ABSTRACT
This chapter includes Gómez-Peña’s wishes for his friends and community for 2018, and a call for action to stay continually artistically and politically engaged. Gómez-Peña describes the Mission District in San Francisco, Califas, as the stage for his art, love, friendships and escapades into forbidden territories, both on the streets and inside his psyche. When home between tours, Gómez-Peña envisions the neighborhood as his personal laboratory for permanent existential reinvention. Gómez-Peña recounts his 2012 life-changing health incident and how writing can be used as a “psychomagic script” for spiritual and physical recovery; he offers a critique for the “politicized” Chicano artist and inter-generational differences and nostalgia. In “Exploration of sexual pathology: an erotic relationship with a laptop,” Gómez-Peña shares a recorded conversation [in tongues] with his laptop. In “Farewell Mother,” Gómez-Peña describes the Bohemian wake held for his mother; he recounts how after the wake he and his wife Balitrónica were kidnapped by cops in Mexico City. “A Performance Inspired by My Mother” details a performance exercise that connects people in a deep emotional way with a temporary community of strangers. In “Psychomagic Actions Against Fears,” Gómez-Peña shares insights into a monthlong Chicano Buddhist project. “Flying in Two Different Directions” details extreme travelling. “Fireworks and Yodeling” is an old and “pretentious” performance poem. “An Open Letter From a Post-National Artist to a Mexican Crime Cartel Boss” is explored from Gómez-Peña’s performance diary. “The Tattooed Brown Body” is a personal biography traced through tattoos.
