas of my life. Now, I know I have the strength to change them. If I can see this thing out I feel like I can do anything else I put my mind to. So now I am letting go of all the habits and things in my life I know no longer serve me. I am so grateful that this experience gave me a brand new perspective on my life to hold onto long after the 10 days.

Navani Knows: The Cleanse Day 5

I survived day 5!! This means I am past the middle mark. Now I can say I almost done! Woo hoo! Today overall was a much better day than yesterday. I woke up and my devastating headache was gone, the sun was shining and I had yoga to look forward to. Free Yoga at that. Of course getting out of bed and starting my day was a lil rough. I am always extremely weak in the morning, having to slowly raise myself out of bed strategically and stumble into the kitchen to make my first batch of lemonade. Today I made one serving and drank it right on the spot, as I sat on the bed watching videos. I finished the magic juice and “Viva La Vida” came on and I immediately got up and started dancing around the room which is my normal response to that song. It makes me happy to be alive, and that’s when I knew it would be a good day.
So I made my economy size bottle of lemonade to go and packed my gym clothes and headed off to work. Work was fine except I am always sooo much hungrier in the confines of that building! I don’t know why but my stomach is constantly growling there. Therefore, I ended up drinking half of the six servings by noon. Not good. Around lunch time my co-worker had a roach drop in on her and her cookie and that action broke up the day a lil. After that I didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. But I did walk by a guy eating some sort of pot roast and it smelled so good it made me crave meat, and I don’t even eat meat! Sigh.

I continued to fight off the hunger pangs, just trying to make to 6 pm when I could leave and go take my yoga class with Russell Simmons (He opened his own studio and invited press to come check it out). Oh yeah, another reason why my day was simply sublime. On the way to his new studio my co-worker told me, “You don’t even look sick or anything, in fact your skin is like, glowing” in regards to me not eating for five days. I was ecstatic. One of my worst fears of doing the cleanse was that I would end up looking like a cast member from the Twilight vampire movie. So with that, I finished the last of the “stuff” and got changed for class.

The yoga class was amazing! Not only was it in a nice studio within the Alvin Ailey building, but I walk in and Porschla Coleman is the one teaching the class! I wasn’t expecting that. I look up from my downward dog pose and there’s Russell in the front of the class ever so non-chalantly. PS I am kinda mad Russell can do a headstand and I can’t, but I digress. Porschla was such a great teacher and not only pretty in person but genuinely nice. She held my legs up and helped me with my shoulder stand. Boy do I need to work on that. Just being in the room with so much good energy changes everything. I wasn’t hungry once in the hour and a half that I was there. I left there feeling super relaxed and content with life. (Note to self: do more yoga)

I can only hope the other 5 days follow suit. Now I am going to drink my Yogi tea and follow the advice on my packet: Be happy so long as breath is in you.

Navani Knows Literary Luminaries: Junot Díaz

Despite it being day 2 of my cleanse and me wanting to run home and hide, I instead attended a NOMAA (Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance) event on Monday night. I am so glad I did! I got to meet and hear literary luminary Junot Díaz (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) speak on what it means to be an artist. I already knew he was a big deal but I think what impressed me more than his Pulitzer Prize was the fact that he used the word “clown” 5 minutes into the conversation. He apologized for being dressed up like a clown, meaning his suit lol. Hello, I call them clown suits too! This guy really does speak my language. That coupled with him reciting a Ghetto Boyz verse won me over immediately.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a nerd. While I spend most of my time interviewing A-List celebs and musicians, I am hardly ever star struck…until it comes to meeting an author. Perhaps it has something to do with seeing someone living out my dream or perhaps because they tend to actually have something to say. In this case, Junot sure did not disappoint. Being a Latina writer myself, I could so relate with a lot of the issues he spoke of regarding the Latino experience. Once again, it felt wonderful to find out I am not alone in my struggle or quest for self-expression.

Check out his inspiring words regarding his personal journey as a writer and what it means to be an artist below:

What was the beginning of your journey for Oscar Wao?

A lot of my journey came from not only being marginalized in a community that no one knew anything about, but coming from a family where 2 of the 5 siblings were in jail. And people were like we don’t want to be associated with them. So, I was able to see what being a Dominican meant in a time where no one knew what Dominicans were. But also to be Dominican in a community that in itself can be extremely cruel to people that it thinks are inferior, that it thinks are too dark skinned, that it thinks are too poor etc. I think it all started from there. I don’t think that I would have ever become a writer now had I not noticed that we were a community [latinos] only sometimes and then other times we weren’t. My main focus was this critical recognition that there was a lot happening in our community that we didn’t talk about. It was very easy to point the finger outwards, but on the inside there was a lot of shit going on that I was bearing witness to and I needed to find a way to express that.

What drives you as an artist?

I think what pushed me was being undervalued, when a part of me knew  I was not stupid. I was a pretty smart kid but in high school people would say “you’re an idiot, you should drop out.” But the real answer to that is if you can dig in yourself and can stop being afraid enough, long enough, to remember who you are everything is possible. When I was in my mid-twenties for a short period I stopped being afraid of who I was and suddenly things became possible. But that was a long struggle.

Yes! Someone who isn’t afraid to say what no one will admit! And this is why I am in awe of him.

Navani Knows The Heights…

I have never lived in the heights, or really hung out there for that matter, but I found a home there recently. Ok not literally. I finally went to see the critically acclaimed play In the Heights a few weeks ago and LOVED it. All of my family and friends saw it way before it was on Broadway and raved about it so I finally went and treated a friend for her birthday in the process. I don’t know what made me beam more proudly: the confused look on the blanquitos faces every time there was a joke made in Spanish or seeing people that looked like me on the stage making them.

Besides the singing and dancing, what really struck a chord with me was the storylines of the characters. There was someone there we all can relate to, which meant they were authentic and real. When Nina hit the stage as the college student visiting home, all my friends immediately turned to me and said “That’s you!” I did relate very much to her being the first in her family to go away to college and trying to fit into that Ivy League world. It represented my lifelong quest to fit in period.

Cut to last week when I had the honor of interviewing Lin-Manuel Miranda about his inspiration for the Tony Award Winning play he created. I asked if his character Nina was based on his own experience in college and he answered “Not just in college, but my whole life.” He went on to say this about the experience of being Latino in this country:

We’re learning two different ways of living at the same time. My mother learned English in school and then had to go home and teach it back to my grandparents. Then, the siblings after her didn’t really speak as much Spanish because they grew up speaking English at home. So there are a million different variations on all of these stories. In writing this story I discovered I wasn’t alone in feeling like I was living a bunch of different existences and finding myself in the process. I think that’s what all the characters in the show do – they are all looking for what home is.

I wanted to run up and hug this man because I finally realized I wasn’t alone in my feelings about fitting in. For me, I felt my life had to constantly be split between being Puerto Rican enough, and mainstream enough. Meaning I felt like I was living two lives all the time and never really fitting into either. I kept thinking that it had to be one way or the other. If I had just spoken fluent Spanish, then I would be a real Puerto Rican – as if there were different levels of Puerto Ricanism. I totally ignored the fact that my parents strategically taught me English first so I wouldn’t be mistreated in school and wrote off as a dumb ESL kid like they were.  This conversation made me realize like Lin said, there a so many different variations on the Latino experience that there is no right or wrong way. In the end, what unites us is this shared quest to find a place to call home. I found mine In the Heights.

Check out the full interview with Lin-Manuel Miranda here.

Navani Knows How to Get Her House Right

I was recently able to catch up with Russell Simmons when his foundation ‘The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’ held a press conference announcing their latest initiative “Get Your House Right”. Modeled after the HSAN’s program “Get Your Money right” this agenda will help minority youth (with an emphasis on bilingual tools for Latinos) fight against the current mortgage crisis by teaming up with artists and financial experts to educate them on the home owning process.

I have to give Russell credit, he is always socially active and manages to put hip hop in the spotlight in a positive way. Of course, there had to be one little annoying Columbia journalism student who asked an annoying question. Russell, who never shies away from voicing his personal opinion (hence his pro-Obama rant on the red carpet of the VMAs) set her straight.

When asked how the emphasis on extreme material wealth in hip hop culture affects young Americans’ perception of the “American dream” Russell replied:

If you look at our history, always people who are locked out create new culture. So if you look at the original blues or jazz or rock n roll artists, they all wanted a piece of the American dream, and many times the images of them were images of them obtaining it. So for instance, Chuck Berry didn’t have holy jeans like Mick Jagger, you saw him in an orange caddy that matched his orange suit. This is the perception of most Americans of the American dream – which big car is available. This is what we see on TV everyday. The rappers are a reflection of what we see everyday.  Sometimes it is hard for people to digest some of things they say, because they are so honest, brutally honest. And we [society] are very good at polishing up our dysfunction. It’s really easy to back away from our truth – our sexism, our racism, etc. in an effort to satisfy our ego. That’s our reality, it’s not a hip hop reality it’s an American reality.

Yeah, yeah what he said!

To find out what else Russ had to say about the mortgage crisis check out the full interview here.

Navani Knows How Adam Died

The story of Adam and Eve and role women have in the demise of mankind has always been one of fascination. It is this fascination that gave birth to the concept of the debut album from long time producer 88-Keys: The Death of Adam.  The story of Adam’s demise was weaved in every aspect of the album, down to the theme of the funeral listening party he had last night.

Journalists and industry folk were invited to gather together to pay respect to their long lost friend Adam last night at the Gin Left Loft.  The service was preceded by none other than Donell Rawlings. Friends and featured artists Bilal and Shitake Monkey went up to say a few words, and the discovery of Adam’s second baby mama ensued. Q-Tip gladly played videographer, looking fashion forward as usual. I don’t know many people that can pull off wearing basketball shorts with a long sleeved button up and a tie and get away with it – however I digress. Aside from all the theatrics, food and open bar lay the real gem of the evening –  the album itself.

Laid out in 14 tracks, The Death of Adam is a symbolic tale of mankind’s obsession and relationship with the va jay jay. In this case, how it changes and ultimately ends the life of Adam. Hip hop soul beats interlaced with 88’s own vocals (both rapping and singing) show a new side of him. Feature guests include Kanye West (who also executive produced the album), J* Davey, Shitake Monkey, Just Blaze, Bilal, Kid Cudi, Redman and Phonte of Little Brother. But what is great about this album , is even though so many different people contributed, their appearances never overshadow the star: 88. The album is still very much all his sound.

Being I have been around for many stages of this project, heard it unfinished and unmixed, then reworked and sat and talked to 88 about the message in each song, I can appreciate it that much more. I mean he has been working on this album for the last two years, done cut his hair and had another baby in that time. When snippets were leaked last year of M.I.L.F. everyone asked the same question, where is the friggin album? But I told people that 88 is not only a genius producer, but a perfectionist. He had a vision for how he wanted this story told and wouldn’t put it out until it was just right. So, I am very excited that day is finally here.

Sadly, I doubt much of the audience last night could truly appreciate all the work 88 put into his opus like I did. Industry heads clamored amongst themselves in the back of the room more concerned with each other, talking loudly and trying to look cool. Oh well, maybe this album isn’t really for them. It’s for the real fans of hip hop – those who long for the days when there was a message behind the music. For the fans of 88-Keys that have rode with him since the days of Black Star and anxiously waited for him to make an album like this. And for the people that think it’s about time someone as talented as him gets some shine. Be forewarned: this is not just another hip hop producer’s album.

Check out The Death of Adam when it drops on October 28th on Decon Records.