Politics

A Drag Queen Beauty Pageant in Mazatlan

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Los Angeles Times reporter Sam Quinones' story about a drag queen beauty pageant in Mazatlan, Mexico, was one of the 10 stories selected to mark the 50th issue of Creative Nonfiction magazine and its 20-year literary history.

Reason TV interviewed Quinones about drag queens, cults, and corruption in Mexico back in January, 2011.

Here's the original writeup.

Sam Quinones covers immigration, drug trafficking, and gangs as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Quinones is also the award winning author of two books: True Tales from another Mexico and Antonio's Gun & Delfino's Dream. The books are collections of nonfiction stories Quinones wrote while living and working as a freelance writer in Mexico.

Instead of writing stories about the official and bureaucratic Mexico we see on TV, Quinones focuses on "another Mexico," the regular people without influence on the fringes of Mexico's paternalistic political system. These are the independently minded people who dare to live their own lives, start businesses and risk everything to pursue their dreams in the U.S.

Reason TV's Paul Feine sat down with Quinones to talk about popsicle kings, drag queens, cults, corruption, migration, and the future of Mexico.

To purchase the books and learn more about the author, go to: http://www.samquinones.com/

Approximately 13 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning. Still photography by Sam Quinones.