Jade Esteban Estrada interviews the artistic director of the Live Oak Singers. Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Ray Norris was 11 years old when he got on stage and sang his first solo. Dressed in a sequin jacket and accompanied by back-up singers, he sang “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak…
H. Drew Galloway and His Millennial Hustle
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. I’m sitting across from H. Drew Galloway at Estate Coffee Shop on the city’s East Side. As the executive director of MOVE Texas, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to civic education and leadership development, Galloway sees his work “as giving young people a voice in our democracy.” When he…
Jade Esteban Estrada: Meet Joe Gonzales, Who’s Defying Political Gravity
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Joe D. Gonzales is sitting across from me, giving me a much-needed refresher on his favorite Broadway musical Wicked. A silver statue of Lady Justice, one of the finest I’ve ever seen, stands behind him. The Democratic nominee for Bexar County district attorney gleefully explains the popular storyline,…
Jade Esteban Estrada: Clear the Aisle – Texas State Rep. Ina Minjarez Is Crossing It
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. State Rep. Ina Minjarez hesitates before posting a photo on social media of the taco she’s about to eat. Though her Facebook page is personable, and the essence of her personality comes across in her posts, she admits sharing online is hard because she’s an introvert who enjoyed…
Sitting Down with Unerasable Graciela Sanchez
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. I’m sitting at Sweet Yams Café on the city’s East Side with Graciela Sanchez, director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The sunlight cascades down the right side of her face through the adjacent window, giving her a resplendent glow. Sanchez, who has devoted her life to…
Keeping Up with Gina Ortiz Jones, Who Wants to Unseat Congressman Will Hurd
Originally published in the San Antonio Current. Editor’s Note: Jade Esteban Estrada is the author of Glitter Political, a series of articles detailing San Antonio’s elections. As a professional homosexual, I admit to feeling a little star struck when I see Gina Ortiz Jones, candidate for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, waving at me through the…
Too marvelous for words: Ken Slavin turns 25*
“I’ve lived a lot since I was 29 and I understand the songs better now than I ever did.” Jazz singer and public-relations pro Ken Slavin is San Antonio’s rara avis—a very animated anachronism from a time when gentlemen sported impeccably fitted jackets for daily wear, and equally well-tailored manners. Onstage and off, this 6-foot-two-inch…
Boylesque legend Tigger! is stripping to change the world
“It makes sense that you want to hear from all genders. There are more than two.” Tigger!, the 50-year-old burlesque godfather who’s making his Texas debut as tonight’s headliner for the 4th Annual San Antonio Burlesque Festival, has always been wary of confining himself to gay audiences, so his crowds have often been a mixed bag.…
A conversation with poet Richard Blanco
“We forget that to be an intelligent, thriving human being means to pull from all sources of information, knowledge, and understanding.” Richard Blanco received our democratic society’s version of literary knighthood in 2013 when President Barack Obama chose him as the nation’s fifth inaugural poet. He is the first Latino, the first openly gay man,…
A favorite daughter and a forsaken son reconnect on the road from El Paso
The moral of this story, apparently, is when you’re la consentida, you can bring transgender friends home. Despite the fact that we were both born through a family with a deep history of homophobia, it still comes as a surprise to me how much more my half-sister Olga and I have in common. I’m the…